Page 37 of An Epic Voyage (The Epic Beauty Salon Files #1)
T he door from the wheelhouse to the conference room had been left open, so Griffin was close enough to listen to the conversation but hidden from view.
He peeked around the corner every so often to monitor the situation.
Van Houten’s group stood on one side of the table and Abdullahi’s the other.
They weren’t facing him, so they wouldn’t see him unless they glanced his way.
He’d been surprised to hear Indigo converse with the doctor in Chinese. How many languages did she speak? There were so many layers to her, and he wanted to discover each one. He had a working knowledge of the dialect. Hearing the doctor say the nuke was fake should’ve been a shock, but it wasn’t.
Red hazed his vision when Van Houten thrust Indigo in front of him. It’d taken every ounce of restraint he had not to put a bullet in his right ear.
In the chaos, no one noticed the doctor slip the case off the table and slowly creep out of the room. When he was within range, Griffin snagged him and slapped a hand over his mouth when he squealed.
Panicked eyes pleaded with him. Griffin removed his hand.
“Please, you must let me go. I am holding a nuclear weapon.”
“You told them it was a fake.”
“It is real. I said that to get away. It should not be in the hands of a monster like Abdullahi. Many people will die.”
Griffin had respect for the doctor. It took guts to do what he was doing.
He had to have known it was a suicide mission and was prepared to die to keep the nuke from killing others.
“Go down to the main deck. There is a boat anchored at the stern, starboard side. Tell the man named Jordy that Griffin sent you. He’ll let you on board.
Tell him to move the boat thirty feet away and wait there like we discussed. ”
The man nodded and hurried away. Griffin returned his attention to the door and aimed his weapon.
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N o one noticed when the doctor grabbed the suitcase containing the fake nuclear device and backed out of the room. Indigo shifted her eyes and saw Griffin grab him. Why would the doctor have taken it with him if it wasn’t legit?
“Look, we can work something out,” Van Houten insisted to Abdullahi. “No one needs to get shot. It was a simple misunderstanding. That’s all.”
“I do not know how you amassed a fortune, for you do not understand this business,” Abdullahi murmured. “You have crossed me, and that is a sin that I do not let stand. Release the woman and face me like a man.”
Indigo could easily break his hold, so she did and stepped to the side. Van Houten reached out and snagged her wrist, drawing her close.
“You think I don’t understand business?” Van Houten held up his right hand. “This is a dead man’s switch. Do you know that term, Abdullahi? If not, let me enlighten you. The yacht is wired to the hilt. You kill me, and we all die.”
“You think that intimidates me? I have faced worse men than you, Van Houten.”
“Then let’s discuss a truce,” Van Houten tried again.
“I don’t think so. When you’ve lost trust, there can be no peace.”
Everything happened in slow motion. Zisk got an itchy trigger finger and fired first, nailing one of Abdullahi’s bodyguards. Indigo took Van Houten down as the bullets started flying. She needed to pry the device from his hand while keeping pressure on the button.
Almost as quickly as it started, it ended. She looked over at Zisk and Garcia. Both were riddled with bullets. She could see Abdullahi down and his guards too. It looked like a slaughterhouse, with blood everywhere.
“Indigo, you saved my life,” Van Houten praised.
“Good. Now you can spend the rest of it behind bars.”
She stood and jerked him to his feet.
“What do you mean? What’s going on?”
“I work for the government, you traitorous piece of shit, and you are under arrest.”
“You bitch!”
“You betcha. Give me the dead—”
“Indigo!”
She jerked her head around as Griffin jogged toward her with his weapon aimed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Abdullahi raise his arm.
“No!”
Indigo took off for Griffin and slammed into him as a boom sounded and the boat exploded.