Johnny passed out tiny earpieces with microphones, along with four objects that looked like walkie-talkies.“What are these for?” I asked.“They’re shortwave transmitters. They’ll allow the four of us to communicate onboard the ship,” Johnny explained. “And they have Bluetooth capability, so if Eve’s able to commandeer the ship’s wireless computer system, she’ll be able to speak to us directly when we’re onboard.”Words appeared on the television screen: Put them on.We all did as ordered. Suddenly a familiar feminine voice – one I had heard only for a couple of hours, and many weeks ago – spoke in my ear.“Hello, gentlemen. I’ll be assisting you on your mission of rescue and revenge this evening.”Juan chuckled. “Hot girl talkin’ in my ear – the night just got even better.”“Good to hear your voice again, Eve,” I said.“Thanks, Connor.”“Why are you breaking the rule about no voice contact, though?”“We’re in the final stretch, so I figure it can’t hurt. Plus there’s no real way arou
I sat there staring at Miranda, both furious and sick with dread at the same time.She didn’t seem bothered at all by the violent drama about to unfold. She lounged in the chair like she was in a theater, waiting for a movie to start. The only thing out of place with her demeanor was the gun in her right hand.“What were you doing in Tokyo and Italy?” I asked.“I told you, we’re not talking about that.” There wasn’t any anger or annoyance in her voice, just cool detachment.“Either I’m about to die, or you’re about to die – so what does it matter if I know?”She looked at me with mild amusement. “I’m not about to die.”Her self-confidence enraged me – and at the same time, the double meaning behind her last sentence chilled me to my bones. Still, I kept pressing. “So tell me.”“There was a shipment of prostitutes in Tokyo, and a shipment of heroin in Italy.”“…into the US?”“No,” she said, her voice registering just the barest hint of sarcasm. “Into Guam. Of course into the US.”“But
We had to access the cargo hold and jump from there in order to avoid getting sucked into the engines, so we removed an access panel in the Gulfstream’s cabin wall and set it aside. Cold air blasted out of the dark hole at hurricane force.While the others prepared to jump, I unzipped one of the tiny pouches sewn into my black fatigues and pulled out the wedding rings. I rubbed them again, felt the embossed patterns in the metal, and kissed them once more.Today was supposed to be our wedding day, not the day we both might die.No, I told myself. That’s NOT going to happen.I’m putting this on your finger TODAY, Lily. I swear it.Then I replaced the rings and zipped them up tight and secure.Everyone else was finally ready. Leo grabbed his AR-15 and disappeared through the hatch. Exactly twenty seconds later, Juan crawled in after him.Twenty seconds after that, Johnny slapped my shoulder. “Go. I’ll be right behind you.”My heart pounding, I crawled into the darkness and tried to reme
Miranda’s revelations had thrown me for a loop. Even though I tried not to react, there was no denying the sour sickness in my stomach – or the bitter despair in my heart.I couldn’t stop myself from saying what came next. It was the only way I could fight against the onslaught of hopelessness and outrage coursing through me.“Even if you kill me, it won’t matter,” I said coldly. “In fact, it’ll just make it worse for you. Connor will find you. He will. And he won’t stop until you’re dead or behind bars.”“Your faith in Connor is… adorable,” she said, her voice dripping with contempt.“It’s amazing to me how stupidly overconfident you are. You think you know everything, but you don’t.”“But I do. For instance, I know that Eve Saunders is helping them. I know that she has currently accessed all the cameras aboard the ship. What she doesn’t know is that the feeds from all the cameras are fake. They’re recordings. In reality, I have three times more men onboard than Connor expects – and
The four of us reached the rendezvous point, three hundred feet from the ship. The hull was visible only as a silhouette, but we could make out lights along the decks and on top of the bridge.“Leo and Juan, starboard side,” Johnny said. “Connor and I will take portside. Everybody use the sleds until you get about a hundred feet out, then abandon them and swim the rest of the way. We don’t want anybody hearing us approach.”“How do we get up there?” I asked.“Leave that to me,” Johnny said. “Remember, once you’re onboard, use your earpieces and microphones. Hopefully Eve can reach us, but if she can’t, we can still talk to each other.”Johnny and I split off from Leo and Juan and used our sleds to approach the left side of the yacht. The closer we got, the taller it seemed to loom above us.A hundred feet out, we left our sleds bobbing in the water and swam the rest of the way. When we reached the side of the ship, the waves slapped me up against the hull like a cork bobbing against a
I stared at Miranda.Two traitors?! “Who – ?” I started to ask, but I was interrupted by Armin opening the door. In his arms he carried a nasty-looking rifle with a high-tech scope.“They’re onboard,” he informed Miranda. “We just got visual confirmation.”“Good. What about the satellite uplink? Did you turn it off so the hacker can’t help them?”“No, we’re having trouble shutting the system down,” Armin said as he closed the door behind him and locked it.“What are you doing?” Miranda asked, obviously annoyed.Armin seemed confused. “Protecting you.”Miranda held up the pistol in her hand. “I’m fine. Get out there and shut down the computers. I don’t care if you have to blow them up, I don’t want Eve Saunders helping them.”“But – ”“GO.”Armin frowned, but he unlocked the door and started to step out.“And remind the others that I want Connor alive,” Miranda said.Armin turned back in surprise. “You want him unharmed?”“I didn’t say that. You can hurt him as much as you need to.” S
I was halfway down the deck when Eve spoke in my ear. “Connor, there’s a problem.”“What?” I whispered.“Juan and Leo are on the other side of the yacht, but I’m not getting any video feeds of them.”There was a dull WHUP in the distance, then another one a few seconds later.Not like gunshots, exactly. But they did sound like a heavy book being dropped on a wood floor.I ducked into an alcove with a door in it, and hunkered down into a squatting position. “Juan? Leo?”“We separated, and Juan ran into a guard,” Leo’s voice said. “Juan’s dead, but I got the other guy before he could sound the alarm.”SHIT. Already things were going to hell, and we’d barely engaged the enemy yet.But… something didn’t make sense…I frowned. “I heard two silenced shots. How come I didn’t hear any regular gunfire?”“They’ve got suppressors, too. The first one was the guy shooting Juan, the second was me shooting the guard.”I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something seemed off. I just chalked it up to
BOOM.There was a massive explosion somewhere on the ship. Every glass pane in the spider terrariums rattled, and a couple cracked.“What the hell?” Miranda said, and stumbled to her feet as the yacht began to tilt to one side.After my initial shock from the blast, I watched Miranda’s face. She was reacting with more fear – in fact, with more emotion – than I’d ever seen her display before.She looked back at me, her eyes wide with surprise.After all the indignities the bitch had put me through, I couldn’t resist. “Guess my fiancé’s here,” I said, and gave her a little smile.