Page 28 of An Epic Voyage (The Epic Beauty Salon Files #1)

G riffin froze at the sound of Benedict Van Houten’s voice. He’d arrived much quicker than expected. What were the odds that he would return right when Griffin and Indigo discovered the laptop and the nuke? Had to be astronomical, yet here they were.

He needed to figure a way out of this and get Indigo to safety.

With his back to the man, he removed the latex gloves and discarded them.

He faked a smile and turned. Van Houten and two of his henchmen, Herm Gordon and Whit Zisk, stood in the opening.

Both bodyguards were armed and pointing their weapons at Griffin and Indigo.

“Hey, boss. We were hoping someone would come back to get us. Why the guns?”

“I’ll ask again,” Van Houten ground out between clenched teeth. “How the hell did you find this room?”

Griffin tried for a nervous chuckle. “By accident. Ms. Adair and I were stranded on the island when the yacht left. We made it to the safe room and inadvertently activated the opening in the fridge. Talk about a shock. We decided to explore. Have you seen the destruction?” He shook his head. “It’s horrible.”

“No, how did you get in here ?”

Indigo spoke up. “There was an open panel on the elevator with a button. My curiosity got the best of me, and I pushed it. The back wall opened.”

Van Houten scowled at her and took a menacing step forward. “How did you know the code?”

Griffin jumped in front of him. Indigo wouldn’t appreciate it, but they couldn’t let Van Houten know who she was. “It was a guess. I used the same sequence as the others that led to the safe room.”

“We were shocked when it worked,” Indigo tacked on.

“You didn’t go looking for it?”

Griffin held out his hands. “How would we? We didn’t know it existed.”

“We don’t even know what it is,” Indigo insisted.

Van Houten wasn’t buying it. “Who are you working with?” he demanded. “Abdullahi? Are you trying to cut me out?”

“Whoa.” Griffin held up his hands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Who is Abdul, uh, what did you say the name was?” Indigo asked.

“We found this by accident,” Griffin repeated. “We were being nosy. Nothing else.”

“Why do you have a black eye?”

“Oh, that was my fault,” Indigo admitted. “I jerked back when the refrigerator opened and smacked my head into his face.”

Van Houten poked him in the chest. Griffin gritted his teeth to keep from grabbing his finger and breaking it in several places.

“I background-checked you myself. Your credentials were stellar. You worked for Grazer, one of the meanest bastards I’ve ever met. He vouched for you, gave you a glowing reference.”

That was because the man was in federal custody. In exchange for a reduced sentence, he backed up Griffin’s cover.

“Then you know I’m telling the truth when I say we unwittingly stumbled in here.” He glanced around. “I don’t even know what it is. I’m guessing storage space for items you don’t have room for upstairs?”

“It’s a shame I don’t believe you.”

Herm Gordon walked closer, his gun aimed at Griffin’s head.

“Do you want me to shoot them, boss?”

“Why would you sh-shoot us?” Indigo gasped. “Because we snooped? I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I talked Griffin into exploring. We were bored. We didn’t mean to trespass.”

Her babbling was an act, and a good one. Van Houten’s face softened.

“Boss?” Gordon prompted.

Van Houten wrinkled his nose. “No. I don’t want blood and guts in here. Tie them up and load them onto the boat. We’ll take them with us.”

“Take me if you must, but leave Ms. Adair alone. She hasn’t done anything but follow me.”

A chill went down Griffin’s spine at the look on Van Houten’s face. “Oh, no. I’m not letting Ms. Adair go. I have special plans for her.”

#

O ver my dead body. If Van Houten tried anything with her, Indigo would castrate him with her bare hands.

Van Houten motioned to his bodyguards. “Search them for weapons.”

Indigo had dropped her SIG Sauer and gloves beneath a tarp. She hated losing the gun, but it was better than them finding it on her. If they thought she was a beautician, they wouldn’t see her as a threat.

Mistake.

“I have a gun behind my back,” Griffin informed them.

“Why would you be carrying when you thought you were alone on the island?” Van Houten challenged.

“To keep Ms. Adair safe in case of looters or wild animals.”

One of Van Houten’s bodyguards—she mentally named him Bruiser One—patted her down and felt her up, adding a pinch to her nipple.

Indy gritted her teeth. He would pay for that.

She looked at Griffin, and the fury in his eyes was unmistakable.

She gave a sharp jerk of her head. They needed to stay alive and get out of this mess.

Van Houten clearly didn’t buy their explanation.

Bruiser One confiscated her cell phone and then took out a pair of flex cuffs. Indy held out her wrists, and he zipped them together in front of her, as she’d hoped he would.

“Take them to the boat and watch them,” Van Houten ordered the men. “Send Garcia back here to help.”

“Will do, boss.”

Bruiser Two shoved Griffin and then Indy in front of them, prodding them to walk with his gun.

Bruiser One kept his weapon trained on Griffin’s head as he pushed the button in the elevator.

There went any hope of overpowering them.

It would take only an infinitesimal amount of pressure on the trigger to blow out Griffin’s brains. She shuddered.

The doors opened to reveal a speedboat idling against a wooden walkway with Bruiser Three at the helm. The water was still choppy, causing the boat to shift and bob with the unpredictable rhythm of the waves.

“Dean? What are you doing here?” the man in the boat said.

It took Indigo a second to recall that Dean was Griffin’s undercover alias.

“Go help the boss,” Bruiser One ordered him.

The man shot a confused glance at them but did as told. Indy watched as he stepped into the lift. The door closed, revealing a wall of rock that disguised it. You would never know an elevator was there.

“Whit, you could be the good guy here and let Ms. Adair go,” Griffin said to Bruiser Two. “You don’t hurt women.”

The man looked conflicted but shook his head. “My job is to protect the boss.”

“We have done nothing wrong,” Indy whined. “I don’t understand why you tied us up and are holding us at g-gunpoint. Can’t you put that thing away?”

For a second, she thought he might do as she asked until Bruiser One smacked him on the shoulder.

“You drive. I’ll watch the prisoners.”

Indy didn’t know the men, but her impression of Bruiser One was that he was cruel and sadistic. The other two might be immoral, but they didn’t seem quite as evil.

When Two moved to the driver’s seat, One leaned forward and smashed his gun into Griffin’s face, causing his head to snap back violently.

Indy’s gasp was real. “Why did you do that?”

“Oops. I tripped. Coincidentally, I’ve been wanting to do that to pretty boy here since he was hired. I knew he was a bad seed.”

Griffin spat out blood and touched his bound hands against his split lip, his eyes shooting daggers at Bruiser One.

Indy was about to break the cuffs, confiscate his weapon, and shoot him when the others returned.

The man Van Houten called Garcia carried the padded case holding the nuke. They didn’t have the laptop.

Indy hoped they would be able to go back and retrieve it before Van Houten had a chance to sell the country’s military secrets, putting thousands of soldiers’ lives in jeopardy.