Part 19 (1/2)

”Thank you,” she said, her breath coming out in short gasps. The slide over the side of the boat hadn't done anything good for her ribs. She closed her eyes for a long moment, trying to regain her balance.

When she opened her swollen eyes it was to find him standing in front of her. A short snub looking handgun pointing at her.

”It's just not my day, is it?” she muttered, glaring at him. ”Who the h.e.l.l are you?”

”You're luckier than you know,” he snapped. ”I work with Daniel. And the a.s.sholes who kidnapped you weren't supposed to leave you on the s.h.i.+p to die. But that's all right, the a.s.shole that did is paying for his error right now.”

”I don't know anything,” she whispered, wondering if she could make it over the railing. She'd rather take her chance with the water than be back in the hands of these a.s.sholes. ”Or I'd have told them.”

”No, you wouldn't. You're too d.a.m.n n.o.ble. And for what?”

She straightened. If she had to do this one more time, then well, she would. Inside she was afraid. What if she couldn't hold out again? What if she gave in? No. She couldn't give in.

And yet...she eyed the gun.

”Are you the one paying them to do this to me? Where's Daniel?”

”Daniel got called away. The presentation you did last night caused the buyers some angst. Daniel is trying to keep things on an even keel. Now the men downstairs? One is punis.h.i.+ng the other for sinking the boat with you. You weren't supposed to die.”

”Why did you kill the other man with me?” she whispered, pretending Hawk was dead. ”He didn't do anything to you.”

”Maybe not, but he would have.” The man shrugged. ”He's a SEAL. He wouldn't be able to help himself.”

”d.a.m.n it.” She reached up and rubbed her eyes. Everything hurt. The world was in a dismal state if people like this had nothing better to do but screw around with others and hurt people for fun.

”The money for you is better than most contracts.” He snorted. ”But you are only valuable if your d.a.m.n software comes with it.”

Ah. So that was what was wrong. ”And he figured that as I didn't have it that I was useless and best to let me die.”

”Exactly. Then again, getting good help these days is a b.i.t.c.h.” He smiled. ”But it all worked out in the end.”

She nodded as if she understood when in truth she didn't understand anything.

”Now that we have you again, we'll toss you to the buyer. Along with the electronics we recovered from your employee.”

”Is Robert dead?” She glared at him. She might just kill him herself if he was.

”Nah, not yet. But he's going to wish he was. He promised the goods and he didn't deliver.”

She closed her eyes. d.a.m.n it. Maybe Mason had been right. Had Robert been after a bigger payday?

”This has been a s.h.i.+tty job from start to finish.” The gunman growled, ”What's with you d.a.m.n people.”

”So finish it now,” she snapped.

The gun spun around and faced her again.

”I'd be happy to, but I want my f.u.c.king paycheck.”

Her chest seized. She gasped for breath, struggling to get the air locked inside back out. But it wasn't happening. She made a harsh wheezing sound and watched as the boat swam before her panicked eyes.

”f.u.c.k.” A harsh pound on her back had the old air gus.h.i.+ng out and new air rus.h.i.+ng in. She collapsed to the deck in pain...but alive.

”Enough of that s.h.i.+t.”

He turned around again and walked up to the pilot house. And fired up the engines again. She briefly wondered about throwing herself over the side of the boat again, but the floatation seat cus.h.i.+ons were nowhere in sight. And neither was Hawk.

HAWK CROUCHED BEHIND the cabin, dripping water over the side of the boat. He watched as Tesla collapsed to the ground wheezing, but at least she was breathing again. He'd only seen the one man. There had to be more.

He slipped down the stairs and into the stateroom. At the bedroom he studied the room through the small panes of gla.s.s. Two men, one dead or dying and one stretched out on the bed, his arms crossed under his head. His d.a.m.n phone resting on his chest.

The sleeping man appeared to be the guy who had taken Tesla to the airstrip with Daniel. He gave a brief look to the other man but didn't recognize him. Someone who screwed up and was paying for it. He gripped the piece of pipe in his hand and went in high and strong and aiming for the a.s.shole's knees. This guy wasn't going to walk away again.

Instinct had the man waking just at Hawk's pipe came down to the bed the empty s.p.a.ce where the man's legs had been.

Hawk launched himself at the bed, adjusting his position at the last minute, and plowed his fist into the a.s.shole's face. Then a quick slam of his pipe. d.a.m.n, it was off target. The other man roared and tackled him to the ground. Jammed between the bed and the built in cabinets, the fight was fast and fierce.

But Hawk had the upper hand.

And he was fighting for Tesla.

Hawk was broadside a few moments later. And the second fight was on, this time with the man who'd brought Tesla onboard. Only Hawk found himself flat on his back before he knew what had happened and the a.s.shole had his big thick hands wrapped around his neck. Hawk gasped and struggled to flip him over his back when suddenly he was free and the enemy was fighting for his own life. Tesla had launched herself on the behemoth's back, and with some kind of strap she'd wrapped the man's neck and twisted tight, strangling him.

The man jerked back, trying to free himself, but Hawk tripped him up and knocked him down. Tesla went flying and Hawk brought the pipe down on the man's head. And again.

He didn't move again.

Crying and laughing, Tesla launched herself at him. ”Oh my G.o.d, you're alive. I was so worried.”

Hawk was d.a.m.n near insulted. ”I'm fine,” he said. ”Are you?”

”I'm great.” She laughed, then gasped, her hand going to her side. ”Okay, so maybe not so great.” She pointed toward the stairs. ”I think there are other men below.”

”No,” Hawk said in a hard voice. ”There were men below.”

”Oh.” In a small voice she asked, ”Did you kill them?”

What did she think he'd do? Sit them down and spank them? Well, he had in a way, he'd spanked the one with a metal pipe.

”No, the one man had already done a good job of trying to kill the other.” He spun around searching the fog. ”We need to get to sh.o.r.e.”

She nodded. ”Do you have a way to communicate with the others?”

He nodded. ”The s.h.i.+p's radio if nothing else.”

With that he hopped up to the wheelhouse, and playing with a few k.n.o.bs, clicked a display. Crackling noises filled the air. With her watching his every movement, he soon had the radio working. He sent a message to Mason first. Then he checked the gas and started up the engine that had been previously shut down. He motored slowly to the wreckage of the other boat and marked the GPS location for someone to clean it up and so the authorities would know there'd been no loss of life in the accident.