NINETEEN
Wired, adrenaline surging, Finn returned to the salon. "Peri was last seen entering the elevator going down to the garage well over an hour ago," he told them, sick in his gut. No matter how good a sailor, the high winds and large waves were nothing to mess with. And it had been more dangerous an hour earlier than it was at present.
"Left for where?" Logan demanded. "Don't you have video surveillance on this big, fucking fancy ship of yours, Gallagher? For god's sake. . ."
"Hang on-" Finn looked at his phone, watching a very chummy Núñez and his Peri leave her cabin. Surveillance followed them into the elevator until the doors opened. He swore. "Security cams in the garage were dark."
Nick frowned. "Are you saying we don't know if she was coerced, or went on her own?"
"Didn't look like coercion to me," Finn admitted, still feeling an urgent need to go after her. He stabbed her number on his speed dial. "Either she went directly to her brother on Tesoro Mio, which would've taken thirty minutes give or take, or she headed back to the mainland, which means she's still out there."
"Hi, I can't find my phone," Peri said cheerfully in the message recording. "Call back sometime." The beep was as annoying as hell because he wanted to hang onto the sound of her voice a few seconds longer. No 'leave a message' no 'sorry I missed your call'. Trust her to be different.
Ah, Jesus. I am sorry. So fucking sorry, sweetheart.
Don't panic. Her boat was out of range, or her phone turned off, that was all. Every fiber of his being demanded he race out and find her. His pounding heart and dry mouth showed Finn he was fucking panicking.
Blackstar's security cameras covered every inch of the ship. Not only because it was his home, but because it was also his corporate office. The fact that every single fucking camera in the garage had been dark for six and a half minutes while she and Núñez departed scared the living crap out of him.
Teal frowned. "Alone?"
"Dr. Núñez was with her." Finn scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his jaw, not feeling comforted by the knowledge at all. He punched in her number again. "But he's no sailor, and won't be any help if she's in trouble. I'm going to go look for her." Voicemail. The sound of her cheerful voice gripped him by the throat and wouldn't let go even when he disconnected.
Peri where are you?
"I'll go with you," Nick told him, zipping up his jacket, and indicating the three T-FLAC operatives standing silently nearby, accompany them.
"Wait." Callie removed her phone from the tote bag slung over her shoulder. "Let me call Ry first to make sure she arrived there safely."
"Good idea." Just because he was thinking the worst didn't mean the worst had happened. She'd gone to her brother, of course she had. Right now she was thirty minutes away, enjoying a cocktail with her family.
For some reason, thinking she was safe with her brother didn't lessen the tight knot in Finn's belly. He watched Callie's face as she talked to Rydell Case, and used the time to alert his crew to ready both the runabout and his chopper immediately. If she was with her brother, Finn still wanted to hold her, touch her, see her, to ensure she was all right. If she wasn't he'd fly to her goddamn house and make his apology.
"Call me back right away when she does show up," Callie demanded. "Okay. Thanks-"
"Give him my number." Finn held up his phone.
"Yes," Callie said, reading out his private number to Case. "I don't think so. Not yet. Yes, I will." After disconnecting, she looked first to Jonah, then to Finn. "She didn't go to Rydell and Addy. Ry wanted to know if he should go looking for her or come here. I told him- Well you heard."
"Jesus." Logan closed his eyes, then opened them again. "The water's calming down some. She must be almost to the mainland by now, right? She's fine."
Finn didn't know any such thing. He started for the door, Nick beside him. "I'm going to look for her to make sure of it."
His phone rang. A quick glance told him it was Persephone.
Ripping out his earpiece, he slammed the phone to his ear, so angry, so fucking scared, he lost it. "Are you out of your goddamned mind going out alone in this weather? What the hell were you thinking-"
Bria touched his arm and shook her head.
Finn closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Only then was he able to modulate his tone. "Darling, tell me you made it home safely."
Dizzy and disoriented, Peri tried to breathe away her nausea through slightly parted lips. She lay on a soft surface, and everydamnthing hurt. No. It was just the pain radiating from the base of her skull where some asshole had hit her.
Her clothes stuck to her skin, cold and clammy. Her rain slicker was now trapping the moisture inside it. Strands of wet hair clung to her face and neck like annoying seaweed, indicating she hadn't been unconscious that long.
Voices penetrated the fog, and nausea ebbed and flowed in sickening waves. How long she'd been wherever she was, she had no idea. But she hadn't been out long enough for things to dry. So she was close to the marina.
The last thing she remembered was the blow, followed by a few seconds of fear before someone stuck her with a freaking needle.
She didn't want whoever knocked her out to know she was awake, but, God, she wanted to puke. It was as if she was inside her nausea and dizziness with no end.
Where was poor Theo?
"How much of that tranq did you give her, for God's sake?" Sounded like Theo? Well, shit. He was in on this? That didn't make any sense at all. "We need her alive to convince Gallagher to come. Without her, we have no bargaining chip."
"She's fine." A deep, unidentified male voice said. "I estimated she was about the same weight as a sheep. I gave her the appropriate dose."
"There was no need to drug her at all. I almost had her in the truck. With her car disabled, she would've come willingly."
"We weren't prepared to risk it. You know her better than any of us. Do you really think once she knew what we had planned she would've come willingly?"
"She wouldn't have known until we got here."
"She had no intention of inviting you in, and you know it. This was the most expedient way to get into the house."
"Why isn't she waking up?" Deep Voice, said as his booted foot struck Peri’s ribs.
Pain radiated from the sharp kick, jarring her teeth. It took everything in her to remain limp and unresponsive.
Sheep tranq? Peri played possum as she fought her way out of a thick, mind-numbing daze. Succumbing to new waves of nausea, her mouth filled with saliva, but she didn't dare swallow too overtly. She was aware enough to know she was in grave danger. A few minutes might clear her brain and enable her to think while she listened to their conversation to get a clue as to who they were and what they wanted.
The police would want descriptions of the kidnappers. If she was alive to give them descriptions. Think this through, clear your mind, and focus. What do I know?
She pictured in her mind’s eye the few moments between being struck and being injected. She'd caught a quick flash of fluorescence on the man's descending hand. Why did that strike a cord?
Dear God. Did it match Theo's tattoo? Were they some kind of gang? No. She couldn't picture Theo in a gang, tattoo or no tattoo.
What then?
"She should be coming around soon." A third man said in Spanish.
Theo and at least two others, then. She didn't recognize their voices. Were the two men she'd brought to the mainland here with them? That would mean five men in total.
Peri slitted her eyes to look through the shield of her lashes. Everything was a blur. She was so tired. It was much easier to shut her eyes. Take a little nap. She'd deal with- No! God, no. Wake the hell up!
"I still dispute bringing her here."
"He'll come to her. You know we can't reveal the citadel's location. Gallagher already knows she's a thief. He'll believe that she wants the other tablets for herself. Trust me on this. . ." Theo's voice faded as Peri struggled to clear the cobwebs.
Moving incrementally, and as silently as possible, her eyes gradually focused as she got some feeling back into her extremities, albeit with painful pins and needles.
Lying on her side, she recognized the annoying tickle on the side of her nose was the white flokati rug in her living room. She was in her own house.
She had the home team advantage, if having the advantage was being bound hand and foot, and surrounded by men with guns.
All the lights were on, even the pendants over the island in the kitchen. The sky beyond the enormous windows was pitch black, reflecting the three arguing men, and more shadowy figures across the room. Her sluggish heart started skipping beats. There were more than three of them. She heard fabric rustling and the slide of a shoe on the floor behind her. More people unseen. Other black-clad men, not participating in the conversation, ranged around the room. A giant Peri party, apparently, with her as the trussed up guest of honor. All she was missing was the damn apple in her mouth.
Time to see which of her body parts would cooperate. The arm she was lying on was numb, and she tried to wiggle her fingers behind her back to encourage circulation. Sweat beaded her brow. Her heart skipped several beats before resuming a faster rate. Her wrists were bound tightly behind her. A slight shift of her legs told her what she'd dreaded. Her ankles were bound, too.
"She's awake."
Shit. Her heart sank, and she instinctively recoiled, even though she couldn’t get far. Theo glanced at the two men she'd transported from Blackstar, reflected where they stood behind the sofa.
"Ahh," her tongue felt thick and useless. She wet her lips before managing to spit out, "You two went ahead and were waiting in the parking lot so you could ambush me." When she moved her head the room took a few twirls which almost made her throw up. "So much for no g-good deed goes unpunished."
Now that she got a better look at them, she remembered the younger one as the waiter she and Finn had almost flattened the night they'd had wild monkey sex in the pantry on Blackstar.
"What's going on, Theo?" Her voice slurred and sounded terrifyingly weak to her own ears. Peri struggled to sit up. Her head swam as she flopped down weakly on the rug. How long would the drug take to dissipate? "Who are these men, and what do you all want?"
"Bring her phone over here," Theo ordered someone behind him as he crouched beside her. "You're to tell Gallagher that you want the other three tablets. He has an hour to get here. Alone."
Theo held an ivory-hilted curved-bladed knife in front of her nose. It seemed enormous, sharp and deadly. She heard the fast pulsing of her heart in her ears and kept her expression as impassive as she could. "No."
Theo grabbed her chin in his palm and squeezed her jaw.
"Do not doubt for a minute my intention, Ariel. One swing of this blade has sliced off a sheep's leg. Think what it will do to the fragile bones in your wrist. Or this pretty face."
"You're going to kill me? What have I ever done to you, Theo?" His behavior was so bizarre and out of context that her drugged brain couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. " You want my tablet? Have it. I don't care."
"Kill? No, I have great plans for you, Ariel. That doesn't mean I won't hurt you. I have your tablet. I want the other three."
Her cheeks flared hot with anger. This was a crappy end to a really lousy day. "Go. To. Hell."
Her stomach swooped sickeningly as Theo dug the tip of the knife into her cheek. It took a second for the pain to hit, and another second for the heat of her own blood trickling down her chin to register.
"If Gallagher doesn't deliver them, alone, within an hour, I will cut off your hand."
Her vision swam, and her throat worked as she swallowed nausea. "Theo, for God's sake- Finn doesn't give a damn about me. You were there when he made that abundantly clear this afternoon, remember? He. Won't. Come. " Aw, shit. She shouldn't have admitted that. Every second she was alive was a second she could find a way out of this freaking terrifying situation.
"Yes. He will. No man would imperil the woman he loves if he thinks he can save her life."
That sounded really good to her. Too bad that wasn't the case. "You mistake sex for love, Theo. Why ask for Finn? The Cutters found the other two tablets. Ask them to come."
"They don't give a shit what happens to you, Ariel. Gallagher does. You'll call your lover, and this is what you will say. Don't deviate from the script, or I warn you, it will be most unpleasant. Repeat this; 'Finn, I want the other three tablets. Bring them to my house. You have one hour to get here.' That's it, Ariel. No improvisation. Do you understand?"
"Sure." Even if Finn himself decided to come, which he wouldn't, it would take someone at least how long? Ten - twenty - minutes to get the helicopter ready? And that was if a helicopter could fly if the wind was still up. Then at least the thirty-five, forty to fly to the mainland. So, bottom line. Even if Finn wanted to come, he’d never get here in time. Peri knew no matter how he'd left things, he wouldn't want her dead. So he might send those counterterrorist guys to retrieve her tablet and make sure she stayed alive. Surely they wouldn't allow Theo and his thugs to dismember her?
Nice thought, but unless they had super powers, they couldn't arrive in time either.
Even if all that were logistically possible, the biggest thing to quash Theo’s grand theft plan was – Finn and the Cutters would never relinquish those tablets.
Theo was right. They all knew her to be a thief. No one would be coming to her rescue.
She was going to have to freaking rescue herself.
Twisting her wrists behind her back, she kept her face expressionless even though whatever was binding her cut into her skin and she felt the slick warmth of blood with each painful twist. "You have my tablet, why isn't that enough for you?"
"They are not Blackstar's prophecy for El Elegido-"
When she tried to lever her upper body upright, her head swam and saliva pooled in her mouth. It was no point trying to free herself until she was sure- pretty sure- she could stand. "Then why do you want them?"
"They must be destroyed."
"Whoa." Peri frowned, then wished she hadn't when her jaw pulsed painfully. "You want to destroy the tablets? Priceless windows into antiquity, worth who knows how many millions of dollars?"
"What is written is blasphemous and incorrect," Theo snapped, eyes blazing with a feral gleam. "We have anticipated a sign from Blackstar for five hundred years. But this is not it."
"We?"
"The Chosen. El Elegidos. The tablets must be destroyed so that our followers are not confused. Our prophecy must be found elsewhere and quickly. We are running out of time."
"You believe there is a prophecy?" Feeling was coming into her bound hands with a vengeance, tears of pain stung her eyes.
"The world will die a fiery death, leaving eleven thousand true and faithful Elegidos to repopulate the Earth."
"And you guys are the Chosen?" Peri scoffed, glancing around as much as she was able. The men looked through her. "Seriously?"
"El Ehnos knows of this false prophecy. The gold tablets confirm everything they hold holy, Excellency." A man out of her range of sight said, "Dr. Vadini will not permit the tablets to leave the ship."
"I sent word to kill him. But now he is no longer an impediment." Theo held Peri's gaze.
Peri rolled her eyes. “The Chosen and the Protectors? Is this some kind of joke? Let me see if I have this straight." Every second they didn't kill her, was a plus. "You are the Chosen, Theo? Really? And you're saying sweet, ancient Dr. Vadini is the Protector?" If any of this was true, Dr. Vadini seemed more likely to be the real thing. "Why don't you just work together?"
"The four tablets found," Theo told her, taking her phone from someone out of her line of sight, “have imprecise information on them."
"So the prophecy isn't true?"
"It's true," Theo told her impatiently, "but not the way described in the tablets. They are wrong. My people would be confused. They must be destroyed before they do any harm."
"There must be other, accurate, tablets," the older man who'd accompanied them to the mainland said with authority as he stood behind Theo.
"According to the first tablet, there are five." Peri tried flexing her sore fingers to get more life into them. "So even if you get your grubby hands on the four we have, or destroy them, there will still be a tablet out there that you can't find. It'll haunt you forever, Theo. Or until the apocalypse, I suppose."
"It is more likely that we will find the correct tablets at either the High Altar or the Holy Lake. Then the prophecy will take place unimpeded."
The man who was beyond her line of sight said flatly, "We don't know where the Holy L-"
Theo held up his hand. The man stopped talking.
None of this made any sense to Peri, and having her head throb, and her eyes trying to roll back in her head wasn't helping. "If all three of you have been on board Blackstar all this time," she said impatiently, "why didn't you just destroy the tablets there instead of going to all this trouble?"
"The bomb we planted on board Blackstar will destroy all records and transcripts. Your Mr. Gallagher, or one of his people, will deliver them to us here, or we will personally see to destroying every trace of the tablets where they are."
A bomb? Dear God. "You placed a freaking bomb on board Blackstar?" Her vision swam as she lifted her head. "Are you insane? There are hundreds of innocent people on board!" Finn was onboard. Dear God. . .
"It is set to detonate in," Theo glanced at his watch, "sixty-five minutes."
"What if they don't send someone here with the other three tablets?" Why would they?"
Theo smiled. "They will."
"You're insane! Why are you demanding the tablets be brought here when you're going to blow up Finn’s ship and kill all those people and destroy the tablets?"
"Quite simple, really," Theo told her, as he tried to figure out how to turn on her phone. "Either they will be destroyed in the bomb blast, or if I have the tablets in hand I can 'read' them to our people. And since none of them can read the Abipón language, they will believe everything I say as gospel. I will assure them that the tablets verify the prophecy while we look for the real tablet."
"You're crazy, Theo. Please-" Thinking he was going to hit her, Peri flinched as he sliced his hand down. Instead, he squeezed her jaw again, grinding her teeth together.
"Repeat what you will tell Gallagher."
Probably shouldn't tell a crazy man he was crazy. "I don't remember."
On her side, and bound wrists behind her, she felt the coolness of the leg of the heavy stone coffee table. No way to lift it as a weapon. The kitchen, spare on cooking gadgets, was twenty-five feet away. She didn't think a spatula was going to do much anyway. While Sea Witch, down below in the caves, was loaded for bear, or pirates, she had no weapons in the house. Her gaze flickered over the white marble plinth beneath the forty-inch-tall, bronze of Aphrodite.
Her head was starting to clear, the nausea, manageable. All she had to do was free her bound arms and legs, make it unimpeded across the room, pick up about eighty pounds of bronze statue, hold it aloft long enough to take down at least ten determined men, and run like hell.
Piece of cake.
Theo repeated what he wanted her to say.
"Finn," Peri parroted obediently, "I want the other three tablets. Bring them to my house or Theo will amputate my hand. How's that?"
"If you think we'll permit Gallagher or his people to come, guns blazing, to rescue you, think again. He won't get away with anything," the man behind Theo told her. "The house is surrounded by our men. No one will be able to come in without our express permission."
"Surrounded? Really? You have people hanging off the sheer cliff-face like geckoes, Theo?" Unlikely, but not impossible, that he had men perched on the hundred foot drop down to the water. There was only one way in – that they knew about- and that was across the narrow spit of land that joined the mainland to her small peninsula. Her house was a fortress. They must have used her hand on the biometric pad while she was unconscious to get in. Now every sick and crazy could just freaking waltz in and threaten her.
Or unless Theo and his crazy friends knew about the cave access.
"And snipers on this side of your little peninsula," Santi, the other guy told her, joining the other two men standing over her. "No one will be able to cross from the mainland, no one can reach you from the sea. Gallagher is your only hope."
"Like Obi-wan Kenobi?"
"Say the words, Ariel." Without waiting for her response, Theo speed dialed Finn from her phone. He'd used the speaker, so everyone could hear the conversation. It was answered on the second ring.
"Are you out of your goddamned mind going out alone in this weather? What the hell were you thinking-" Finn dragged a deep breath, then said in an achingly tender voice, "Darling, tell me that you're home and safe."
She had one shot at this. "Bomb on Blackst--" Theo backhanded her across her bleeding cheek, snapping her head against the leg of the coffee table directly behind her before she could relay more information. Yelling in shock and outrage, Peri saw a galaxy of stars as Theo snatched the phone out of reach.
"You have one hour from now, Gallagher," he told Finn. "Send someone to Ariel's house with the other three tablets. He comes alone or she dies. Take longer than an hour, she dies. More than the pilot, she dies."
There was no hesitation before Finn responded through the speaker, the venom in his voice as clear as his fury. "Do you think one lying, cheating, little thief has more value to me than these tablets, Núñez?" Frost dripped off his voice. "Think again. She has zero value to me. The tablets are priceless. If she's dead or injured you have bugger-all bargaining power." The phone went to dead air.
"And there you have it." Dizzy as hell, Peri pushed herself half upright against the side of the table. Had Finn heard her warning before Theo snatched the phone away? Her jaw throbbed where Theo had hit her, and stung where he'd stuck her with his knife, and the back of her head, where she'd bounced against the table smarted. "Finn doesn't care what you do to me. So, no tablets for you."
Theo's smile chilled Peri to the marrow as he said confidently, "He'll come for you."
"Trust me. He won't. But since you gave him a time limit, let's wait and see, why don't we?" Give me time to get my sea legs under me, and my brain time to clear. Out of the corner of her eye, she counted seven other men, all well armed and silent. Ten men inside that she was aware of. How many outside? No way to outrun a bullet or brute strength, she'd have to use her brain if there was a snowball's hope in hell of getting out of this alive.