He eased inside, his gun poised in front of his body, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark interior. He was in a bedroom and could see the front of the boat through the narrow hallway. Still no signs of activity.
He ducked his head inside a small closet and froze. Jerking his body out, he stood completely still and listened. He thought he heard a scream.
Picking up his pace, he tip-toed through the space. A musty odor pervaded the boat, as if it had been closed up for a long time. A sound drifted around him and he realized someone had turned on music. It was faint and he couldn’t tell what song was playing. He waited a moment and when nothing happened, he continued quickly searching the boat, checking all of the rooms. He explored the whole length, reached the other end and still no sign of Jade.
Easing out to the front deck, he noticed a black spiral staircase leading to a top level.
Bingo.
The higher he climbed, the louder the music. There was no mistaking the familiar tune echoing through the calm summer evening.
It was the Wedding March.
Chapter Forty-Seven
“Are you ready, darling?”
Jade watched in horror as the man walked forward wearing a crisp, black tuxedo. She was currently handcuffed to a bed on the top deck of his boat. How he got a bed up here, she would never know. Half of the deck was covered by a red awning, but the bed was out in the open with the twinkling stars as its canopy.
The man had forced her to put on a drab white gown fifteen sizes too big before he anchored her to the bed and bound her feet together. He complained that it wasn’t the dress he wanted her to wear—he'd left that one with her—but they would make do with this one. He told her the dress belonged to his mother, that she wore it on her wedding day to his father.
“Are you ready to meet Mother?”
Jade couldn’t believe any mom would go along with a plot to kidnap a stranger and force her to marry her son. His mother must be as demented as her son.
“Juliet, meet my mother, now your mother, too.”
Jade screamed.
Michael lunged forward, tugging the handkerchief from his pocket. He stuffed it in her mouth but she couldn’t stop the hysteria that bubbled out. His mother sat propped in a chair—his very dead mother—tanned and stuffed like a prized deer, a scowl forever etched on her hideous face.
“Juliet, what’s wrong? Why are you screaming?” He turned and slammed his fists on his hips. “Mother, what did you say to her?” He stalked forward and shook her shoulders. “You are not ruining my wedding day, Mother, I forbid it.”
He rushed back to Juliet and dropped on the bed beside her. He stroked her face and hair. “Juliet my love, don’t let Mother upset you. She doesn’t want me to be happy. She loves making my life miserable.”
He pulled the cloth from her mouth. Jade sucked in air, forcing herself to calm down. This man was completely psychotic. She needed her wits to outsmart him and find a way to escape.
“I w-won’t,” she cleared her throat, “let her upset me, Michael,” she appeased.
Michael smiled wildly.
“She seems very devoted to you. D-does she go everywhere with you?”
He nodded. “Ever since I killed her.”
Jade gasped. “You killed your mother?”
“From the day I was born, all she ever did was yell at me and my dad, put us down. My dad never argued with her. He just accepted her abuse until he died, leaving me alone to suffer her dominance. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Jade swallowed. “She looks very good,” she lied.
He beamed. “My dad was a taxidermist and taught me the trade.” Jumping to his feet, he said, “Let’s get on with the ceremony.”
Using a long white lighter, he illuminated dozens of candles he'd placed around the area. Hurricane glass protected the flames from a light breeze.
He pushed a button on a portable CD player and the Wedding March filtered through the speakers. Posters from all of her movies were propped on easels. He walked over to one.
“I was so proud of you when you took over for the pilot and landed the plane. You saved hundreds of lives, you know.”
He was talking about her movie “Airline Terror.” She only had a bit part as a stewardess but she did help land the plane. He thought it was real?
He moved to the next movie poster. “I was deeply hurt when you slept with Curtis, but again, so proud when you killed him. When you put on your sunglasses and smiled, I knew you were telling me that you loved me.”
Once again, she wasn’t the star of “Enemy Lover.” The lead, whose name was Curtis in the movie, turned out to be a spy and her character killed him. But then, she was killed soon after when the female lead discovered she was also a spy.
Oh this was really creepy. The man thought her movies were real. Didn’t Logan say one of the signs of delusional disorder was thinking the object of the person’s affection sent messages to them through the movies?
She needed to do something, had to keep him talking. She was afraid that if he proceeded with the ceremony, she wasn’t going to like the Honeymoon at all.
She couldn't pretend with him any longer. Playing along with his delusions got her nowhere. She decided to try scare tactics instead.
“Logan will kill you, you know.”
He looked perplexed. “Who?” Then he nodded. “Oh, the big brute you insisted on hanging around with before I came for you. All brawn and no brains, right?” He made a dismissive gesture. “No matter, we will be long gone before then.”
She wondered what he meant. If he were planning some sort of Honeymoon, surely there would be a chance to escape. She didn’t know how she was going to get out of this mess but if there was the smallest opportunity, she would take it. She was a pretty strong swimmer.
“I’ll fight you, you know. I won’t let you rape me.”
“Rape? Darling, we will be married. You will be my lawfully wedded wife. I would never rape you.”
“I don’t want to sleep with you.”
He considered her words and the small smile on his lips died, replaced by a look of evil menace.
“No sense putting up a struggle, darling Juliet.” He held up a small black device. “This is set to go off when the clock strikes one, to celebrate our nuptials.” He consulted his watch. “We have just enough time to say our vows and join together in love before we will be joined together for eternity.”
Jade shuddered. If this was the last man she would sleep with before she died, she wanted to end it right now. She considered trying to swallow her own tongue. Then his words penetrated her brain.
The small black box was a remote device. He rigged a bomb. That’s why they would be gone when Logan arrived. They would be thousands of tiny pieces of flesh floating on the murky brown water of Lake Monroe. Fish food.
“However,” he continued. “If you try to escape, or if anyone tries to take you away from me, I will detonate the bomb. We will still be together for eternity,” he clarified, “but I want to make sweet, slow love to my wife before we depart the earth.”
Jade shuddered when he bent down to kiss her, his lips cold and wet and revolting. She forced herself not to react, even when he jammed his tongue inside.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Logan inched closer to the roof, barely able to make out the man’s voice over the ridiculous tune that played “Dum, dum de dum,” over and over and over. The man was waxing poetic about all the movies Jade had appeared in throughout the years. He was definitely suffering from Erotomanic Delusional Disorder. Logan would have to be very careful and not set the man off. He was mentally unstable and liable to do just about anything.
He whispered into the mic, alerting Luke and Dan. “I’m on the top deck, I’ve got him in my sights,” he said almost soundlessly. “He’s definitely suffering from EDD and wait a minute…” Logan paused as the man explained his plans for the evening.
“He’s planted a bomb, set to go off at oh-one
hundred.”
Luke spoke softly in his ear. “Eleven-fifty. We've got seventy minutes before it goes off. Plenty of time to take him down and deactivate the explosives.”
“He has a remote device,” Logan warned. “One false move and the boat will go up like a roman candle.”
“We're almost there and the cops are right behind us,” Dan told him. “I’ll alert the bomb squad and have them search quietly downstairs and beneath the hull.”
“Meanwhile, I’m on your six.”
Logan glanced down to see Luke poised on the bottom rung of the spiral staircase.
So much for letting him go in by himself.
But he was happy to have his best friend guarding his back. There was no one he trusted more. He nodded at Luke, Luke nodded back and then he pulled himself to the roof and dropped to a crouch. He carefully glanced around the area.
A red haze of anger blurred his vision. The man was sitting next to a tied-up Jade on a bed, kissing her. His arms around her. He was going to rip the tongue out of the bastard’s mouth.
His eyes canvassed the space and his head jerked back. A realistic looking dummy of an older woman sat in a chair a few feet away. Creepy.
While the man was, he growled, occupied, he closed in to get a clear shot. Jade’s eyes were open and filled with disgust. They widened when she saw him. He put a finger to his lips and padded silently closer. He didn’t know where the man hid the remote device and he couldn’t risk him pushing it intentionally. Conversely, he couldn’t slam him to the ground in case it was in a pocket.
Jamming the pistol in the back waist band of his shorts, he used the element of surprise. He reached out, shoved his arms under the other man’s and then jerked up and locked his hands together behind the man’s head, rendering his arms useless. The man screamed when Logan wrenched his arms back.
“Where’s the remote device, asshole,” he growled into his ear.
Logan had seven inches and a solid forty pounds or so but when the man slammed his head back and connected with Logan’s forehead, he saw stars. The man tried to use Logan’s shock to throw them both to the ground, stomach first.
“It’s in his front pocket,” Jade screamed.
Logan recovered enough to twist in the air and land on his back, the man smashing on top of him. He “oofed,” and then wrapped his legs around the smaller man to lock him in place. Luke dove forward and pulled the device out of his pocket.
Detective Hurley and a uniformed policeman rushed onto the deck and slapped cuffs on the stalker.
“Where’s the bomb?”
The man laughed evilly. “That’s for me to know and you to never know because you will be dead.”
“He said the bomb was set for one,” Jade said as Luke worked to unlock her cuffs.
“I lied, darling. I didn’t want you to be scared.” It’s set to go off much sooner than that.” He laughed, a demented, rusty sound. “Much sooner.”
Logan eyed his watch. Eleven fifty-nine. “It's set to go off at midnight. Everyone off the boat!” He grabbed Jade as soon as Luke removed the cuffs and threw her over his shoulder in a firemen’s hold. He scrambled down the stairs with Luke on his heels. “Dan, get everyone off of the boat, now!”
“We heard,” Dan confirmed. “We’re abandoning ship.”
Logan rushed to the side where Dan had docked an inflatable dinghy with an outboard motor attached. Logan handed Jade down to his brother. Luke leaped inside and Logan had one leg poised to join them when he heard a scream. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Detective Hurley fly over the railing followed by the grinning stalker. Hurley landed with a sickening thud and the stalker slammed into the deck a few seconds later.
“Come-on Logan, get in,” Dan pleaded.
“Go, get out of here,” he ordered.
“I’m not leaving—”
“Go,” Logan yelled, “Get her to safety.”
Dan reluctantly spun the boat around and headed for shore.
“No Dan, stop. You can’t leave him,” Jade wailed, her voice trailing off as they moved farther and farther away.
Logan raced to Hurley’s side. “Leg’s busted,” the detective groaned. “Get out, save yourself.”
Logan hefted his old friend over his shoulder, ignoring his tortured cries of pain. With the help of the other cops, he got him lowered onto the rescue boat.
“Mother!”
Logan spun around and spotted the stalker, Michael Kint, lying at an odd angle on the deck. Both of his legs looked broken. He was screaming and pointing.
“Mother is upstairs. You have to save her!”
Though he wanted to, he couldn’t leave the man or his mother to die. Though Kint had terrorized Jade and killed several people, he was mentally ill. It would be too cruel to leave him here when there was a chance to save him.
Logan started back just as the world exploded.
Chapter Forty-Nine
“No!” Jade screamed as the boat behind them burst into a huge orange fireball, the flames licking high into the dark night sky.
“Oh, God,” Luke cried as he sank to his knees.
Dan jerked the boat to a stop and threw up over the side.
They watched in stunned silence, no one able to move, as the blaze engulfed the entire houseboat. Somehow they made it back to the marina, all three frozen in shock, filled with despair. Luke had to lift Jade out, her legs wouldn’t support her.
She couldn’t lose Logan, she couldn’t.
The police boat pulled up to the dock, scorched but functional. An ambulance crew rushed forward, ready to transport Detective Hurley after they stabilized his shattered leg. Two other officers suffered minor cuts and burns from the explosion.
Jade collapsed on the pier, afraid if she started to cry, she wouldn’t be able to stop. Dan was doubled over on the floor of the raft, Luke crouched down next to him, an arm thrown over his back in comfort. Activity swirled around her but Jade felt detached from the scene.
Sirens mingled with the sounds of the fire popping and cracking, the scent of charred wood hung heavy in the night air. People bustled past her, life going on.
How could it when hers just ended?
A paramedic asked if she was okay. She didn’t know how to respond. She had aches and pains and cuts and bruises, but they would heal. Was she okay? No. She didn’t think she ever would be again.
She allowed the woman to disinfect her scratches, listened with half an ear as she told her to apply an ice pack to her already-bruising cheek.
She couldn’t seem to muster the energy to care. She felt hollow, empty
Logan might've resented her for lying to him but she truly loved him, with all her heart. She never set out to hurt him and her intentions had been pure. But a lie was a lie, no matter how you sliced it, and she'd lied to him, no doubt about it. She could never take it back.
At least she told him how she felt, even if he didn’t believe her.
If only she could have convinced him of her love. He was the one, her other half, her soul-mate. When she looked into his eyes, she could see her future—their future. She wanted a chance to love him, to be a mother to Isabella and any other children they might have.
Jade closed her eyes. Oh no, Isabella. She hadn’t stopped to think what this would do to the little girl. Nausea rolled up from her stomach to her chest, cutting off her breath.
Isabella loved her daddy, adored him. This would devastate her. She'd already suffered through enough loss in her young life, she didn’t deserve to have this happen. Bella would still have many people who loved her but it would not be the same, would never be the same. Bella might not recover.
She knew she wouldn’t.
Suddenly the lake erupted beside Jade, water spraying in all directions. She screamed and pushed back from the edge as the water rained down to soak her. A large figure splashed to the surface.
“Logan!”
Jade dove to her stomach and reached for the spot where his head disappeared.
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Dan and Luke whipped around at her outburst and hurtled from the boat. She was tugging on one arm, trying to drag him out of the lake. Luke grabbed him out of the water and pulled him to the dock, shouting for a medic.
“Don’t need one,” Logan muttered, his eyes closed. One lid cracked open as Jade ran her hands all over his body, tears coursing down her cheeks.
“Thank you, God. Oh, Logan…are you hurt? Is anything broken? Can you hear me? Are you okay?”
“Babe, if you keep doing that, something most definitely is going be swollen and hurting.”
“He’s okay,” Dan shouted at the top of his lungs with a relieved half sob, half laugh. Logan pushed to his elbows and Dan grabbed him in a fierce hug. Logan grunted.
“Give him some air,” Luke chastised, shoving Dan in the chest so that he tumbled to his butt, crying with laughter.
“Thank God you are alive,” Luke choked out, grabbling Logan just as hard as Dan.
“Can’t breathe,” he croaked.
Luke laughed and chucked him in the arm. “You scared the hell out of us.
“My turn,” Jade announced as she launched herself at him, knocking him flat on his back with a moan, draping over him like a wet blanket. She took his face in her hands to kiss him and gasped. “You’re bleeding.”
“Just cuts from flying shrapnel.”
Jade pushed to her feet and called for a paramedic. Two rushed over but Logan waved them away. “I’m fine.”
“You are going to the hospital to be checked out, no arguments,” Luke stated firmly.
Logan tried to protest but was outvoted and overwhelmed with Dan, Luke and Jade all pushing him into the waiting ambulance. Dan and Jade fought over who would ride with him, Jade winning when Luke pulled a combative Dan away.
She grabbed a square of gauze from the paramedic’s hand and dabbed at his cuts herself.
The Fan Page 25
