Hustle

by Claire Chilton

  He scanned the room frowning. ‘There’s nothing here.’

  She glanced around the room before peering at the map. There was a symbol of a chest with four words carved beneath it. ‘X marks the spot,’ she said.

  Jacob turned to face her. ‘What X? There’s nothing here.’

  She walked around the cave, studying the floor. It was softer than the ground in the rest of the cave. She dug her foot into it, amazed to find soil beneath her feet. ‘How come there’s mud in a volcano?’

  She dragged her foot through the soil, coming to a halt when her foot caught on something solid. She peered down to see a wooden beam buried in the dirt. ‘Hey, look at this.’

  Jacob hurried over and crouched near her feet. He began brushing away the soil. ‘There’s something under here.’

  She traced the wood with her foot. When she’d finished, she stood back and stared at the shape of the wooden beams. Two beams crossed, spanning the room with a giant X. ‘Er, I think this is it. It has to be.’

  He stood up and stared at the massive cross. ‘The treasure is under this beam. We’ve found it!’

  Ellie yelped when a cold hand wrapped around her neck, pulling her backwards. She widened her eyes when the blade of a knife pressed against her cheek, staring at it in horror. Had Henry Rose come back from Davy Jones’s Locker to reclaim his treasure?

  ‘I was hoping you’d say that.’ She heard Joseph Meyer’s rough voice as his breath warmed her cheek. ‘Do an old man a favour, lad, and start digging.’ He threw a spade at Jacob.

  Jacob scowled at him, his eyes darkening in response.

  ‘Or I’ll gut your girlfriend.’ Meyer threatened, moving the knife down Ellie’s throat and pressing it against her collarbone.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Ellie watched Jacob driving the spade into the thick wooden beams. His shirt was transparent with sweat. His tawny muscled skin was visible through the deep V of his open collar.

  He wiped his brow with the back of his hand and glanced up at her and Meyer with smudges of dirt on his face and clothes. His eyes were dark pools of anger, intensely set on Meyer in a scowl.

  ‘Don’t give me that look, boy. You’re lucky you lived this long.’ Meyer’s voice echoed behind her, his spindly fingers still gripping her throat.

  Jacob narrowed his eyes. He straightened up, his muscles popping up over his arms and chest as he drove the spade through the first beam, cracking it in half with a roar.

  Ellie heard Meyer chuckle behind her. ‘You’re just like your father, all pride and honour. Not so honourable in the end though, I’ll bet, just like your father.’

  Jacob pulled at broken splints of wood and threw them aside as he glanced up at the older man. ‘What’s that supposed to mean? You know nothing about my father.’

  ‘Is that so?’ There was a snide laugh in Meyer’s voice. ‘I find it amusing that history is repeating itself: a Phillips and a Hawkins together again. Didn’t work out too well for your fathers though, did it?’

  Ellie clenched her hands into fists. He knew something about her father that she didn’t. She remained silent since Meyer was so chatty about it. Jacob, however, appeared to be finding it hard to control his emotions.

  ‘You don’t know anything about my father. You’re just some low-life criminal!’ He snarled at Meyer, his muscles bunching up in his shoulders.

  ‘Is that what you think? You’re above it all. How do you think your father got rich? Did you think the Hawk made his reputation from being nice and honest?’ Meyer laughed. ‘Stupid boy, who do you think did all of his dirty work?’

  The blood drained out of Jacob’s face. ‘Y-you worked for him?’

  ‘Idiot, he worked for me!’

  Jacob widened his eyes, appearing horrified at the thought of it. ‘I don’t believe you. You have no connection to him or his company.’

  ‘Well, you have Phillips to thank for that.’ His hand tightened around Ellie’s throat, and she fought to remain calm. Dad, what did he have to do with this?

  ‘When your father met up with Stewart Phillips, he found a way out of my organisation. I wasn’t the big man I am now. I was just starting out, and Phillips wasn’t someone I’d mess with back then. Phillips owned the streets. He was as sly as a fox. No one could beat him, no matter how much muscle they had. So, when he adopted the Hawk and took him under his wing, my hands were tied. You can imagine how much that pissed me off. Do you know who your father was, girl?’ He shook her. ‘Quite the man, he was. You didn’t follow in his footsteps, though, did you? I bet he’d be disappointed by the silly little girl he brought up. Sending you after his treasure was poetic, don’t you think? It was the perfect revenge, setting you up to take the fall for the theft. I might not have destroyed one Phillips, but I got you, didn’t I?’

  He laughed in her ear. ‘Oh, did you think it was an accident that you were sent to steal from Hawkins Hall? It was a pleasure seeing you two at each other’s throats. Your fathers were such good friends. What better revenge than to drive a wedge between their children?

  ‘But now, history is repeating itself, and the time for fun and games is over.’ His voice was cold. ‘Time to do what I couldn’t do when your father was alive. Keep digging!’ He snapped at Jacob while pressing the knife against Ellie’s throat.

  Jacob shook his head and began digging through the broken beams, shifting soil and broken wood into a pile beside him. ‘You’re crazy.’

  ‘Do you think I’m crazy, little girl?’ Meyer’s breath brushed against her cheek. He was short and wiry, but his grip on her was strong and deadly.

  ‘I think you were scared of my father,’ she said, trying to emulate her father’s voice. ‘I think you should be scared of me.’

  ‘Ha! You don’t have it in you. Any threat your father posed died when he did.’

  ‘What did you do to Douglas Hawkins?’ She wanted to know how the story ended. She knew her father worked with him. By the sounds of it, he was helping the Hawk escape Meyer’s clutches, but how had Douglas died?

  ‘Not much that he didn’t do to himself. He got a bit too big for his boots. This was years after Phillips had secured his independence. They had a good run of it until then, making money, making their own names. But the Hawk wanted to cut old ties, so he decided to go after the Heart on his own. I guess he didn’t think he needed Phillips’s protection, but I was tracking him all that time, waiting for him to be stupid. And he was stupid.’

  Jacob stopped digging, and his knuckles whitened as he gripped the handle of the spade.

  She caught his eye and gave a slight shake of her head. She wanted to know more. Now was not the time for him to lose his cool.

  ‘So you killed Douglas?’

  ‘I killed him while he was trying to steal the Heart of Fortune from under Phillips’s nose. You know, I never did find out if he was going to share that bounty with your dad or not, but that didn’t matter. It’s all about reputation, girl. You need to have one to survive in this business. That’s why you won’t survive, but I will. Hell, I was going to go after Hawkins’s family after I’d finished with him, but your dad stepped in again and put this little runt under his protection. Like I said earlier, there’s no one protecting him now, and I’d like to have a matched set.’

  Ellie’s blood ran cold. He was going to kill her and Jacob anyway. No matter what happened, it was all about his reputation. Killing Stewart Phillips’s daughter would give him a reputation greater than her father’s, and killing Jacob would provide him with revenge.

  She stared at Jacob. He looked broken by the news of his father as he shovelled dirt out of the hole he had made in the soil. The Heart has nothing to do with this. It’s about control of the streets.

  She knew that when her father had died, she had not maintained his reputation. She’d let it all go. Meyer had moved in on the territory and hurt so many people. How many people did my father protect? He didn’t do it with muscle or moxie. He did it with intelligence and by
walking in the shadows.

  She was Ellie Phillips, not some two-bit criminal. He’d taught her everything he knew. A cold and calculating instinct had taken control of her body the second that Meyer had grabbed her. It wasn’t coincidence or shock. It was training.

  The spade loudly clunked onto something metal. She glanced at Jacob as he crouched down and began brushing dirt off an old chest. Once Meyer has the Heart, he’s going to bury us in that hole.

  ‘Open it,’ Meyer commanded as he peered over her shoulder, the knife in his hand relaxing to his side.

  She didn’t wait to find out what was in the box. She gripped the pressure point at the base of his thumb on the hand that was wrapped around her throat. His grip loosened as she spun around, taking his arm with her and twisting it behind his back.

  ‘You messed with the wrong family,’ she hissed in his ear before kneeing him in the back with as much force as she could muster and knocking him to the ground.

  He fell to the floor, and the knife clattered on the ground beside him. She dived for the knife, gripping the handle of it.

  He rolled over and punched her in the back of the head. She saw stars for a moment, dizziness clouded her mind as he gripped her hair, and his weight landed on her.

  The weight lifted as she fought to remain conscious and the grip released her hair. Without thinking, she rolled over and thrust up the knife to defend herself. It sank into Meyer’s chest, driving deep into his heart.

  She glanced up in shock to see Jacob holding Meyer around the throat, lifting him off her. Their eyes connected in a moment of shock as Meyer groaned and slumped in Jacob’s arms.

  Jacob looked away from her, lowering the dead mob-boss to the floor. Then he knelt beside her. ‘Are you okay?’

  She didn’t know if she was okay. I just killed a man. Sure, he was a bad man, but what does that make me?

  ‘You were just defending yourself,’ he said.

  She nodded, unable to form words. She’d meant to knock him out in some clever way, but when he jumped on her back, the years of defensive training had kicked in. ‘I feel sick,’ she muttered.

  ‘Let’s get out of here.’ Jacob held out his hand.

  She gripped it and let him pull her off the cavern floor. She glanced down at the open chest in the hole he had dug. It was empty. ‘Where’s the treasure?’

  ‘It was empty.’ He shook his head.

  She glanced over at him, unsure if he was telling the truth, but there was no way he could hide a giant diamond in his clothing, and his bag was back at the entrance of the cave.

  She nodded, resting against him. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Ellie groaned and rolled off the bed. It took her a moment to remember where she was, but she remembered when her eyes settled on the old table inside the cabin. After the fight inside the volcano, they’d lost daylight. She and Jacob had returned to the village for the night, planning on leaving the island this morning.

  There hadn’t been any mercenaries near the village, so a night in the cabin had seemed the safest plan. I don’t even know if anyone is still after us.

  She peered through the broken window beside the bed. It was still dark outside with only a hint of sunlight beginning to rise over the horizon.

  She glanced around the cabin. She was alone in it.

  She rolled off the bed and pulled on her boots before venturing out of the door. Her mouth was dry, so she headed towards the well in the centre of the village.

  Jacob had told her to get some rest before he’d left to find a different cabin to sleep in last night. He’d been pretty quiet on the trek back from the volcano. He was probably thinking about his fortune and his father. It must have been a shock to find out that his father had been a criminal.

  She wanted to talk to him about it. She wanted to talk to him about a lot of things. Her instincts told her that he had only been trying to protect her, but she was still recovering from him leaving her in the jungle. Even though she knew it was irrational because he’d saved her ass over and over again, she found it difficult to trust him.

  Was there a treasure in the chest? She shook her head. Where would he have hidden it—in his pants?

  She leaned over the well, dunking the bottle into it to fill it with water. She stared into the water, trying to sort out her thoughts. She was angry that he’d left her behind, and that feeling wasn’t going away any time soon.

  The bottle knocked against a mossy rock at the bottom of the pool. Some of the moss floated off into the water, revealing a shiny object beneath it. She frowned at the glinting rock.

  She released the bottle, leaving it to float on the surface of the well as she brushed away the moss. Her eyes widened as the moss fell away to reveal a large heart-shaped diamond.

  She stood up, staring at it in awe. It’s here! Did Jacob put it there? She shook her head. There was no way that Jacob had the time to grow moss on the stone. It had been here for years by the looks of it.

  Her pulse sped up. All this time, it was here at the bottom of the well.

  I should tell Jacob.

  Yep, that’s right. Tell him, so he can try to steal it from you again.

  She frowned. She’d taken a chance on him before.

  Yeah, and look how that turned out. He abandoned you in the jungle.

  She stared at the diamond and chewed her bottom lip. What would dad do?

  Without thinking about it, she turned on her heel and raced to the cabin, snatching up one of the holdalls before running back to the well. She paused for a moment, trying to decide if she was making the right choice. With a shake of her head, she scooped up the diamond and threw it into the bag.

  Dad would get the fuck out of here.

  She hurried out of the village without looking back. Sorry, Jacob, you had your chance and you blew it.

  * * *

  By the time Ellie reached the beach, guilt was weighing her down.

  She shook her head. Jacob’s a big boy. He knows how to take care of himself. He’ll be fine.

  You didn’t even leave him a note.

  Then he’ll hate me. So what? He didn’t love me enough to stay with me last night. He didn’t love me at all. He was just using me for the diamond, just like his father used mine.

  She scanned the shoreline and groaned. It was the opposite side of the island, and her boat was miles away.

  By now, the sun was burning down on her from high in the sky. I wonder if he’s awake yet.

  She stared out at the ocean, considering swimming around the island. She froze when she spotted a small yacht moored just offshore. She studied the boat’s name, squinting while trying to read it: Serendipity.

  Wasn’t that the name of the other boat that Jimmy had rented?

  She scanned the water. There were no other boats nearby. She turned back towards the yacht, widening her eyes when she saw Jimmy walking across the deck. He wore a straw sombrero and a Hawaiian shirt. On his arm was a busty blonde in a red bikini. Jesus, check out Hugh Hefner.

  She hurried across the water, diving in and swimming towards the boat. It didn’t take her long to reach it. She listened to the conversation topside, trying to discover where he’d been.

  ‘I dunno snuggle-bear.’ Cheryl’s voice echoed from the deck. ‘Is it safe to go onto the island with all that shooting going on?’

  ‘Bill’s got it under control, and I need to find Ellie. She might be in trouble—actually, since it’s Ellie, she’s probably in deep shit.’ Jimmy’s voice made Ellie smile.

  ‘Fine, then I’m coming with you,’ Cheryl sounded serious for the first time.

  ‘It’s not safe,’ Jimmy said. Slurping sounds followed, and Ellie wondered if he was having a drink or if he was making out with Cheryl.

  ‘I don’t care! I love you, big bear man. I’m not leaving your side, ever!’ Although Cheryl’s devotion to Jimmy brought her a new level of respect from Ellie, she had to ponder her choice of nicknames. Big bear
man? Jimmy was five-foot ten, and skinny.

  ‘Hey, you gonna invite me aboard or what?’ Ellie called out.

  Jimmy’s face appeared over the railing, staring down at her in shock. ‘Ellie! You’re okay.’

  ‘Yep, but can we please get me the fuck out of here?’

  Jimmy reached down and pulled her up the side of the boat, helping her aboard. ‘What happened? Is Meyer following?’ He gave her a tight hug. ‘You scared the shit out of me.’

  She hugged him back, feeling happy to be among friends again. ‘We need to get moving. I’ll tell you everything later.’ She planned to talk to Jimmy once they got back to Florida. She wanted to find out what he’d been doing in her absence, and she still wasn’t sure about Cheryl.

  ‘Where’s Jacob?’

  ‘Uh, what?’ She hadn’t expected that.

  ‘Bill warned us to stay at this side of the island while he dealt with Meyer’s mercenaries. He’s been keeping us updated over the radio. Did he find you and Jacob?’

  ‘Um, no, Jacob and I had a falling out.’

  ‘A falling out?’ Jimmy raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Just trust me. We don’t want to see Jacob right now.’

  ‘Then what do I tell Bill?’ Jimmy put his hands on his hips. ‘That guy saved mine and Cheryl’s asses.’

  ‘Um, can’t you tell him that you’ve found us via heat-source scanning or something?’

  ‘What am I, an alien trophy-hunter with super senses? Are you fucking kidding me?’

  ‘Make some shit up, techie-geek-shit. You’re good at that.’ She flashed him a winning smile.

  ‘You’re going to Hell, you know.’ He shook his head and turned towards the wheelhouse. ‘There’s a special place for you there,’ he added as he walked over to the radio.

  She followed him, still gripping her wet holdall. ‘The one for liars?’

  ‘No, the one for crappy liars. Fucking Predator heat-sources, I might as well tell him that I dreamt of where you are after doing a voodoo ritual that involved setting my ass on fire.’