Page 11 of Hell to Pay

I turned my attention to the laptop and opened it without thinking. It was locked, the prompt for the password staring back at me like a challenge.

I heard a sound behind me — a barely there rush of air — and spun to face the door. A hulking figure in a wetsuit was blocking the exit, pointing a huge gun at my face.

This was it. I was going to die on this boat in the middle of the ocean, or worse, be taken even farther away from the only people in the world who might — just maybe — care enough to tell someone I was missing.

“Jesus fuck.” The man lowered the gun.

The voice broke through my fear. I knew that voice, knew this man.

“Rafe?”

Maybe the lack of blood flow to my brain from my slowing heart was causing me to hallucinate.

Gunfire sounded below us and Rafe rushed into the room. “Are you hurt?”

I wondered if I was imagining the undercurrent of fear in his clinical question.

“I’m okay,” I said. “I need… I need my meds.”

He hesitated — just for a split second — and for one crazy moment I thought he was going to hug me.

Then he moved toward the door. “Stay behind me, no matter what.”

I glanced back at the laptop. I wanted it, wanted to know what was on it, if it would lead us to the missing girls.

I hurried to unplug the hard drive.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Rafe asked, turning back to look at me.

“There might be something on here,” I said. “Something we can use.”

I stuffed the hard drive into the pocket of my hoodie and met him at the door.

“No more delays,” Rafe growled. “I mean it. Let’s go.”

11

NOLAN

The woman wasthe only one left by the time we cleared the first floor. My heart was racing, the image of the blood on the floor in the room where Lilah had been held prisoner burned into my mind.

Was it Lilah’s? The thought made me want to tear the people responsible limb from limb.

Then Rafe’s voice sounded in my ear. “I’ve got her.”

Relief flooded my body, but it was quickly followed by fear.

“Is she okay?” Jude asked. He was walking in front of me, headed back toward the stern of the boat.

The hesitation was so brief I might have imagined it.

“I think so,” he said.

“The woman is still loose on the boat,” Jude said.

“Not a priority.” Rafe’s voice was curt, all business. “There was a control room. Security cameras, computers, a radio.”

Jude swore. A radio meant one of the guards might have radioed for help before we’d killed him.

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