Beside Still Waters (27 page)

             
“Isn’t it?” Jeremiah asked, letting all the fear he’d been feeling for her show in his voice.

             
“Your wife has something of mine and I want it back.”

             
“I don’t understand,” Jeremiah said.

             
“No, I’m pretty sure you don’t, but she does.”

             
“Please, whatever it is, I’m sure she didn’t mean to take it.”

             
“Maybe and maybe not.  It doesn’t really matter.  What does matter is that you’re going to help me get it back from her.  Right now.”

             
The man turned and led the way toward the back of the ship and then from there down a flight of stairs.  At the bottom was a door.  Jeremiah could feel himself gathering together, preparing.  First he needed to see how Cindy was, where she was, how she was restrained.  It did him no good to find her only to have her killed before he could free her.

             
The man pushed open the door and shoved Jeremiah inside.  His eyes quickly struggled to adjust to the dim lighting.  Finally he saw Cindy, tied to a chair.  She was dirty, covered in what looked to be blood, some of it fresh, and shaking.  But she was alive.

             
He stumbled toward her and the sob that escaped his lips was real.

~

             
Cindy stared in shock.  It really was Jeremiah.  He was there.  It hadn’t been some lie or trick or anything.  He’d come to rescue her.  Behind him in the doorway she could see Mr. Black and three other guys.

             
And then Mr. Black pushed Jeremiah toward her and he was stumbling forward.  His hands were shaking.

             
“Honey, I love you.  It’s going to be okay. 
We’re
going to be okay,
”
he was saying the words loudly and she registered in some part of her mind that they weren’t just for her benefit.  He was playing the part, just like back in the hospital.  But even there, kidnapped and trapped in the bottom of the ship, hearing him fake tell her he loved her sent a shiver up her spine that she couldn’t ignore.

             
She stared at him, unable to think of a single thing to say in response.

             
He collapsed on his knees in front of her and threw his arms around her.  A moment later she could feel his fingers working at the knots that still bound her left wrist.

             
“Can you ever forgive me for being such an ass?” he wailed.

             
“Forgive you?” she finally managed to say, despite the fact that he was pressed close against her and she was trying to focus so she could help him with the knot.

             
“It’s all my fault we’re here.  I should have let us go visit your sister in New York.  We could be sitting, right now, in a theater on Broadway watching that chick musical you wanted to see.  Can you ever forgive me?”

             
The knots were giving way and she began to sob in hope and desperation.  Even if he untied her, how would they get past Mr. Black and the others?

             
“I do forgive you,” she said.

             
“Next time, next time, we’ll go anywhere you want, I swear.  And I’ll take out the trash from now on and put the toilet seat down just like you always want me to.”

             
She felt moisture on her stomach and a moment later one of the thugs hauled Jeremiah to his feet.  She stared at him in shock as he registered that there were real tears rolling down his cheeks.

             
And a moment later the last knot gave way.  The rope fell to the ground behind her before she could think to stop it.  Jeremiah saw and he elbowed the guy holding him and then twisted around so that he had his arm around the man’s neck and had positioned him between them and the others.

             
Cindy jumped to her feet and stood right behind Jeremiah, her heart in her throat.  What was he planning?  Did he really think the others would let them just walk out of there?  The man he was holding on to was gasping for air and flailing, but it was ineffectual.

             
Slowly they walked toward the door.

             
“Move away!” Jeremiah barked.

             
She held her breath, praying that they would do as he ordered.

             
For a moment nothing happened and then Mr. Black applauded.  “Very good, wonderful performance.  I’m very impressed.  Maybe I had it wrong and you are the brains of the couple and not your wife.”

             
“Back away.”

             
“Or what?” Mr. Black asked.

             
“Or I kill your guy here,” Jeremiah said, tightening his stranglehold.

             
His voice was so fierce that Cindy’s breath caught.  She actually believed he would do it.  She turned to look at Mr. Black, waiting to see what he would do.

             
And what he did was laugh that hated laugh.

             
“Go ahead.  Guys like him are a dime a dozen on this island.  You kill him.  We shoot both of you.”

             
“You need us to find your account number,” Jeremiah said.

             
Cindy gasped as she realized that she must have been right about the business card after all.

             
“Actually, I only need one of you.  And since you’ve become a problem, we’ll kill you, kneecap her.  She’ll tell me what I want to know, eventually.”

             
“There’s no way out,” Cindy heard herself whisper.  There was a despair in her voice she’d never known before.  Until that moment she’d hoped that it would still all somehow be okay.

             
Jeremiah screamed and jumped forward.  He threw the guy he was holding into the others, knocking them back onto the stairs and then he slammed closed the door and threw what sounded like a bolt.

             
It was pitch dark again, but a moment later she felt his hand grab hers.  “There’s always a way out,” she heard him say and he pulled her back in the direction of the chair.  Her foot grazed it as they moved past.  She couldn’t see a thing but she could hear the screams coming from the otherside of the door.

             
“Where are we going?”

             
And then suddenly there was light as Jeremiah threw open another door that had been behind her the whole time.  “I saw it earlier,” he explained as he helped her out.  “It will only take them a few seconds to figure out that this is where we’re going.”

             
They began to race up the stairs when suddenly the light seemed to be blotted out again.  Cindy looked up and saw the biggest man she’d ever seen in her entire life standing at the top of the stairs wearing nothing but a pair of shorts.

~

             
Jeremiah stared intently at the man blocking their way.  He was willing to bet just about anything from the man’s sheer size that he was Samoan.  There would be no going around him, only through him.

             
Jeremiah reached for the penlight in his pocket, planning the moves he was going to use to take the giant down.  He was going to have to kill him.  He heard a crash behind him but he kept his focus on the Samoan.  His hand tightened around the penlight.  He saw the fight playing out in his head.

             
He saw himself winning.

             
He took a step upward and then hesitated.  He didn’t want Cindy to see him kill someone.  Behind him he heard Cindy scream and he spun around.  Mr. Black had her, a knife to her throat.

             
“Tell me where the numbers are!” he screamed.

             
“The police-”

             
and that was all Jeremiah got out because something hit him hard in the head and the world went black.

             
Jeremiah woke, but forced himself to lay very still while he tried to discern where they were.  They were still alive which was nothing short of a miracle.  They were also on the ocean, close to the water as he could feel the waves crash over him as the craft bounced along.  He finally determined it had to be a rubber raft with a powerful outboard motor.

             
His wrists were bound with rope behind him, but he could tell it was a shoddy job.  They didn’t expect the rope to actually be able to hold him which meant that whenever they got where they were going he was as good as dead.  If it hadn’t been for the fact that he wasn’t sure where Cindy was he would have flipped himself over the side right then.

             
He cursed himself for not having gone after the Samoan when he had the chance.  He and Cindy could have probably escaped, but he had blown it.  He had hesitated because he didn’t want her to see him kill.  Now, thanks to him, she might very well have to see him die.

             
He very slowly cracked open his eyes, careful not to move them back and forth but only to stare straight ahead through the lashes to best avoid detection.  It was still dark out but he had a feeling it wasn’t that far before dawn.  He could see one man sitting, his back to him, at the front of the boat.  He was a huge guy, possibly the Samoan he’d heard about.  If he was at the bow of the ship there had to be at least one more operating the motor at the stern.

             
He could feel pressure up against the back of his calves.  He shifted one slightly, pushing back.  There was some give.  He was willing to bet it was Cindy on the floor of the raft behind him.  All the more reason he couldn’t jump now.

             
He lay still, but began slowly manipulating the ropes around his wrists.  He managed to get them loose enough that he could free himself in a moment, but they would still pass a cursory inspection.

             
Then all that was left to do was wait.  There was no way of knowing if the man behind them had a gun trained on him or if he was close enough to hurt Cindy if Jeremiah made a move.

             
At last the boat slowed and the way it was maneuvering it felt like they were pulling up beside something, perhaps a dock or another boat?  Jeremiah risked opening his eyes just a tiny bit more and he saw a dark shadow hovering above them in the dark.

             
A giant ship.

             
“Why don’t we just dump them here?” someone spoke from behind him.

             
The Samoan turned around.  “Boss no want bodies discovered.  This best way.”

             
He heard the other man heave something off the bottom of the boat.  Then the Samoan was bending over him, picking him up as though he were a ragdoll and throwing him over his shoulder.

             
As the big man turned Jeremiah caught a glimpse of a ladder on the side of the big ship.  The first man was already climbing it with an unconscious Cindy slung over his shoulder.

             
The Samoan headed up next and Jeremiah forced himself to remain limp, even though it was a painful process as his legs banged against the side of the ship and the big man’s shoulder dug into his ribcage.

             
Finally they were onboard the ship and then descending down several sets of stairs until he finally felt himself dropped unceremoniously on the ground.  He forced himself not to flinch or give any sign.  He heard Cindy hit the ground beside him and rage filled him.  She didn’t deserve to be treated like this.  She didn’t deserve any of it.

             
He cracked his eyes just a slit and he could see the legs of both men.

             
“So what now?” he heard the one man say.

             
“We kill ‘em,” the Samoan answered, sounding like he was cocking a gun.

             
“Isn’t that a little moot at this point?”

             
“You can never be too careful, I’ve found.”

             
“Okay, but let’s make it quick and get out of here.  This place gives me the creeps.”

             
“You worry-”

             
Jeremiah kicked out, catching the Samoan in the knee.  He crumpled to the ground even as Jeremiah rocketed to his feet, pulled free of his bonds, and grabbed the gun the second man was pulling from his waistband.  He smashed him in the nose with it and the man staggered backward, tripping over the Samoan’s body.

             
Jeremiah kicked the gun out of the Samoan’s hand and then followed it up with another kick to the side of his knee.  The man screamed in pain and the second one bounded up, running for all he was worth.