by Linda Ladd
She wasn’t kidding, all right. Novak decided it was time to spin out a better pack of lies. “Why would I lie? That would be stupid. Like I told you, I live on that boat. I’ve worked in the past, sure, but now it’s the good life, beach bum all day long, every day, and drunk all night long, every night. Fish for my food. Do odd jobs now and then in ports of call that keep my gas tanks filled up. You know, handyman, bartender, that kind of stuff. I like it that way. Free to roam the seas. No ties. No home. No problems. So. You took my boat; that’s it for my net worth. You got everything I own now. Congratulations.”
“Of course, you know full well that I don’t believe a single word you say. But nice try.” Then she totally ignored Novak and swiveled her attention to the girl. Novak did, too. As soon as Li Liu focused those evil dark eyes on Isabella, the young girl started trembling. This was not going to go down well.
“What is your name?” the woman asked her.
“Isabella.”
“Last name?”
“Ricardo.”
Novak was impressed. She was savvy enough to lie. Good sign, that. He hoped she lied well. For both their sakes.
“Where do you live, Isabella?”
“I live in Jamaica, but Mr. Novak picked me up in Kingston at the bar where he worked part-time and asked me if I wanted to take off on his boat with him for a while. Said we’d cruise over to Cancun and stay gone for a whole month. We’re lovers now. I love him. And he loves me.”
The woman eyed her passively. So did Novak. He was shocked by her remarks. He couldn’t believe she’d actually said that. He kept his expression neutral but it wasn’t easy. The girl had made up a story off the top of her head that sounded halfway credible. The lover part was stupid.
“Lovers, you say? You and this big tough man here? How sweet. Is Mr. Novak a good lover, Isabella?”
Isabella had calmed down considerably now, apparently under the impression that she was fooling somebody. She smiled at Li Liu, almost conspiratorially, tilting her head like a flirt. “What do you think?”
The two women smiled at each other. What the hell? He didn’t much like the way this thing was going. Isabella suddenly seemed fearless.
Li Liu smiled. “I do think you’ve got good taste, Isabella. That scar on his face is very sexy, is it not? I must say, however, that he appears to be intellectually slow. His lies are so clumsy.” That was evil woman trying for jocularity. It didn’t come off. Nobody laughed.
“Isabella’s just a kid. Why don’t you leave her alone?”
“My, my, you are so protective. Do you think your girlfriend is a good lover, Mr. Novak? She certainly seems pleased with your virility.”
Novak said nothing.
Li Liu did some more typing, watched the screen intently. “Tell me her real name. She’s obviously lying. You are not lovers. That is not her real name. I am growing weary of you both.”
“Her name is Isabella. I did meet her in Jamaica. But as you’ve already guessed, we’re not lovers. She’s just a friend, a new one. I just met her. But she’s still a nice girl, like a little sister, and I feel responsible for getting her into this mess. If I hadn’t invited her aboard, she’d be safe in Kingston. Of more interest to you, she’s dirt poor. She doesn’t have any more money than I do. She was waiting tables for tips when I met her. That tell you anything about her bottom line?”
“What that tells me is that she’s expendable.”
Novak said nothing. But Isabella picked up on the woman’s threat, loud and clear. She started crying into her hands. A habit of hers. Or she could be faking. She was damn full of surprises tonight.
“Look, see what you did?” Novak said. “You got her all upset.”
Novak and Liu stared silently at each other some more. Then she said, “That’s all for now. Neither of you are being cooperative. And that is very stupid. I’ll interview you again tomorrow night. Maybe that long without food or water will help you remember your bank account number.”
Novak had plenty of bank account numbers, all right, big fat ones that he rarely used. He’d be damned if she’d get her hooks in any of them. So he said nothing. Just gazed back at her. He and the girl would be gone by then. Li Liu picked up her cell phone and snapped his picture. She did the same with Isabella. Very smart, that. She would probably run them through a photo ID database, if she had people on her payroll inside U.S. law enforcement as she’d indicated. Or more likely, the Mexican Federales.
Then she called out a man’s name. Emilio. One of the guards rushed over. She gestured for him to take Novak and Isabella away, and then she returned her concentration to the laptop. She was uploading their photos. Not good. Now time was of the essence, and Novak knew it.
Outside, they were led back behind the big house to a small hut built fairly far out in the jungle. Novak moved along, cooperating and acting docile, but he didn’t have much time to make his move. He had to get out of there with the girl before they were shot or moved deeper into the jungle for safekeeping.
This time the guards did put them into separate huts. Novak was well aware of what that meant. The guards wanted Isabella alone and for their own sexual enjoyment. They would assault her, both of them or all of them, which was an act no doubt endorsed by Li Liu as an added perk for their loyalty and brutality. Female prisoners were fair game and available to all. Enjoy.
The bigger of the two guards shoved Novak into a hut, squatted down, and started cuffing him to a chain attached to an iron ring like the one at the beach hut. The chain was long enough to let him move around but wouldn’t allow him to reach the door. He could hear Isabella now, somewhere nearby, her voice muffled but sounding like she was trying to scream. Novak didn’t waste any more time. The attack on her was going down right now and he wasn’t going to let it happen. He moved quickly and grabbed the guard by the front of his shirt. He jerked him down low and slammed his forehead against the guy’s nose. Blood spurted, and the man staggered backward when Novak let him go. He tried to fight back but was too woozy. Novak had knocked the absolute hell out of him. He picked up his chain and looped it around the guy’s neck. He twisted it tight, putting his whole body into the leverage. It took about six seconds before the guard went limp. Novak dropped him to the dirt and took the keys from the guard’s belt. He quickly unlocked the shackles and then raised his hands over his head and swung them down hard and out to either side. The duct tape split apart, and Novak exerted pressure on the ring with all his strength until it finally came apart. He wound the length of chain around his fist a couple of times. Every bit as good as brass knuckles, maybe even better. Then he edged to the door and darted a quick look outside.
Nobody in sight. All quiet except for Isabella’s brutal assault going on somewhere nearby. He ducked outside and found another electric lantern hanging on a post just outside the door. He turned it off and hunkered down low. He put a knee on the ground and listened, trying to pinpoint where Isabella’s muffled cries were coming from. Then he heard her attackers laughing. Sounded like several men. He heard her begging them to stop, sobbing, until her voice suddenly was cut off. He followed the sickening sounds of an assault in progress. It took him about two minutes to find them.
The hut where they had dragged her was about twenty yards deeper into the jungle than the one Novak had been put into. Probably the designated rape hut. Maybe used for torture, as well. He pushed his back against the wall beside the door, concealed in deep shadows. Before he could duck inside, a guard exited right beside him. He carried an AR rifle in one fist. Novak didn’t hesitate, darting forward fast before the guy sensed his presence. He sent the steel-wrapped fist hard against the man’s temple, about as brutal a punch as he had ever thrown. The force of Novak’s weight and size slammed the guy so hard he was knocked completely off his feet. When he hit the dirt on his back, Novak went down on top of him, his hands around his throat, but the guy didn’t move again. Probably never would.
Novak jerked up the rifle, checked it over. It wa
s loaded and ready. He eased inside the hut. There were three guys trying to assault Isabella. Two were concentrating on holding her down. They didn’t look up to see who was joining the party. Big mistake. One guy was kneeling between her legs, pulling at her clothes. She was struggling desperately, giving them everything she had—which wasn’t much, given how weakened she was. None of them saw Novak. Too bad for them. He took two steps forward and sent the rifle butt slamming against the back of the would-be rapist’s head. It knocked him forward onto the girl’s chest. She screamed when the hand pressed over her mouth let up, and Novak clubbed the second man in the forehead so violently that it took a chunk out of his skull. Number three was up on his feet now, scratching at the handgun strapped in the holster at his waist. Isabella scrambled away on her hands and knees, trying to cover her nakedness.
Novak ducked to one side before the guy could get to the pistol, and charged him, driving a shoulder into the man’s gut. The guard doubled over, breath knocked out, and Novak brought up his knee and smashed it into his face. Blood spurted, cartilage crunched, and then Novak brought the rifle butt down on the back of his head, hard and final. The guy was done after that. Novak went down on one knee and pulled the Ruger out of the guard’s holster and then stuck it down into his back waistband. The girl had retreated to the corner, kneeling, with her back to Novak, trying to pull her clothes back on. Novak took the rifle and listened at the door. He heard nothing outside, except for the distant roar of the ocean and the squawk of a bird startled off its nest by something in the night.
Quickly searching the men’s pockets, he found lots of goodies that he was going to need, including a couple of cigarette lighters, Mexican and American currency, and last but not least, two more Ruger handguns with full magazines. Two flashlights and a razor-sharp machete lay on the floor of the hut. A jackpot of weapons, oh yeah. And that’s all he needed. He stuffed most of the loot into his jeans pockets and left what he couldn’t carry. He armed himself with another Ruger, the machete, and a flashlight. Then he turned his attention back to the girl. She was in pretty bad shape, pulling her shirt back on over her head, but she wasn’t crying. That surprised him, but good, she had to suck it up now, and suck it up fast.
Kneeling beside her, he put his hand on her shoulder and spoke softly and in as gentle a tone as he could take time to muster, but he made his words count. “Okay, listen up, Isabella. Listen to me. You’ve been through something pretty damn bad just now, but you got to swallow it down, okay? Right now. You got to pull yourself together and help me get you out of here. Can you do that?”
She stared up at him, but her eyes looked dull. Shocked, maybe. Or angry, which would be better. He hoped she was as angry as hell, because he was. He breathed a sigh of relief when she pushed herself up, the rest of her clothes in her hands. Maybe she had more grit inside her than he figured. That was good. She was going to need it.
Chapter Six
Novak waited at the door for her while she finished putting on her clothes. Nobody in sight outside. Nobody had heard him take down the guards. Nobody had come running. Which didn’t make much sense to him. Men had been stationed at intervals throughout the camp. Somebody should have heard the scuffle that went down. Why hadn’t they?
The guards he’d put down wouldn’t get up anytime soon, if at all. Once certain that all was clear, Novak stepped outside and found everything unnaturally quiet. Through the tangle of the jungle, he could see the lights burning inside Li Liu’s house, but he couldn’t see anyone anywhere. Somewhere far away in the distance he heard a man laugh. So guards were around, just not in sight.
Novak had ascertained already that the compound was run pretty much like a paramilitary unit. Not a top-notch one, certainly not like a U.S. Special Forces camp, but certainly with trained mercenaries in command. There had to be somebody besides Li Liu involved, someone above her in rank. Right now, Novak needed to put as much distance between them and the bad guys as he could. The only illumination was the bright circles thrown across the footpath by the torches. The jungle around them was dense to the point of being impenetrable and would be difficult to navigate. But it was their only chance. No way could they walk blithely down the path and back to the beach and reclaim his boat. So he pushed hard into the tangled vines and bushes, with Isabella stumbling along right behind him. He hacked at the thick woody trees with the machete, having to fight his way through. He needed to find a game trail or a rain gulley that would lead them back to the ocean. He swept the ground in front of them with the flashlight beam, aware of coral snakes and pit vipers and poisonous spiders and other lethal creatures lurking underfoot or in the brush. They were there somewhere, all right, and he did not want to step on them. He kept the beam low on the ground directly in front of him, sweeping his path.
So Novak hacked and sawed and jerked down vines and pushed his way through spiny thorns and waist-high stinging plants, stopping often to listen for a call to arms or the thrashing of pursuers coming hard behind them. Isabella held on to the back of his shirt and actually kept up with him pretty well for a time. After a while, though, she just stopped and leaned up against a tree trunk to rest. Novak switched off the flashlight and stopped too, but he didn’t want to. His goal was to get them back aboard the Sweet Sarah and somehow take her out into the open ocean. On a dark night, they just might have a chance, but they had to keep moving. He was outnumbered big-time, and the girl had proven useless to help him. He’d have to do it himself, and it wasn’t gonna be easy. But not much he’d done since he’d met Isabella had been easy.
After a couple of minutes of rest, he whispered for her to keep up and then headed out again. This time she kept close behind him. The vines on the ground were tangled and tough, some as thick around as his wrist. Isabella kept tripping over root wads and falling down, and Novak had to pull her back up to her feet. But they were getting closer to the beach, so he switched off the flashlight and forged ahead. He had no other choice. It was only a matter of time before they were discovered missing. Isabella was exhausted, emotionally shaky, staggering along and breathing hard, but he couldn’t worry about that. Their headlong flight was hampered further by mosquitoes and gnats that rose up off the ground and swarmed them like living auras—biting bugs, tiny gnats that buzzed and flitted and got into their eyes and noses and mouths. It was miserable going, and both of them were covered with bites and scratches before they’d gone twenty feet. Novak doggedly kept his eyes on the prize. Reaching his boat and getting the hell off that beach was the only thing he could think about. The piers would be guarded, but probably by only a couple of guys, who wouldn’t be expecting anyone to attack from the beach. If the pirates were halfway efficient, they wouldn’t wait long to get his boat out of the camp and to some black-market port where it could be auctioned off to the highest bidder. They dealt in stolen goods, and most likely had contacts in the Caribbean who looked upon criminal activities as job opportunities. The Sweet Sarah would probably be advertised on the dark Internet or sold off to a criminal or terrorist organization for smuggling drugs. Novak still had a slice of time, a narrow slice that was dwindling fast, but he meant to take advantage of it. If he waited too long, he and Isabella would be dead before the sun came up.
Novak stopped again, sweating profusely, panting with exertion. Except for the insects, everything remained still around them, way too quiet. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Voices, shouts, laughter, snapped orders—some of the sounds they’d heard when they’d arrived—all of those things should be filtering off the beach because they were now within earshot. But there was none of that. He heard no human beings. There were way too many people around for such an eerie silence, even in the middle of the night. Isabella was no longer pulling on the back of his shirt. She was just trudging onward behind him, showing more guts than he had expected out of her. But she was young and privileged and had probably never faced adversity in her life, not until the last few weeks. Well, she was facing it now and would have to s
how some gumption or end up dead or sold to a Brazilian brothel.
Pushing ahead again, he angled his path toward the beach, guided by the distant sound of the surf. They were getting close now. The going was grueling, slow and difficult, but he counted himself lucky that they’d made it this far without detection. He raised the machete to hack some vines in his path and then froze as the most horrendous shriek of agony shattered the stillness of the jungle. Novak dropped to his haunches, instantly on guard, and the girl ducked down close to him. The scream had come from behind them, probably from the big house. It had been a female voice. Li Liu’s voice, he was almost certain.
Before he could decide what to do, a second cry echoed out through the trees. Several birds were startled off their roosts with loud squawks and fluttering wings. The cry had been caused by the infliction of pain. Somebody was doing something terrible to that woman. Somebody was torturing her. It had to be that. Novak had heard screams of torture victims before, and it was not something a man could ever forget. He sure as hell wouldn’t. The woman’s next shriek was so shrill that it raised goose bumps on his skin and set off the kind of fear inside him that could quickly spiral into panic if not checked. Novak checked it and waited, remaining squatted down right where he was, not sure what was going down. Li Liu had been running the entire operation less than an hour ago, armed with both gun and knife, confidently surrounded by heavily armed guards who answered only to her. What the hell had happened?
