“Quiet. I’m thinking.” Tugging up on my elbow, he pushes me into the hut and as pain shoots up my shoulder, I resist the urge to escape.
Where would I go? The only way off the remote island is by boat and I’m done conversing with fish. I need to remain in place so Suds can find me.
Of course, staying alive is important, too.
Inside the one-room hut, stripes of light shine through the closed shutters, creating a zebra effect on the moldy, plywood walls. Overhead, more sun enters via rust holes in the tin ceiling. A grimy college-size refrigerator whirrs in one corner. It shares a multi-socket extension cord with a hot plate, lamp, and a coffee maker.
While the bearded man binds my hands and ankles, his dark-haired woman glares. “We don’t want no trouble. Take her to the mainland.”
“No, Sophie, I won’t. She’s worth far too much.” Eyes black as night regard what’s left of my designer sundress.
Circling behind me, scratchy fingertips toss my hair over my shoulder, and he turns over my collar. “Look at dis label. Someone will pay top dollar to get her back. I’m going to ask around. You keep an eye on her.”
When the noise of his boat fades away, his wife removes my wedding rings, unties me, and points out the door. “Go.”
“Go where?” I’m so disoriented. I don’t even know what island I’m on.
“I don’t care. Run and don’t come back.” She pushes me out of the hut, toward a narrow dirt road.
Once, when I was a teen, I fell asleep on the subway, missed my transfer, and ended up in one of the city’s worst neighborhood. The poverty here is far worse.
As I jog down the street, children stop their play, mothers’ eyes narrow, and a few fathers cross their arms. No one offers aide until a crocodile of a man steps in front of me with a big, reptilian smile.
“Hello d’ere. Can I help you, mum?”
Chapter 26
Suds
The drone finds Sam and at first, my heart rejoices until I realize she isn’t moving.
“Go to infrared, dammit.” The bright spectrum indicates she’s alive but is she hurt?
I pray for the better part of an hour and now, nearing her location, my pulse races at the speed of our boat, skimming the surface of the ocean.
“Heads up.” Jack sounds in my earpiece. “A local couple tossed her a line. Stand by…”
“Is she mobile?” I hold my breath, preparing for the worst, and choke.
“That’s an affirmative. She ah… kissed a fish. I’m sending you her coordinates.”
“Good copy.” Grinning like mad, I share a thumbs up with my pal when he looks up from his satellite phone.
Soon after, we stand inside a hut where a woman claims to be clueless about my wife’s location.
“I’m not asking again. Where is she?” I haven’t slept for more than a few hours and my patience is at an end.
“She ran. D’ats all I know.” She glances nervously at a bowl on the counter and when I see Sam’s wedding rings, I fucking lose it.
Stuffing the jewelry in my pocket, I grab the liar by the shoulders and lean over until the tip of our noses touch. “If my wife is hurt in any way, I swear to God, I will make your miserable life even more so.”
Fear flicks in her eyes and she shrugs out of my grasp. “Come. I’ll show you.”
I follow her under the doorframe to where she points down the street. “The green house. Big Tom, he helped her.”
“Did you hear that?” I speak into my helmet’s mic and Jack responds loud and clear.
“Good copy.”
