Annie Nicholas - Bait

Someone walked out to the van carrying my suitcase.

Red helped me to my feet. “We need to get out of town before they come for us. There’s a few hours of daylight left. The airport’s not far from here.” He started toward the van.

“Red.” I stepped toward him when he turned to me. What this cost him was etched across his face. It tore him up to leave Colby behind.

With his thumb, he cleared the tears from under my eyes. “We’ll just get ourselves killed searchin’. I haven’t any leads left, I don’t even know where to look anymore.” Red turned and walked to the vehicle with me in tow.

I crawled into the back with the men and lay on a pile of gear in the corner. No one met my eyes, they looked everywhere but me.

Brad, our shy computer tech, took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. I whispered my empty thanks.

“Well, in this situation we need to make a tactical retreat, boys. After we regroup, we’ll come back for Colby.” Red’s voice drifted from the driver’s area. The men around me sat with heads hung down and backs bent. Some still bore injuries from the fight at the party only a few nights ago. It felt like years.

I drifted in and out of alertness. I heard the murmurs of the team, felt the shift of the van as it turned a corner, and someone offered me a water bottle, which I drank greedily. I didn’t want to be here anymore. I pulled the jacket over my head.

We sat in silence for a moment. A corner of a box poked me in the back so I shifted my hips. Something solid pressed against my leg from my pocket. I pulled out the vial of clear blue liquid.

The drug.

It sparkled in the fading sunlight and must have been sitting in my pants on the bedroom floor since the night I stole it from Rurik. I sat bolt upright and startled the guy next to me.

“You alright?” He looked at me askance.

“Where’s my suitcase?”

He pointed toward the back door.

I shoved my way through male flesh and squeezed it open to their protests.

“What are you doin’?”

My purse sat inside. I took out my wallet and slid out a wrinkled card, careful not to tear it. “You said Colby followed a lead about Tane when he disappeared?” I shoved my way back to the front and showed Red the card with just a phone number on it. The one Tane gave me. “Give me your phone. This is our next lead.”

I couldn’t do anything about losing Rurik but I could help find Colby. Then we’d find who was responsible for this murder and destroy each person involved. It made me feel a smidge better and I needed to take what I could right now.

Red gave me his cell phone as he drove. “Who are you callin’?”

I dialed the number and ignored the question since I didn’t feel like discussing my link to Tane.

A sleepy voice answered. “Hello?”

“This is Con-Rabbit. I’d like to leave a message for Tane.” Red’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

“Rabbit, nice to hear from you. This is Eric, Tane’s companion.” I remembered him from the jazz club on the A38. They were lovers. “We were wondering if you’d ever call. Guess Tane won this bet.”

“Tell him I have what he wants.”

“I’ll come get it.”

“I don’t think so. I want to speak with him in person.”

His low laughter carried over the phone. It made the hair on my arms stand. “You’re either a ballsy girl or a silly one. No one ever wants to see him.”

I sighed. “Fine, I need to see him.”

“How good are you at following directions?”

“Pretty good.”

My denial and numbness evaded me as I sat in the rowboat on the Danube River. It was a crippling thing, this sensation that my heart had been ripped out of my chest and torn to shreds. I knew it was still there but couldn’t feel it beat. This pain would get better but not tonight, not for a long time. I curled over to press my face to one of the oars and tried to breathe with no lungs. I wanted a drink.

Bad. Captain Morgan and I had a date after this.

I needed to pull it together. To stuff my self-pity and sorrow in a deep dark hole. If things got better, if I survived the night, I could pull it out when I was alone and examine it. My strength would carry me through, I would prevail in some manner.

The pain became manageable.

Colby might be out on the river, in Tane’s yacht. He needed me. I sat up, took a deep breath and started the boat moving again.

Rowing out to a yacht on the Danube River sounded a lot easier on the phone. No matter how I tried I couldn’t coordinate the oars, so a ten minute ride turned into a thirty minute workout.

Red almost spontaneously combusted when I told him my story of Tane’s blackmail. He understood my lies but it still hurt him. Our friendship had a dent now. He only agreed to this plan because it was a lead to Colby. Once more I wore the tracking chip. They worried it would get wet since we met on the water. If Red had his way I would have had to swallow it wrapped in a baggy like a drug mule. I vetoed that idea.

Once I pulled up to the hull of the ship I didn’t see any kind of ladder to climb. You’d think a luxury liner would have a staircase.

“Hey, anyone there? I can use a hand.” I looked at the rail along the deck for signs of life.

“The ladder is at the stern, Rabbit.” Tane’s soft voice carried well over the night.

I rowed a few strokes toward the front of the boat.

“That’s the bow. Turn around and go to back.”

Steam poured from my ears. Did I look like a sailor? I tried to change direction by swinging the oars in opposite directions but only managed to scrape the yacht’s paint.

“Watch the ship.” The curt command shot from above. “You’re late.”

I settled the oars in the water. Even with the gentle lights that hung from the rigging I couldn’t see Tane. “I’m lucky to have made it this far.”

A rope flew over the edge of the yacht to land in my dingy. “Tie it to the boat, I’ll reel you in.”

I wrapped it around the bench and held the end as Tane guided it to the stern with ease.

As I pulled up he jumped in, rocking the row boat enough to make me hang on to the sides. He unwound the rope from the bench while he muttered under his breath then tied a complicated knot to moor it. After he climbed back out he turned and offered his hand. “Welcome aboard, Rabbit.”

I accepted it and stepped onto the back platform beside him.

This time he didn’t hide his origins under a hat. The moonlight gleamed off his smooth, bald head with his pointed ears folded along its side. His tattoo flowed down into the neckline of his pale-blue, button-down shirt and still remained obscure. He brushed some water beads from his dark gray slacks before directing me to the ladder.

It surprised me to see he was barefoot.

“Pay attention to your steps. I don’t want to have to fish you out of the river.”

I stared daggers at him before climbing up the ladder. He didn’t seem to mind throwing me in it the other night.

His chuckle mocked me.

The deck spoke of wealth. White leather couches attached to the rails invited me to snuggle and the dark hard wood floor felt smooth under my feet. A glass pitcher of clear liquid and a full martini glass sat on a table by one of the couches.

Tane brushed past me and sat next to the table. He picked up the glass and sipped. “Would you like one? Eric makes a good dry martini.”

I remained by the ladder. It made me feel safer, even though I couldn’t do much if Tane decided to hurt me. “I don’t drink anymore.” I licked my lips, after this afternoon the pitcher looked tempting. “No olives?”

“We can only take liquids. You should know that.” He sipped again. “Do you have the drug? The one he used on you?”