Whirlpool (Cutter Cay Book 6) Read online

  "If Gallagher doesn't deliver them, alone, within an hour, I will cut off your hand."

  Her vision swam, and her throat worked as she swallowed nausea. "Theo, for God's sake- Finn doesn't give a damn about me. You were there when he made that abundantly clear this afternoon, remember? He. Won't. Come. " Aw, shit. She shouldn't have admitted that. Every second she was alive was a second she could find a way out of this freaking terrifying situation.

  "Yes. He will. No man would imperil the woman he loves if he thinks he can save her life."

  That sounded really good to her. Too bad that wasn't the case. "You mistake sex for love, Theo. Why ask for Finn? The Cutters found the other two tablets. Ask them to come."

  "They don't give a shit what happens to you, Ariel. Gallagher does. You'll call your lover, and this is what you will say. Don't deviate from the script, or I warn you, it will be most unpleasant. Repeat this; 'Finn, I want the other three tablets. Bring them to my house. You have one hour to get here.' That's it, Ariel. No improvisation. Do you understand?"

  "Sure." Even if Finn himself decided to come, which he wouldn't, it would take someone at least how long? Ten - twenty - minutes to get the helicopter ready? And that was if a helicopter could fly if the wind was still up. Then at least the thirty-five, forty to fly to the mainland. So, bottom line. Even if Finn wanted to come, he’d never get here in time. Peri knew no matter how he'd left things, he wouldn't want her dead. So he might send those counterterrorist guys to retrieve her tablet and make sure she stayed alive. Surely they wouldn't allow Theo and his thugs to dismember her?

  Nice thought, but unless they had super powers, they couldn't arrive in time either.

  Even if all that were logistically possible, the biggest thing to quash Theo’s grand theft plan was – Finn and the Cutters would never relinquish those tablets.

  Theo was right. They all knew her to be a thief. No one would be coming to her rescue.

  She was going to have to freaking rescue herself.

  Twisting her wrists behind her back, she kept her face expressionless even though whatever was binding her cut into her skin and she felt the slick warmth of blood with each painful twist. "You have my tablet, why isn't that enough for you?"

  "They are not Blackstar's prophecy for El Elegido-"

  When she tried to lever her upper body upright, her head swam and saliva pooled in her mouth. It was no point trying to free herself until she was sure- pretty sure- she could stand. "Then why do you want them?"

  "They must be destroyed."

  "Whoa." Peri frowned, then wished she hadn't when her jaw pulsed painfully. "You want to destroy the tablets? Priceless windows into antiquity, worth who knows how many millions of dollars?"

  "What is written is blasphemous and incorrect," Theo snapped, eyes blazing with a feral gleam. "We have anticipated a sign from Blackstar for five hundred years. But this is not it."

  "We?"

  "The Chosen. El Elegidos. The tablets must be destroyed so that our followers are not confused. Our prophecy must be found elsewhere and quickly. We are running out of time."

  "You believe there is a prophecy?" Feeling was coming into her bound hands with a vengeance, tears of pain stung her eyes.

  "The world will die a fiery death, leaving eleven thousand true and faithful Elegidos to repopulate the Earth."

  "And you guys are the Chosen?" Peri scoffed, glancing around as much as she was able. The men looked through her. "Seriously?"

  "El Ehnos knows of this false prophecy. The gold tablets confirm everything they hold holy, Excellency." A man out of her range of sight said, "Dr. Vadini will not permit the tablets to leave the ship."

  "I sent word to kill him. But now he is no longer an impediment." Theo held Peri's gaze.

  Peri rolled her eyes. “The Chosen and the Protectors? Is this some kind of joke? Let me see if I have this straight." Every second they didn't kill her, was a plus. "You are the Chosen, Theo? Really? And you're saying sweet, ancient Dr. Vadini is the Protector?" If any of this was true, Dr. Vadini seemed more likely to be the real thing. "Why don't you just work together?"

  "The four tablets found," Theo told her, taking her phone from someone out of her line of sight, “have imprecise information on them."

  "So the prophecy isn't true?"

  "It's true," Theo told her impatiently, "but not the way described in the tablets. They are wrong. My people would be confused. They must be destroyed before they do any harm."

  "There must be other, accurate, tablets," the older man who'd accompanied them to the mainland said with authority as he stood behind Theo.

  "According to the first tablet, there are five." Peri tried flexing her sore fingers to get more life into them. "So even if you get your grubby hands on the four we have, or destroy them, there will still be a tablet out there that you can't find. It'll haunt you forever, Theo. Or until the apocalypse, I suppose."

  "It is more likely that we will find the correct tablets at either the High Altar or the Holy Lake. Then the prophecy will take place unimpeded."

  The man who was beyond her line of sight said flatly, "We don't know where the Holy L-"

  Theo held up his hand. The man stopped talking.

  None of this made any sense to Peri, and having her head throb, and her eyes trying to roll back in her head wasn't helping. "If all three of you have been on board Blackstar all this time," she said impatiently, "why didn't you just destroy the tablets there instead of going to all this trouble?"

  "The bomb we planted on board Blackstar will destroy all records and transcripts. Your Mr. Gallagher, or one of his people, will deliver them to us here, or we will personally see to destroying every trace of the tablets where they are."

  A bomb? Dear God. "You placed a freaking bomb on board Blackstar?" Her vision swam as she lifted her head. "Are you insane? There are hundreds of innocent people on board!" Finn was onboard. Dear God. . .

  "It is set to detonate in," Theo glanced at his watch, "sixty-five minutes."

  "What if they don't send someone here with the other three tablets?" Why would they?"

  Theo smiled. "They will."

  "You're insane! Why are you demanding the tablets be brought here when you're going to blow up Finn’s ship and kill all those people and destroy the tablets?"

  "Quite simple, really," Theo told her, as he tried to figure out how to turn on her phone. "Either they will be destroyed in the bomb blast, or if I have the tablets in hand I can 'read' them to our people. And since none of them can read the Abipón language, they will believe everything I say as gospel. I will assure them that the tablets verify the prophecy while we look for the real tablet."

  "You're crazy, Theo. Please-" Thinking he was going to hit her, Peri flinched as he sliced his hand down. Instead, he squeezed her jaw again, grinding her teeth together.

  "Repeat what you will tell Gallagher."

  Probably shouldn't tell a crazy man he was crazy. "I don't remember."

  On her side, and bound wrists behind her, she felt the coolness of the leg of the heavy stone coffee table. No way to lift it as a weapon. The kitchen, spare on cooking gadgets, was twenty-five feet away. She didn't think a spatula was going to do much anyway. While Sea Witch, down below in the caves, was loaded for bear, or pirates, she had no weapons in the house. Her gaze flickered over the white marble plinth beneath the forty-inch-tall, bronze of Aphrodite.

  Her head was starting to clear, the nausea, manageable. All she had to do was free her bound arms and legs, make it unimpeded across the room, pick up about eighty pounds of bronze statue, hold it aloft long enough to take down at least ten determined men, and run like hell.

  Piece of cake.

  Theo repeated what he wanted her to say.

  "Finn," Peri parroted obediently, "I want the other three tablets. Bring them to my house or Theo will amputate my hand. How's that?"

  "If you think we'll permit Gallagher or his people to come, guns blazing, to rescue you, think again. He
won't get away with anything," the man behind Theo told her. "The house is surrounded by our men. No one will be able to come in without our express permission."

  "Surrounded? Really? You have people hanging off the sheer cliff-face like geckoes, Theo?" Unlikely, but not impossible, that he had men perched on the hundred foot drop down to the water. There was only one way in – that they knew about- and that was across the narrow spit of land that joined the mainland to her small peninsula. Her house was a fortress. They must have used her hand on the biometric pad while she was unconscious to get in. Now every sick and crazy could just freaking waltz in and threaten her.

  Or unless Theo and his crazy friends knew about the cave access.

  "And snipers on this side of your little peninsula," Santi, the other guy told her, joining the other two men standing over her. "No one will be able to cross from the mainland, no one can reach you from the sea. Gallagher is your only hope."

  "Like Obi-wan Kenobi?"

  "Say the words, Ariel." Without waiting for her response, Theo speed dialed Finn from her phone. He'd used the speaker, so everyone could hear the conversation. It was answered on the second ring.

  "Are you out of your goddamned mind going out alone in this weather? What the hell were you thinking-" Finn dragged a deep breath, then said in an achingly tender voice, "Darling, tell me that you're home and safe."

  She had one shot at this. "Bomb on Blackst--" Theo backhanded her across her bleeding cheek, snapping her head against the leg of the coffee table directly behind her before she could relay more information. Yelling in shock and outrage, Peri saw a galaxy of stars as Theo snatched the phone out of reach.

  "You have one hour from now, Gallagher," he told Finn. "Send someone to Ariel's house with the other three tablets. He comes alone or she dies. Take longer than an hour, she dies. More than the pilot, she dies."

  There was no hesitation before Finn responded through the speaker, the venom in his voice as clear as his fury. "Do you think one lying, cheating, little thief has more value to me than these tablets, Núñez?" Frost dripped off his voice. "Think again. She has zero value to me. The tablets are priceless. If she's dead or injured you have bugger-all bargaining power." The phone went to dead air.

  "And there you have it." Dizzy as hell, Peri pushed herself half upright against the side of the table. Had Finn heard her warning before Theo snatched the phone away? Her jaw throbbed where Theo had hit her, and stung where he'd stuck her with his knife, and the back of her head, where she'd bounced against the table smarted. "Finn doesn't care what you do to me. So, no tablets for you."

  Theo's smile chilled Peri to the marrow as he said confidently, "He'll come for you."

  "Trust me. He won't. But since you gave him a time limit, let's wait and see, why don't we?" Give me time to get my sea legs under me, and my brain time to clear. Out of the corner of her eye, she counted seven other men, all well armed and silent. Ten men inside that she was aware of. How many outside? No way to outrun a bullet or brute strength, she'd have to use her brain if there was a snowball's hope in hell of getting out of this alive.

  TWENTY

  Code Red. Initiate bomb protocols onboard both Blackstars, we have a credible threat." Finn instructed his head of security, via his smartphone’s earpiece. Voice calm, heart thundering, he pushed out words that scared the shit out of him. "Persephone's being held hostage on the mainland."

  He turned to Walker, his assistant, standing beside him, phone to his ear, relaying instructions to key personnel in a low, urgent undertone. "See who'll give us access to any strategically positioned satellites," Finn instructed. "Pinpoint on our location, then have them focus on the coordinates for Persephone's' house. Infrared and 30-centimeter resolution. I want a head count. Need to know how many Bad Guys I'm dealing with." Jesus, couldn't be that many, could it? Núñez was a government agent, for God's sake. None of this made any sense.

  "On it." Walker took his laptop and sat down, tapping keys even as he made the call to one of Blackstar Corp's telecommunications partners.

  McCoy, his chief of security came up beside him, and Finn said, "I'll take the chopper in alone. Assemble a small away team to rendezvous with me there. Take the cigarette boat, it’s the fastest we have. I'll send detail as I go."

  "Bad idea, sir. I can bring-"

  "Alone."

  "I'll bring your clothes."

  "Good man. Hurry."

  Logan frowned. "You don't think you're suitably dressed for the occasion?"

  "These clothes are specially constructed in case of a kidnapping."

  "Hell. Didn't know there was such a thing," Teal said with curiosity.

  "NASA has a satellite in position," Walker said, phone to his ear even as his fingers hovered over the keyboard. "They're reading- Please confirm?" He looked over at Finn as whoever he was speaking to confirmed the number of people on location at Peri's house. "Twenty-seven and counting. Heavily armed- Yes, thank you, please do keep us updated." He rose to come to Finn. "You heard? Take a look." He tilted the screen for Finn.

  Impossible. Improbable. Persephone kidnapped and surrounded by more than two dozen armed men? What the fuck was going on? None of this made any goddamn sense. Finn addressed the room at large. "Satellite imagery- both infrared and also 30-centimeter resolution, indicates two dozen armed men on the grounds surrounding the house on three sides. Snipers here, here and here." He showed the others as they closed in to look at Walker's screen. "Nine inside the house."

  Bria put a hand to her throat. "Dear God, is that Peri lying on the floor?"

  "Jesus. They're expecting a full out fucking war." Zane, standing between Jonah and Logan took a closer look at the infrared image on the left of Walker's screen.

  It was quite clear that Núñez's men were patrolling the narrow peninsula and the road leading to it and the house.

  "Over thirty men holding one woman?" Zane looked at Finn. "Why? I don't get it. Clearly, this isn't a straight kidnapping in exchange for the tablets. They're expecting a full-scale assault."

  Nick, talking quietly to the three T-FLAC operatives, who'd been guarding the tablets, dispatched them to head for the mainland as well.

  "What's your plan?"

  "Get there," Finn told him, voice grim as he coldly sorted facts and variables. A strategy needed to be put in place, but right now he was trying to assimilate as much information as possible. It took precious time, but it was necessary before he allowed his fear to take hold. Going in with the guns blazing, while appealing as hell, would get him killed. And if he died, Núñez would probably kill Peri as well.

  More haste, less speed.

  Fuck.

  McCoy returned with his change of clothes. Finn yanked his t-shirt over his head, tossing it aside to pull on a black shirt

  "Wait." Nick motioned to one of the T-FLAC guys over at the door. "Let one of my guys give you a LockOut suit-"

  "How long?" Doing up his shirt buttons, Finn already knew there wasn't time. The impervious garment, invented by the counterterrorist organization Nick frequently worked for, LockOut was a fabric that was almost indestructible, with many features suitable for the task at hand.

  "Twenty minutes to Scorpion, twe- Fuck. Sorry. No time."

  "What I have should do the trick." Finn undid his zipper. "Ladies-" Without waiting to see if stripping would offend them, and he doubted it would, Finn toed off his shoes, pulled off his jeans, and took the black pants McCoy held out, then added the belt before shoving his feet into lightweight boots.

  "How will you go in?" Nick pulled up a closeup image of Peri's glass house and the cliff on his smartphone. Why he had such an image was a question for Finn to address later. "This way?" He drew a line from the water at the base of the cliff, straight up the rock face to the house. A hundred feet of sheer granite.

  "Hell no." Finn did up the laces on the boots. " I'll fly in and land on their fucking doorstep."

  "You're insane." Teal's eyes were troubled. "They'll shoot y
ou on the spot."

  "Not until they have the tablets. And since they’ll believe Blackstar will be destroyed in their bomb blast, they'll know I have them. Where, they won't be told. Not until I have Persephone."

  "You are crazy," Zane told him flatly. "There's got to be a better way. Nick? Talk some sense into him."

  "A full frontal attack has its merits. They won't know you have back up. Might work."

  "Might?!" Callie's voice shook, and her eyes glistened with tears. "That's my sister in there! You have to-" Her voice choked off.

  Jonah wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he drew her aside. "We're not without our own considerable resources, sweetheart."

  Ignoring the urgency of the clarion sound of a countdown clock syncing with his heartbeat, Finn fired off instructions to his security people, and both his ship's captains.

  The four Cutters broke off to alert their own people on their ships. He knew Nick had ties to the black ops of T-FLAC, but hearing the brothers’ concise instructions to their people, made him realize what excellent allies he had in his friends. He knew he was going to have to apologize to infinity for accusing them of collusion about the damned tablets.

  Cold as ice, he kept his fear and urgency tamped down so he could construct, analyze, dismiss, and put into action plans even as he mobilized his people. As much as he wanted to haul ass out of there, show up at Persephone's house sooner than expected, Finn knew the advantage of a well thought out game plan.

  He couldn't afford to fuck up. Not with her life at stake. He'd automatically set the timer on his watch the moment Núñez had come on the phone. A quick glance showed him too many minutes had passed.

  McCoy handed him a micro-sized comm that fit over his back molar. "They'll check you for weapons and phone. They won't see this, and we'll be in contact for the duration. I'll coordinate efforts from here, and keep everyone in the loop. I'm guessing that trying to convince you to let us handle this is out of the question? Yeah, thought so. I have your six. The away team is heading to the motorboats now. We'll also utilize the Cutter choppers and men. They'll meet us as we instruct. Rodriquez is boobytrapping our chopper, he's waiting for us on the flight deck with an arsenal."