Jack stepped behind Claire and gripped her upper arm. She felt his fist at her throat. Cold metal touched her skin. “Tell your friends to give me the phone,” Jack said, his lips inches from her ear.
Claire froze.
It was his knife. The one that had gutted the fish so quickly and smoothly. She couldn’t see it without tilting her head, and she didn’t dare move. She’d never felt a knife at her throat before, but she knew instantly that’s what it was. “Reyva.Mariana.” Her voice came out as a croak.
Reyva started forward. “What the hell are you doing?”
He pressed the blade harder against Claire’s skin. She sucked in air and tried to pull back from the blade, but he was behind her, holding her still.
“Give him the phone,” Mariana told Reyva.
Claire felt her pulse beating against the blade. Why was he doing this? He wanted his phone back, but this was beyond extreme. He wouldn’t kill for it, would he? Why? “You don’t want to do this,” she said to him.
“Give it to me,” Jack said. “And I won’t.”
“Give it to him, Reyva,” Mariana said. “Someone knows we need help. We did what we needed to do.”
Reyva’s eyes were narrowed and shooting so much rage that Claire was half surprised they didn’t spark. “Release her, and you can have the phone.”
From the phone, Claire heard a voice, muffled. It was too far for her to hear actual words, but it sounded like a man’s voice. Reyva began to lift the phone to her ear.
“Not negotiating,” Jack said. “And not joking. Give me the phone now, andthenI’ll let her go.” Keeping the hand with the knife on Claire’s throat, he let go of her arm and reached out past her with his other hand.
Reyva stepped forward, the phone held out.
The second she was close enough, he grabbed it and held the phone to his ear. He didn’t move the knife from Claire’s throat. “Dad? Dad, are you there?”
It made sense that his father would be calling him. But it didn’t make sense that he felt the need to threaten her. His dad could come save them all. She didn’t understand the drama. Just admit he’d wanted to impress them, or whatever the reason for hiding the phone—
“Where are you?” Jack asked.
Pressed against him, she was plenty close enough to hear the response, buried under a whirring noise as if he were close to a propeller or an air conditioner: “It won’t let me leave.”
“Hey, you’re supposed to let her go,” Reyva said. “That was the deal.”
Jack ignored her. “What’s that noise? Are you still on the boat?”
On the boat...
Claire felt her eyes widen. Mariana looked confused, but Reyva looked just as shocked. Hecouldhave meant a different boat. But what were the odds? Flatly, she said, “The man who tried to kill us... is your father.” The same man who’d shot at Jack and stolen his boat.
The knife shook as Jack said, “Shut up.” Then into the phone: “Come back. We can fix this. I know we can. I have the girls here. No one’s coming for them. Their parents think they’re fine. I told their parents not to expect to hear from them for at least a week—camp policy for preventing homesickness. Just as you said to say. They bought it.”
Claire felt as cold as the knife.
“You—what?” Mariana asked.
At the same time, Reyva asked, “What have you done?”
Jack ignored them. “Please, Dad. You just have to come back. It’ll be okay. Follow the plan.”
“Let them go, Jack,” his father said through the phone. “They’re innocent.”
“No one’s innocent. And the world will be better off without three more useless girls who can’t do anything for themselves. No one will miss them.”
“Jack—” his father began.
“Come back, make the trade, and you’ll be free.”
