44: Book Three (8 page)

After a time, I stopped for a quick break to assess my progress. I sat in the middle of the eerie blackness, but I was happy. It was a beautiful night. The stars were sprinkled across the sky, the moon bright and leading the way. I took a long drink of water and glanced back at the island behind me. It was getting smaller. I pressed on.

Being out here was very different than what I had spent doing last summer. Running rapids all day down that familiar river canyon with the rock walls and wilderness close by on both sides hadn’t prepared me for this. I was now paddling in open water with nothing nearby, nothing to swim to if I capsized.

“Come on,” I said out loud. “You can do this.”

My confidence grew with each stroke. The swells continued to get larger and blacker. But I kept my eyes on the prize, paddling toward the island, which increased in size, taking up more and more of the horizon. I began to feel that my fate, like the paddle, was in my hands.

I had to fight down the growing feeling of euphoria that was swelling up inside me. I was at that point where your team scores a goal, but before celebrating you glance over at the linesman to make sure he hasn’t called offside.

I still had a long way to go.

CHAPTER 16

I just needed to keep going and I’d make it.

My arms were beginning to burn. I ignored the pain, paddling through it, thinking about home and being a river guide again next summer. About Ty and how great it would be to see him again. And about the other guides and how we still needed to have that party. And about how the holidays weren’t that far away.

I started singing
Under the Tahitian Moon
, pushing the paddle into the water to the beat of the music. I was grinning now. I didn’t care.

I was going to make it! Freedom was within reach, right in front of me.

I forgot about my strategy and started paddling harder through the water. I could feel the knots in my shoulders. Maybe my brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen, but at that moment I felt that it had all been worth it. The pain, everything that I’d been through had brought me to this point. I felt that something out there, something larger than me, was on my side. Nothing was going to stop me now.

And then I heard it.

A faint buzz coming from somewhere behind me.

CHAPTER 17

I kept pushing the paddle through the water. The noise could be anything, anyone. For all I knew maybe it was the Coast Guard coming to rescue me. I wasn’t going to turn around to look. I had to keep going. Maybe it was someone from one of these other islands. A fishing boat getting an early start.

It couldn’t be Nathaniel’s people. Even if they had noticed that I was missing, how could they find me out here in the middle of all this water? In the middle of all this darkness? There was no way it was Nathaniel.

I put myself in their place. Even if they had somehow discovered that I wasn’t in my room, they would first search the house. And then maybe the guest house. And then all over the island. And finally, when they couldn’t find me, they might send the boat out. Search the stretch of water between the two islands.

I was fairly sure that I hadn’t been spotted yet by whatever was back there. But just in case, I started paddling parallel to the island, away from where they might logically look for me.

“Faster,” I said out loud. “Come on!”

The noise was getting louder. I glanced toward my right and a moment later saw the bright lights of a powerboat veer sharply in my direction. It was almost as if they knew where I was.

“Radar,” I whispered as the tears welled up in my eyes.

The boat was heading straight for me. I had no doubt I had been spotted. At the speed they were going they would be on top of me in less than a minute. I had no way to be sure who was back there, but somehow I knew.

I turned toward the lights of the island and kept paddling. There was nothing else to do.

The water all around me lit up as my shadow stretched out in front of me. The roar of the boat motor died down.

“Abby!” a familiar voice yelled out. It was Jack Martin. “It’s over. Give it up.”

But I wouldn’t. It was almost quiet now, the sound coming from my lungs mixing with the gentle lapping of the water against the kayak. I took a deep breath and let it fly.

“Help!” I yelled as loud as I could. “Help!”

I knew that sound traveled farther over water and I was hoping someone on the island would hear my screams. A moment later the boat motor roared back to life, drowning out my calls. The boat started circling around me quickly, whipping up the water.

It felt like I was in a whirlpool, waves coming at me from all directions. Someone jumped in the water and started swimming toward me. I was about to bring the paddle down on them when something caught me from behind. I turned around and saw Jack holding a long boat pole.

“Don’t make me use this again,” he shouted.

From the water, Phil pushed me toward the boat while Jack hooked the lip of the kayak cockpit and dragged me in.

A moment later I was aboard.

“That was incredibly stupid!” Jack said. “You could have died out here.”

He grabbed me hard by the arm and shoved me downstairs into the cabin. He was angrier than I had ever seen him. Maybe he was in charge of security and knew he would face Nathaniel’s wrath. I didn’t know and didn’t care.

I heard Phil cursing and felt the boat pick up speed.

All I could think about was how close I had come. My nose was stinging, but I refused to cry. I couldn’t believe it. The storm had passed, the conditions were perfect. And I had done it, I had escaped. Everything was going so well. The island was right in front of me. And then it had all gone to hell.

CHAPTER 18

The trip back didn’t take long.

“Get up here,” Phil called. “Don’t make me come down and get you.”

I stood on the dock a moment later, looking up at the house in disbelief.

“That’s right,” Jack said. “Take a good look. It might be your last for a while.”

He grabbed my wrist and led me up the path toward the front door.

I was expecting to see Nathaniel when we went inside, but he wasn’t there. In fact, no one was around. Other than the strong smell of coffee, everything seemed the same as when I had left a few hours earlier. I slowly walked up the stairs, more afraid than ever.

I had done my best. But it hadn’t been good enough.

I stood under the steaming water of the shower, trying to warm up. I stayed there for a long time, too tired and scared to come out.

When I finally did, I saw that someone had come in to start the fire. And on the desk was a pot of coffee and muffins.

***

I kept expecting Nathaniel to storm in, but he never came. I watched the night turn to dawn and then crawled into bed. It took a long time to fall asleep, but I eventually did.

I woke up sometime in the afternoon. It was still calm outside. Clear skies, no wind. It would have been a perfect day to be free.

As I stood looking out the window and trying to fight off the hopelessness that closed in around me, I heard the door open.

Nathaniel walked in.

I could see the anger that engulfed him. He walked up, standing close, staring at me.

“Abby,” he said.

I backed up to the wall and he followed me there, putting his face right up to mine, those cat eyes shiny and furious. I could hear him breathing hard. I hoped he couldn’t see me trembling.

“What were you thinking?” he said after a long silence. He stared at me for another moment and then turned and looked out the window.

“You know how lucky you are… that we came along?”

I moved over to the chair and sat down, not taking my eyes off him. I didn’t say anything. I took shallow breaths and bit my lip.

“This won’t do,” he said. “I have tried to be reasonable, tried to allow you to see what was possible here with me. But you’ve left me no choice.”

He left the room, slamming the door.

I went to the bathroom and threw cold water on my face.

A few minutes later, I heard a loud click out in the hall. I immediately recognized the sound of the deadbolt and suddenly found it hard to breath.

I had been locked in.

CHAPTER 19

I stayed in bed the rest of the day. I tried to watch a couple of movies but found it difficult to concentrate. Thoughts of home crowded my mind. Aspen leaves dancing gently in the breeze, the geese flying above, the river running through town. My house and my room and summer hikes up in the mountains.

I ached for home but I was finding it difficult to believe that I would ever see it again, that I would ever get away from here.

My destiny was coming into focus. I was to be an experiment that ultimately wouldn’t work.

I would die here on this island at the hands of a madman.

***

At just past seven that night, I heard the door unlock. It was Simon, carrying a tray. He walked into the room and set it over on the desk.

“Good evening, Abby,” he said. I was still in bed, watching a mini marathon of the old TV series
The Fugitive
with
David Janssen.

He smiled. He wasn’t mad. Not in the least.

“Well, I brought you your dinner. I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s my Chicken Alfredo, one of my best dishes I’m told.”

I looked over and saw there was a vase with a single rose on the tray.

I sat up.

“Thanks,” I said, smiling. “And also for the flower.”

“Oh, the flower isn’t from me, but I’ll let him know.”

I cringed.

“Dr. Mortimer says to tell you that he will be working late tonight, so he can’t meet you in the library.”

Such a shame
, I thought.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re safe, Abby,” Simon said. “Maybe I’ll see you down in the kitchen tomorrow.”

“Not with the lock on the door.”

“Oh, he will unlock it in the morning,” Simon said. “And you are free to roam around the house. He does request that you stay indoors though. For the time being.”

I nodded and stared back over at the television.

“Get some rest.”

I heard the lock click and got up and ate dinner.

I would take the rest of the night off. And in the morning I would begin using whatever time I had left to find another way.

CHAPTER 20

I looked out the window at the island for the first time since I’d been back. It seemed smaller in the early morning light. Farther away.

I paced around the room, brainstorming.

How would I get off this island?

With the kayak gone, the boat at the dock was now the obvious answer. I would either have to find a key and take it myself, or sneak on board right before someone else drove off.

I started thinking of other things I could do that didn’t involve leaving the island. I could find a phone, or a computer with internet access. They must have some, somewhere here or in the guest house. But where, and how could I get to them?

The kayak was still a source of hope. They had made a mistake leaving it there, it was a serious oversight. And if they slipped up once, it could happen again. I had to be ready and leave no stone unturned.

I had to assume that any chance of talking to Kate was now out of the question. I couldn’t afford to believe it in my heart. But in my mind I had to be ready. If the opportunity presented itself, what vague clues could I drop into the conversation that would suggest where I was without alerting Nathaniel?

I came up with a few, more desperate ideas. I could send a message in a bottle. I had no doubt I would be dead long before anyone found it, let alone took it seriously. Along those lines, I remembered one of those survival shows I saw once where the host built a raft out of things he found on the beach of a small island. But I was pretty sure I didn’t have the skills or the time for that either.

I could try writing SOS in the sand in giant letters with pieces of driftwood for a plane to see, but would anyone see it through the fog and clouds? And would they take it seriously or just write it off as a lame prank? Then I thought of setting the house on fire. If the flames got large enough, especially on a clear night, it could be seen from a long way.

I remembered the two screams for help I got off before Jack and Phil captured me. There might be the slightest chance that someone heard me. They could have called the police. They could still be looking.

Anything was possible.

In the meantime, I knew it would be smart to pretend that I was beaten, as if the idea of escaping was completely out of my system, so that I could lull Nathaniel and his staff into a false sense of security. So that the next time I tried to escape, I would be successful.

By late afternoon, I decided to go down to the kitchen and see if I could find Simon. As soon as I walked out into the hall, the air grew heavy with the rich smell of meat, rosemary, and something else. Hazelnuts. Simon knew his stuff.

“Abby,” he said, looking over at me as I stood in the doorway outside the kitchen. He was wearing his apron.

“Hey, Simon,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets. “The house smells great.”

He was holding a large pot. He put it down on the counter.

“I’m so glad you came down,” he said. “And perfect timing. I was just about to start the risotto. Want to help?”

He opened a drawer, pulled out an apron and handed it to me.

“Sure,” I said as I tied it around my waist. I washed my hands in the sink.

“Risotto is one of my favorite dishes to make,” he said, grabbing two knives out of a locked drawer. He handed one to me and then pulled out a couple of cutting boards.

“It’s full of passion and flavor and you can’t get better than that,” he said. “I start with an onion.”

He started cutting it up like the chefs did on the TV shows as I watched.

“Looks like you’ve had some training,” I said.