“Sorry about that!” Trent yelled over the side. “Our man here is the kick first, ask questions later type. Big and grumpy, but with a heart of gold. You’d like him if you got to know him.”
“Can we just get going?” Rhys snapped. He was in no mood for Trent’s banter today… although, deep down, itwasa little reassuring. At least he knew he wasn’t alone in this anymore.
The boat’s engine roared to life. “Set sail!” Trent called out gleefully.
Rhys’s eyes narrowed. “How many boats have you stolen now?”
“It’s not stealing, it’s borrowing,” Trent said. “It’s an Agency craft, after all. Besides, it’s not my fault if they didn’t lock anything. I just pushed a few buttons, and off she went!”
Trent was an expert at walking the line between entertaining and infuriating, and right now, Rhys wasn’t feeling particularly in the mood to be entertained. But itwassatisfying to see the remaining agents yelling furiously from the dock as they pulled away.
“You can fill us in on the way,” Trent said, glancing over his shoulder at Rhys, and Rhys nodded tersely. “And then we’ll go rescue your mate.”
Chapter 15
Maisie stared down at her hands, and at the handcuffs on her wrists.
What just happened?Howdid that just happen?!
The sound of the helicopter blades was loud in her ears despite the headset one of the men who’d grabbed her had jammed onto her.
She eyed each one of them in turn. None of them were looking at her, and none of them looked friendly.
And then, of course, there’s Brent.
Brent was sitting diagonally across from her, and looking vaguely ill – pale and sweaty, and like he might throw up at any second.
He thought I was in on this – whateverthisis – too. How did this happen?
She remembered the frantic look on Rhys’s face as he’d been held back from following her by two other guys, but they’d locked eyes before she’d been shoved into the helicopter. She’d seen the promise in his eyes – that he’d come after her.
She trusted him. Shehadto.
But she’d also seen complete determination on his face that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her, and somehow, she knew he’d be true to his unspoken promise.
Somehow. I don’t know how he’ll get me – or us – out of this, but I know he will. And I’ll do everything I can to help him.
“I really don’t know why I’ve been arrested for murder – attempted murder! I didn’t attempt to murder anyone! I swear!”
Brent’s panicky, shaky voice was barely audible over the hum of the propeller blades, but he was yelling pretty loudly and frantically.
Maisie shrank back against the seat, in between the two massive guys who flanked her. As annoying as Brent’s outburst was, she was mainly annoyed because she knew the more he ranted and swore he wasn’t a murderer, the less likely these guys were to listen toherwhen she tried to tell them the same thing.
“Babe, tell them!Youknow I wouldn’t hurt a fly! I was set up – it was a total set-up. I just got told it was a shakedown job, nothing too bad. It wasn’t anything to do with murder!”
The worst part of it was, Maisie kind of believed him – Brent might have been a jackass, an idiot, a poser and a bad boyfriend, but he wasn’t a murderer.
Well, I don’tthink, anyway.
But… no. Brent didn’t have the spine to murder anyone. Half the time he couldn’t even get up the courage to text her when he was going to be late.
Though that might have been because he wasalwayslate.
She glared at him. Despite all of that, she wasn’t about to join him in his begging. If shehadto talk to these guys, who were about as silent and stern as a bunch of Easter Island statues, then she’d do it in a formal setting, with a lawyer present. At least until Rhys showed up to explain that this whole thing was some kind of colossal mistake.
Maybe her glare worked, because Brent shut up after that, though he spent the rest of the helicopter ride looking sick to his stomach.
It wasn’t a long flight… ormaybe, to Maisie’s spinning mind, it just didn’t seem that long. Thinking back on it as she felt the helicopter begin to descend, it had seemed both interminable and over in the blink of an eye.
