Lethal Lover Part 18

"You will notice that we are above a small bay, Miss. Elliot. We call it Jack's Bay, but you will not find it named on any map. The water in Jack's Bay is very deep, very unsuitable for snorkeling but very good for deep dives." In the casual, yet impeccable English of the islands, he imparted the informarion in a soft, polite manner that startled her almost as much as his calling her by name.

"Fishermen favor this inlet in the spring, but this time of year the waters are left mostly undisturbed. Jack's Bay is very isolated. No one comes into this bay for months at a time."

He shocked her again when he unsheathed a sleek, narrow-bladed boning knife from the leather holster he wore strapped to the outside of his long, rangy leg and started toward her.

Tess shrank back against the cave wall, her eyes bulging. Her heart drummed so hard her chest hurt, but nothing else moved. Even the breath in her lungs froze when he brought the tip of the knife slowly to her throat and skimmed the deadly steel along her skin with a touch just light enough not to penetrate.

With the tip poised at the hollow of her throat, he leaned close. His breath was hot and sour against her face.

"I have n0wish to harm you, Miss. Elliot," he said in a low ominous tone.

"I am merelya courier.

I am going to remove the gag, but if you scream when I do, I will slit your throat." He paused, letting the impact of his simple, deadly warning settle over her.

"Do youhnderstand?"

She could only blink her acceptance of his terrifying terms. With the cold steel still at her throat, she dared not make another move.

"I am glad you understand. This is very good. It is in your best interests to allow me to do my job." Then, with a lightning-fast flick of his wrist, he sliced the rag and it fell to her lap.

"Better?"

The knife was at her throat once more, but she nodded.

"Y-yes," she stammered.

"Thank you."

His smile was a sneer that stretched his pale lips over crooked and discolored teeth.

"Tonight you will go down to Jack's Bay. At midnight a boat will come for you. If you are not there at midnight, the boat will not wait. If you are not alone, the boat will not dock."

"Selena," she gasped.

"Will she" -- Her question died on her lips when he p.r.i.c.ked her with the knife just beneath her chin. She felt the pressure before she felt the pain and the warm trielde of blood sliding down her throat.

"Do not ask questions, Miss. Elliot. Be a.s.sured I have no answers for you. I am merely a messenger. Do you understand?"

Again, she could only stare, more terrified than she'd have believed it.

possible to be without dying of fright. To move, even to breathe, would cause the knife to slice into her skin again, and his last painful warning had made her a believer in his indifference to her terror.

"You will bring with you what has been requested. Remember to come alone," The journal! her mind 'shrieked.

"B-but I" -- He threatened her again with the knife.

"Please, Miss. Elliot. I have not been paid to kill you and I have no wish to do so," he said quietly, but she couldn't have been more terrified if he'd shouted. His cold-blooded, dispa.s.sionate tone told her that her life meant nothing to him, that killing her would be easy, if inconvenient.

He edged away from her, the knife still steady in his long, thin fingers.

"I am merely a messenger," he reiterated.

You're a murderer! she thought, remembering the devastation of the explosion at Davey's bar last night.

"You are free to go now;" he said from the cave's entrance.

"But know this, Miss. Elliot, I have many friends on the island, many relatives.

If you go to the police, I will kill you. If you tell anyone about me or the message I have delivered to you, I will kill you. I will find you wherever you are and I will use this knife to kill you. Do you understand, Miss. Elliot?"

His tone hadn't wavered, hadn't varied a single note in its maddening formality. He could have been the desk clerk at West Palm, except for his eyes, which were as cold as ice.

"I will be behind you on the trail and I'll be watching you on the beach. Do not cry out for help. I was raised in these hills and I know them as well as I know my own face. Do not turn around to look for me.

You will not see me.

But be a.s.sured, Miss. Elliot, that I will see you, and be a.s.sured that my knife will find you wherever you go."

He edged out of the cave with the stealth of an animal, and for one astonis.h.i.+ng moment, Tess wondered if this was all just a horrible nightmare, and the silver-eyed monster had been conjured up from her own imagination.

But the rope that held her was real, as was the thin trickle of blood that seeped down her neck.

"My hands" -- she blurted, "they're still tied. Please, won't you at least ..."

But it was too late; he was gone.

AT FIRST she was too terrified and hysterical to move. She could still feel the cold steel at her throat, still hear the silver-eyed man's warning as it reverberated through her mind like an echo.

What if, even now, he was waiting for her just outside the cave?

He'd said he would he watching. He'd said he would find her, that his knife would find her no matter where she went.

Inside the cave, the temperature' had to be in the upper nineties and yet Tess had to clench her teeth to keep them from' chattering How long she crouched there, frozen by fear, paralyzed by the unbelievable events that had just occurred, she couldn't guess. But slowly and without fanfare, she felt her inner strength coming back to her, the strength that had seen her down the side of mountains that would have made a mountain goat dizzy and that had helped her go on living when there hadn't been anyone left to live for.

"Let's go, Tess," a ragged whisper she barely recognized as her own ordered.

So he scared the h.e.l.l out of you All right. Haven't you been afraid before survived? He's gone now and you've got two good legs to walk out of here on. So get up. Get out. Get going.

Tess inched her way to the cave opening and peered out. True to his word, her captor was nowhere to be seen.

From this lofty vantage point she could see a narrow strip of beach and a concrete pier that ran almost a hundred feet out into the bay.

She would use the pier as a marker tonight, she told herself, clinging to the hope that she would live long enough to make the rendezvous and free Selena.

Tess stared down at the water. The steep cliffs that ringed the bay cast the deep water in shadows, making it appear alternately black and green as it moved with the tide. Beyond lay a sunlit sea of sparkling white and sky blue, a startling contrast, making the dark, shadowy waters of the inlet seem all the more ominous.

Tess stared out at the isolated cove, and wondered how the bay would look in the moonlight. She would find out soon enough, she told herself as she focused her attention on freeing her hands.

The unrelenting heat and the ropes that restricted circulation were caus! ng her wrists to swell and ache. Stumbling out of the cave, Tess's eyes scanned the ground and the sides of the cave entrance for something with which to sever the ropes at her wrists.

The rough edge of a jutting boulder captured her attention and she backed up to it and began working the cords across the jagged edge.

Wriggling and twisting her hands, she helped the process along, and by the time her bonds finally fell away, her hands were not only tingling from the lack of blood supply, but sc.r.a.ped and raw, as well.

With her hands free, Tess felt better, more able to negotiate the rocky path of the steep incline. Although the soles and sides of her feet were tender and swollen, she moved quickly, the eerie sensation of silver eyes boring into her back, propelling her along the trail.

Tess spun around, her heart in her throat, to see nothing more threatening than a startled bird taking flight. Although she couldn't see him, Tess knew the man with the silver eyes and the long knife was out there, watching.

REF:. D TIMW the rusty wrench into the sand and swore, glanced at his watch for the hundredth time and released an exasperated sigh.

"To h.e.l.l with it," he grumbled. She wasn't coming back and the longer he kidded himself, the longer it would take him to find the silver-eyed messenger, track down Selena Elliot and get' the h.e.l.l off this G.o.dforsaken island.

As he swung his leg over the bike and stomped the starter to life, he repressed the u{ge to ride down the beach in search of Tess.

But why prolong the torture for both of them? he asked himself. She was better off without him; hadn't.

he always known that? And now, evidently she knew it, as well.

W Tss finally reached the beach, the cool and wet sand felt soothing to her battered feet. She stooped to bathe the crusted blood from her neck, and the salt water stung the spot beneath her chin that had been nicked by the silver-eyed man's knife.

She looked around to see that the hills had fallen gradually away behind her and she recognized the familiar stretch of beach lead' rag to the bungalow.

In the distance she saw the roof of the little beach house and she quickened her pace, shoving aside the ache in her 'heart that reminded her that he wouldn't be there when she arrived.

In the distance, Tess saw a half a dozen boats drifting aimlessly on the s.h.i.+mmering sea. The impulse to call out to the fishermen and divers who manned those vessels was strong. But what could they do?

What could anyone do? Her only bargaining tool, Selena's notebook, was gone, and for all she knew, Selena could already be dead. Her breath came in gasps past a searing lump in her throat. Despite all the horrible realities that faced her, the fact remained that tonight at midnight she'd be standing on the sh.o.r.e at Jack's Bay, still hoping for a miracle.

ONCE SHE WAS INSIDE the beach house again, the emptiness felt even more oppressive than it had this morning. In the bathroom, Tess a.s.sessed the damage to her aching body. A lump the size of a small egg had swelled at the back of her head, but the cut under her chin wasn't deep and it was no longer bleeding.

While dabbing at the lack of her head with a cold, wet washcloth, she discovered a bottle of aspirin and' a box of bandages in the medicine cabinet. After swallowing three pills with a handful of water, she locked the front door, closed the windows and stripped off all her clothes.

The smell of the cave and the horrible man who'd abducted her seemed to cling to every pore, making her feel filthy and violated. In the shower, the cool water revived her as she lathered and rinsed for a full five minutes.

When she'd dried she regretted having to put her dirty clothes back on, but the bag with all her belongings was long gone, discarded, she supposed, by the so-called messenger. After she'd dressed," she pasted a Band-Aid under her chin and half a dozen smaller ones on her feet, gingerly slipped on her canvas sneakers and headed for the Jeep.

Outside, the sun was high and the air was hot and muggy. Out of habit, Tess glanced down at her wrist to realize for the first time that her watch had been lost in the scuffle with her abductor. Tess clutched the keys to the Jeep in her hand as she hurried along the deserted beach toward the dead end where the vehicle was parked. That the keys hadn't been lost during her ordeal was nothing short of a miracle.

When Tess's eager eyes caught sight of the Jeep parked in the distance, a single thought possessed her mind: she had to find Reed McKenna, and find him fast.

SHE BAGELY suppressed a scream when she saw that the Jeep's tires had been slashed. A picture of a long, thin boning knife formed in her mind and she knew instantly who had done the cutting. The thought that he might be watching her even now raised goose b.u.mps on her flesh and, despite the tender condition of her feet, she began to run toward the main road.

She'd walked and run almost a mile when a man and a woman in a dusty foreign ear picked her up on the road and drove her the rest of the way to Bodden Town, dropping her at the gas station at the edge of the village.

Three men who looked as though they might be natives of the island lounged beneath a canopy and sipped c.o.kes from sweating bottles. When one of them smiled at her, Tess realized she'd been staring, thinking how wonderful a cold soda would taste right now. But that kind of creature comfort would have to wait, she told herself. Right now, all she could allow herself to think about was finding Reed.

She acknowledged the trio sitting in the shade with what she hoped was a confident nod, before starting off toward the center of town. A sprinkling of gift shops and dive shops were mixed among the meri table bars and open-air carts.

For what seemed like hours, Tess walked in and out of curio shops, her eyes darting and nervous as she scanned the faces of the tourists and natives she encountered on the sidewalk. The man with the sh'ver eyes.

had said he had many friends, many relatives and that warning came back to haunt Tess with her every move.

At the end of the street, Tess's heart was heavy as she crossed and started back up the other side. She'd hoped, by now in a town this small to have literally tripped over Reed.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a gra.s.s hut that rented snorkeling gear and catamarans and she walked toward it. The ubiquitous reggae music drifted out of a ma.s.sive boom box sitting on the end of the open-air bar next door.

When she reached the rental shack and spotted a black motorcycle parked between the two businesses, her heart lurched and she crossed the sandy lot quickly, straining to get a better look at the small group of five or six people gathered around the dive shop.

Disappointed not to see Reed among them, Tess turned her attention on the bar.

Beneath the large thatched roof the temperature was at least ten degrees cooler and a breeze off the water played between the tables.

The bar was crowded with.

scantily clad tourists and weathered beachcombers sipping rum punch and nibbling shrimp from large wooden bowls.

A strikingly beautiful young x0oman with skin the color of burnished gold and black hair hanging past her waist threaded her way effortlessly through the crowd and among the tables, taking orders.

Tess noticed by the way the waitress dealt with the male customers that the young woman was a born flirt. If a man as strikingly s.e.xy as Reed McKenna had been here today, this beautiful young woman would remember Tess hung back, waiting for the girl to return to the bar and place her orders. As soon as she did, Tess moved up beside her. As she described Reed to the waitress, the young woman smiled.

"Ah, yes," she said, nodding. Her black hair s.h.i.+mmered and swayed like a silken veil.

"I do remember the man you described. Such a good-looking American. Yes, he was here earlier."

The girl reached for her tray and Tess followed her. "He didn't mention where he was going, did he?" Tess didn't really expect that he had, so when the young woman nodded and said, "Yes, he asked for directions to Oman's Boat Rentals," Tess found herself speechless.

Half a mile south of the bar, true to the young waitress's directions, the sandy knoll gave way to a narrow strip of beach.

Tethered along the length of a wooden dock were boats of all descriptions.

At the edge of the beach, beneath a cl.u.s.ter of palms, stood the plywood shack the waitress had described. The shack was deserted, but behind the ramshackle structure a tall, thin, gray-haired man was shoving a boat filled with noisy teenagers away from the dock.

The man turned around and spotl! Tess as the outboard engine roared to life and the boat' sped out into the turquoise sea. Hurrying down the wooden sidewalk that led to the dock, Tess met the proprietor halfway.

As they walked back to the makes.h.i.+ft office, she asked about Reed, describing him in detail.

"Yeah, he's been here. Didn't rent nothin', though. Asked a lot of questions and then went about his business."

Tess's spirits plummeted.

"You need a boat, miss? You won't find better rates on the island," he promised.

She shook' her head, feeling almost too disappointed to speak.

"I.

wonder, could you tell me how long ago my friend was here? It's very important that I find him."