Chapter 18
The setting sun was a blessing and a curse. It meant Quinn and Geri were less visible to anyone pursuing them now, but it meant the same for their surroundings—in particular their footing. Progress was slower, and it didn’t help that they had to pause every few steps to poke around in case there was more concertina wire lurking in the shadows.
So far, they’d only encountered the one coil of wire. They couldn’t take that for granted, though, and getting tangled in the wire would slow them down far more than their careful slog.
As they walked, they kept glancing toward the ocean, searching for lights that would indicate a boat or a ship. No luck.
They stopped at one point and checked Geri’s phone. To their dismay, the texts hadn’t gone through at all. They’d both been kicked back as undelivered.
“Shit,” she whispered. “I might have to call instead. See if I can reach someone.” She paused. “But let’s put some more distance between us and the hotel.”
He nodded, and they continued their miserable trudge. After another half mile or so, she motioned for him to come a little deeper into the trees with her. He did, and she stopped to lean against a tree trunk, rubbing her lower back. “I just need a minute. We should keep moving, but I feel like I’ll collapse if I don’t stop.”
“I know the feeling,” he muttered. His trainer had always harped on him that sleep was critical for a fitness regimen. If the body couldn’t recharge and repair itself, then no amount of diet and exercise would keep it healthy. The way Quinn’s body hurt all the way down his toenails while his head throbbed from fatigue—yeah, he believed it.
He leaned against another tree and cracked his neck to one side, then the other. They both stretched and winced. Every time he closed his eyes, he was tempted to keep them closed. God, he needed sleep. He needed sleep so damn bad.
But… not out here.
Except what choice did they have? Eventually, the minds would be willing but the bodies would collapse.
“We should keep moving,” he slurred. “I’m exhausted, but…”
“Me too. Maybe another mile?” Geri nodded back in the direction they’d come. “Then we’ll rest for real.”
Quinn wasn’t sure his legs would carry him another mile, but he also wouldn’t be able to relax if they stayed here. One more mile would give them a little more breathing room. “Okay. Let’s—”
Something jabbed into his back.
Geri gasped, but then a gloved hand covered her mouth. Before Quinn could shout, his mouth was roughly covered too.
“No point in screaming,” a voice hissed in his ear. “No one who hears you will care.”
The thing jabbing into his back prodded harder, and his heart dropped.
That was the muzzle of a gun, wasn’t it?
The memory of Lynnette dying in agony after a single gunshot wound almost drove a whimper of fear out of him.
They didn’t shoot him or Geri, though. Not yet, anyway. His arm was yanked behind him and bound. Then the other. Someone grabbed the back of his neck and shoved him toward the beach.
Geri was being similarly manhandled, stumbling as she tried to walk with her hands bound behind her back and someone shoving her every other step.
He squinted, trying to make out the face of the man beside her. They were all nearly impossible to see in the dark, and the night vision goggles covered their faces anyway.
Jesus. They must’ve been stalking them through the woods, moving stealthily without being hindered by the darkness.
An engine rumbled nearby. A moment later, wide set headlights pierced the night. A Humvee pulled up, and Quinn’s heart skipped as he realized it had a large gun mounted on a turret on the back. Someone was manning that gun, too, his face also obscured by NVGs.
Yeah, there was no escaping now. They’d be mowed down in no time.
Though as he was shoved into the Humvee, he had to wonder if that would be so bad. He’d heard getting shot was painful as hell—Lynette certainly hadn’t died an easy death—but a few rounds from a gun that big would probably do enough damage to make it quick, right?
It would suck for a minute or two, and then he wouldn’t have to worry about anything ever again.
But he was in the Humvee now, wedged against Geri with a black-clad man sitting on either side of them.
No one spoke as the driver continued up the beach.
Beside him, Geri pushed out a ragged sigh. He turned to her, and she met his gaze in the low light, her face full of fear and despair. He wanted to say something comforting, but there was nothing to say. There was no comfort in a situation like this.
Especially not with the distant hotel coming closer, its lights like a beacon of some portal to hell. God only knew what waited for them when Rich found out they’d tried to leave.
Somehow Quinn didn’t think it would be quick or painless.
The Humvee stopped by the hotel’s loading dock. Geri and Quinn were both dragged from the vehicle, the men pulling and shoving them enough that they each took a knee on the pavement. They were hauled to their feet, though, and frog-marched in through the loading area. A dark stairwell led down into the bowels of the building, and a dank hallway took them into a cold, musty room with no windows and a single bare lightbulb.
Their cuffs were connected to metal loops welded into the walls. Quinn glanced down, then kept his gaze up because he didn’t want to think too hard about what that rust color was or why so much of it was concentrated around a drain at the center of the uneven floor. He hoped the intense metallic smell in his nose and mouth was just from nearby piping and HVAC equipment this time.
He was almost relieved by the coolness of the room. The hotel had become so unbearably hot without the A/C that this was a few degrees more pleasant.
That wasn’t much comfort, though, especially not when a big metal door banged shut, sealing them in.
Or when Quinn realized someone else had joined them.
Rich Price.
Oh, fuck…
He stood in front of them, arms crossed, his expression somewhere between a disappointed father and a fucking psycho who was about to lose his shit. Blood pounded in Quinn’s ears as the silence stretched on. As their “host” glared at them, not moving and not speaking.
At a silent command from Rich, Mark patted both of them down, and Quinn’s heart sank when the goon held up Geri’s phone. He handed it over to Rich, who took off its protective case, dropped the phone on the concrete without preamble, and smashed the shit out of it with the heel of his shoe.
Mark didn’t find the booster, though. He couldn’t have missed it. The device wasn’t huge, but the man was thorough, and Geri couldn’t have hid it that well in her shorts and T-shirt.
When he informed his boss he’d finished searching, though, he hadn’t found it.
Rich inclined his head, flicking his eyes back and forth between Quinn and Geri. “I seem to recall I made myself very clear in my office: no one is leaving.”
Geri squirmed beside Quinn. Quinn was too paralyzed with fear to even twitch.
Rich started walking across the small room. Then he turned on his heel and went back the other way, his dress shoes clicking menacingly on the wet concrete and crunching on the pieces of Geri’s phone. “You had a chance to leave. Both of you. A very generous one, if I do say so myself.” He snickered without a trace of humor. “Do you know how many people would kill for the option to have a quarter of a billion dollars, not to mention everything else that was included in that golden ticket? I know it doesn’t sound like much to people in your ivory towers, but most of the world—most of the people who put you and keep you in those ivory towers—will never see that much money in their entire lives.”
He stopped and faced them again, eyes narrow. “You agreed to play the game when you decided to forego that golden ticket.”
“We didn’t,” Geri gritted out. “You didn’t tell us all the rules before we agreed.”
Rich’s laugh was sharp and caustic. “A billionaire suddenly concerned with fairness? Now isn’t that poetic.” He stepped closer, getting right up in her face, and his voice got even colder. “Consider it a lesson, Ms. Cole, in being dealt a shitty fucking hand, and having no choice but to play that hand. That’s something most people learn from real life. People of your station?” He shrugged dismissively. “Well, it’s never too late to learn, is it?”
Geri didn’t speak. Quinn struggled to breathe.
“Now, before either of you think about trying to escape again.” Rich stepped back enough to look at them both. “Keep in mind that neither of you know where you are. You have no idea how far away the nearest dry land is, never mind in what direction. And you don’t know the terrain of this island. My men, however, do.” He glared right at Geri as he growled, “You’re here until you’re either dead, or I’m good and ready to let you leave. Is that understood?”
Geri swallowed hard. “Under… Understood.”
“That’s what I thought.” He turned his murderous glare on Quinn. “What about you? Do you understand?”
Quinn nodded. “Y-yeah. I understand.”
“Good.” Rich glanced at each of them. “I’d be more than happy to cut both your throats for this. I don’t tolerate insubordination from my employees, and I sure as hell don’t tolerate it from the likes of you.” He shrugged. “But this is a game for twelve, and no one gets out of playing it that easily.”
Quinn shuddered. He thought Geri did too.
Rich turned to Mark. “Get them back to their rooms.” He paused. “But rough them up a bit first so they don’t forget this.”
Mark grinned an icy grin. “Will do, boss.”
Rich left, and Mark turned to Quinn and Geri.
He grinned.
Cracked his knuckles.
And made sure neither of them forgot Rich’s warning.