Page 38 of An Epic Voyage (The Epic Beauty Salon Files #1)

G riffin’s training kicked in when the bullets started flying.

He took out one of Abdullahi’s bodyguards and added to the count in Abdullahi’s torso.

Indigo had dropped, taking Van Houten with her.

With the other men firing at each other, she’d probably saved Van Houten’s life. Zisk and Garcia were both dead.

Once everyone was down and the shooting stopped, he went to her. She was jerking Van Houten to his feet.

Movement out of the corner of his eye had him yelling, “Indigo!”

Griffin fired at Abdullahi at the same time Abdullahi aimed at Van Houten and pulled the trigger.

“No!”

The next thing he knew, Indigo slammed into him, and they went flying out of the open sliding glass doors and over the balcony railing.

Heat scorched him as the boat went up in a giant fireball.

They’d barely made it out in time. He gripped her tightly as they plunged into the deep blue depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

Griffin waited for their descent to stop before kicking for the surface, bringing Indigo with him. He gasped for air as he treaded water. The yacht was engulfed in flames, with burning pieces raining down on them.

“We need to get away from here.”

Indigo disappeared. “Indigo?” Griffin grabbed her and lifted her head above the water. Her eyes were closed. Oh, no . Keeping his arm beneath her neck so she didn’t go under again, he kicked them away from the inferno.

An engine roared to life. Jordy was piloting the speedboat toward them. He dropped the anchor and killed the motor. Abdullahi’s scientist tossed a ladder over the side. Griffin grabbed it and put Indigo over his shoulder to climb inside.

“What happened to her?” Jordy asked.

“I don’t know.”

Griffin placed her gently on the padded bench.

“Let me see. I’m a doctor.” The man elbowed Griffin out of the way to get to her.

That’s when Griffin noticed the hole in her dress at the same time the doctor announced, “She’s been shot.”

#

I t had taken hours , but Jackson and Evangeline were tracking Abdullahi’s helicopter. The president had dispatched a military Black Hawk helicopter to transport them from Van Houten Island, and they were headed to the designated coordinates.

Evangeline rode copilot while Jackson was strapped into a jump seat by the open side door. They were with two Navy Air Rescue members.

“There.” Evangeline pointed out the window.

“I see it,” Jackson confirmed through the headset.

“There’s already a helicopter on the landing pad,” the pilot informed them.

“We’ll have to—”

The rest of Jackson’s sentence was cut off when the boat exploded into a giant fireball.

No, no, no. That had been Evangeline’s last hope. Emotion lodged in her throat, and she couldn’t breathe.

Jackson was silent, no doubt thinking the same thing.

Evangeline had prayed that this day would never come. Losing one of her girls was akin to losing her own child, and she didn’t know how to deal with the intense pain in her heart. She’d always kept her emotions in check, so the rush of sorrow and agony was crushing.

“Hey, there’s a boat,” the pilot announced.

Evangeline shook her head. “What?”

“Starboard side.”

She leaned forward, barely able to make it out. “Can you get closer?”

“Of course.”

He maneuvered the helo until it hovered above the watercraft.

“Evie, that’s Indigo! Oh no, she looks hurt. I’m going in.”

She spun around in her seat. “Wait—”

It was too late. Jackson had already thrown himself out the door without a parachute. One of the Navy men followed.

Pushing worry aside for now, Evangeline took charge. “We need to get the basket ready to send down.”

The other Navy man leaped to his feet. “On it.”

#

G riffin barely managed a glance at the helicopter circling overhead. His entire focus was on Indigo. He dropped to one knee beside her and took her hand.

“Indigo, it’s Griffin. Can you hear me?”

No answer.

The doctor found a first-aid kit beneath the helm and began working on her injury. He told Griffin his name was Dr. Cheung and assured him he’d had training and knew what he was doing. Dr. Cheung ensured her lungs were clear of water before he cut her dress to reveal the wound.

The bullet had pierced the edge of her left side below the rib cage.

Her breathing wasn’t labored, and the bleeding was slowing down.

It probably hadn’t helped that she’d plowed into him with that part of her body.

The pain must’ve been excruciating, though adrenaline would’ve acted as a natural painkiller by blocking signals to her brain.

Then they’d hit the water from a relatively high height.

The shock to her system was a brutal one.

“Griffin.”

He looked up at Jordy’s panicked call and watched as two men dropped into the water close to the boat. Instinctively, he moved in front of Indigo, wishing he had his Glock. He’d dropped it when Indigo had hit him.

“Here.”

As if reading his mind, Dr. Cheung handed him a gun. The man was full of surprises.

A head appeared, and then a man hauled himself into the boat. He was tall, dark-haired, and muscular. Another man followed, dressed in military fatigues.

Griffin pointed the gun at the first man, who appeared to be the biggest threat. “Who are you?”

The man held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. “Jackson Rushing. I’m Indigo Adair’s boss. What happened to her?”

Griffin’s legs buckled with relief. They could fly her to the hospital faster than the boat could run. “She’s been shot.”

The man bulldozed Griffin aside and dropped beside her. Griffin resisted cold-cocking him with the butt of his gun since he was panicked on Indigo’s behalf.

“Indy, can you hear me?”

Her eyes fluttered. “Griffin?”

“No, it’s Jackson.”

She jerked upright. “Jackson, we need to find Griffin.”

“I’m right here, babe.” Oops, that endearment had slipped out. He wouldn’t have noticed, but her boss gave him the stink eye over his shoulder.

She collapsed back down with a hiss. “What happened?”

“You were hit in the crossfire,” Griffin told her. “That was before you saved my life.”

Her eyes closed, and she smiled. “You owe me one.”

#

F inding Indigo alive lifted a massive weight from Jackson’s shoulders.

He’d lost ten years off his life when the boat exploded.

Flashbacks of when he’d learned that Celine and his unborn daughter had been killed assailed him.

He wasn’t sure he could live with that pain again. Thankfully, he didn’t have to.

Indigo was hurt, but a small Asian man told him she should be okay if they could get her to a hospital immediately. The closest one was at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

He turned to the Navy man and had him radio their plans to the pilot, instructing him to clear their arrival. Someone was already lowering a basket so they could get her in the chopper. Evie’s doing, no doubt.

He turned back to the big man guarding her like a junkyard dog.

“I take it you’re Griffin Decker?”

“I am.”

“How did Indigo get in the boat?”

“Griffin pulled her out of the water and brought her here,” a man he hadn’t yet met supplied. He had a blond mohawk and a face that had been on a fist’s receiving end.

Seemed as if Jackson owed Griffin Decker a debt of gratitude.

“We’re going to airlift her to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Guantanamo Bay.”

“Good,” Decker exhaled. “Also, we’ve got another victim.”

Decker opened one of the storage compartments to reveal what appeared to be a pile of bloody clothes. Jackson leaned closer. Nope, he was wrong. It was a badly beaten man. Jackson helped Decker lift him out and checked his vitals. He was alive, but his pulse was dangerously slow.

“We’ve also got the nuke.”

Jackson’s head jerked up. “You do?”

Decker pointed to the case resting on the deck. “Yes.”

That was fantastic news. Indigo had completed her mission successfully, which was not a surprise, given that he knew she would. “I’ll take possession of it.” Decker handed it to him. “What about Benedict Van Houten?”

“Deceased, along with Abdullahi.”

No tears would be shed over their demises. The world was better off without them. He glanced around the boat. “Where is Jinger Jenkins?”

“Van Houten killed her,” Decker told him.

“No kidding.” Jackson shook his head. “Our intel didn’t mention he was a murderer.”

“It was a perfect shot into her frontal lobe, so he was more than familiar with a weapon.”

“Mystery surrounds him and what he did before he amassed his fortune,” Jackson noted.

“Whatever it was, I’m betting it wasn’t legal,” Decker maintained. “He was also planning on double-crossing Abdullahi. This was to be his getaway boat.”

“I’ll have someone pick it up,” Jackson said.

When the rescue basket was ready, they strapped Indigo in first. She’d lapsed into unconsciousness again. They placed the beaten man beside her. There was room for the doctor, so he accompanied them.

When it came back down, the other man on the boat, who he learned was Jordy Crier, climbed in, followed by Decker.

There wasn’t enough room for Jackson and the Navy soldier, but the basket could carry their weight.

He didn’t want to delay getting Indigo and the others to the hospital by waiting for it to be sent back down, so they hung on to the sides as it lifted skyward, the case containing the nuke securely in his other hand.

It might seem dangerous, but he’d done it plenty of times during his Navy SEAL days.