AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“As I said, I’ve already contacted the authorities. They’ll be here any minute,” Jade said a little louder.
Damn. Did she know he was out there? Was that his clue?
Without thinking things through, he jumped up and down a couple times as if several people had just come aboard. His movement caused the boat to sway back and forth. Anyone inside would think that half a dozen people had just come aboard.
“You’re surrounded,” he called out. “Come out with your hands up.”
Suddenly, a bright light shone on the boat where he was standing. When he looked back, he saw Josie on the boat they had arrived in. She pointed a handheld spotlight towards the door to the lower galley. Josie gave him a quick thumbs-up, and he turned back around and banged several times on the door.
“Don’t make us come in there,” he warned. Seconds later, shots rang out and the wood door he was standing behind splintered into a million pieces as bullets flew towards him.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Jade knew that Wyatt was probably going to kill her. She’d thought she’d played it smart. She’d followed far behind as the young girl, who had passed out from whatever drugs had been placed in the beer, was carted into a small white van with the logo of the resort’s laundry service on the side.
She’d thought about calling Wyatt, but in her haste to catch the Evanses, she’d left her cell phone in her office. Not wanting to lose the van, she’d rushed to grab a set of keys from the front desk and jumped into one of the hotel’s vehicles and followed the van to the docks of the Shoreline Club. She’d worried that she’d lost it several times, but thankfully, the roads on the island were pretty empty at this time of evening and it was the only set of taillights on the road.
She pulled up at the docks just in time to watch two men cart a large white bag out of the back of the van and put it into the hull of a small boat. She knew without a doubt that the teenager was in that bag.
Thankfully, the two men left the bag in the boat and walked into the club. After looking around, she figured she would have plenty of time to go into the boat and get the girl out.
She had miscalculated. Shortly after she snuck onto the hull of the boat, the engine started up and they started moving out of the slip.
Thankfully, no one came downstairs, and she could hear two men talking and laughing up on the deck.
Sitting down next to the bag, she pulled it off the unconscious girl and untied the girl’s hands and then waited and plotted.
When the boat slowed, she chanced a glance out the small window and saw the Blue Marlin Cove coming into view. The smaller resort wasn’t as crowded as the Emerald, but it was still full of tourists and employees. All they had to do was escape the boat and they would be safe.
The teenager stirred when the boat jerked to a stop.
“Shh,” Jade said to the girl. “I’m here to help you.” The girl blinked a few times and nodded. She seemed to understand Jade. “We need to move,” she whispered. “Can you stand up?”
The girl jerked to a sitting position. “What?”
“Shh,” Jade said again.
Just then the door opened, and a skinny man climbed down the staircase. When he saw her, he shouted out and another man, a much larger man, rushed down the narrow stairs. This guy’s shoulders filled the entire doorway.
She could have tried to beat back the skinnier guy. After all, she’d taken plenty of self-defense classes after Amber’s disappearance. Her parents hadn’t wanted to lose another daughter. But this other guy was far too big.
“Well, well, look what we have here,” the bigger man said with a smile as he pulled a gun from his pocket.
Jade raised her chin. “Don’t bother. I’ve already called the authorities. They’ll be here any moment.”
“I don’t think so. Not quick enough at any rate,” the thicker man said.
“What are you going to do?” Jade’s asked, standing firmly between the men and the teenager. “Shoot me? Do you even know who I am?” The man looked as if he was thinking it over. His gun wavered just slightly. “As I said, I’ve already contacted the authorities. They’ll be here any minute,” Jade said a little more loudly in hopes that someone out there would hear her.
As if by a miracle, she heard someone outside shout, “You’re surrounded. Come out with your hands up.”
Suddenly, bright lights filled the small cabin.
“Don’t make us come in there.” It was then that Jade realized the voice on the other side of the door was Wyatt’s.
She was just about to call out to him when the bigger man raised his gun and aimed it directly at the door. She screamed as several shots rang out, echoing loudly in the small space. Her hearing buzzed in her head as the man continued to fire into the door.
All she could think of was Wyatt being shot on the other side of the door.
