Page 1 of Wayward
Chapter 1
Landing
Easton
The tender bounces on the breakers, heading toward our beach, and the life jacket around my neck smells of its new plastic buckles. I glance behind us, back at the yacht. I can’t see Penny anymore. She lunged to get into the tender with us. It took a guard and their chief stew, Kennedy, to hold her back. Penny wanting to get in the tender? Yeah, she can sense something’s wrong the same way we can.
I put my arm around Haley. She smiles. But she’s worried too. The pirate ship’s gone, something we couldn’t tell from our cabin. Sunk? Driven off? I don’t know, and we haven’t discussed it. Dante, Sam, and Calvin have made it clear that we can’t talk in our cabin. And they’re right. There’s no way Z’s men aren’t watching us or listening to us.
The wind’s howling, and it’s weird, weird to be looking at our beach from this angle. Weird thinking this is the last time I’ll ever see it. My eyes flick over to the guard in the front of the boat, then to the ones on the beach. There’s another tenderalready tied up to the big rock. Three other guards stare at us from behind their Ray-Bans.
There was little talking when Calvin came back into the room, Pepper firmly under his arm. But something happened. There’s something going on with Calvin again. He did tell us about the guards picking up the other feral cats on the other side of the island. I didn’t sleep much. I thought about making Calvin go off our guard duty, but I know him well enough now. He wouldn’t sleep, anyway. He’s even more watchful than I would have expected, and his grunting and scowling is at a hundred percent. Dante’s right there with Calvin.
We bounce onto the beach. Zane hops out. Holloway, Thayer’s chief of security, puts his hand over the gun of the guard next to him. “He’s doing his job. He’s on autopilot, going back to being a deckhand.”
Zane and another of the Rosewood guards tie up the tender. Holloway stands at the edge of the tender like he’s going to help us out. Calvin and Dante ignore the male and step into the surf.
“I’ve got it,” Sam says, and he turns back to help Haley. She takes his hand, and I jump out without saying anything to the thick-necked guard.
“Here,” a guard says, passing out tubs to each of us. “Collect what you want. Two of you up to the camp.”
Haley and Sam go first up the trail to the camp, followed by three guards.
The rest of us sit on the beach, staring at the Rosewood, at least four guards at our backs. My stomach’s clenched. My eyes flick to the jungle where Haley and I hid yesterday, waiting for our chance to take the pirates. That was bad, but somehow this feels worse.
It’s been a long time. Calvin’s leaning into Dante. The wind’s at our backs, and I can barely make out what he’s saying. Butthere’s no way the guards can hear him with the wind. “Thayer’s dad wants us dead.”
Sam and Haley are back, tears coming down her cheeks.
“Haley,” Dante barks, stepping toward her.
“Wait your turn, chef,” the guard yells, stepping between Dante and Haley.
“It’s okay—I’m okay, Dante. Just sad.” Haley’s guard is holding an extra box. They must have decided that Sam and her aren’t a threat. The guard takes the box he’s holding to the tender and comes back for Sam’s and Haley’s. “Holloway says the rest of you can go together.”
The four of us trudge up the well-worn path to camp. My throat’s dry and tight. I’m not going to cry. But this place changed my life. My eyes flick to the gun on the guard closest to me . . . I’m hoping we can all get out of here alive.
Calvin picks up the table. Zane rights a couple of chairs. It’s weird. Not only did Mr. Z’s crew clean up the body in the middle of camp, all signs of the rubble that dropped on the pirate are gone. Other than the table and a chair turned over, there’s not much out of place. We’ve had worse messes after a heavy storm during the rainy season.
“Try to keep it to a minimum,” Holloway says.
I put my Christmas presents in the bottom of my bin, along with my crew jacket that I find on the ground on the other side of camp. Other than that, there’s nothing I want here. But then, I have a feeling there’s something that Mr. Z is going to want. Though it’s buried at the waterfall. I put my box on the table and glance over at my guard. He’s staying a respectful five feet behind me. “What does the Z in Mr. Z stand for?”
The guard’s jaw ticks.
“Right.” I nod. I don’t blame him for keeping quiet. Men like Mr. Z aren’t going to forgive you when you make a mistake. Zane was the one who noticed what a good job the crew was doing,never having a phone out. He doesn’t think they carry their personal phones. I’ve started looking at their back pockets since then, and I think he’s right. The guards all have guns and radios, the deck crew and stews only radios. The Rock Candy had a giant screen that would come down for watching movies. Not that I ever saw it in use, but Zane pointed it out one day. Nowhere on the Rosewood have I seen so much as a TV.
The radio on my guard’s belt beeps, and the guards around the camp all stand straighter.
“What’s that mean?” I ask, fully expecting to be ignored again.
“Mr. Z’s on the beach.”
A few minutes later, he strolls up through the zigzag blind. The wire’s long gone. Nothing to be afraid of on the beach now. Nothing but him. Dante glares at him. I don’t like Thayer, but Dante’s taking it to a new level. His glare could kill. Hell, if I were Thayer, I wouldn’t eat anything Dante made for me. He’s here, next to his guard, wearing a crisp white T-shirt, khakis, and deck shoes. It’s like he’s about to pull into a dockside bar in Miami. There’s just something about the guy. I feel like I’ve seen him before. Not in person . . . but like on social media. But that doesn’t make sense. Men with small army forces don’t plaster their faces all over social platforms.
“Whoa, look at this place. You’ve made yourself a regular Swiss Family Robinson attraction. You could sell this to an amusement park. But I guess that’s already been done?” He laughs.
Haley and Sam are behind him.
