“Well, come on then.” He offered his arm and couldn’t help puffing out his chest when she didn’t hesitate to take it. Her cool fingers felt nice when they wrapped around his bicep. And the warmth of her by his side made him acutely aware of how soft her skin looked, how sweet and fresh her bouncy hair smelled, like citrus and sunrise.
Together, they stepped onto the porch, blinking into the weak sunlight.
The sky overhead was cloudless, a beautiful robin’s egg blue, but the lateness of the day meant the sun was hidden behind the circle of angry clouds to the west. The island was quiet in the calm of the eye. And the air was fragrant with the scent of the sea.
But that’s where the fairy tale ended.
John’s heart turned over at the same time Dana breathed, “My god.”
Storms like Julia took everything that was familiar and ripped it apart. The destruction to the island wasn’t the worst he’d seen, but it wasn’t the best either.
Two trees near the house were snapped like kindling. Two others were laid over on their sides with their root balls sticking up in the air. The wind had picked up the fallen palm fronds and blown them around like dandelion seeds before piling them up against the side of the porch.
We’ll get her lookin’ spick and span again,he thought with determination.Just like we’ve done a dozen times before.
His family had held the lease on Wayfarer Island since Ulysses S. Grant sat pretty at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. And now that Leo had the funds to buy the tropical retreat outright, it wouldtrulybe a home away from home for everyone with a last name of Anderson.
John hated seeing the island in such a pitiful state. But having spent his entire life living around the Gulf, he was pragmatic when it came to the storms.
Cleanup sucked. Repairs were a never-ending chore. And each year during hurricane season, all eyes were glued to The Weather Channel like it was forecasting the winners of the Super Bowl for the next twenty years. But the silver lining?
We get to live in paradise.
“Watch your step,” he cautioned as he led Dana past some debris that’d piled up on the porch.
They’d barely set foot on the first tread of the stairs when a deep voice he didn’t recognize called, “Stop right there!”
Doc and Cami rounded the side of the house. Or maybewadedaround the side of the house was more apt since the storm surge lapped at their ankles and calves. Their hands were in the air. Cami’s face was as white as a sheet. And there was a killing rage in Doc’s eyes.
A split second later, when four masked men slipped around the corner with weapons aimed at Doc’s and Cami’s backs, John understood Cami’s paleness and Doc’s fury.
His mouth went as dry as the desert wind that time he’d vacationed in the Santa Fe. And he instinctively put himself between Dana and the threat by stepping in front of her.
“We told ya not to move, ya dubbah! Don’t make us shoot ya!” one of the masked men yelled.
“John?” Dana’s tremulous voice sounded over his shoulder.
He wanted to turn and take her in his arms. Wrap her up and keep her safe. Instead, he lifted his hands and told her, “It’s okay, darlin’. Just stay calm and everything’s gonna be all right.”
He hoped to hell he wasn’t lying.
Chapter 12
5:34 PM...
“She’s not the one you should be worried about,” Doc growled when the end of the masked man’s gun aimed first at Cami, then at him, and then back at Cami. He was grinding his teeth so hard he thought it a wonder he could open his mouth to speak.
The four gunmen had pulled the ladderback chairs down from the Formica-topped kitchen table, placed them in a line in the middle of the living room, and forced the Wayfarer Islanders to take seats side-by-side.
Easier to keep an eye on us all,Doc reckoned.
“Stop aiming that piece at her and keep aiming it at me and we won’t have ourselves a problem,” he added to the redheaded assailant who kept swinging his pistol between Doc and Cami. Doc knew the gunman was a redhead because auburn curls peeked from the back of the dude’s black ski mask.
“You’re not the one in charge here.” Red snarled. “So ya can stop givin’ me orders.”
The last word sounded more likeahdahs.Doc noted all four new arrivals spoke with thick New England accents. Although, they sounded different than Mason, so they hailed from somewhere other than Boston.
What the hell are they doing this far from home? And, more importantly, what the hell do they want with us?he silently wondered.
