They lead us over to a sheltered area on the dock, covered over to protect, I’m assuming, goods brought in for the resort while the boats are unloaded. It offers some shelter from the driving rain while we wait for transport off the island.
My heart longs for one of the faces to be Jessen’s, but there isn’t a single one I recognize. God, I’d give almost anything for him to be here, to feel his strong arms around me. There’s no place I feel safer than in his arms. When I’m with him, it feels as if nothing can touch me. Without even realizing it, he’s become my safe haven – my person.
In that quiet, steadfast way of his, he’s captured my heart, and it never so much as murmured a protest, just quietly surrendered. I always thought love would arrive with pomp and ceremony, with fanfare to announce its arrival. But no, it snuck up on me and, with no warning, simply took me over.
A hand on my arm has me shrieking in fright, whipping around to face the attack. One of the uniformed men stands there, his face covered in camouflage. A rather intimidating sight to be sure.
“Easy there, ma’am, I mean you no harm,” he says. He holds hands up to emphasize the point. “Are you Agatha Traeger?”
Hesitantly, I nod. “Who’s asking?”
He holds up a finger. “I have her. She’s safe.” The man listens for a moment. “Will do,” he says, then turns to me, a huge smile spreading across his lips. “Hi. It’s nice to officially meet you. I’m Digit – one of Lucky’s teammates.” He sticks out one of those gloved hands.
My heart skips a beat at the mention of Jessen’s nickname. Taking the proffered hand, I ask, “Is Jessen here?”
He holds a finger up again while listening. “Copy that, Knight. On it.” He turns back to me. “Yeah, he’s hiding out somewhere on the grounds. He’ll be here shortly. I need to check some data, but I’ll be right over there if you need anything.” He points to a command center set up further down the dock to where we’re sheltered, under the same cover.
“Thanks. It’s nice to have met you, Digit.” My smile feels foreign on my face. It seems like a million years and a lifetime ago since I last smiled.
Digit gives me a snappy two-fingered salute and jogs over to the command center. I look around for Toni and spot her standing talking with a few of the women from our group. She wraps an arm around my shoulders as I join the group. “Everything okay, babe?”
That’s just so Toni. Always worrying about others. “Yeah, all good. You doing all right?”
She hugs me up against her side, “I’ve been better, but we’re alive, so something to be thankful for. I can’t wait to get home to my man and baby girl though, I won’t lie.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” Suddenly overcome with emotion, I turn to her and hug her close. “I’m so sorry, my sweet friend. I hate that you had to go through this.”
“Stop that. None of this is your fault. This is all on that crazy Izabella. Besides, you went through as much trauma as the rest of us.” I feel Toni’s body stiffen in my embrace. “Speaking of, where is that psycho bitch?”
“Oh God, that’s a good point. In all the pandemonium, I lost track of her. Shit, shit, shit.” Looking around wildly, not sure what I’m hoping to find, I spot Digit. “I’ll be right back,” I say as I dash over to where he is. “Digit, I need your help.
No questions, no hesitation, he asks, “What do you need?”
“The woman behind all of this – she’s gone.”
“Tell me.”
“Izabella Perez, she’s the one who orchestrated the hostage situation to get to me. She signed up for the retreat, pretending to be interested in writing, presumably to get close enough to me to execute her plan.
“She was in the room right up until the time one of the men came rushing into the room to tell her something. They had an animated discussion, and she left. I thought she’d be back; I mean this was her plan after all. But now – well, I guess she never did, because I don’t see her anywhere.”
“Fuck. That’s not good news. Means she quite probably was evacuated off the island along with all the other guests. Hang tight with your group, always stay in my line of sight. If anything should happen to you, Lucky’ll have my balls. I’ll report the situation to Knight, and we’ll take it from there.”
Grateful to hand it into his capable hands, I go back over to Toni, currently huddled against the wall at the back of the covered over shelter. “What was that all about?”
“That’s one of Jessen’s teammates. I told him about Izabella and that she’s disappeared. He says they’ll take care of it. And I’m going to let them. I really don’t want to have to deal with her again. Ever, if I can help it.”
“Amen, sister.” She bumps a hip against mine. “I’m not built to deal with her level of crazy.”
“Ain’t that the freaking truth.”
Standing, arms around each other, we wait for who knows what to happen next, Toni’s head resting on my shoulder. I need to touch base with the others, make sure they’re doing okay, especially Tiffany. I’m not sure how bad her injury is from when Izabella attacked her.
“Babe, I want to go check in on the others real quick.” This waiting makes me twitchy. I have to do something.
“Sure. Just be careful, and don’t forget to stay in Digit’s sight. Don’t want any seriously pissed SEALs going off on your ass.” Toni replies.
“Yeah, I will. Promise. I’ll be back in a minute.”
