Page 7 of Hell to Pay

Please… just let me stay conscious long enough to get off this boat.

It didn’t feel right to direct my prayers to God, not my mom’s god anyway. I’d abandoned him long ago, and while I was a lot of things — had become a lot of things since moving in with Nolan, Jude, and Rafe — I wasn’t a hypocrite.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling like there was some kind of primal force out there, some kind of energy that might be listening. It made me feel better to voice the plea, to believe someone or something might be listening.

I knew escaping the boat wouldn’t be the end of my problems. There was nothing for miles all around. Presumably, we were anchored in a deep part of the ocean. What was I going to do, pick a direction and swim? Hope for the best?

Jumping off the boat was probably a death sentence, but if it came to a choice between being trafficked by Mr. Suit or being shot in the head and dumped overboard, I’d take my chances in the water. I’d stopped handing my fate to others when I’d left my mom’s house, when I’d learned to protect myself.

If I was going to die, I was going to do it on my terms.

Now I had two choices: try for an escape when they brought my dinner tray or wait for breakfast in the morning.

The other boat will be here soon…

The German woman’s words had sent a chill down my spine. Another boat meant more people. Probably more guards.

It also meant a change from the routine of the past thirty-six hours. I had no idea what to expect then, no idea if I’d have another opportunity at escape.

Still, the thought of ending up in the water in the dark sent a shock of pure terror through my body. I’d never liked deep water, had always had too vivid of an imagination, had been able to picture the shadow and shape of things gliding beneath my feet, the endless expanse of water.

I’d be jumping into the unknown, the odds of drowning or being eaten by a shark greater than the odds of survival, and I’d be doing it in the dark.

But darkness also meant cover. If I jumped overboard during the day, it would be easy for my captors to see me, find me, haul me back onto the boat, or worse. And maybe I’d get lucky and be able to snag a life vest on my way down.

Basically, there were no good choices. I was kind of fucked either way, but I liked my chances in the dark better, and I pushed through the fear that pulsed like a living thing at the center of my body and worked to get my head around the plan.

Knock the woman off-balance, surprise the guard with the screw, get out of the room.

Run.

Jump.

7

NOLAN

Jude rowedthe dinghy silently through the water. It had a small motor, one that might come in handy once we got Lilah off theArtemis, but using it now would be stupid. The name of the game was stealth: board the yacht quietly, take out as many guards as possible without alerting the others.

It was pitch black in every direction, the lights on theArtemisgrowing brighter as we approached from the starboard side.

I wasn’t worried about being spotted on approach. The guards I’d observed on deck hadn’t been watching their surroundings with any kind of intention. There were no binoculars, no discernible shifts. They stood on deck in their tactical gear, their weapons at ease while they smoked and sometimes talked to each other before one of them ambled off for a time.

They were obviously used to working detail as some rich fuck’s private security. They didn’t know they should be worried. They didn’t know we were all raging in our different ways about the fact that these assholes had Lilah.

And when we raged, someone paid.

“Anything?” Jude asked Rafe, who was observing theArtemisthrough night-vision goggles.

“Same guard on the stern,” Rafe said, still looking through the goggles. “No one on the bow. Lazy fucks.”

It was true but I also understood it. No reasonable person would expect someone to board their craft under cover of darkness, especially from the bow, which sat high out of the water with no ladder.

“Approaching,” Jude said as he rowed closer to the boat.

Rafe lowered the night-vision goggles and replaced them with his scuba goggles, then positioned his breathing apparatus in his mouth.

Jude stopped rowing, letting the dinghy glide closer to the bow of theArtemiswhere we were hidden from the guard on the stern.

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