“Wait,” she said, and Eli stopped. “Go left and head to the beach.”
At least she’s not an idiot, Eli thought. He changed course, stepping over a small tree stump. “Watch the stump,” he advised. “You don’t have your finger on the trigger, do you?”
“I won’t shoot you by accident,” she repeated in a singsong voice.
They continued walking, Eli whacking his way through the thick brush as best he could.
“Do you know how to use that thing?” he asked.
“What do you think?” she said.
“I think that you think you do,” he said, ducking under a vine.
“I think I can outshoot you drunk and blindfolded,” Stacy boasted.
“Well, you’re half-way there,” he said, turning to look at her. “All you need is the blindfold.”
Something moved just above Eli’s head and Stacy stopped cold. “Get on your knees, Eli,” she told him.
“What?” he said.
“Get on your damn knees NOW!” she repeated, raising the pistol and pointing it at Eli’s head.
Eli dropped to his knees and Stacy pulled the trigger. The shot rang out through the jungle and birds flew off in all directions.
A huge snake dropped out of the tree landing on Eli. “What the hell!” he yelled. He jumped up, frantically trying to undrape the snake from around his shoulders and neck. He threw the snake to the ground and it lay dead at his feet, half of its head blown off.
“Jesus Christ! You scared the shit out of me!” he yelled at Stacy. Eli ran his hand through his hair, wiping off the perspiration that was pouring down his temples. His heart was pounding through his shirt.
“For your information, that snake was getting ready to bite you,” Stacy told him. “I probably saved your life.”
Eli sat down and put his hand over his heart, as if he could will it to stop pounding. “Where did you learn to shoot like that?” he asked.
“I’m from Texas,” she said, as if that explained it.
“So are millions of other people,” he said sarcastically, “but they don’t go around shooting snakes between the eyes.”
“It’s just one of my many talents,” Stacy bragged. She had enjoyed seeing him so scared. It served him right for cutting her hair. “When you’re ready,” she said, motioning towards the beach.
Chapter 7
Niki, Carlos and Jason were in the kitchen when they heard gunfire.
“What the hell was that?” said Jason, knowing full well what it was.
“That,” said Niki, “was a gunshot.” He walked across the kitchen and pressed the intercom. “Eli!” No response. “Eli!” Niki said louder.
“I’ll check the girl’s room, you check Eli’s,” Carlos told Jason. The two ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs. They met back in the hall.
“She’s not in there,” said Carlos.
“Neither is Eli,” said Jason. “Shit!” he said, slamming his fist against the wall.
Niki was at the bottom of the stairs. “What?” he yelled up.
“They’re both gone,” Carlos told him, running back downstairs with Jason right behind him.
The three men took off out the door and looked around. It sounded like the shot had come from the jungle, south of the villa.
“Carlos, you take the beach. Jason and I will take the jungle. They’re probably heading towards the boathouse. I saw her checking it out when she was on the dock,” Niki said.
Carlos headed towards the beach and Niki and Jason took off into the trees. The canopy overhead where they entered was dense, making the jungle dark and eerie.
“Eli,” Niki shouted, but his voice was lost in the trees. If anything happens to him I’ll strangle that girl with my bare hands, he thought. As brothers growing up, the two fought more than they didn’t, but all that changed one afternoon when they were walking home from school. Niki had taken a detour to talk to a girl and, not wanting his brother tagging along, he had sent Eli ahead. But when Niki caught up with his brother, the neighborhood bully had gotten to him first. Eli was sprawled out on the sidewalk, unconscious, his face beaten to a pulp. There had been a dark awakening in Niki that day. He sought out the guy who had pounded his brother and he beat him to within an inch of his life. It was his first taste of self-dispensed justice, and it tasted sweet. Niki had sat beside Eli in his hospital bed for three days afterwards as his brother recovered from broken ribs, a concussion, bruises and lacerations. And from that day on, Niki had never laid another hand on Eli.
Niki continued calling to his brother as they made their way through the jungle, stopping now and then to listen for any reply.
“Don’t even think of saying anything,” Stacy warned Eli when they heard Niki calling. The two had come out of the jungle and were walking up by the tree line. They were almost to the boathouse.
“Stacy,” Eli said, trying to reason with her, “why don’t you give this up before one of us gets hurt?”
“Behave and that won’t happen,” she said.
“There’s no place for us to go.”
“Of course there is. We’re going for a boat ride.”
“I don’t even have the key. I couldn’t take you out on the boat if I wanted to.”
Stacy pulled the key out of her pocket. “That’s not a problem.”
Eli stopped and turned around. Stacy was dangling the key on her finger. “You are resourceful, aren’t you?” he said, impressed.
“I have my moments,” she said humbly. “Now, move along.”
They came to the door of the boathouse and Eli stopped short. “Someone’s been in here,” he said with alarm. He pulled at the padlock and it came off in his hand. It had been cut with bolt cutters. He turned around and repeated himself, “Someone has been here.”
She didn’t get the upshot of what he was telling her. “So what?” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
“So, we’re the only ones on the island. There’s not supposed to be anybody here,” he said, spelling it out for her.
The words sank in and Stacy got a bad feeling in her gut. “The six of us are the only people on the entire island?” she said, hoping she had heard him wrong. How the hell could she escape if there was no one to run to!
“Yeah,” he said, sounding surprised that she didn’t know. “But someone has tampered with this lock,” he said, holding it up. “Someone has been here,” he repeated.
Stacy was on the verge of panicking. She had assumed they could take the boat to some island village and she could get help. The fact that there was no one around changed everything. We’ll just have to take the boat to the mainland, wherever that is, she thought.
“Let’s go,” she directed Eli inside.
The boathouse was much bigger than it looked from the outside. There were two boats inside, a bright yellow cigarette boat and a small fishing boat with an outboard motor. She pointed towards the big boat and Eli untied the ropes that held it in place. He lifted the door so he could back the boat out and climbed in, and Stacy climbed in after him.
“We need to push off and start it outside,” Eli said.
“Go for it,” Stacy said, with more confidence than she felt.
Eli pushed the boat out of the slot and into the sunshine.
Meanwhile, Niki and Jason were making their way through the jungle.
“Look, they passed by here,” said Jason, pointing at a broken branch. He and Niki looked around. They could see the trail the two had taken. Eli had made obvious breaks in the foliage where he had passed. Evidently they had turned back towards the beach.
“Shit!” Niki said, jumping back, colliding with Jason. An enormous snake lay dead at their feet. Niki bent down and picked up the end that used to be its head. “Son-of-a-bitch!” he said, shaking his head. “Look at this!”
“Who’s got the gun?” Jason asked, confused.
Niki dropped the snake and thought about it. “It’s got to be the girl,” said Niki. “Eli can’t shoot like that.�
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“And she can?” Jason asked, horrified.
“I don’t know. Let’s get out of here,” he said, looking down at the snake.
Carlos had almost reached the boathouse, when Eli backed the boat out of the boat slip and into the open. The boat was sitting sideways to the shore and Carlos could see the gun in Stacy’s hand pointed at Eli’s back. Niki and Jason came out of the jungle and caught up with Carlos. The three stood on the beach assessing the situation.
“She’s got a gun,” Carlos informed his friends.
“She’s got my gun,” Jason clarified.
Niki called out, “Stacy, let Eli go. I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
“Shut up, Niki!” Eli yelled back. “Give me the keys,” he told Stacy, and she handed them over to him. Eli was determined to keep his brother out of it. He put the key in the ignition, but nothing happened. “It’s not starting,” he said, stating the obvious.
“Well, fix it!” she said, looking at the worried faces of the men on the beach.
Eli went to the back of the boat and Stacy shifted places, keeping the gun on him as he moved.
Niki was frantic. He couldn’t tell if Stacy had her finger on the trigger or not. “Don’t hold your finger on the trigger,” he yelled to her.
Stacy turned the gun towards Niki and fired a shot over his head. Birds scattered from the trees. “Don’t tell me what to do!” she yelled back.
Niki, Jason and Carlos hit the sand, and Eli jumped out of his skin. “Damn it, Stacy! What’s the matter with you!” Eli exclaimed.
“Your brother pisses me off.”
Eli got his wits back and pulled the cover off the engine. He got down on his knees to examine the motor and froze. “What the . . .” Eli jumped to his feet and scrambled backwards right into Stacy, knocking her over and falling on top of her. She was pushing him off and fumbling with the pistol when she realized what Eli was shouting.
“There’s a bomb in the engine!”
“Oh, brother,” Stacy said, getting back on her feet. She walked to the engine and peered over the motor cover. Three sticks of dynamite were taped together and there were wires going into a digital clock. The timer must have started when Eli put the key in the ignition and the seconds were ticking backward: 15 . . .14 . . .
Stacy screamed and ran towards the front of the boat. Eli grabbed her by the arm and dragged her up onto the bow and they ran to the side of the boat.
“Jump!” Eli yelled, and they both jumped into the water. They surfaced and started swimming away from the boat as fast as they could, but Stacy was lagging behind. Eli grabbed her arm and dragged her as he powered through the water. He was counting to himself “four, three, two . . .”
“Go under!” he yelled, dunking Stacy’s head.
The bomb went off and the boat exploded into a million pieces. Flaming chunks of the boat were falling from the sky landing all around Eli and Stacy.
Carlos, Niki and Jason had watched the two jump from the boat, but had no idea what was going on. When the boat blew up, they were stunned. Niki ran out into the surf and was swimming out to meet Eli and Stacy, with Jason right behind him. The water was in flames where the boat had been sitting seconds earlier.
Stacy and Eli swam under water until they needed to come up for air. Debris was everywhere. Stacy surfaced first, just in time to see a chunk of the boat coming down right above Eli’s head.
“No!” she screamed, as Eli came up right underneath it.
Eli’s eyes rolled in his head and he went under.
“Eli!” Stacy screamed. She shoved the debris out of the way, dove under, and grabbed hold of Eli’s arm, then shifted him around and dragged him to the surface. Stacy was trying to swim and keep Eli’s head above water, but his weight was driving her under. She choked on a mouthful of water and started sinking.
Niki was swimming hard to reach his brother. He got there just as Stacy was going under. He grabbed onto Eli and passed him to Jason. Eli’s weight having been lifted, Stacy was trying to swim up, but she was exhausted and couldn’t hold her breath any longer. Niki dove down, grabbed Stacy, and pulled her to the surface. She came up coughing and choking.
“Hold on to my back,” Niki told her.
Stacy put an arm around his neck and collapsed against his back without an ounce of energy left. Niki and Jason swam back to shore and dumped their loads on the beach.
Carlos was onto Eli before he hit the sand, examining his head where he had been hit. There was already an egg growing out the side of his head, but Eli was coming to.
Stacy was lying in the sand, face down, still coughing when Carlos came to check on her. “I’m fine,” she said between coughs, before he had a chance to look at her. Stacy rolled over onto her back and tried to sit up, but the pain stopped her. She reached down into her waistband and pulled out the pistol. “Here’s your gun,” she told Jason, and she tossed it into the sand without lifting her head.
Jason picked up the pistol and put it in his waistband.
“How’s Eli?” Stacy said, with her eyes shut.
“I’m fine,” Eli groaned.
She opened her eyes and forced herself into a sitting position. “You realize I’ve saved your life twice?” she commented.
Everyone had been so concerned with Eli that no one had even mentioned the fact that someone had put a bomb on their boat. It was Stacy who broached the subject.
“Excuse me, but is this an everyday occurrence in the bank robbing/kidnapping business, this boat-blowing-up thing? I mean, none of you has even mentioned the fact that someone planted a bomb on your boat.”
“It’s a first,” Jason said.
Eli sat up and looked over at Stacy, “I told you someone had been here.” He turned to Niki, “The padlock on the boathouse was cut.”
“Yeah?” Niki said. He was silent for a minute. “Do you think that whoever did this is still on the island?” Niki asked Carlos.
Carlos thought about it. “I don’t know,” he said, “but I don’t think so.”
Niki shook his head in acknowledgment. Too many things had happened at once and he was mentally exhausted. He needed to vent. He walked over to where Stacy was sitting and stood over her, then launched into her.
“You are not to go anywhere, and I mean anywhere, unescorted. Is that understood?”
His attack took her by surprise, but Stacy recovered quickly. “I should have shot you when I had the chance,” she said belligerently.
In one swift motion, Niki reached down and lifted Stacy off the ground and set her down on her feet. He grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her hard. He was so furious that he wanted to smack her. “You almost killed my brother!” he said, his eyes flashing.
Stacy was scared of him, but she was not about to show it. “I’m not the one who planted that bomb!” she shot back. Stacy was struggling to get loose. “Let go of me!” she yelled.
Niki let go of her and pushed her down in the sand. Stacy was livid. She jumped back to her feet and stormed over to him. She wanted to slug him, but she held back. He was so freaked out, he would probably hit her back.
“What did you think I’d do when you kidnapped me, behave politely and wait for you to kill me?” she said, incredulous. “Well let me tell you something, mister,” she said poking him in the chest, “I am not a fool, and I’m sure as hell not going to sit on my butt waiting for the executioner! I will try to escape from you every chance I get,” she yelled, “and one of these times, I’ll get away. And if you don’t like it, you can . . . kiss . . . my . . . ass!” she said, poking him with each word.
Eli had gotten up when Stacy went after Niki, afraid that the two would come to blows. He had rarely seen his brother so mad. “You two need to chill,” he said, taking Stacy by the arm and physically directing her away from Niki.
“Stop pulling on me!” she shouted at Eli, snatching her arm back. “You people are always pulling on me!” she yelled, rubbing her arms.
She look
ed like she was about to cry. “I’m sorry,” Eli said. He didn’t want to have to deal with tears.
Niki approached Stacy. “As I was saying” he said, in a normal tone of voice, “one of us will be with you any time you leave your room. When you are in your room, one of us will be posted outside your door. Do you understand?”
She didn’t answer.
“Do you understand?” he repeated calmly.
“Yes, I understand,” she said, defeated. She turned around so they didn’t see her crying, then she walked away from them and sat down by the water.
Shit, Niki thought. He looked over at Eli, but Eli shrugged his shoulders. Niki wasn’t about to approach Stacy while she was crying. Look what that got me into last time, he thought.
Niki motioned for Eli to go talk to Stacy, but Eli shook his head adamantly. Eli pointed toward Jason and Niki nodded in agreement. Jason rolled his eyes. He had seen it coming.
Jason went over and sat down beside Stacy. Her cheeks were wet with tears and she wiped her face on her wet shirt.
“You’ve had quite a day,” Jason said, picking up a broken shell and throwing it into the surf.
“Why does he hate me?” Stacy asked, not looking at Jason.
“Who, Niki?” he said, surprised.
Stacy nodded.
“Niki doesn’t hate you. He just doesn’t know how to act towards you,” Jason explained. “He and Eli are very protective of each other. Niki just got worked up, that’s all.”
Stacy was silent for a moment then she turned and looked at Jason. Her eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. “Why me, Jason?” she asked. “Out of all the other lives you could have screwed up, why did you have to choose me?”
Jason looked away, feeling small. “I can’t answer that,” he finally said.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“I can’t,” he said. Jason looked back over at Stacy. There was a dark circle on her shirt. “You’re bleeding,” he said, pulling at her shirt.
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