Whirlpool (Cutter Cay Book 6) Read online

  "Why don't you let me take you home? I'll bring you back tomorrow for your car," he offered as they started walking in the direction of the parking lot. Forty-foot-tall cypress trees formed a windbreak in a semicircle around the perimeter of the marina, and their smoky, pungent, piney, scent mingled pleasantly with salt water and fish on the night air.

  There was no sign of his friends. "Nice try. And you no longer have sleepover rights, Dr. Núñez," she said, trying to add a teasing tone to her voice.

  "You're fucking the millionaire," his voice was flat with a tinge of censure.

  "Billionaire. And not anymore."

  He gave a bitter laugh, and Peri glanced at him, as he said, "Then you never looked at him when he watched you. His eyes fuck you every time you're in the same room, and when you leave, he watches the door. And I'll tell you something else. You never looked at me the way you look at Gallagher. Even if you didn't keep your hands off each other in public, the heat between the two of you was obvious to everyone."

  Was he jealous? After all this time? She had no intention of fanning those dead embers with him. She'd better make that clear. "Theo-"

  "I don't care, Ariel. I really don't."

  She touched his arm. His slicker felt wet and cold. "I'm glad. I still want to be friends." Which she couldn't imagine any man wanted to hear, so they were even, she supposed.

  "Well, as your friend, I insist on driving you home. You’re too tired to do it on your own safely. Don't argue."

  Tall, utilitarian metal lamp posts lit the way as they passed a shack that sold hot coffee and the fresh catch of the day in the early mornings. Theo's friends were almost at the parking lot, as they wandered down the length of the dock, apparently in no hurry. One lit a cigarette, and the red tip glowed, bobbing in the dark as he walked.

  It was impossible to think she'd ever had sex with Theo. Their relationship had barely lasted the five months she usually allotted to lovers. There was nothing at all she found attractive about him now, certainly not in comparison to Finn.

  Both lights on the tall poles in the gravel parking lot were burned out, and they stepped into the deep shadows under the trees.

  "You should report the lights," Theo told her, taking her hand to wrap it over his forearm when she stumbled over an unseen rock. "It's dangerous out here in the dark, you could fall and hurt yourself, and that guard is probably old and drunk and useless, so no one would find you until morning."

  Peri withdrew her hand, as she walked. No touchy-feely. "What a cheerful thought." She would report the lights, but it was rare that she came into the marina, although she kept a slip there.

  The smell of the cypress overhead was much stronger under the trees. The pungent piney smell thick in the now still air. Their shoes crunched as they walked across the gravel parking lot. Damn, it was dark enough that she might need Theo's strong arm after all. She'd rather not.

  His black truck was still parked beside her electric blue SUV. When Theo wasn't in Buenos Aires doing his job as Minister of Antiquities, he ran a sheep farm twenty-five miles inland, so he didn't have that far to go.

  They got to their vehicles. Thank God. She had about enough energy to make it back home. Skip the shower, she'd just fall, nose first, onto the bed and deal with everything in the morning.

  She reached for the bag he carried. "Thanks for the offer, Theo, but I want my own car in the morning." He handed the heavy bag to her, and waited until she was inside her car, the tablet on the passenger seat beside her.

  "I'll follow you."

  "Go home, Theo." Peri pulled the door closed. He stood beside watching her. Peri smiled and shook her head, waving as she started the car. The engine clicked. She tried again. Damn. Had she left the lights on the other day and run down her battery? She tried again, and again the engine refused to turn over. Not even a hopeful click. Damn it to hell, she was too tired, cold and freaking wet to deal with this.

  Cracking the door, because she couldn't lower the window without power, she said, "Do you have jumper cables in that fancy truck of yours?"

  "I do. I'll turn the heater up, and you can sit in it and at least warm up while we jump start your car."

  Sounded good to Peri. Grateful he didn't push driving her home again, especially now that her car didn't work, she got out and started walking around the back to his truck.

  Something painfully hard struck her on the temple. Her head seemed to implode from the blow. Peri's eyes rolled back in her head as she slumped to the ground. Confused, she blinked back the pain and dizziness. The dark canopy of the trees swirled sickeningly, and nausea rose in the back of her throat as pain radiated from the point of contact. Had she been hit by a falling branch?

  Her vision dimmed. Don't lose consciousness. Do. Not. There wasn't a hospital for mil. . .

  Time seemed to pass in lightning fast slices, as if she was inside a strobe light. Theo. Her car. Trees. Men's voices.

  She hung on by a thread, the intense pain seemed to surround her. Eyes blurry, she focused on Theo's feet and legs to orientate herself as everything around her spun. "Theo-"

  "¡por Dios! What are you doing? I almost had her in the truck, you fool."

  Another voice so close, it was practically in her ear, responded in angry, rapid-fire Spanish. The man loomed over her. Think. Breathe.

  Think, damn it.

  Move!

  Struggling weakly to twist free, she was jerked onto her back by rough hands. A man leaned over her, a dark shape against the darkness behind him. She caught a glimpse of his feral black eyes and rough unshaven jaw before the sudden, alarming, heavy weight of a knee compressed her chest, stealing her breath.

  His hand smelled of nicotine and sweat, as he covered her mouth and nose, to wrench her head to the side.

  Swallowing bile, Peri broke her fear-induced paralysis and fought for her life. Kicking out proved useless, and trying to punch and buck her hips garnered her nothing more than him almost breaking her ribs with the full weight of his body pressed down in the middle of her chest.

  Someone else held her legs, stopping their useless flailing. The sharp sting of a needle piercing a vein in her neck had her fighting manically, as full-fledged panic and terror flooded her body. A surge of adrenaline gave her strength to do whatever it took to get the man off her. Thrashing and bucking, she fought him with everything in her. But an insidious fire and lassitude melted her veins like hot syrup, slowing her movements.

  Her world faded to black.

  NINETEEN

  Wired, adrenaline surging, Finn returned to the salon. "Peri was last seen entering the elevator going down to the garage well over an hour ago," he told them, sick in his gut. No matter how good a sailor, the high winds and large waves were nothing to mess with. And it had been more dangerous an hour earlier than it was at present.

  "Left for where?" Logan demanded. "Don't you have video surveillance on this big, fucking fancy ship of yours, Gallagher? For god's sake. . ."

  "Hang on-" Finn looked at his phone, watching a very chummy Núñez and his Peri leave her cabin. Surveillance followed them into the elevator until the doors opened. He swore. "Security cams in the garage were dark."

  Nick frowned. "Are you saying we don't know if she was coerced, or went on her own?"

  "Didn't look like coercion to me," Finn admitted, still feeling an urgent need to go after her. He stabbed her number on his speed dial. "Either she went directly to her brother on Tesoro Mio, which would've taken thirty minutes give or take, or she headed back to the mainland, which means she's still out there."

  "Hi, I can't find my phone," Peri said cheerfully in the message recording. "Call back sometime." The beep was as annoying as hell because he wanted to hang onto the sound of her voice a few seconds longer. No 'leave a message' no 'sorry I missed your call'. Trust her to be different.

  Ah, Jesus. I am sorry. So fucking sorry, sweetheart.

  Don't panic. Her boat was out of range, or her phone turned off, that was all. Every
fiber of his being demanded he race out and find her. His pounding heart and dry mouth showed Finn he was fucking panicking.

  Blackstar's security cameras covered every inch of the ship. Not only because it was his home, but because it was also his corporate office. The fact that every single fucking camera in the garage had been dark for six and a half minutes while she and Núñez departed scared the living crap out of him.

  Teal frowned. "Alone?"

  "Dr. Núñez was with her." Finn scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his jaw, not feeling comforted by the knowledge at all. He punched in her number again. "But he's no sailor, and won't be any help if she's in trouble. I'm going to go look for her." Voicemail. The sound of her cheerful voice gripped him by the throat and wouldn't let go even when he disconnected.

  Peri where are you?

  "I'll go with you," Nick told him, zipping up his jacket, and indicating the three T-FLAC operatives standing silently nearby, accompany them.

  "Wait." Callie removed her phone from the tote bag slung over her shoulder. "Let me call Ry first to make sure she arrived there safely."

  "Good idea." Just because he was thinking the worst didn't mean the worst had happened. She'd gone to her brother, of course she had. Right now she was thirty minutes away, enjoying a cocktail with her family.

  For some reason, thinking she was safe with her brother didn't lessen the tight knot in Finn's belly. He watched Callie's face as she talked to Rydell Case, and used the time to alert his crew to ready both the runabout and his chopper immediately. If she was with her brother, Finn still wanted to hold her, touch her, see her, to ensure she was all right. If she wasn't he'd fly to her goddamn house and make his apology.

  "Call me back right away when she does show up," Callie demanded. "Okay. Thanks-"

  "Give him my number." Finn held up his phone.

  "Yes," Callie said, reading out his private number to Case. "I don't think so. Not yet. Yes, I will." After disconnecting, she looked first to Jonah, then to Finn. "She didn't go to Rydell and Addy. Ry wanted to know if he should go looking for her or come here. I told him- Well you heard."

  "Jesus." Logan closed his eyes, then opened them again. "The water's calming down some. She must be almost to the mainland by now, right? She's fine."

  Finn didn't know any such thing. He started for the door, Nick beside him. "I'm going to look for her to make sure of it."

  His phone rang. A quick glance told him it was Persephone.

  Ripping out his earpiece, he slammed the phone to his ear, so angry, so fucking scared, he lost it. "Are you out of your goddamned mind going out alone in this weather? What the hell were you thinking-"

  Bria touched his arm and shook her head.

  Finn closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Only then was he able to modulate his tone. "Darling, tell me you made it home safely."

  Dizzy and disoriented, Peri tried to breathe away her nausea through slightly parted lips. She lay on a soft surface, and everydamnthing hurt. No. It was just the pain radiating from the base of her skull where some asshole had hit her.

  Her clothes stuck to her skin, cold and clammy. Her rain slicker was now trapping the moisture inside it. Strands of wet hair clung to her face and neck like annoying seaweed, indicating she hadn't been unconscious that long.

  Voices penetrated the fog, and nausea ebbed and flowed in sickening waves. How long she'd been wherever she was, she had no idea. But she hadn't been out long enough for things to dry. So she was close to the marina.

  The last thing she remembered was the blow, followed by a few seconds of fear before someone stuck her with a freaking needle.

  She didn't want whoever knocked her out to know she was awake, but, God, she wanted to puke. It was as if she was inside her nausea and dizziness with no end.

  Where was poor Theo?

  "How much of that tranq did you give her, for God's sake?" Sounded like Theo? Well, shit. He was in on this? That didn't make any sense at all. "We need her alive to convince Gallagher to come. Without her, we have no bargaining chip."

  "She's fine." A deep, unidentified male voice said. "I estimated she was about the same weight as a sheep. I gave her the appropriate dose."

  "There was no need to drug her at all. I almost had her in the truck. With her car disabled, she would've come willingly."

  "We weren't prepared to risk it. You know her better than any of us. Do you really think once she knew what we had planned she would've come willingly?"

  "She wouldn't have known until we got here."

  "She had no intention of inviting you in, and you know it. This was the most expedient way to get into the house."

  "Why isn't she waking up?" Deep Voice, said as his booted foot struck Peri’s ribs.

  Pain radiated from the sharp kick, jarring her teeth. It took everything in her to remain limp and unresponsive.

  Sheep tranq? Peri played possum as she fought her way out of a thick, mind-numbing daze. Succumbing to new waves of nausea, her mouth filled with saliva, but she didn't dare swallow too overtly. She was aware enough to know she was in grave danger. A few minutes might clear her brain and enable her to think while she listened to their conversation to get a clue as to who they were and what they wanted.

  The police would want descriptions of the kidnappers. If she was alive to give them descriptions. Think this through, clear your mind, and focus. What do I know?

  She pictured in her mind’s eye the few moments between being struck and being injected. She'd caught a quick flash of fluorescence on the man's descending hand. Why did that strike a cord?

  Dear God. Did it match Theo's tattoo? Were they some kind of gang? No. She couldn't picture Theo in a gang, tattoo or no tattoo.

  What then?

  "She should be coming around soon." A third man said in Spanish.

  Theo and at least two others, then. She didn't recognize their voices. Were the two men she'd brought to the mainland here with them? That would mean five men in total.

  Peri slitted her eyes to look through the shield of her lashes. Everything was a blur. She was so tired. It was much easier to shut her eyes. Take a little nap. She'd deal with- No! God, no. Wake the hell up!

  "I still dispute bringing her here."

  "He'll come to her. You know we can't reveal the citadel's location. Gallagher already knows she's a thief. He'll believe that she wants the other tablets for herself. Trust me on this. . ." Theo's voice faded as Peri struggled to clear the cobwebs.

  Moving incrementally, and as silently as possible, her eyes gradually focused as she got some feeling back into her extremities, albeit with painful pins and needles.

  Lying on her side, she recognized the annoying tickle on the side of her nose was the white flokati rug in her living room. She was in her own house.

  She had the home team advantage, if having the advantage was being bound hand and foot, and surrounded by men with guns.

  All the lights were on, even the pendants over the island in the kitchen. The sky beyond the enormous windows was pitch black, reflecting the three arguing men, and more shadowy figures across the room. Her sluggish heart started skipping beats. There were more than three of them. She heard fabric rustling and the slide of a shoe on the floor behind her. More people unseen. Other black-clad men, not participating in the conversation, ranged around the room. A giant Peri party, apparently, with her as the trussed up guest of honor. All she was missing was the damn apple in her mouth.

  Time to see which of her body parts would cooperate. The arm she was lying on was numb, and she tried to wiggle her fingers behind her back to encourage circulation. Sweat beaded her brow. Her heart skipped several beats before resuming a faster rate. Her wrists were bound tightly behind her. A slight shift of her legs told her what she'd dreaded. Her ankles were bound, too.

  "She's awake."

  Shit. Her heart sank, and she instinctively recoiled, even though she couldn’t get far. Theo glanced at the two men she'd transported from Blackstar, reflec
ted where they stood behind the sofa.

  "Ahh," her tongue felt thick and useless. She wet her lips before managing to spit out, "You two went ahead and were waiting in the parking lot so you could ambush me." When she moved her head the room took a few twirls which almost made her throw up. "So much for no g-good deed goes unpunished."

  Now that she got a better look at them, she remembered the younger one as the waiter she and Finn had almost flattened the night they'd had wild monkey sex in the pantry on Blackstar.

  "What's going on, Theo?" Her voice slurred and sounded terrifyingly weak to her own ears. Peri struggled to sit up. Her head swam as she flopped down weakly on the rug. How long would the drug take to dissipate? "Who are these men, and what do you all want?"

  "Bring her phone over here," Theo ordered someone behind him as he crouched beside her. "You're to tell Gallagher that you want the other three tablets. He has an hour to get here. Alone."

  Theo held an ivory-hilted curved-bladed knife in front of her nose. It seemed enormous, sharp and deadly. She heard the fast pulsing of her heart in her ears and kept her expression as impassive as she could. "No."

  Theo grabbed her chin in his palm and squeezed her jaw.

  "Do not doubt for a minute my intention, Ariel. One swing of this blade has sliced off a sheep's leg. Think what it will do to the fragile bones in your wrist. Or this pretty face."

  "You're going to kill me? What have I ever done to you, Theo?" His behavior was so bizarre and out of context that her drugged brain couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. " You want my tablet? Have it. I don't care."

  "Kill? No, I have great plans for you, Ariel. That doesn't mean I won't hurt you. I have your tablet. I want the other three."

  Her cheeks flared hot with anger. This was a crappy end to a really lousy day. "Go. To. Hell."

  Her stomach swooped sickeningly as Theo dug the tip of the knife into her cheek. It took a second for the pain to hit, and another second for the heat of her own blood trickling down her chin to register.