by LENA DIAZ,
“It was you all along? Not Jose Gonzalez who was after me?”
Lily didn’t answer. She motioned with her gun at Nick.
He finished unlocking the cuffs from his right hand and let them drop against the railing. He turned to unlock the second set of cuffs that imprisoned his left wrist against Heather’s right one, but Lily shook her head.
“Toss me the keys,” she said.
He threw them to her. She caught them and shoved them into the pocket of her cutoff shorts.
“Come on.” She waved her hand toward the side of the boat. “Get out and go stand on the shore. We’ll get out behind you.”
“But I don’t understand,” Heather said. “Why are you—”
Nick squeezed Heather’s hand. She obeyed his unspoken warning and didn’t say anything else. He helped her step over the side of the boat. The stiffness in his posture as he walked beside her down the dock told her he was just as worried as she was.
Was Lily planning to leave them stranded on a deserted island, to let them die of exposure or starvation? Was she going to shoot them in the back as they stepped off the dock?
Or did she have something far worse planned?
* * *
LILY HAD SOMETHING far worse planned.
Nick pulled Heather to a stop when their five-minute trek through the woods brought them into a clearing. Fifty yards ahead stood a concrete block structure, no bigger than a garden shed. A single light beside the open door cast a dim yellow glow across the clearing.
“Keep moving,” Lily called out from behind them.
“If we go in there,” Nick whispered, in a voice so low Heather almost couldn’t hear him, “we’re dead.”
“What do we do?” she whispered back.
A gunshot boomed behind them.
Heather screamed.
Nick dove to the ground, pulling her with him and covering her body with his. Her right arm was twisted painfully because of the handcuffs, but Nick still managed to block her from any harm.
When Heather looked up, she realized the bullet had hit the dirt just inches from where she’d been standing. Lily stepped toward them, stopping six feet away. She held the gun they’d taken from Nick, pointing it directly at him. The driver of the boat remained silent, but his gun, too, was aimed their way. Heather didn’t know which one of them had taken the shot, but from the dark look in her sister’s eyes, she wouldn’t be surprised if it had been Lily.
Lily’s lips curled back in a sneer. “Get up and get into that shed, or the next shot won’t be a warning.”
“Stall her,” Nick whispered. “Keep her talking.” He rose, pulling Heather up with him.
“Go on,” Lily said, her voice hard.
“You owe me an explanation.” Heather tried to sound far braver than she felt. She couldn’t seem to move past the fact that her own sister was holding a gun on her. “I did everything for you. I tried to help you. Gave you money, food, clothing. I was there for you, always.”
Lily let out a harsh laugh. “You were never there for me. You were the golden one, Daddy’s perfect little girl, the one who could do no wrong. You got everything. I got nothing. That ends today. Go on. Get in the shed.”
When Heather didn’t budge, Lily slowly moved her gun to point squarely at Nick. “I said, move.”
Nick pulled Heather with him toward the building.
“When we reach the door,” he whispered, “I’m going to smash the light. We’re going to run to the left, around the corner of the shed into the trees.” He spoke quickly, his words a low rumble in his chest.
They were twenty feet from the shed. Fifteen.
“When we run, stretch your handcuffed arm out behind you and I’ll keep mine as far right as I can to keep you directly in front of me. Remember, Heather, I’m the one wearing a Kevlar vest. I don’t want you in the line of fire. Do you understand?”
Ten feet.
“Heather?” he whispered, his voice low and urgent.
“I understand,” she whispered back.
Five feet.
“Get inside and shut the door behind you,” Lily called out. She didn’t sound close, like maybe she and the driver had stopped a good distance behind them.
They stepped to the doorway. Suddenly Nick slammed his fist into the carriage light, shattering the glass and plunging everything into darkness.
“No!” Lily screamed behind them.
A shot rang out. Dust flew up from the concrete wall next to Nick’s head. He yanked Heather to the left, half lifting her as he positioned himself between her and their pursuers. They slid around the corner of the building. Another shot boomed behind them. A pinging noise echoed through the trees to their left.
“Faster,” Nick urged, his whisper a harsh exhalation of breath near Heather’s ear.
They entered the woods on a well-worn path. Heather assumed Nick would steer her off the path so they could try to hide, but he didn’t, possibly because the foliage was so thick.
“Heather,” Lily called out from behind them. “This wasn’t the plan. Stop running or I’ll shoot!”
“Keep going,” Nick said. “Just a few more feet.”
At first Heather didn’t know what he meant. But suddenly they were out of the woods, running toward a massive structure, a rambling one-story house that seemed to go on forever. Nick must have seen the whitewashed sides of the house reflected in the moonlight, and that’s why he’d kept running down that path.
He didn’t slow as he urged her forward. They could have gone faster if it weren’t for their awkward position with her arm behind her and his held in front of him, but still it seemed they practically flew across the short expanse of dirt that separated the woods from the house.
Footsteps pounded on the path.
Nick urged Heather around the left side of the house.
Another gunshot rang out just as she ran around the corner.
Nick grunted and fell against her, knocking her to the ground.
He was sprawled on top of her, twisting her arm at an impossible angle. The pain was blinding, as if someone had rammed a fire-hot poker into her right shoulder. She gritted her teeth against the urge to cry out and shoved at Nick to get him to move.
“Nick, Nick, get up. Come on, please.” Was he shot? She didn’t know. All she knew for sure was that if they didn’t get up, right now, they were both going to die.
“Come on.” She twisted around, using her left hand to shove at him. Her right hand hung useless at her side. Tears of pain ran down her face as she tried to ignore the fiery agony in her shoulder.
Nick blinked, looking dazed. He gasped for breath, as if air had just rushed into his lungs. He heaved himself to his feet. “I’m okay. Let’s go.”
He grabbed her shoulders to pull her up and she let out a shriek of pain before she could stop herself.
His eyes widened, but before he could say anything, footsteps pounded from around the corner. Nick turned and kicked the nearest door. It sagged but didn’t open. He kicked it again, grunting with the effort. This time the wooden frame burst into splinters and the door crashed open, slamming against the wall.
Heather ran inside before he could grab her shoulder again. She held her right arm with her left hand, trying to immobilize it as much as possible. A hall opened up on their left and right. She started to go right, but Nick steered her to the left again. He pulled her inside the first open door, a bedroom.
He didn’t shut the door. Instead, he urged her back against the wall while he stood in front of her, facing her, inches from the open doorway, once again blocking her with his body.
“What—” she started to whisper, but he vigorously shook his head and pressed his right hand against her mouth. The metallic taste of blood on her lips had her blinking in horror.
Nick’s hand was covered with blood. He must have cut it when he punched the light.
Since he was watching her so closely, she realized he was waiting to make sure she knew to be quiet. She nodded to let him know she understood, and he dropped his hand. Heather wanted to check his injury, but she followed his lead, being as still and quiet as she could. Her lungs ached with the need to draw a deep breath, but instead she focused on breathing slowly so she wouldn’t make any noise. She felt so exposed, so vulnerable, waiting for a bullet to come crashing through the wall.
They both stood motionless in the nearly pitch-black room, waiting, listening. It seemed like time crawled, but it was probably only a few seconds before the sound of muted voices reached them. A man’s deep voice, followed by a woman’s softer, but somehow harder, voice. Lily.
The words they said weren’t clear, but they must have agreed to go the other way, because their footsteps faded off toward the other end of the house.
Nick pulled away from Heather. He motioned for her to follow him this time as he stepped back out of the room into the hallway. He started to turn right, but apparently changed his mind. He tugged her into the bathroom opposite the bedroom. He opened a drawer and felt inside it for a moment, then he opened another drawer. He grabbed something, shoved it into his pocket and glanced out into the hall again before pulling Heather out with him.
Instead of finding another room to hide in, he quickly retraced their steps back to the door he’d ruined and out into the night. They hurried across the side yard and headed into the brush and trees.
Again Nick surprised Heather by stopping a few feet in. He fumbled with something, but Heather couldn’t tell what he was doing. Her shoulder was aching so much she was having trouble concentrating. She still couldn’t move her right arm, but it was blessedly starting to go numb.
Her own pain reminded her about Nick’s injured hand. She wanted to help him, but he seemed to be just fine and there really wasn’t anything she could do.
She shuffled anxiously from foot to foot, turning to look back toward the house. She expected Lily or the man with her to come bursting outside at any moment.
She felt a tug on her hand and heard a click.
Her mouth opened in surprise when the handcuffs fell from her wrist. Another twist and the cuffs unclicked from Nick’s wrist, too, and dropped to the ground.
In answer to her unspoken question, he held up a curiously bent safety pin. That must have been what he’d gotten from the bathroom.
“Go,” he whispered next to her ear, pointing in a diagonal direction off to their left. “I’m right behind you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Nick squatted down in front of Heather. He’d pulled her to a stop a few feet from the water’s edge, still deep in the cover of the trees and brush. She was sitting on the forest floor, cradling her right arm as she tried to catch her breath.
He gently swept her bangs out of her eyes. The corners of her eyes were tight, and she didn’t even seem to realize that every once in a while she let out a low moan. He hated to see her in such pain, and he hated that he’d been the cause of that pain.
“Why aren’t we going to the boat?” she pleaded, sounding on the verge of panic. “We should run down the beach until we get back to the dock.”
“We can’t go back to the boat. That’s where they’ll expect us to go. Besides, I saw your sister pocket the keys when we docked.” He didn’t tell her that he planned to go back to the house to get those keys. It was their only chance. He’d get those keys no matter what.
Even if it meant he had to kill her sister to do it.
Without being handcuffed to Heather, he had more freedom to plan and attack. But right now, there was something more pressing to take care of.
He eased himself to her right side.
“What...what are you doing?” Her voice sounded wary.
“You know what I’m doing. It has to be done.” He gently wrapped his fingers around her right forearm and braced his other hand against her rib cage.
She winced and tried to pull away, but he held on tight.
“Let me go,” she pleaded. “It will hurt.” A whimper escaped between her clenched teeth.
“I know, baby, but if we don’t get your shoulder back into the socket, the blood flow might be restricted and you could permanently lose the use of your arm. Plus, it will feel a lot better. After.”
“It’s not the ‘after’ that I’m worried about. How many times have you done this?”
“Counting this time?”
“Yes.”
He grinned. “Once.”
Her eyes widened.
“I’ve seen it done a couple of times, though.”
“Oh, gee, that’s reassuring.”
He tightened his hold on her arm and began to gently pull it toward him.
“I’m ready.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Just do it.”
He laughed but didn’t let up the pressure on her arm.
She opened her eyes. “Aren’t you going to pop it back in?”
“I’m working on it. If I try to force it, I could break your arm or damage the muscles even worse. Just give it a minute and let me know once you feel it snap back in place.” He continued the long, steady pull. “Talk to me. It will help take your mind off the pain.”
“Okay.” She scrunched her eyes shut. “Uh, why did you make us turn left instead of right when we went into the house? And later, when we ran into the woods. Every time, you turned left.”
“Because most people turn right when they’re under duress. It’s instinctive, probably because most people are right-handed. So I try to go left if I can, to throw off my pursuers.”
She opened her eyes. “You make it sound like you run from people on a regular basis.”
“It’s part of the job. If you’re undercover, dealing with dangerous people on their turf, there are times when you’re going to have to run.”
“Okay, ouch, it hurts.” Her breaths came out in choppy pants.
“I’m sorry, honey. Just a little longer.” He hoped he was right. It was killing him watching the pain lance across her face. But he had to stretch the muscles out slowly or he’d end up tearing them.
“When you fell...” Heather panted for a moment. “When you fell against me by the house, did you get shot? I mean, you were wearing your vest, and you seem fine, but...” Her voice drifted off and she clenched her jaw.
“Yeah, the bullet knocked the breath out of me. Stunned me for a second. God bless whoever invented Kevlar.”
She laughed, then inhaled sharply.
He increased the pressure, and Heather let out a little whimper.
He was about to give up when he felt a slight movement in the muscles of her arm.
“It’s in. It’s in,” she gasped.
He gently lowered her arm and sat back. “Are you sure?” He felt along the top of her shoulder, feeling for a gap.
“I’m sure. It already feels a lot better.” She opened her eyes. “Thank you.”
Unable to resist the temptation of her lips so close to his, he framed her face with his hands and gave her a gentle kiss. When he pulled back, her eyes were wide and searching.
He dropped his hands. He needed to keep reminding himself that they weren’t together anymore, and never could be. Touching her was dangerous in so many ways.
He cleared his throat. “Be careful with that shoulder. Don’t lift your arm up too high or back behind you. It could pop right out again.”
She let out a little sigh. He wasn’t sure if it was because of that kiss, or something else. “I don’t understand what’s going on. Why would Lily do this? What does she hope to gain?”
He sat down next to her. He was quiet for several seconds as he listened to the sounds in t
he woods around them. Something small scurried off to their right, some forest creature probably out looking for dinner. A night bird let out a chirp, reassuring him that no humans were close by.
Lily and her helper were probably holed up in the house, figuring out their strategy. He doubted they’d chance trying to find him and Heather until the sun came up, which was still several hours away. Hopefully by then Dante and his men would have figured out that he and Heather were missing, and they’d be canvassing Key West, looking for witnesses. Maybe someone had seen them head out in the boat, and Dante would send in the cavalry.
But Nick wasn’t counting on it.
And he hoped to hell that Lily and her minion didn’t have infrared goggles.
* * *
“INFRARED WHAT?” HEATHER whispered, her voice slurred from lack of sleep.
Nick grinned. He’d hated waking her—not that she seemed fully awake even now as they walked through the woods—but he didn’t feel safe staying in one place very long.
“Goggles,” he said. “Keep your voice down.”
“But you said no one was out here,” she whispered, lowering her voice. “And the sun isn’t up yet. You said Lily wouldn’t come looking for us until sunrise.”
Nick held a branch out of her way. “Just keep moving,” he said. “And stop talking so much.” He squeezed her waist to soften his words.
After Heather had fallen asleep, he’d dozed for about twenty minutes, a power nap, the way he’d trained himself to do whenever he was on a stakeout with a partner. But once he’d thought about the possibility of Lily having infrared equipment, he couldn’t get it out of his head.
Lily had access to an incredibly powerful and expensive speedboat. And the house on this island wasn’t exactly cheap. The generator alone had to have cost thousands of dollars. Lily obviously had access to the best equipment Jose Gonzalez’s money could buy.
Which meant she and the man with her could be out here right now, hunting Heather and him down with all kinds of advantages.
