Wicked Charms_ A Lizzy and Dies - Janet Evanovich Page 0,48
air and picked the stone up. It glowed green and hummed in my hand.
“I can tell from the expression on your face that this is the holy stone,” Rutherford said. “This is the stone that will awaken Mammon!”
“And that would be Martin Ammon, right?” I asked. “Why isn’t he with you?”
“Mr. Ammon is a busy, very, very important man. He can’t be everywhere at once.”
“I bet he’s in a kennel,” Glo said. “I swear it was an honest mistake. The page just sort of turned itself.”
“A kennel?” Rutherford clasped his hands together. “Ha-ha, ha-ha! That’s a good one.”
“So he doesn’t still think he’s a dog?” Glo asked.
“A dog? Goodness, no. No, no. He’s just fine. An occasional lapse, perhaps, but nothing serious. Nothing to worry about.”
Rutherford took the stone from me and put it in a thick leather pouch he’d obviously brought for the occasion. He attached the pouch to his wrist and tested it to make sure it was secure.
“We need to pack as much of the treasure as we can carry out of here,” Rutherford said to his crew. “We can come back some other time for whatever is left behind. Right now I need to rush this stone to Mr. Ammon. I’m going to take the first helicopter out. By the time it returns I trust you’ll have staged the most important items at the rim. Mr. Carter will be in charge of securing the ladies.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Mr. Carter was balanced on the slanted floor of the ship, standing just in front of a trapdoor. He reached down and flipped the door open, and a dank odor of wood rot and seawater filled the room.
“How convenient,” Carter said, shining his flashlight into the dark hold. “Chains for two.” He looked over at me. “Ladies first.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I’ll pass.”
“I haven’t got time to play,” Carter said, motioning to the two remaining men with his gun. “Take them down and chain them.”
“I’m not really into the whole chained thing,” Glo said. “I’d actually rather be a hostage.”
“I was told to secure you, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“He might not have meant that literally,” I said to Carter. “He might have meant you should keep us safe.”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” he said. “I’m going to keep you safely secured so we can do our job.”
One of the men dropped into the hold and another shoved Glo forward toward the trapdoor. Glo whacked the man with Broom. The man grabbed Broom away from Glo, and threw Glo and Broom into the hold. The second man followed Glo through the trapdoor. I heard splashing and shrieking and then a horrible quiet. After a couple beats the second man climbed out of the hold. He was soaking wet.
“You’re next,” Carter said to me. “You can voluntarily join your friend, or you can do it the hard way.”
I lowered myself through the trapdoor and dropped into waist-high water. The second man splashed in after me. In the dim light I saw Glo chained by her wrists to the rough plank wall. There were several more sets of wrist chains. One of the sets of chains had a partial skeleton attached. The water in the hold was black, and the footing was treacherous. A man had me by my arm, guiding me to a set of chains, keeping me upright. The cuffs were snapped around my wrists and a second man tugged on the chains to make sure they were strong. The men sloshed away without a word, hoisted themselves out of the water, and disappeared through the trapdoor. The door slammed shut, and Glo and I were alone in the hold. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark. A small amount of light filtered through cracks in the captain’s quarters’ floorboards, and further down, in the bowels of the ship, I could see a gash in the side of the boat. Water and light flowed through the gash.
“I really hate this,” Glo said. “The water is ruining my vintage skirt. It’s not like these skirts grow on trees. And I don’t know what happened to Broom. He’s probably terrified. They just threw him down here.”
As if on cue, Broom floated past us, without so much as a backward glance, and disappeared through the hole in the hold.
“He’s probably going for help,” Glo said.
“No doubt. I’m sure we’ll be rescued any minute now.”