The strobe light moved closer and closer until finally, I could see the shadowy outline of two figures on a small boat. It was indeed almost identical to the little boat I’d taken several days prior. One of the figures stood, waving me in. In the dark I could only make out his shape, a tall thin man with a ponytail sticking out the back of his cap. It was the man that had abducted Pam in the first place. My eyes slid back to see the second figure. She had a bag over her head and appeared to have her arms and legs bound as she sat silently. I could only hope that she was alright.
“Toss me your line,” said the ponytailed man.
After getting a little closer, I did as instructed. That was when I noticed he held a rifle in his hands. Holding it, he bent over to tie the two boats together. I took the opportunity to grab the bag of money from the floor, and the second he stood upright, I tossed it over to him.
He looked down at it curiously. “No, the money stays in that boat.” He tossed the bag back to me.
“No, I’m sure your boss said to put it in your boat.” Feigning confusion, I tossed the bag back to him like we were playing a game of hot potato. “You’re welcome to make sure it’s all there.”
A look of befuddlement passed across his face as he unzipped the bag and peered inside. While he was busy inspecting the contents, I climbed over into his boat and walked to the back of the boat where I hooked an arm under Pam’s elbow to stand her up.
“Don’t worry, Pam. I got you,” I whispered into her ear. I moved her towards the edge of the boat. A muffled scream came from the back of her throat, like her mouth was gagged beneath the bag she had over her head.
He looked up at me, his bottom lip filled with a wad of chew. “What the hell’re you doing?”
I pointed to Pam. “Getting the girl.”
The ponytailed man frowned. The duffle bag was slung over one shoulder now, and his rifle was aimed at me. “This ain’t the plan,” he snarled before spitting over his shoulder into the Caribbean Sea. “The boss woulda told me if we were changing the plan. You’re supposed to take this boat. I take that boat.”
I rubbed a hand against my chin and tipped my head to the side. “You sure? I swear he said I take the boat I road in on and you take the johnboat.”
The guy nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure of it. This boat ain’t got no motor on it.”
I lifted my head, then turned slightly, looking over my shoulder as if to check the motor status for myself. As I did, my hand balled into a fist. “Huh, so you’re right.” I turned back around in a flash, letting my weight shift forward, and plowed my fist into the scrawny man’s face, catching him off guard. The long-nosed barrel of the gun swung towards the boat’s hull as he toppled backwards. His leg caught on one of the welded bench seats in the little johnboat, and the weight of the duffle bag on his shoulder pulled him backwards towards the water. I wasted no time in launching myself at him again, and I gave him a steady shove. He, the rifle, and the duffle bag fell into the water with a splash.
Pam’s muffled screams drew me back to her.
“Shhh,” I hissed. “Do you trust me?”
Her head bobbed.
“Good.” With that, I reached over, drew the little speedboat closer to me and gave Pam a shove. She toppled over headfirst into it. “Sorry about that,” I yelled as I heard the resulting thumping sound, followed by a choked scream.
The ponytailed man’s head reappeared in the inky water. He struggled to keep the money hanging from his shoulder while keeping himself afloat. But the bag was now soaked and obviously had become even heavier than it already was. He splashed around, trying to get a hand on the motorboat. I reached down and used the line I’d thrown him to pull the boat backwards and out of his reach.
“You piece-of-shit motherfucker!” he sputtered as he fought to get a hand on the johnboat.
“Better not let that money sink to the bottom of the Atlantic,” I chided. “Boss’ll be real pissed if he has to hire a diving team to go after it. Might make quite the spectacle.”
As I secured the two boats together down by the stern, ponytail man finally managed to get ahold of the johnboat’s hull. I used my long legs to step from one boat to the other and then gave the johnboat, along with the man, a shove. Ponytail man cursed wildly at me while I rushed to the helm of my speedboat and slid into the captain’s chair.
“Later, gator,” I said, pressing against the throttle and giving a nod to the man as he fought to get the soaked bag of money out of the water and into the boat. “Hang on tight, Pam,” I hollered back as she lay helplessly in a heap on the bottom of my boat, her butt sticking up in the air. With one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the throttle, I maneuvered us back towards the shoreline. A fine mist of water sprayed the air as I picked up speed. Excitement bubbled up in my chest. I’d done it! I’d gotten Pam!
And then, seemingly out of nowhere, there were headlights behind me. Shots flew over my head, whizzing past me and sending up sprays of water.
Oh shit.
“Francesca, I got problems,” I said, bowing down low and speaking into the phone in my shirt pocket. “Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpelstiltskin! I’m running this baby as far inland as I can get it, be prepared. Have the car waiting for me!”
While I picked up speed, the boat behind me closed the distance between us faster than I would’ve liked. Bullets continued to fly, but thankfully, they didn’t seem to be able to shoot for shit. I ducked my head low beneath the steering wheel and buried the throttle. The boat planed on top of the water and exploded through the mouth of Turtle Bay. Behind me, Pam wriggled around, trying to sit upright. “Stay down, Pam. They’re shooting at us. We’re almost there!”
The boat lurched when the hull hit the edge of the reef, sending Pam toppling forward again and me slamming against the wheel. When it came to a stop, the boat listed hard to the port side. I rushed to the back, grabbed Pam around the waist and pulled her over to the edge of the boat. Jumping overboard into the shallow water, I tugged Pam towards me, scooping her up in my arms. I struggled to get her over the gunwale and into my arms. “Damn, Pam. What’ve they been feeding you on that yacht?”
Noises gurgled from her throat. But there wasn’t time to waste waiting for an answer as shots continued to fly.
When I finally managed to get her off the boat, I did the best I could to run across the jagged bed of rock, shells, and sand just below the water’s surface with Pam weighing down my escape. And as I neared the beach area, I could see both Francesca’s Suzuki waiting for me and the Seacoast Majestic’s white car backed up to the beach with the back doors wide open.
Francesca yelled at me from her window, “Get in the car!”
Al’s hand was out the window of the resort car, waving me forward. “Come on, come on!” I could hear him yelling.
The boat that had been chasing me hadn’t run aground. Instead, they continued shooting at me from their boat, continuing to miss in the darkness.
I dumped Pam as far into the backseat as I could get her and then crawled in behind her. Slamming the door, I hollered at Al. “Go, go, go!”
Al stepped on the gas, sending Pam and me rolling backwards against the seat. Still gagged and bound, Pam squealed the whole time. Francesca’s lights trailed behind us.
When our tires hit the dirt road that would lead us back to the main drag, I slammed a hand into the headrest. “Hell yeah! We did it, Al!”
“Damn straight we did! Good job, kid!”
I shook my head as I watched the rearview to make sure that Dexter didn’t have any guys following behind Francesca. When the coast looked clear, I turned around. I met Al’s eyes in his rearview mirror. My heart still pounded wildly. “Oh my God, I can’t believe it. We did it, Al. We saved Pam and kept the money!”
Al’s eyes widened. His head snapped sideways. “What?!”
The car began to slow.
I glanced over my shoulder. “What are you doing? Go, go, go! Before they figure out what was really in the bag!”
“What was really in the bag!” repeated Al, stepping on the gas again. “Whaddaya mean, what was really in the bag?”
I shrugged. “It wasn’t all money in there.”
He stared at me through the rearview mirror. “What the hell are you talking about! I helped you count it all. The money was in there!”
“There was a little money,” I admitted. “I put some real bundles of money on top for show. The rest was just bundled paper wrapped with real bills. They’re only walking away with maybe a hundred thousand tops. Basically, they got a portion of the interest the seven million earned me.” I smiled proudly. I’d managed to pull one over on old Dexter, and boy did it feel good.
“Well where’d the rest of the money go?”
I grinned. “I hid it.”
“You hid it? Where? In your house?”
I laughed. “I’m not that stupid. No, trust me. It’s safe.”
Al shook his head. “I can’t believe this, Drunk!” he hollered. “Are you insane! That could’ve gone belly up! You were gambling with Pam’s life!”
I shrugged as I looked over at Pam, who was now really screaming behind the gag. I kind of didn’t want to take it out of her mouth. She sounded pissed, and I really didn’t wanna hear it. I’d saved her life, hadn’t I? “Yeah, well, I couldn’t be sure that she’d actually be there! The last thing I wanted to do was hand over seven million dollars, only to find out that she wasn’t even at the drop anyway! And look! It worked!”
Pam continued to shift about in her seat, squealing and making a ruckus.
“Oh for goodness’ sake, Drunk! Get that bag off the poor woman’s head! She probably can’t breathe!”
I sighed, wishing I could just drop her off at the airport like that. “Oh, fine, if I must.” I pulled her into a better position and untied the rope that they’d secured the bag with. Then, with one tug, I pulled the bag from her head. My eyes widened as I saw what sat before me. “Oh my God. Mack?”
32
“Mmmrrrhhh,” screamed Mack through her gagged mouth.
“Mack?” Al turned around in his seat and the car jerked sideways.
“Al! Keep it on the road!”
“But that’s Mack!” he screeched.
“I know! I can see her!” I hollered back. My heart thumped wildly in my chest as I unwrapped the tape from her head and pulled the rag from her mouth. “Oh my God, Mack! How did you get out there?!”
“They fucking took me!” she screamed. “They fucking picked me up on my way home from work and took me! Have you not been looking for me?!”
I winced. I’d been a little too busy trying to figure out how to save my ex-fiancée and getting together seven million dollars to worry about what my current fling was up to. And then I remembered Mari’s complaint that Mack had been late to work. No call, no show. I hung my head. Shit, I should’ve known. “I mean, I texted you, warning you that Mari was going to fire you if you didn’t show up.”
Mack rolled her eyes. “Oh, just fucking great. Now I’m gonna lose my job over all of your bullshit? They’ve got your ex, you know.”
“Yeah, I’m aware,” I snapped. “I’ve been busy trying to get her back.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me what was going on!” She held her zip-tied wrists up to me. “Can you please cut these off me?”
I leaned forward into the front seat. “You got a pocket knife or anything?”
Al shook his head. “I carried a pocket knife for seventy years,” he said. “Moved to Paradise Isle and decided I wouldn’t have a need for it anymore.”
“Sorry, Mack. We’ll get it off when we get back to my place.”
“Mack, I don’t understand. If you’re here, then where’s Pam?” asked Al, watching her through the rearview.
Mack shook her head, her curly brown hair bouncing around her shoulders. “She’s back on their yacht. That’s where they’ve been holding me—with her. They said they were keeping her just to make sure you didn’t pull any tricks tonight. And now look what you did, Drunk! You probably ruined it for Pam. I’m positive they’ll kill her now. That one guy was pretty pissed at you.”
“Do you know their names?” I asked. “The guys on the boat. Could you hear any of their conversations?”
Mack frowned. “No, they mostly kept us on a different side of the yacht than them. I have no idea who they were.” The severity of the situation finally sank into her brain, and she started to cry. “Drunk, I was so scared! They threatened to kill me!”
I put an arm over her shoulder as she sobbed. I felt horrible. Now I’d gotten Mack dragged into this. “I’m so sorry, Mack. I had no idea they’d even know about you and me. But I suppose everyone around the resort knew about us. Did they hurt you at all?”
“One of them hit me across the face. Felt like my eye was going to pop it hurt so bad.” She closed an eye and pointed to her face. “Can you see anything?”
I examined Mack’s tear-stained face. There was definitely a lump there, but it was hard to see any redness or bruising in the darkness. “You’ll probably have a shiner in the morning.”
She shook her head as the tears began to subside. “The other girl was beat up way worse, though. She looked like hell. And they still have her, Drunk. When that guy finds out you didn’t give him all the money, he’s gonna lose it on her. You should’ve just given them the money.”
Mack’s words tugged on my conscience. I’d only been doing what I thought was best. “I understand, but my gut told me they were gonna pull something on me tonight. And look! I was right. They weren’t even gonna give Pam up!”
“Maybe they would’ve let her go after they were sure you’d given them the seven million,” suggested Al. “I can’t believe you pulled a fast one on them, and on me! And you didn’t even tell me! And I’m your partner!”
“But I was right!”
Al shook his head. “You don’t know that you were right, kid. We haven’t gotten Pam back yet, and you just jeopardized everything!”
“I agree with Al one hundred percent,” added Mack.
I refused to meet their eyes then. Had I seriously just ruined everything? Again? I sat in silence, refusing to speak, as Al drove us all the way to my cottage at the Seacoast Majestic. Francesca and Hugo pulled in behind us next to Al’s golf cart.
When the car came to a stop, I climbed out first and then reached back in and pulled Mack out and helped her to her feet. I kept one hand under her arm so she wouldn’t tip over.
Francesca hung her head. “I heard everything,” she said. “It wasn’t Pam on the boat.”
“Yup,” I said. “It was my friend Mack.”
“Who’re they?” asked Mack, looking Francesca and Hugo up and down with annoyance.
“Friends of mine,” I said.
Mack furrowed her brows angrily. “I’ve been gone a day and you’ve already moved on? Nice, Drunk! While I’m getting punched, you’re over here getting busy with… with… her.”
Francesca held up a hand. “It’s really not like that—”
But Mack wasn’t done. “Wow, you know, Mari’s right. You really are a manwhore.” She shook her head. “She warned me. I shoulda listened.”
“Thanks,” I growled.
Hugo let out an annoyed bark, almost as if he were trying to tell me he was on my side.
“We’re not that kind of friends,” said Francesca, obviously frustrated. She furrowed her brow as she addressed me next. “Boy, Danny, where do you find these girls?”
“They find me,” I groaned. “Come on, let’s get you inside and get these zip ties off of you.”
I carried Mack inside my cottage and went about cutting off her ties.
“So you really didn’t give them the money?” asked Francesca.
I shook my head. “Nope. After Al and I stopped at the bank, I spent the rest of the day making fake money bundles. I figured it would be a night drop and they’d only look at what was on top, and by the time they got all the w
ay down to the bottom, I assumed I’d have Pam and we’d be long gone.”
Al’s hands flared out on either side of himself. “What kind of idiotic, dumb, stupid, idiotic—”
“You’re repeating yourself again,” I cut in.
“Drunk!” he bellowed. “I told you! There’s a time for fun and games and there’s a time to take care of business! Today you were supposed to take care of business.”
I shook my head. I was already feeling pretty bad about the situation. Al was only making me feel worse. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking—”
“You weren’t thinking!” he railed. “You were being selfish and greedy and gambling with Pam’s life! You were gambling with our lives too. They could have killed us all, you know.”
I sighed. That was the last thing I wanted. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“When they figure out that was a bag full of fake money, it’s over,” snapped Al. “You’re giving them the real cash. That money wasn’t even yours to begin with.”
“But finders keepers—” I began weakly.
“Al’s right,” cut in Francesca. “That money wasn’t even yours to begin with. Finders keepers or not. I think now, it’s just better to give them what they want to let Pam go. They don’t want blood on their hands. Otherwise, I think they would’ve killed her by now. I mean, look, they had Mack. They could’ve killed Pam and ransomed Mack, but they didn’t. But I have to agree with these two. I think if you would’ve just given them the real money, she’d be cut loose by now.”
I glanced over at Mack. She’d been the one on the boat with them, after all. “You really think they’re right, Mack?”
Mack shifted her weight. With her hands on her hips, she nodded vehemently. “Are you stupid? Of course I think they’re right! It’s what I’ve been saying!”
I let my head drop into my hands, and I scrubbed my face with the pads of my fingers. “Ugh, fine. Maybe I was just being selfish. You’re all right. I’m wrong. Alright? When Dexter calls back, I’ll make a deal for sure. I’ll get Pam back. I swear. No more funny business.”
Drunk on a Boat Page 17
