I didn’t have anything under control.
Jack had his weapon aimed at the incoming boat. It pulled alongside us.
I had a special surprise for them. The fragmentation grenade in my hand with the pin pulled was my insurance policy. I gripped the spoon tight.
Four masked thugs in black tactical gear aimed assault rifles at us. One of them shouted, "Let's see the diamond."
The smell of exhaust swirled.
I pulled Mr. Sparkles from my pocket and displayed it.
"Hand it over."
I laughed. "Nice try. Take me to Riley. If anyone gets any funny ideas along the way, we all die," I said, proudly displaying the grenade.
After a moment's hesitation, the thug waved me on board.
I stuffed the gem back into my pocket. With caution, I climbed over the gunwale onto the boat. The thugs kept their weapons aimed at me. The helmsman reversed, then headed out of the harbor to the west.
The boat bounced on the swells.
With a grenade in my hand, they didn’t bother to disarm me.
"Might want to consider the ramifications of an accidental discharge," I shouted over the wind and engine noise.
"What?"
In a slow, deliberate voice, like I was talking to a child, I said, "If the ride gets rough, and your weapon fires, I might drop the grenade. That would be bad for all of us."
"Maybe you shouldn't have brought the grenade."
"I'd be dead now if I hadn’t."
He shrugged and didn't disagree. The idiot still kept his weapon aimed at me.
I took a seat on the inflatable pontoon as we headed out into the inky abyss. With the flesh-colored earbud in place, I would still have comms with JD as long as I had cell service. I don't think the thugs on board paid attention to what was in my ear, and none of them wanted to risk getting close to me.
41
We bounced across the swells, approaching Crystal Key.
The site of the long-abandoned resort was a little farther out and not heavily trafficked. The dilapidated structures still remained—cabanas on stilts, cracked and faded tennis courts, an overgrown lobby with a restaurant and bar. It looked like something out of a zombie apocalypse.
The clouds rumbled on the horizon. Lightning flashes lit up the sky, the storm drawing near.
The helmsman drove us onto the beach, and the thugs marched me off the boat at gunpoint and up the sand to the tree line. They all kept their distance. Nobody wanted a face full of blistering shrapnel.
We marched down the trail of cracked and crumbling asphalt. Weeds had overtaken most of it. We continued to a clearing where the cabanas were. Weathered and rickety, many didn't have a roof after several hurricanes. It was a miracle any of them were standing still.
The place was empty.
That bad feeling twisted my stomach. The goons kept their distance. They were probably far enough away that they could theoretically shoot me and have a fighting chance to dash for cover.
"Where are Riley and Vladimir?" I asked.
"They’re on the way, as soon as they're sure we weren't followed."
The distant thump of rotor blades pounded the air. Soon, a sleek black helicopter circled the island. It spotted the ground with a beam so bright and white it was almost blue. It squinted my eyes as I surveyed the helo.
