Chapter 10
The scuffle between Frederick and his intoxicated companions was outright comical.
Tayla almost felt guilty for feeling entertained by the spectacle.
Two men swung meaty fists, but connected with nothing.
Two others, red-faced and yelling something about cricket, pounced on—or more accurately, fell on—Frederick.
Jason planted himself in the center of the chaos and lifted the inebriated men off of Frederick.
He was strong. A calm in the midst of a storm. And, sweet mercy, he was handsome.
Deciding it was pointless to lie to herself about feeling attracted to him, she admitted it—only to herself—and debated what to do about it.
Yesterday, she’d felt so drawn to him when he’d shared that scripture and talked about God being faithful.
But she knew she needed to step with caution.
She’d known other men who quoted scripture, only to find out later it was a facade.
Their true motivations, the heart of who they were, didn’t reflect God’s love.
She didn’t expect anyone to be perfect. No one’s perfect—she was a shining example of that fact. But she’d been royally hoodwinked in the past, and she was never going to let that happen again.
“Ma’am?”
A slim, young woman in a hotel uniform pulled her thoughts back to the ballroom.
“Yes?”
The woman looked concerned. “Are you Leland Faraday’s niece?”
“Yes. Why?”
She pointed to the doors leading to the hallway. “He’s just outside. He said to come get you. He said it was an emergency.”
What? Tayla’s eyes darted to Jason. He was still wrestling with the drunken guests. She couldn’t get his attention. She didn’t know what was happening, but apparently, she needed to get to Leland.
“Okay,” she told the young hotel employee. “Show me. Where is my uncle?”
She followed the young woman’s quick steps out of the ballroom and down the hallway a short distance. Then she opened an ‘Employees Only’ exit. “Out here, to the parking lot. This is the quickest way.”
What in the world? Why did Leland want her to leave the hotel?
They rounded a corner and faced the parking lot.
“Tayla! Thank goodness you’re here!”
It wasn’t Leland. It was the man from earlier. The one she recognized, but couldn’t place. She stood there, stunned, trying to figure out what was going on.
A tall man next to him stepped to the hotel employee, thanked her profusely for fetching Tayla, handed her a generous tip, and told her she could return to the hotel.
The mystery man stood in front of Tayla, repeating that he was glad she’d come so quickly.
And one second too late, Tayla realized his words were all an act for the benefit of the young hotel employee.
Once the young woman rounded the corner again, the tall man opened the back door of a nearby black sedan.
Tayla still had no idea what was happening, but every instinct inside her yelled, run!
She darted about two strides before the mystery man grabbed her, shoved her in the sedan’s backseat, and slammed the door.
Jason’s feet hit the asphalt parking lot just in time to glimpse the terror on Tayla’s face before the door shut. The man who’d slammed her door jerked his head at the motion of Jason barreling toward them. The guy Tayla was staring at during the party.
The man jumped into the passenger seat and slammed his door. The car sped, tires screeching, across the parking lot. Not willing to give up the chase, Jason darted diagonally across the lot to intercept them near the exit.
He reached the exit a moment before the sedan.
When the driver tapped the brake to make the turn out of the parking lot, Jason jumped on the hood.
Which probably looked awesome, but was an ill-conceived plan that led nowhere.
Whoever was driving didn’t feel compelled to slow down just because Jason was holding on for dear life.
He did get a good look through the front windshield, though. Three men in the car. The driver, the guy Tayla recognized, and another man in the backseat sitting next to Talya.
The driver slammed on his brakes, and Jason lost his feeble grip on the lip of the hood. He slid off the car and rolled to the side. He dodged being run over, but felt no relief. The sedan was leaving the parking lot.
He pushed to his feet and ran toward the sedan to at least get a better description of the car and which direction they were headed.
“Hey!”
Jason whipped his head to Knox’s voice.
“Get in!”
Knox barely slowed the SUV enough for Jason to jump into the backseat. He slammed his door and yelled, “Go right! They turned right!”
Leland sat in the front passenger seat. Jaw set. “How many? Who are they?”
“Three. And I don’t know. Haven’t seen the driver or the guy in the backseat before. The other guy was at the party. Tayla recognized him, but she didn’t know where from. She said it wasn’t a big deal, but it bothered her that she couldn’t place him.”
“Apparently, it’s a big deal,” Leland growled.
“Hey, calm down,” Knox said. “We’re right behind them.” He pointed at the only other car on the road, about forty yards ahead. “They can’t lose us on this island.”
“What’s their plan?” asked Leland. He glanced back at Jason. “Why grab her?”
Everything happened so fast Jason hadn’t had time to think. Until now. Only two scenarios made any sense. And he hated both of them. Either way, Tayla’s life was in danger—and that thought nearly mule-kicked a hole in his chest.
He pushed a hand through his hair and leaned forward between the front seats. “Okay, either they think we’re onto them for Gus’s murder or the attacks on Drakos, and they’re using Tayla to lure us out here . . . “
“To take us all out?” Knox asked. “Great.”
“Or,” Jason continued. “That guy panicked when Tayla recognized him. Maybe he thinks she remembers more about him than she does. Which is nothing, as of a few minutes ago.”
Leland turned to him. “Either way, you think they’re planning on killing Tayla.” The anger and fear lacing his words gutted Jason.
“We’re not going to let that happen.”
He meant those words. But he didn’t have a great plan yet. Stopping the sedan wouldn’t be difficult. Stopping the sedan without Tayla getting hurt—that was the challenge.
“They turned,” Knox said. “Want me to stay back, or . . . “
“Get closer. I don’t want to panic them into doing something rash, but I don’t want to lose them.”
Knox accelerated, made the turn at a greater-than-advised speed, and closed the distance between their SUV and the sedan. “Okay, now what?” He glanced at Jason in the rearview mirror. “You know I can get them off the road. I can stop that car. I just can’t—”
“I know, I know. Not with Tayla in there.”
The soup-thick tension filling the SUV threatened to impair his judgement. No. I’m more professional than that. Come on, Bridger, you’ve got this. You’ve been in tight spots before. Think of something.
Except he couldn’t. Couldn’t think of any action that wouldn’t endanger Tayla. They were going to have to take a big risk.
The order stuck in his throat.
“Jason.” Leland’s voice was low. And grave. “They let her see their faces. They’re not going to let her go. We have to—”
“I know. Knox, stop that car. Before we get near any cliffs.”
“Yes, sir.”
Knox hit the gas, passed the sedan on the left, and then cut back to the right.
The second their SUV was in front of the sedan, he touched the brake—lighter than he would have if Tayla wasn’t in the car.
Jason witnessed Knox executing this maneuver twice before.
But neither time was there a friendly in the car.
The sedan hit the back of the SUV, then swerved off the road to the right.
They were over a mile from the resort area, with no streetlights. No buildings in sight. And clouds covered the bright moon they’d enjoyed earlier in the evening.
Jason watched the sedan careen off the road into pitch darkness. And prayed they wouldn’t slam into a tree before they slowed.
Knox made a tire-screeching u-turn and followed the sedan off the road. They plowed through lush jungle for about five seconds before they hit sand. Knox slammed on the brakes.
A few feet in front of them, the sedan was hopelessly stuck on a sand dune, its front wheels spinning in the air, back bumper in the sand.
Jason didn’t hesitate. “Knox, cover the driver. Leland, backseat.”
The three of them spilled out of the SUV and surrounded the sedan, weapons drawn. Jason, Leland, and Knox yelled for the men to place their hands on their heads. The men slowly complied.
The front passenger door was open, giving Jason full view of the man Tayla recognized. Jason called out to her, keeping his eyes, and his gun, on the man. “Tayla, are you hurt?”
The three seconds of silence that followed dropped lead into his stomach. Why wasn’t—
“I’m . . . I’m okay,” floated from the backseat.
The reaction she triggered in him with those words . . . This wasn’t normal. Not for him.
When he rescued the three kids from a deadly hostage situation a few months ago in Moldova, he felt relief. But not weak-in-the-knees relief, like he felt now.
“Alright, Tayla,” he said. “All three of these men have guns pointed at them. They’re not going to move a muscle. Climb out of the car, walk to the SUV and get in.”
Again, the silence that dragged through the next several seconds tortured his stomach. She wasn’t moving.
He didn’t want to take his eyes off the guy in front of him, but her stillness worried him. Was she hurt, after all? Was she stuck somehow? In shock? “Tayla? Are you okay? Tayla, honey, say something. Can you get out of the car?”
He heard a muffled reply, but wasn’t sure what she’d said. He heard a door open.
He repeated for her to get into the SUV and noticed her movements in his peripheral vision. She walked slowly. But she was alive. Living and breathing. Which was far better than his fears had envisioned minutes ago.