Always Watching (45 page)

I struggled to quell the growing panic in my
chest.  “What’re you saying, Gillette?”

“
I’m saying that you’ve
never been a free woman.  You were bought and paid for from
the moment you were born.  You really aren’t as bright as
everyone thinks, are you?  Guess Al was right about you. 
Here we rushed our timetable for fear that you were putting all the
pieces together too quickly.”

Umberto eyed me warily.  “You speak to
much, Andy.  She does not need to know more than the fact that
she is already owned.”

“
Aw, but this is half the
fun, knocking her down off that smug pedestal.  Tell me,
Helen, would you like to know more?”

“
You’re a liar, a criminal
of the worst kind.  Why would I believe anything you say to
me?”

“
Because,” he grinned, “in
your heart, you already know that I’m telling you the truth. 
In fact, I could convince you with one simple name.”

“
No, you couldn’t. 
No more than I can convince you that I’m going to take great
pleasure in killing you.  It doesn’t matter who you sell me
to, Gillette.  I’ll find a way to escape.  You’d better
grow eyes in the back of your head, because I will find you, and I
will kill you.  Slowly.”

The impact of my threat, the steely resolve
and absolute intent behind it gave him pause he didn’t want to
show.  Instead, it hitched and slid in his throat, a slow
unease that settled in the lump, and lodged until I made good on
the promise.

“
Martha Henderson,” he
said softly.

The name ricocheted round my brain. 
Yeah, I recognized it.  But my poker face is far superior to
Gillette’s.  I absorbed the horrible reality he revealed to me
without flinching.  “Gesundheit.” 

He grinned and gave soft applause. 
“Well played, Helen.  Pity you were sold so quickly.  I
think breaking your will is a task I’d rather enjoy from angry
start to sweet surrender.”

I spat again.  “Know
this, you son of a bitch.  I will
never
surrender.  Watch the
obituaries.  When you see Captain Umberto’s untimely demise,
you’ll know what it means.  I’m coming for you
next.”

He turned to Umberto and glanced at his
wrist watch.  “I’ve got to make a couple of calls from a land
line.  We’ve got to get our other passengers on board. 
Prepare the crew.  We’ll be leaving dock sooner than
anticipated.”

“
Surely you don’t believe
this woman will be missed so quickly.”

“
Oh, I know she’s been
missed already,” Gillette said.  “They won’t have a clue who
took her.  We’ve got to get Missy out of Bay County
Correctional and the brat from Hennessey Island before we can pull
up anchor and go.  Not to worry.  Destiny’s been working
on it all day.  We’ll be ready by midnight.”

It was a little after
eight when Devlin and I arrived outside Fantasia’s apartment on
Mercer Boulevard.  My heart sank.  Could Johnny pull the
pieces together in less than three hours and find me before
The Celeste
slipped out
onto the Pacific? 

Please, God, let him get past his anger and
find me in time.

The rare prayer was uttered from the deepest
foxhole I’d ever known.  I had almost no hope that Johnny
would give a damn that I disappeared.  Maybe he’d figure I
made good on my promise to leave Darkwater Bay once and for
all.

No, if I had a saving grace in this mess, it
was David Levine.  He’d know.  He’d put it all
together.  He’d…

The fragment of Johnny’s
call from OSI earlier rippled through me again.  Florence
Payette was upset, demanded to see me immediately.  The
by the way
was that
Gillette had also been there, looking for Devlin.

I swallowed against a dry thick
tongue.  “Oh my God.  You’re the one who took the Datello
baby to Montgomery.  You picked her up from Saint Mary’s from
Florence Payette.”

Gillette turned toward me.  “Figured it
all out, have you?”

“
Not all, but I’m getting
there.  You’re right, Gillette.  You spilled the
beans.  More than a few.  Let me see how many of the
players I’ve got in this little drama.  Preston.  Sherman
– both of them, you, your soon-to-be-dead pal Umberto. 
Destiny Gerard.  One more.  Am I right?”

He rolled his eyes.  “Umberto, let’s
get her prepped for the sailing early.  I have the distinct
impression that she’s going to try to escape.  I’ll be
discussing that other matter we –”

“
But Andy, we will have to
approach her to prepare her for transfer.  We should’ve done
it immediately when you arrived.”

“
Nonsense.  It’s her
first lesson in humility and obedience.  You know this. 
How many times do we have to go through procedure?  Until they
learn who is in charge, clothing is not an option.  If you’re
that concerned, bring in one of the crewmen to help
you.”

“
Bastard,” I hissed. 
“You are
not
taking my clothes away from me.”

Gillette cocked his head to one side. 
“But Helen, the acquisitions are less likely to attempt to escape
without clothes or shoes.”

“
Tell me something. 
Where do these ship to ship transfers take place?”

He sighed heavily, hung his head and shook
it slightly.  “If you must know, it’s a small island inhabited
only by an active volcano off the Alaskan archipelago. 
Cleveland Island.  Satisfied?”

“
I bet we’d find a rather
unique bacteria in that water.  Something in the Vibrio
family.”

“
I’m sure I’d be
fascinated by where you’re going with all of this, darling, if I
gave a damn,” he said.

“
Taking Analynn
Villanueva’s clothing away from her didn’t stop her from trying to
escape, did it?  She jumped ship and tried to swim for the
island.”

Shock registered in Gillette’s eyes. 
“What makes you say that?”

“
The sexual assault you
inflicted on her didn’t kill her.  It was the water she
inhaled when she tried to escape.  I’m not a helpless seven
year old child, Gillette.  And I’m a very good swimmer. 
I’m not particularly modest either.  I’d rather be naked and
free than let you think for one second that stripping me will
prevent me from walking off
The
Celeste
.”

Umberto gasped.  “We
must leave
now
,
Andy.  She knows the ship!  Others might know it
too.”

I smiled coldly.  “That’s right,
Andy.  I know.  Others know.  Do you really think
midnight is soon enough to pull up anchor and get out of Darkwater
Bay?”

He turned back to the captain. 
“Umberto, even if we are caught, the wheels are already in
motion.  We’d never be prosecuted now, not when these buffoons
have been thoroughly discredited by our friend.” 

“
But what if they simply
kill us like they did Alfred?  What if our friend is not
successful?”

“
Valid points.  Fuck
the others.  They’re on their own.  Pull the anchor and
let’s get out of here right now.  Send the men down to strip
her.  I’ll be in later for her first lesson in… well, what
will be required of her when she’s in her new owner’s
possession.”

It was hardly the result I’d hoped
for.  I wanted him to panic and make a mistake, not leave now
as opposed to later.  My chest constricted tightly.  The
weight of the monstrous ship pressing down on me would’ve felt
lighter.

If Dev was still interviewing Fantasia, he
might not know I’d been abducted yet.  What if he thought
Johnny and I talked, that Johnny came and picked me up?

No, I couldn’t think it, couldn’t let panic
dull me to the point that I missed any opportunity for escape that
may present itself.  Like it or not, I’d have to operate on
the assumption that my escape would be accomplished solo.

This wasn’t the first serious predicament
I’d ever faced.

The door slammed behind Gutierrez and
Gillette.  I was plunged into darkness again.

Chapter 39

Morning sickness and anything less than the
stabilizers on an ocean liner do not mesh well.  The upside
was the roiling in my gut that mirrored the sea beneath the ship
let me know that help wasn’t going to rush in and save me before we
left dock. 

To a normal person, it would be a hope
crushing event.  For someone like me, a woman raised by a
father who took lives and never batted an eye of guilt or remorse,
it was a steel rod in my spine.  I was on my own.  It
severely limited my options to one.

Umberto Gutierrez and Andy Gillette had to
die.

In the darkness of my prison, I practiced
what little mobility they stupidly gave me.  I pushed away
questions about my father, his possible culpability in how I came
to be his daughter.  Thoughts of my mother, on the other hand,
provided a quick infusion of rage.

I wished she hadn’t died in that car
accident, probably for the first time since it happened.  It
would’ve been my distinct pleasure to watch the life fade from her
deceitful eyes.

While the soles of my already bare feet
climbed the wall behind me and provided relief to my aching arms, I
plotted.  They’d never see it coming.  At least not the
first time.  Big mistake to let me have the use of my
legs.

Pins and needles invaded my
fingertips.  It was ten steps beyond the discomfort one feels
when a limb falls asleep.  This was a literal sensation of
micro slivers of steel stabbing repeatedly into the highly
sensitive flesh. 

I clenched and released my fists in an
effort to promote better circulation.  I needed more than I
had.  While Gillette was yammering on and gloating about a
past I’d never suspected, I got a better look at my
restraint. 

The shackles on my wrists were attached by a
loop to the chain that held me to the wall.  The chain itself
stretched across the metal cargo bay, attached to large metal hoops
riveted into the walls.  I imagined they probably had some
legitimate use, maybe for securing cargo that was legally hauled in
such a room. 

Bad news was, even if I weren’t hampered
with some serious mobility issues from being shot last fall, I
never possessed the strength to break heavy iron chains.  Good
news was that because of the distance between the hoops on the
wall, they couldn’t secure me hoop to hoop without leaving a good
handful of chain within my grip on either side.

Leverage, meet momentum.

My legs had plenty of strength.  Even
though I had to use them to relieve some of the weight caused by
dangling on the wall where my feet couldn’t reach the floor, they
were strong enough not to be tired or experience even a twinge of
discomfort.

I remembered once, Johnny and I were
playfully wrestling around.  I got him in a headlock with my
legs.  He laughed himself silly over the fact that I could’ve
snapped his neck between my strong thighs.

Yes, I certainly could.  And would,
just as soon as someone made the dire mistake of getting too
close. 

My problem was that the trick would only
work once.  They’d be prepared on the second
approach. 

“
I need to get one of them
in here with me alone.  Without my arms, I can’t stop a second
person from… well, saving the son of a bitch.”

Where was Johnny?  Did he know I was
gone yet? 

Surely Devlin realized that I didn’t leave
voluntarily.  My purse was still in the foot well of the
SUV.  I left the ignition engaged so I could roll down the
window. 

God, what if one of the losers down on
Mercer stole the Expedition?

Wait a minute.  There were people down
there!  Witnesses!

The word screamed through
my brain like the sweetest symphony known to man.  Oh
hope!  It crashed through me again. 
The Celeste
was one big-ass
trawler.  It surely wouldn’t be hard to spot.  I indulged
in a moment of fantasy.  Johnny, flying across the Pacific in
a state police helicopter, spotting the ship, jumping onto the deck
from high above.  He’d pull his gun and start shooting
first.

David wasn’t a lost cause.  Surely he
had gotten the truth from Florence Payette by now.  They had
to know that she recognized Gillette when she saw him at OSI. 
They’d be looking for him, dead or alive.

His threat, anticipation of being the one to
teach me my first lesson in what would be required of me after the
transaction was complete, floated back into my consciousness. 
I’d be alone with him.  I had no doubt his little lesson
involved rape.  The bastard. 

Dilemma one was solved.  Gillette would
be the one to die with his neck between muscular thighs.

So how to kill Umberto?

The human heel is at least as hard as a
fist.  With my fist, I knew I had the strength and force to
crush his hyoid bone.  Getting to that location with a heel
would be tricky.

Think, Helen!  You’re running out of
time!

I sucked in a couple of calming
breaths.  A quick punch comes from a limb much shorter than a
leg.  It’s easier to see the leg coming.  More time to
react, to block or move.  I thought of the tiny hyoid bone,
how it holds the trachea open and allows for every necessary
respiration.  A tilt of his chin would throw off my kick.

Then again…

A wicked smile curled at my lips, and not a
moment too soon.  The door to the cargo bay swung open
again.  Umberto appeared with an unknown assailant.