“You would have needed to activate it. Which you obviously didn’t, or I’d be able to find it without your help,” the gunman said.
Emma’s hand flew over her mouth, and her eyes watered. “Oh, no.”
“Oh yes. This is all your fault, and now you are going to fix it. If you don’t…”
The guy stopped talking, quickly sidestepped toward the women, reached down, and yanked Carly to her feet by her upper arm.
Carly screamed. Her eyes were wide. Her lip trembled.
“Your friend here dies. So, start remembering. Where did you toss the bag?”
Emma’s teary gaze landed on Cap. He could see the regret and fear in her eyes, along with the pleading for his help, but he had no clue where she’d tossed the bag. They’d covered miles on the lake to get to this spot.
The man directed his partner on the speedboat to grab hold of Carly. He pulled her onto their boat. Carly tried to tug away, but it was of no use. The guy slammed her down onto a seat and zip-tied her wrists to the armrests. She sobbed. He yelled at her to stop. When she didn’t, he fisted a handful of her long, golden hair and yanked her head back.
“You aren’t going to be trouble, are you? I don’t need this, and I don’t need you. Do you understand?”
There were no truer words, and he hoped Carly would understand and comply. If she did, it might buy him more time to think of a way out of this mess.
Carly met his gaze, and he offered a slight nod. Then, she looked at the man in her boat and nodded.
It killed Cap to watch this, but three against two, if he counted Jonathan, were not good odds for him. Especially since his opponents had weapons.
A voice sounded over the radio on the other boat. The words were garbled.
“What do you want me to tell Dario?” the man on the other boat yelled to the ringleader.
Dario. So, the guy on his boat wasn’t the man in charge of this operation, just the ringleader of this trio. Cap embedded the name into his memory in the event he needed to recall it later. So, there were at least four, not three, men in this operation, if not more. Things were getting worse by the moment.
“Just tell him it’s taking longer than expected. That’s it,” the ringleader replied.
The ringleader looked at him, then shifted his gaze to Jonathan, who’d picked himself up off the deck and stood at Cap’s side.
“Get your woman under control and find the bag.”
Emma’s body went rigid. Was it because the man referred to her as Jonathan’s woman? He’d bet his next paycheck that was part of it. She was strong-minded, and he suspected that even in this danger, she didn’t appreciate the man’s reference.
“Here’s how this is going down. If any of you do anything I don’t like, your friend over there dies. Am I clear?” he asked as he used his weapon to point at Carly on the other boat.
The ringleader looked at Morgan and Hailey, who sat on the deck by Preston. “You two will not move from that spot.”
The ladies nodded.
Then he looked at Jonathan. “You, come here.”
Jonathan took a few reluctant steps toward the two men. The quiet one zip-tied Jonathan’s hands behind his back and plunked him onto the bench seat. Then he moved to the back of the boat. Cap suspected he deemed that the best position in which to keep a watchful eye on everyone.
The ringleader pointed up to the wheelhouse. “You. And her. Up there now, and start retracing your route.”
Cap went first and Emma followed. The ringleader was behind them both, leaving one of his partners on the back of the boat and the other in the speedboat.
The three of them in the wheelhouse stood shoulder to shoulder, staring out over the cool blue waters. Emma was in the center.
He felt her tremble. She was warm…fragile…human.
Steering the boat, Cap retraced his path. Or, at least as close to the path as he could, buying time before anyone was killed.
The ringleader leaned into Emma, causing her to press firmly against Cap. Then he reached over and tapped the GPS screen.
