“This is not my fault.”
His open mouth and wide eyes seem to disagree.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’d still be alive if I’d stayed in Brooklyn.”
Wilson accuses me with an unblinking stare making it necessary to explain further. “First off, Suds agreed a visit to the beach was a good idea. Secondly, getting kidnapped allowed me to find our client. And third?”
He wiggles, a sign for me to continue. “Alright, I admit falling asleep last night was a mistake but it’s not like I did it on purpose. I’m pregnant. I get tired. I’m really sorry but I’m going to have to eat you.”
I wrap my fingers around his body and am about to cut off his head when the whine of a motorboat stops me.
Oh, thank God! Trying not to overturn my small vessel, I stand and wave the fish over my head. “Over here!”
A metal boat, similar to mine, except for the outboard motor, turns toward me. When the couple waves, I kiss Wilson, and throw him back in the ocean.
“Bon voyage, dude. Thanks for the chat.”
Within minutes, a dark man in threadbare jeans catches my line and tows me to shore.
Chapter 24
Suds
“You look truly buggered.” At dawn, Lucky joins me in the hotel room. Knowing I’ve been up all night, he sets a sixteen-ounce coffee on the table.
Stretching, I rub my eyes, scratch the growth on my chin, and take a large gulp of the rich, thick brew. “I don’t get it. How could she disappear into thin air?”
“She’ll be right, mate. The currents are tricky ’round here and now the sun is up, we’ll find her. Perhaps she’s not on the water and holed up in a house near the hospital.”
“If she did, she would’ve called me by now.” Last night, I walked the whole shitty neighborhood until dawn. More than one asshole had tried to rob me and I’m not proud to say I took out some of my frustration on them.
What if the baby brokers found her first? Fists clenching, I stand, and punch the wall.
Without a word, Lucky grabs the hotel room’s ice bucket and when he returns, sets it on the table. The throbbing in my knuckles subside when I stick my hand in the cubes.
“Hold on. Something’s coming in. Look-ee there. I told you we’d find her.” When he points to her unmoving image in the bottom of a rowboat, I hold my breath until he switches to infrared.
She’s still alive.“Let’s go.”
Chapter 25
Sam
My rescuers tow me to a cove, hidden by palm trees, on a small island. After killing the engine, the man tilts the outboard motor, and hops in the shallow water. The woman joins him and untethers me. Together, they drag their boat onto the sand.
“Right here, miss. Use your paddle.” My leather skinned rescuer motions to an empty spot on the beach.
Worried the current will carry me back out to sea, I grab an oar, push on the ocean floor, and jump in. Up to my knees in smelly seaweed, I tug my aluminum boat next to theirs.
Panting, I wander up the beach, and hold out my hand. “Thank you so much. If you’ll lend me a phone, I’ll call my husband, and be on my way.”
“This way, miss.” The man points to the door of a weathered shack, built with washed up, gray and black boards.
The hairs on my arms stand on end and I get a feeling if I go inside, I may never come out. “Ah, I’ll wait here, if you don’t mind. I’ve imposed enough on your kindness.”
My hopes of a quick reunion fizzle when his dark eyes narrow, his lips purse, and he twists one of my arms behind my back.
“Jacob. What’re you doing, now?” His wife follows us toward the house, worry lines etched in her mouth and forehead.
