Lost in Paradise

by Rachel Lacey

  “Mm,” Fiona agreed, annoyed at the interruption.

  “Maybe it’s the Coast Guard?”

  “Could be.” But the other boat had drawn close enough now that its outline was visible in the night, and it didn’t look like an official vessel. There were no identifying marks she could see, no maritime flag or police lights. Instinctively, she stepped into the shadows, drawing Nicole with her.

  The approaching boat drew alongside the Cyprus Star, and with a horrible screech, their hulls bumped and rubbed, sending a shudder through the deck beneath her feet.

  “Oh my God,” Nicole whispered.

  Almost immediately, men dressed in black tossed ropes to secure their vessel to the Cyprus Star. The engine roared belowdecks, an apparent attempt by the captain to shake free, but it was too late. The marauders threw a ladder that hooked onto the Cyprus Star’s railing and began scaling it one after another.

  “Fuck,” Fiona mumbled. She tossed her wineglass into the seething depths of the Mediterranean, then grabbed Nicole’s and sent it after hers. She crouched, drawing Nicole down with her, and they pressed themselves into a darkened recess in the side of the ship.

  “What’s going on?” Nicole whispered. Her hand, still clutched in Fiona’s, shook.

  “Shh. I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s anything good.”

  Men’s voices shouted in Greek, too jumbled for Fiona to pick out more than the fact that they’d just been boarded by some kind of maritime pirates, and fuck, this was bad. She wrapped her arms around Nicole, who promptly buried her face against Fiona’s chest, something she would have appreciated a lot more five minutes ago. Now, her heart was about to burst out of her chest, and she wasn’t the least bit aroused.

  “Everyone listen to me!” a man shouted, followed by the pop pop pop of gunfire, and Fiona recoiled. A shaft of moonlight passed overhead, illuminating her red dress like a beacon in the night.

  2

  Nicole’s body jerked with each gunshot, tension bouncing through her muscles as she braced for the impact of a bullet. Fiona’s arms tightened around her, their bodies curled into each other as they huddled in the dark corner of the deck. Men shouted in several different languages, alternating between English, Italian, and something else Nicole couldn’t identify.

  “Everyone into the dining room,” a harsh voice boomed in a heavy accent over the ship’s PA system. “We will search the boat room by room, and you’ll be very sorry if we find you attempting to hide. It is much better for you if you come to the dining room on your own.” He then began to repeat the message in another language.

  Nicole could feel herself trembling like a helpless, cornered animal. This couldn’t be happening. She hadn’t come halfway around the world to be slaughtered on the high seas. Men. So many men. Would they rape the women first? A whimper tore from her throat.

  “Shh,” Fiona breathed, pressing Nicole’s face against her chest. She smelled good, like lavender and honey. Her heart beat wildly against Nicole’s cheek, betraying her calm exterior. Still, she seemed more composed than Nicole, who was about one gasping breath away from leaping into the dark water below and taking her chances with the jellyfish and sharks.

  “They said not to try to hide,” Nicole whispered.

  “They’ve already cleared the decks. They don’t know we’re here.”

  “But…”

  “It would be foolish to surrender,” Fiona said, her words disappearing into the night. “Besides, I have a plan.”

  “If they find us hiding, they’ll torture us, or kill us, or…or…” Nicole’s teeth had begun to chatter.

  “I’m not handing myself over voluntarily.” There was something steely in Fiona’s tone that made Nicole cling to her even more tightly. “You can go if you wish, but I hope you stay with me. I think our chances are better together.”

  “I don’t know.” Instinct said Fiona was right, but what if the men found them? How could they really expect to avoid capture?

  “Trust me.” Fiona squeezed her hand.

  “What’s your plan?”

  “Shh…not yet.” Fiona pressed them farther into the shadows.

  Eventually, things quieted as the hijackers gathered in the dining room on the deck below, presumably having rounded up all the guests they could find. Nicole heard the occasional muffled shout or scream, but the night around them was otherwise still and undisturbed. God, she hoped Fiona knew what she was doing. The air seemed to have dropped about twenty degrees since they’d come outside, or maybe Nicole was just going into shock. Her whole body shook uncontrollably.

  “Stay here,” Fiona whispered, disentangling herself from Nicole’s grip.

  “Where are you going?” Nicole clenched her fists against the urge to hold on to Fiona. The thought of being left here alone was too much.

  “Shh,” Fiona murmured again, climbing to her feet, her fiery red dress muted in the dull glow of the main deck behind them. As Nicole watched in mute horror, she slid through the shadows toward the lifeboat anchored against the Cyprus Star’s hull. In daylight, it had gleamed a bright orange beneath the sun. Now, it was just another hulking shape in the darkness.

  Nicole gulped. If Fiona’s plan in any way involved that lifeboat…

  Fiona toed out of her shoes and tossed them overboard before climbing over the railing, disappearing into the darkness. Holy shit, she was as insane as she was gorgeous, as brave as Nicole was terrified, hiding in the shadows while Fiona orchestrated some sort of ninja-like escape. Was she clinging to the side of the boat like a female James Bond? Had she jumped?

  Nicole drew on the last of her own courage and climbed to her feet on knees that wobbled like one of those bobble-headed figures that mounted to the dashboard of your car. She took a hesitant step in the direction Fiona had disappeared before movement caught her eye. Instinctively, she melted back into the safety of the shadows.

  There was a flash of red as Fiona came into view, climbing back over the railing, lithe as a cat, her unruly blonde hair trailing behind her like a cape. She darted across the deck to Nicole, gripping her hand in ice-cold fingers. “Come,” she whispered.

  “I can’t do…whatever you just did,” Nicole breathed. “My arms aren’t that strong.”

  “We’re going to hide in the lifeboat.” Fiona’s grip on her hand tightened. “Hurry.”

  Hide in the lifeboat? What would happen if the men found them there? But Fiona was already dragging her toward the railing, as determined as Nicole was reluctant.

  “Give me your shoes and your purse,” Fiona whispered.

  Nicole obeyed, sliding out of her heels and handing them to Fiona, who bent and tossed everything through the opening in the lifeboat. The top of it was level with the railing, but its entrance looked impossibly small and hard to reach from where they stood. One slip…

  Twenty feet below, the Mediterranean churned black and endless.

  “Go,” Fiona urged. “I’ll follow.”

  “Okay,” Nicole agreed, determined to at least sound brave. She wiped her palms against her dress before gripping the railing. It was cold and slick, dampened by the ocean breeze.

  “Quickly,” Fiona urged, her hand resting on the small of Nicole’s back, a gesture of reassurance.

  “Fuck it,” Nicole mumbled as she hoisted herself up and over the railing. Water glistened beneath her feet, and her stomach pitched. She definitely shouldn’t have looked down. Somewhere below, a man shouted and a woman screamed. Her hand slipped, and she clenched every muscle in her body, determined to make herself one with the cold, wet railing. Nicole didn’t care if she looked anywhere near as graceful as Fiona had. She just didn’t want to die.

  Biceps screaming, she lowered herself until her toes brushed the lip of the lifeboat’s open hatch. Awkwardly, she transferred her hands one at a time to the lower rung so she could get her legs inside and drop to safety. She landed in a heap, gasping for breath, heart lodged somewhere in her esophagus.

  Inside, the
lifeboat was pitch-black. It wobbled as she moved away from the entrance to make room for Fiona to follow. She tripped over something hard that turned out to be one of Fiona’s shoes, then bent to scoot them out of the way.

  A minute later, Fiona swung into view, her legs gleaming pale in the moonlight as her pleated dress hiked to her waist with the effort of her movement. She crouched against the floor, smoothing it into position as she gestured Nicole ahead of her, deeper into the darkened recesses of the lifeboat.

  “Wait…I never even thought.” Nicole opened her clutch and pulled out her phone. Duh. Why hadn’t she thought to call for help sooner? But while she’d had cell service and a Wi-Fi signal earlier today, now her screen showed no signal of any kind.

  “They’ve disabled the ship’s service connection,” Fiona said under her breath. “Smart of them.”

  “I don’t think this is their first time, do you?”

  Fiona shook her head. There was a bump and more shouting from below. She crawled back toward the lifeboat’s entrance. “They’ve detached the other boat. I assume that means they’ve taken control of ours.”

  “Shit,” Nicole mumbled. The inside of the lifeboat was impenetrably dark and foreboding. She almost preferred the corner they’d hidden in above, although this was no doubt safer. She was crouched against what felt like a bench seat with straps she assumed were some sort of harness or seat belt.

  “If they become sufficiently distracted, I think we can escape.” Fiona illuminated the screen of her cell phone over a red cord, and Jesus Christ, was she suggesting they launch the lifeboat on their own? That was either genius…or suicide.

  “What if they hear us?”

  Fiona turned her head, her expression hidden in the dark. “We’ll have to be certain they don’t. For now, we lie low.”

  They crawled to the back of the lifeboat and flattened themselves into the foothold, fingers entwined in silent support. Around them, everything was eerily still and quiet, aside from the steady rumble of the ship’s engine. The lifeboat swayed with the rhythm of the boat, turning Nicole’s stomach. The movement was disorienting in the dark. She bit her lip to quell the nausea.

  Gradually, the engine noise increased, and the ship seemed to pick up speed. The lifeboat vibrated beneath them, and she clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering. Fiona’s fingers tightened around hers. They lay like that for what felt like hours but might have been only minutes. It was impossible to tell when every frantic beat of her heart seemed to last a lifetime.

  Several times, men walked by close enough for them to hear scattered words—although none in a language Nicole could understand. She hardly dared to breathe until they’d walked out of earshot. Eventually, everything fell quiet, and for what felt like an eternity, they heard nothing but the roar of the engine and the occasional clanking of the lifeboat against its moorings.

  Nausea had become her constant companion. Her mouth was dry, and she had to pee. Hiding from pirates was a seriously uncomfortable business.

  Noiselessly, Fiona sat up next to her, tugging gently at Nicole’s fingers. “It’s now or never.”

  FIONA ILLUMINATED the screen of her mobile phone long enough to glance over the directions for launching the lifeboat. She wasn’t wearing her contacts, hadn’t thought she’d need them to enjoy a drink at the bar. Consequently, the words were a blur, but essentially, she needed to pull the cord dangling over her head to activate the winch that would lower them into the water.

  “Won’t that be loud?” Nicole asked, leaning over her shoulder.

  “It’s a risk we have to take.”

  “Why?” Nicole demanded quietly. “Do you know something you’re not telling me?”

  “I understood a few phrases from the hijackers,” she said, one hand gripping the release cord. “They’re going to begin sending ransom requests at dawn. They’ve had the engines running at full speed for hours now. I have no idea where we are, but I can’t see land anymore.”

  Nicole blew out a breath. “Ransom?”

  “There are some rich and important people on this boat, apparently. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not worth much, so I’d just as soon get the hell out of here.”

  “I’m not rich,” Nicole whispered. “I’m just blowing off some of my divorce settlement.”

  “And I didn’t even pay for my own ticket,” Fiona said irritably. They were wasting valuable time arguing about this.

  “We can’t be the only ones.”

  “I’m sure we’re not. But what do you think they’re going to do with those of us who aren’t valuable to them?” Fiona asked. “The engine is loud, and we’re at the far end of the boat from where they’ve got everyone gathered. With any luck, we’ll be in the water before they realize what’s going on. But we’ve got to go now, while we still have an hour or two of darkness left to cover us.”

  “What if the sun rises and we’re still just floating alongside the boat?”

  “This lifeboat has an engine if one of us can work out how to drive it, but the Cyprus Star is going so fast, I think it’ll leave us behind all on its own.”

  “An engine?” Nicole glanced around, eyes wide.

  “Lifeboats have come a long way since Titanic.” Fiona smiled in spite of herself. “Ready?”

  “Wait. I don’t think this thing is meant to be launched while the boat’s moving. It may be bumpy.” Nicole grabbed one of the harnesses hanging behind them. She sat and fastened it around herself. “You should strap in too.”

  Fiona leaned in until their faces were only inches apart, then winked. “I’ve always preferred to live dangerously.”

  Nicole’s mouth fell open, and Fiona wished for enough light to see the blush she was certain Nicole was sporting. Fiona pulled the cord, fingers tingling as adrenaline flooded her veins. Here goes nothing…

  The winch activated, whining to life with an alarmingly loud whir and clank. The lifeboat lurched, and Fiona gripped the nearest harness to keep herself upright. But with a screech and another clank, the motor ceased, and they were left right where they’d started.

  “Fuck,” Fiona muttered. Surely, a luxury vessel like this one was required to test their safety equipment frequently, so chances of mechanical failure were slim. That left the more likely possibility she’d done something wrong.

  A dim glow came from Nicole’s direction, and Fiona turned to find her reading the safety manual under the illumination of her phone. “Did you remove the safety pins first?”

  “What?” Fiona planted her fists on her hips. They’d made quite a bit of noise now and hadn’t moved even an inch toward safety. If one of the kidnappers came to investigate…

  “It says there are two safety pins anchoring the lifeboat to the ship. We have to pull them before it can be lowered into the water. See?”

  Fiona leaned over to examine the diagram Nicole was pointing at. The safety pins were bright red and probably quite obvious in daylight. In the dead of night, though, it posed a new set of problems. “I’ll do it. You stay here.”

  “I…well…” Nicole looked like she wanted to argue, then changed her mind. “You’re more surefooted than I am on the railing. I’ll find a way to make it up to you if we survive this.”

  “I can think of a few ways.” Fiona snapped a photo of the diagram with her phone before shoving it down the front of her dress.

  “Oh my God.” Nicole sounded equal parts incredulous and embarrassed.

  “Sorry. I make inappropriate jokes when I’m nervous.” But she’d been thinking about sex pretty much since she met Nicole, so she wasn’t entirely sure nerves had anything to do with it. Rather than think too much about that, she swung out of the boat and gripped the railing.

  Don’t look down.

  She kept her eyes straight ahead as she scaled the railing, wishing her dress didn’t have such a long, full skirt. It looked good on the dance floor, showed off her legs when she spun, but right now, it was a serious pain in the ass. She dropped to the de
ck in an ungraceful heap, her legs shackled by the skirt, which had twisted around her as she climbed.

  Sorting herself out, she rose, glancing around to make sure no one was coming. Luckily, it didn’t seem like anyone could hear them, now that they’d all gathered in the dining room at the other end of the boat. She slid the phone out of her top and turned on the flashlight, using it to illuminate the metal scaffolding holding the lifeboat to the hull of the Cyprus Star.

  Surely, anyone on this boat was better suited for this job than Fiona, and yet, here she was, yanking on a red metal pin so she could launch herself and Nicole into the Mediterranean Sea. If they made it that far, they’d worry about the whole “lost at sea” bit later.

  The first pin was easy to locate and came right out when she pulled. The second one required a quick consult with the diagram on her phone, but once she’d found it, it too came right out when she gave it a yank. Okay, then. She put her phone away and hauled herself back over the railing, wincing as something sharp bit into her leg. It burned as she reached with her toes for the entrance to the lifeboat. There it was. Almost there.

  She eased herself down, and shit. Her right foot slid out from under her, wrenching her hands from the railing, and she was airborne. For a moment, she pinwheeled her arms, suspended in time, stomach in her throat as she braced herself to tumble backward into the churning depths of the sea, but then warm hands were around her waist, yanking her to safety. She and Nicole tumbled onto the floor of the lifeboat and lay there, gasping for air.

  Fiona’s stomach whirled, her entire body prickling with pins and needles from the close call. “Thank you,” she managed finally.

  In response, Nicole’s arms tightened around her. Her chest heaved against Fiona’s, and she realized Nicole was crying. She sat up, swiping a hand beneath her eyes.

  Fiona dragged herself to her elbows, disentangling herself from the welcome warmth of Nicole’s body. Her right shin stung as it bumped against the seat. “Ouch.”