grabbed the phone and thrust it at Tony’s face. “Call them back! Tell them it’s off! It’s too dangerous!”
Tony slid a glance to the man standing by the cabin door and subtly dipped his chin. The mercenary began a stealthy journey in their direction.
“It’s done, Gene,” Tony said, reaching nonchalantly for his highball glass. “The wheels are already in motion.”
“Well, apply the goddamned brakes!” Gene yelled, his voice echoing over the gently lapping waves. “You can’t be serious about sendin’ in more men. They could turn that island into a war zone!”
“If that’s what it takes to get the job done.” Tony took a sip of his drink, grimacing because the melting ice had watered it down.
“If that’s what it t-takes?” Gene sputtered, his face having gone from blue to fire-engine red. That vein in his forehead was pulsing again.
“Yes!” Tony yelled, having reached the end of his patience. His nerves were shot. His certainty of success had dropped from one hundred percent to something more like fifty-fifty. And Gene was such an idiot that he actually thought they could call it off. “Even if we can’t get Maddy and the girls, we have to retrieve those dead bodies. Don’t you get that? Don’t you understand? If the authorities get their hands on those bodies, they’ll lead back to Rory. Rory leads back to me. I lead back to you. If we don’t finish this, we won’t just be looking at a failed business, we’ll be looking at an eight-by-ten!”
“I don’t care!” Gene shrieked. “Maddy’s on that island!”
“You may not care!” Tony screamed, pushing to his feet and forcing Gene to stumble back. “But I do! I’m not losing everything just because you don’t have the stomach to follow through when the going gets tough!”
“No!” Gene bellowed and lunged for him, hands curled into claws.
Rory’s man moved like a flash, tackling Gene to the deck before Gene could lay a finger on Tony.
“Get off me!” Gene howled, writhing ineffectually as the mercenary yanked Gene’s arms behind his back and secured them with the bright-orange zip tie he pulled from the pocket of his shorts.
“Take him down to one of the berths,” Tony said, looking at the Stetson that had flown off Gene’s head to land at his feet. With a curl of his lip, he kicked it off the back of the boat and watched the waves happily embrace it, tugging it along in the direction of their tidal pull. “Tie him to the bed and gag him.”
* * *
8:59 p.m.…
“Okay, so y’all keep your eyes peeled for any approachin’ boats. I’ll go help Bran keep an eye on things over by the lighthouse,” Maddy told the girls once she found them a spot atop the parapets where they had an unobstructed view of the sea around the island.
“Right, Miss Maddy,” Louisa said. “You go help Bran over on the other side. Because your face on his face will be so helpful.”
“L-Louisa Sanchez,” Maddy sputtered. “Of all the things to say.”
“Do ya deny it?” Sally Mae asked, leaning back against an old cannon that no longer had the ability to defend the crumbling garrison. There was enough light filtering up from the spotlight on the seawall below them to show the teasing glint in the girl’s eyes. It gave Maddy hope that the teens wouldn’t be too scarred by what they’d experienced this night.
Kids are resilient, right? They bounce back?
“Deny what?” she asked as innocently as she could, picking at a loose thread on the hem of her T-shirt.
“Deny that you’re hot to trot for SEAL McStudly,” Donna said.
Maddy pulled a face. “Am I that obvious?”
“Totally,” Donna said. “But, yo, that’s okay, Miss Maddy. He’s that obvious too. Way to go. Big-time score. He’s super hot.”
“Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Maddy patted the air. “Are y’all sayin’ you think Bran…”
She didn’t finish. She wasn’t sure how to. Do y’all think Bran really likes me? just sounded so…high school girls’ locker room.
Well, look who you’re talkin’ to.
“Wants to butter your muffin?” Sally Mae said, causing Maddy to blink. “Yes. We definitely think he wants to do just that.”
“Sally Mae Winchester! And here I thought you were the shy one!”
Sally Mae snickered.
“Good Lord.” Maddy shook her head. “Your parents are goin’ to kill me. Not only did I nearly get y’all kidnapped, but I also got you talkin’ about butter and muffins. Which…ew. That’s a disgustin’ euphemism when you stop and think about it. But more important, it’s official. I am