Nauti Temptress (28 page)

“He’s definitely a dead man,” Brogan declared as he turned to Dawg. “You ready to go?”

Dawg nodded, his smile savage. “Let’s go.”

TWENTY

Eve sat on the bunk, her arms stretched above her
and secured to the bottom of the metal bunk frame with a pair of handcuffs. Her fingers bit into the metal slats above her as she held onto them in an attempt to keep the pressure of the cuffs from tightening around her wrists each time her arms got tired and slipped. Not that holding them up by her fingertips tucked beneath the slats was really helping a lot.

“Here you go, cutie pie.” Poppa Bear gripped her shoulder and pulled her forward to tuck another pillow behind her without asking if that would make her more comfortable.

She glared at him, taking in the Santa look of the full head of gray hair and the well-trimmed beard and mustache of the same color.

“Why are you doing this?” she whispered, staring up into the dark brown eyes that held a twinkle of a smile.

“Because it makes me happy,” he laughed jovially.

He may look like that jolly little elf, but she couldn’t remember a single story where Santa took hostages or where he threatened to kill them. Unless that was fun and games in his off hours, she thought half hysterically.

This was just wonderful. She was definitely living on a much shorter time line than she had ever imagined and here she was worrying about Santa.

“Too bad we lost Kraig,” Kai grumbled as Poppa Bear moved back to his seat just inside the hall where he could keep an eye on her. “He’d make a hell of a scapegoat.”

“Once we get the gold we’ll just take care of both of them.” Poppa Bear shrugged as he looked back at Eve, grinned and winked merrily. “Don’t worry, sweetie, I’ll make sure it don’t hurt.”

She sneered back at him.

Yeah, that was a comforting thought. It just wouldn’t hurt.

Kai laughed at the other man’s comment as Eve glimpsed him prowling about the other side of the kitchen.

“How long do you think it should take?” Kai asked. “I have to call them soon. I don’t want anyone getting any ideas if they figure out we have the boat and where we are.”

“It’s all depending on where that gold is.” Poppa Bear shrugged. “It will take them a while to load it, though. Chandler never got it all transported after he stole it. Though, I’d say Dawg can get it all in one haul in that heavy-duty delivery truck he has for the store if he can get it to wherever his daddy hid it.”

“Too bad it wasn’t hidden in the house.” Kai grimaced.

“I spent three nights searching that house after Chandler died.” Poppa Bear sighed. “If it was there, it was hid so damned good that even my electronics couldn’t find the shit.”

What gold?

God, she hated this. If she ever got out of it alive and Brogan kept so much as one damned secret from her then she was going to end up shooting him.

Besides the fact she was way too damned nosy and hated, absolutely hated, not knowing what was going on, she had also not been prepared for Kai Maynard. Perhaps if she had known what was going on, she would have been prepared.

“If we could have gotten rid of Brogan’s sister, then none of us would have been identified,” Kai snapped, his anger obviously brewing. “Son of a bitch, Bear, this is ridiculous. How the hell did he manage to fuck up?”

“We warned him,” Poppa Bear seemed to be reminding him. “Samantha Bryce ain’t no man’s dummy. And her instincts are out of this world. She was already gettin’ suspicious of him and he wouldn’t hear it.”

Kai muttered something that caused Poppa Bear to chuckle in amusement. “Just ’cause she’s a lesbian don’t make her no dummy, Kai.”

“Fine, she’s no dummy,” Kai snapped, his tone hard and angry. “Kraig wasn’t stupid either. So how did she manage it?”

“I told you Kraig was underestimating her,” Poppa Bear retorted, obviously becoming irritated. “I even told Kraig and he wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Stupid bastard,” Kai cursed again. “I should have called one of the men in from Illinois. They wouldn’t have put up with her shit.”

“Yeah, us Southern boys just seem to have trouble believin’ our womenfolk are as smart as we are.” Poppa guffawed. “It ends up gettin’ most of us hurt. Boys like Kraig end up gettin’ killed.”

Poppa Bear looked back at her, winked again, this time without the smile, but with a warning look instead before turning back to Kai.

“Give ’em a call, Kai,” Poppa Bear told him patiently. “Make the call to Ray, he has a cooler head. Those boys just blow up and lose their senses when they get pissed.”

“Now don’t it just break my heart that they’re gonna get pissed,” Kai sneered. “See if you can find that location scrambler for me.”

“Hell, I told you to keep it with you, Kai,” Poppa Bear growled in irritation. “Hang on.”

Straightening from his chair Poppa Bear moved down the hall to the back bedroom. Watching him, Eve saw him going through the blankets on the bed before turning into the bathroom. Empty-handed, he moved back into the bedroom, started going through some bags then moments later gave a muffled “Aha.”

Stepping back into the hall, he paused.

Pushing a small metal key quickly into her hand, he whispered so low she barely heard him. “Wait for the sign. Unlock. Go over back into water. Hear me?”

She nodded quickly.

Rising, he took a quick step away from her as she felt the cool light weight of the key in her curled fingers.

“I got our location scrambler,” Poppa Bear announced as he moved back into the kitchen. “Is there anything else you need, young’un?”

Kai laughed fondly as he stepped to the other man and took the device.

“Two hours,” Kai remarked. “That should be plenty of time for them to get everyone together.”

“Definitely,” Poppa Bear agreed. “Make sure old Dawg has plenty of help loadin’ all that purty gold.”

Eve watched as Kai plugged his phone into it then quickly made his call.

Location scrambler?

She knew it was possible to track cell phones, but strangely enough no one had taken her cell phone from her bag, nor had they turned it off. It was lying at the bottom of the bunk bed, and she prayed it was providing a beacon to the houseboat.

As she watched, Kai moved past Poppa Bear toward her as the phone rang.

“Hello,” Grandpa Ray answered the phone carefully.

“Ray Mackay?” Kai asked.

“It is.”

“Your niece Eve wants to say hello,” he spoke into the speaker phone. “Here she is.”

“Grandpa? I’m fine,” she told him, avoiding Kai’s cruel, hazel eyes. “Tell Brogan not to worry.”

Kai pulled the phone back.

“Ray, if you ever want to see Eve alive again, then listen up. And tell your boys they better follow my directions exactly.” He chuckled then. “And tell Brogan to worry. ’Cause if they don’t hurry, then I’m going to have a little personal party with Ms. Mackay here. I’ll show her how a real man fucks.”

He smiled down at Eve in leering lust before turning and pacing back to the front of the boat before he began conveying his “orders” to Ray.

As Kai spoke, Poppa Bear moved back to the hall, turned, and mouthed “Now.”

Eve moved. Carefully turning the key in her fingers she inserted it into the lock and turned it carefully.

The cuffs clicked open.

Glancing up the hall again to see Poppa Bear’s wide form blocking Kai’s sight down the hall, she quickly slid from the bunk before slipping into the back room and moving nervously to the sliding glass door at the back.

Sliding it open just enough to slip onto the narrow deck, she edged over to the ladder that led into the water and quickly began descending.

The water was still chilly.

Summer hadn’t gotten as hot as it normally did by now, but even then, the deeper waters took longer to warm.

Not quite icy but definitely uncomfortable, the water washed over her ankles, her knees as she glanced up quickly, all too aware of the two men Kai had directed onto the top deck of the houseboat.

Thankfully, the overhang from the second floor and deck roof provided just enough protection that they wouldn’t see her easing into the water, but after she got into the cold lake, there would be no swimming for shore.

The water lapped over her waist, causing a shiver to wash up her spine as she ran out of ladder and finished lowering herself by holding onto the ladder’s rungs with her hands.

She was at the last rung, thinking desperately, trying to figure out how to hide when a hard hand suddenly capped over her mouth.

She froze.

“Hello, baby,” Brogan whispered at her ear. “Ready to go hide with me?”

Relief rushed through her with tidal wave force, sucking the strength from her knees and making her damned glad she didn’t need them right now.

As he helped her, she turned in his arms, feeling the wetsuit he wore and seeing the oxygen tank on his back, the rebreather on his face.

“We’re going under the boat,” he explained quickly. “On three take a deep breath. One. Two. Three.”

They went under as a sudden shout exploded from inside the houseboat.

Holding on to Brogan she was surprised when he ducked straight under the houseboat then resurfaced beneath it in the cavity created between the two floaters the boat was built on.

Brogan wasn’t alone.

As they resurfaced Dawg was suddenly pushing a diving tank over her arms as Brogan held her up, his hands gripping her waist.

Natches and Rowdy were behind him, Chaya behind them.

“Remember how to use this?” Dawg asked quickly as a regulator was attached and Natches ducked under the water.

She nodded quickly.

A second later fins were being pushed on her feet as Brogan quickly fitted the weight belt around her waist.

“Go with Chaya. Once they can’t find you they’ll start the motor and we’ll all be in trouble if you’re not out of here,” Dawg growled.

“Brogan . . .”

“Don’t get him killed, Eve,” Dawg snapped. “Go with Chaya now.” He pushed the regulator between her lips.

“Love you, Eve. Always,” Brogan whispered at her ear before Dawg pushed her beneath the surface and Chaya grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the way.

It was like a war zone under the water, she thought in amazement as Chaya continued to drag her out of the way.

Brogan, Dawg, Rowdy, Natches, and Chaya weren’t the only ones beneath the cool surface.

Deep enough beneath the boat for safety and to ensure they weren’t seen, two underwater propelled, sled-like vehicles waiting with two frogmen outfitted with military rebreathers such as the ones Brogan and the Mackays were wearing.

Of course, Eve hadn’t been that lucky. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear anything going on. All she could do was hold on to Chaya as the other woman directed her while unclipping an underwater propulsion device from her waist belt and activating it.

Immediately they were drawn through the water as Eve saw the first lines of water being split from bullets firing into the depths. And all she could do was worry and pray.

* * *

Two minutes flat, Brogan thought in disgust as he
surveyed the interior of the
Nauti Buoy
. Kai was dead, and unfortunately Poppa Bear had been wounded. The bullet he’d taken in the leg would put him out of commission for a while.

The three men that had been on the upper deck had been taken out in twenty seconds flat with only a few wild shots getting off.

Two were only badly wounded; one was dead.

Staring down at Kai’s body he felt the irritation rising inside him.

“Fuckers say they don’t know anything,” Dawg announced as he came from the makeshift interrogation room the upper bedroom had been turned into. “Timothy’s having a boat dispatched, it should be here in about five minutes to haul their asses to the nearest Homeland Security holding cell.”

“Bye-bye, bad guys,” Brogan muttered.

“Or something,” Dawg snapped, turning back to him, his hands propping on his hips as he stared at the bloody mess that had been made of Kai. “Hell, the girls are going to make us clean up this mess, you know?”

Brogan shrugged. “Have fun.”

Dawg laughed. An amused, evil laugh that had Brogan staring back at him askance. “What?”

“Oh, you’ll get to have fun with us, ole boy, you just watch. Chaya will have taken Eve straight to Kelly, Christa, Janey, and Rogue, and she’ll be given the full lowdown on how things work. And trust me, those girls stick together like glue against us.”

“But Eve’s future husband isn’t an asshole.” Brogan grinned confidently. “So have fun without me.”

Dawg chuckled at the declaration. “You know, Brogan, it’s going to be fun watching you learn the ropes. Lots and lots of fun.”

The look on his face wasn’t one of amusement, though. Brogan couldn’t help the trepidation that slowly rose inside him at the pure anticipation that filled Dawg’s, Rowdy’s, and Natches’s gaze.

And he really hoped they were wrong.