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Clay closes the hatch as I strap myself in.
The tail-end of the sunset paints the sky deep orange, as if warning me. This is going to be unchartered territory. As Clay said earlier, The Peregrine has never sailed in the open water, and we’ve fitted her with features that haven’t been thoroughly tested. But I’ve got to get to Amber-Rose, no matter what. Besides, I trust our creation,andthe ocean.
“You’ve got to guide me, brother,” I say to Clay via the radio as I zoom my way into the Pacific Ocean. While the crew will be able to track me from land, The P is not equipped with radar capable of spotting other vessels beyond a two-nautical-mile radius. With the speed I’m travelling, I’ll be relying on Clay to give me a pinpoint-accurate location of where Amber-Rose is, or I’ll miss her.
“The boat name is Santa Sofia, an Orca C34. You’re thirty miles northeast of her. She’s sailing at fifty knots. Pretty fast for a boat that size.”
Still, against The Peregrine, Aidan won’t have a chance.
Moments later, Clay gives me an update. “You’re now five miles southwest.”
“I see that son of a bitch.” I immediately dim the lights. The fucker won’t even know I’m there until I’m within jumping distance of him.
35
AMBER
I must’ve fallen unconscious. When I rouse, I hear a noise and a jolt. I can feel Aidan taking the yacht a lot faster.
With my head stuffed with fog, I appraise myself, because I’ve almost forgotten what happened. My hands are spread wide, each one tied to a pole inside the engine room. I’m only wearing my bra and jeans.
My chest is pulsing with pain and desperation. That asshole pummeled me hard against what looks to be a generator. On top of that, the cut along my chest is still bleeding.
Then the boat stops.
Aidan’s footsteps stomp across the floor above me, and then he pounds down the stairs and enters the room.
“You miss me?” I mock.
Pursing his lips, he unties me from the pillars and drags me to the cockpit. He’s not a man who’s well versed in disguising his emotions. Something must be going on.
“Don’t you want to keep me company?” Aidan says, trying to recover from his edginess.
He clambers me into an L-shaped seat next to the captain’s chair and pushes me down harshly, forcing me to sit. Then he rises to his full height—one hand holding a length of rope, the other the handcuffs he scored from Officer Cooper.
“I’m not sure which one I should use on you this time,” he pokes fun at me, eyes hopping between his two hands. “I’ll stick with the rope. I think I’ve lost the key to the cuffs.” He cackles. “I still need your hands.” He curves into me, snatching my right hand and rubbing it against his bulge.
I pull my hand hard, and he releases it with a laugh.
“Rope it is.” He swiftly ties my hands behind my back and slips the handcuffs into his belt.
Aidan returns to the captain’s chair, and we’re moving again. Soon his attention switches to his radar screen. There’s a strange object going in and out of view. Something is circling the Santa Sofia from a distance, and there’s only one thing that can go that fast.
The Peregrine.
Growling, my captor tugs me out of my seat and drags me out onto the deck. The wind of the Pacific Ocean batters my bare torso as Aidan drags me around, keeping his back against the exterior of the cockpit while shielding himself with my body. He casts a look around the water.
There’s nothing. But the air is heavy, the water is moving with anticipation.
An imminent hero—Rob is close.
Aidan grips me hard. Even he can’t deny the inevitable. “Did you invite him to witness our reunion?”
He draws his favorite knife out of its sheath, which hangs off his belt, and points the blade right at my face—the sickening predictability of Aidan Rolland when he’s challenged. The time bomb is ticking loud and fast.
No. There’s no way I’ll endure another Lake Geneva. All things considered, I’ll be safer in the water than with Aidan on this yacht. Rob found me then, and he will find me again. I will not be here when the bomb explodes. And I will not be Aidan’s shield when the confrontation starts.
Aidan keeps dragging me around the boat, looking up, down, left and right, close and far. We still can’t see anything.
