Her First Vacation (25 page)

Claire fought the nausea rising in her throat and the tears
that gathered in her eyes. Her sense of hearing had locked onto the sound of
the water just outside the open balcony door the moment he’d begun explaining
what he’d do to her, and she couldn’t seem to shut the roaring in her ears out,
now. How could she have been so blind to the truth of what he was? It only made
the tears come faster as she remembered Colin’s warning. He’d told her Garret
wasn’t what he appeared to be. Somehow, he’d known the truth, and he’d tried to
protect her. Surely that meant he cared for her, at least a little. But she’d
never know for certain unless she found a way to survive this. Because she
didn’t doubt Garret would follow through on his threat. So she forced herself
to shake her head as much as his grip on her chin would allow. He smiled.

“I didn’t think so.” He let go of her chin, though he kept
his body over hers. “You really had me fooled, you know. Here I thought you
were frigid and all the while you were just saving your heat for Colin. I
should have known that little prick would go behind my back to get at you. I
knew he wanted you for himself, but I didn’t figure you’d be that easy to get.
So what did he say to get you to open for him? I know you don’t buy into all
the standard lies. If you did you’d have been fucking me instead of him.”

He studied her for a moment,
then
gave her a smile as if he’d figured out the answer to his own question.

“Maybe it was his style you went for. Was he rough with
you? I know he likes it rough, and maybe you do, too.” He grabbed a handful of
her hair and shifted his weight so that he could press a leg between hers. He
jammed his leg against her, dropping his free hand to grasp her breast. He
gripped her tight enough to make her whimper,
then
smiled even wider. “Yeah, I think that must be it. You get off on being
forced.” He rocked his hips against her, and she could feel the hard length of
his erection beneath his pants. His grip on her breast tightened again. “As you
can see, I’m more than ready to give you what you want.”

Claire couldn’t stop the tears from spilling free. He saw
them and leaned forward to run his tongue across the trails. He smiled down at
her. “Keep crying, honey. I like it.”

Claire knew she couldn’t just lay there and let him rape
her. He’d threatened to kill her if she fought him, but she suspected he’d kill
her anyway once he’d finished with her. He was insane or psychotic or just
plain evil. Whatever the explanation for his behavior, she could see in his
eyes that he enjoyed her fear and expected her to be overcome by it. So she
played along. She held herself rigidly still as he bent to cover her mouth with
his. She let him kiss her, let him force her mouth open with his tongue. She
let him put his hand on her breast while he rubbed his erection against her
hip. She even let him grab the hem of her shirt and push it up, exposing her
bra. She didn’t move at all until he let go of her hair so he could rise above
her and lower his face to her chest. The moment he rose onto his knees,
however, she acted.

She brought her knee up, slamming it into his groin. He
sucked in a sharp breath as she scrambled backwards before he could recover
enough to grab her or collapse on top of her again. She fell off the far side
of the bed, landing on the floor hard enough to knock the wind out of herself.
She groaned, but forced herself to get up. She reached for the only weapon she
could find. The telephone sat on the table beside the bed. She lifted it,
turning around just in time to see Garret stumbling to his feet. The fury in
his eyes sent a chill sweeping through her. She forced herself to wait until he
rounded the end of the bed before throwing the phone at his head and leaping
onto the bed. She was going for the door again. Garret anticipated her move,
though. He ducked the phone by diving onto the bed. He caught Claire’s ankle
and jerked her feet out from under her. The bed made the fall and easy one, but
at that point she wasn’t worried about getting a few bruises. She kicked in an
effort to break Garret’s hold on her ankle and for a moment she thought it had
worked. But a second after he let go of her ankle he grabbed her leg and jerked
her toward him. The loose bedspread made it easy for him to drag her across the
mattress. He bent and grabbed her hair, twisting his hand in it until she
thought he’d pull half of it out by the roots. She released a short scream as
he jerked her to her feet. Claire was so busy fighting the pain and the panic
that she never even heard the door crash open. She didn’t know anything until
she heard Colin speak.

“Get your hands off her.”

She saw Garret lift his gaze from her to the door. She saw
his eyes widen in obvious surprise. Then he took a step back and pulled her
around so that she was standing with her back to him while he had one hand
tangled in her hair and the other wrapped around her waist. Claire’s eyes
locked on Colin, and for that first instant, the only thing she thought or felt
was the flood of relief that brought fresh tears to her eyes. Then her gaze
shifted to the large gun Colin had aimed directly at her. She felt her heart do
a hard stutter in her chest. Garret spoke softly.

“You’re not really thinking of shooting me over a piece of
ass, are you?”

Claire’s eyes jumped from the gun to Colin’s face. He
wasn’t looking at her, though. His hard gaze was locked on Garret. So, she
realized, was his aim.

“There are all sorts of reasons why I would love to put a
bullet in you, Palmer. What you’ve done to Claire is just one of them.”

Colin saw Garret’s gaze narrow. He could see him making
connections, putting pieces together until he finally came up with the truth,
or at least part of it. His gaze turned hard and flat as he glared at Colin.

“So what are you? DEA, FBI, ATF?”

Colin shrugged. “Does it really matter?”

Garret shook his head. “No, I don’t suppose it does. You’re
dead no matter who you are.”

Colin shot him a grim smile. “I think you’ve got that
backwards. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the one with the gun.”

“Yeah, but I’m holding all the cards.” Garret tightened his
grip on Claire’s hair, tugging hard enough to force her head to tilt backwards
as she gasped in pain.

Colin felt his finger tighten against the trigger. He damn
near kept squeezing until the bullet left the chamber. He was certain he could
hit Garret without hurting Claire. There was a risk that he might miss, though,
that the ship might suddenly shift and throw off his aim. So he kept his finger
snug against the trigger, but didn’t tighten it any further, even when Garret
smiled at him.

“That’s right. Think about poor, defenseless Claire. You
take the shot at me, and you might just get her too. We wouldn’t want that to
happen, now would we? Then again, if you don’t drop that gun, she’ll be dead
anyway because I’ll snap her lovely little neck.”

Colin could only watch as Garret lifted a hand to grip
Claire’s chin. He could feel her terror, and it ate at his gut like molten
fire. This was his fault. He’d let his guard down and now, just like before, an
innocent was caught in the middle. Only this time he was in love with the
woman, and he knew that if she got hurt in any way, it would destroy him. He
shook his head slightly.

“How stupid do you think I am? I give up the weapon, and
Claire and I are both dead.”

Garret shook his head. “I’d be willing to let you live.
I’ll just make other arrangements to get off the ship, especially since I’m
positive there will be a crowd waiting for me once we dock. I’ll make a couple
of phone calls,
then
leave you two tied up while I
make my escape.”

“Let me guess. You’re thinking you can call your good
friend, Azerado.” When Garret’s gaze narrowed a bit, Colin nodded. “Oh, yeah, we
know all about him and the package you delivered last night. Of course, that’s
not all we know. There is that whole business about you screwing his wife while
she’s plotting to kill him. And just in case you’re thinking that you might be
able to use him and get gone before he figures out what’s really going on, let
me inform you that he and his wife are already in custody. He knows you’re the
one who led us to him, and you can bet that he’ll make sure all his friends
know where to lay the blame as well.”

Garret spat out a curse. “Do you have any idea what they’ll
do to me?”

Colin smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

His eyes were wild as he struggled to come up with a way
out. Colin gave him a few seconds to dwell on it,
then
pushed him a little further. “You have no choices. Either you let her go and
come with me, or you hurt her, I shoot your balls off and you come with me or,
by some miracle, you actually manage to get the drop on me and take us both out
and you run, but the cartels will track you down and make you wish like hell
that you’d never been born. No matter what happens, you’re going down. It’s
just up to you to decide how you want it to happen.”

Claire could feel Garret’s heart racing. She didn’t
understand everything about the exchange between him and Colin, but she knew
enough to guess the high points. Colin was some kind of undercover agent, and
Garret was guilty of more than just the murder he’d admitted to her. Whatever
he’d done, it was clear that Colin intended to arrest him. And she was standing
in his way. As long as Garret was using her as a shield, Colin’s hands were
tied. She kept her gaze locked on Colin as she bided her time, waiting for the
slightest chance to catch Garret off guard.

Finally, Garret reached a decision. Colin saw the
acceptance come into his eyes. It was mingled with raw fury, though, and even
before Garret spoke, Colin knew he wasn’t going to like what he said.

“You’re right about me having no way out, but you’re wrong
about my options. I may be screwed, but I have absolutely no intention of going
down alone. If I’m going to die, then so be it. I’ll make sure you don’t get to
enjoy it, though.” He shifted Claire so that she was completely in front of
him, blocking any shot that Colin might try to take. For the first time, Colin’s
eyes settled on her instead of on Garret. He saw the
tears,
the redness on her face that he knew must have come from a slap. Her beautiful
eyes were wide with fear, but she was holding herself together. Then Garret
took a step back, dragging her with him, and Colin saw the horror that came
into her eyes. She began to struggle as Garret lunged backwards onto the
balcony. Colin shouted for him to stop, even as his gut clenched painfully when
he finally realized what Garret planned. He was going over the side, and he
meant to take Claire with him.

Garret was stronger than she was. He was bigger. But he was
no match for the sheer terror that overtook her as she realized that he meant
to throw them both over the railing. She screamed as she fought him, kicking backwards
with her legs even as her hands clawed at his arm. He let go of her chin, but
kept his hand tangled in her hair. She felt him stop suddenly as he came up
against the railing, and she kicked back again, this time managing to connect
with his shin. He howled, and she felt the hand in her hair loosen its hold.
She knew it was the only chance she’d get. She spun around, diving toward the
balcony floor. She saw Garret reaching for her at the same time that the
gunshot sounded. She felt the blood spray across her, saw the wide-eyed shock
on Garret’s face. Then she screamed again when he collapsed on top of her. Her
head slammed against the balcony floor, and she felt nothing at all after that.

Colin jerked Garret off Claire, not caring that the man
screamed in pain as Colin wrenched his wounded arm around behind his back. He
snapped the handcuffs in place, then shoved him face down onto the ground and
put his foot squarely in his back.

“If you so much as move an inch, I’ll put another bullet in
you, only this one will go through your knee, understand?”

Garret whined, “I’m bleeding to death!”

“Not yet, you aren’t. But I’ll make sure you do if she
isn’t perfectly fine.”

Colin turned away from Garret and sank to his knees beside
Claire. She was splattered with Garret’s blood, which only made the paleness of
her skin more apparent. He carefully checked her pulse, breathing only a small
sigh of relief when he found it strong and steady. She was alive, but
unconscious. He’d seen her head hit the floor. The impact had been pretty hard
because Garret hadn’t made the slightest effort to keep all his weight from
landing on top of her. Colin was nearly overwhelmed with the sense of guilt
that assailed him. This was his fault. He’d been too cocky, too proud of the
fact that he’d succeeded where so many others had failed. And now Claire was
paying for his conceit. He wanted to pull her into his arms and cradle her
there. He didn’t move her, though, because there was always a chance that her
injuries went beyond a mere concussion. Garret might have broken her neck when
he fell on her. Or anything else might be broken. So Colin just left her lying
there as he forced himself to get to his feet and turn away.

Half an hour later, Garret’s arm had been tended to and
Claire had been assessed and stabilized for transportation to the upper deck
where a helicopter was going to land to pick her up and take her to the
mainland. The ship would be docking in a few hours, but she still hadn’t
regained consciousness, and the ship’s doctor was doing what he thought was
best. Colin had contacted his superiors to let them know what had happened, and
they assured him that Claire would be taken care of. Colin didn’t doubt it. She
was a witness. They’d give her anything she wanted just to secure her testimony
against Garret. Colin could barely believe that his eyes misted as he watched
the helicopter lift off the deck of the ship. It banked, heading off to the
north, and with each second that passed as the distance between it and the ship
grew, Colin felt another piece of
himself
ripped away.
By the time it had faded completely from view, he was aching so much that he
could feel his hands trembling. She was gone. Whatever the extent of her
injuries, even if she made a complete recovery, he knew she was gone from his
life forever. They’d never meet again, unless it was at some point in the
future when she was called to testify at Garret’s trial. That wouldn’t happen,
though. Colin had no doubt that Garret would start screaming for a deal. He’d
sell out everyone he’d ever known if he thought it would keep him off death row
and out of the reach of the various drug lords and gunrunners that were going
to want his head. It would never make it anywhere near an actual trial.
Which meant that for the rest of his life, Colin’s last memories of
Claire were going to be the terror in her eyes as Garret tried to kill her and
the ghostly pale cast of her skin as she was loaded onto that helicopter.
He’d never forget it because he was the one who’d put her there.