She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing. Atlas filled her mind’s eye. His dazzling blue-green orbs, the perfect slope of his nose, the scruff of his beard that she’d do anything to feel. Tears leaked through her lashes.
She let her imagination drift to the feel of his embrace. When his warm, strong arms were around her, everything else fell away. He was a rock of strength. A solid foundation. If he were here right now, in her position, he would survive.
And she had to as well.
He wouldn’t stop looking for her. She was as sure of that as she was that the ocean lay beyond her hiding place. Her heart ached knowing he was out there, aimlessly searching for her.
And he wouldn’t find her.
Not here.
She had to get away from the island. Eventually they’d give up, and once they did, she might be able to reach a boat or flag down passersby. Willy was evil and vengeful, but he’d throw in the towel eventually.
Hopefully before she died of dehydration. If it kept raining, she’d try to gather some water in her hands?—
“I see footprints!”
Her stomach dropped. Her eyes shot open. She dug her fingers into the stone and pushed herself as far from the opening as possible. Her back hit the end of the crevice, the wall digging into her spine.
Fear locked her muscles in place. Every raging beat of her overactive heart made her chest ache. A set of feet appeared in the sand where she’d been only minutes before.
“Looks like she crawled into this hole.” A light whipped into the cave, hitting her in the eyes.
She gasped. Her whole body shook.
“Told ya,” the man said smugly. “Found you. Get your ass out here before we shoot.”
A small cry escaped her throat. She covered her face with her hand, refusing to accept her fate.
“I swear to god I’ll shoot!”
She peeked through her fingers. The long end of a rifle stared back at her.
There was nowhere to run.
They’d follow through with their promise, but at least once she was dead, there’d be no use for her.
“We’ll smoke her out. Hang on. I bet there’s a flare in the boat.”
“No,” she whispered involuntarily.
Alarm rose in her chest and tears filled her eyes.
“Come on,” the man said, with bright and fake smile. “Make this easy on both of us. Crawl your scrawny ass out here.”
“Go to hell!” she bellowed.
He smirked. “Suit yourself. I like me a good bonfire.”
“Dude. Just eat something. It could be hours before we find her.” Rogue set a bottle of water and a protein bar on the table in front of Atlas.
The thought of putting food in his stomach made his gut revolt.
He turned his attention to the laptop screen next to him. When Atlas and Viper had walked into the hotel room, Havoc had already been at work trying to hack into the café’s security system.
“This better not take hours,” Atlas said. “You’ve hacked into far tighter systems.”
“Won’t take hours,” Havoc said, his gaze focused on the screen. “If you’d all shut up for five minutes this would be done.”
