Page 75 of An Epic Voyage

Gordon grabbed Griffin under the arm and jerked him to his feet.When he did the same to Indigo, she cried out.Knowing it was for show didn’t make him feel any better.

Van Houten left the vessel first, with Zisk behind him carrying the nuke.

The two other bodyguards roughly hauled them out and pushed them onto the deck.Gordon prodded them forward.Garcia joined them.Griffin hadn’t been on this boat before, but it appeared they were being led to the cargo hold.

“Hold up,” Gordon ordered.He stopped at a cabinet and took out two pairs of handcuffs.What kind of person kept bondage on hand?That was easy—a criminal.

Gordon left the zip ties on as he slapped the cuffs on Griffin, securing them as tightly as possible.He gritted his teeth as the metal bit into his skin.Then Gordon secured shackles around his ankles.He did the same to Indigo.

Gordon urged them forward and stopped at a hatch.After Garcia opened it, Gordon shoved them down the steps.With the chains on his legs, Griffin couldn’t keep his balance.He crashed hard onto the floor and grunted when Indigo landed on top of him.The last thing he heard before Gordon slammed the hatch closed, sealing them inside, was his cruel, mocking laughter.

#

Jackson studied Evangelineas she disconnected her cell and dropped it on her desk.

“Indigo’s not answering her phone.It instantly kicks to voicemail.”

“Maybe she turned it off.”

“Why would she?Do you think something happened to her?”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Jackson reminded her.They gave the women leeway when they were working on a case.They didn’t have to check in every five minutes.Jackson trusted them to do their job, and he knew Evangeline did too.He didn’t understand why she was hounding Indigo, their best operative—though he’d deny that if asked.All three women were capable.He didn’t pick favorites.“Let’s give her more time to search.”

“I have a bad feeling.”

Jackson dropped his feet from the edge of Evangeline’s desk and sat upright.He’d learned over the years never to discount Evie’s intuition.She was rarely wrong.If she felt something was off, it most likely was.

“I’ll call Decker’s boss and see if he’s heard from him.”

#

Indigo hated playingthe part of a simpering wimp, but the less they thought of her as a threat, the better.She’d be able to use their inattentiveness against them.

She expected to return to the yacht they’d arrived on, even though it was loaded with the staff from the island, but she was wrong.This was a different boat.Much smaller, but just as luxurious as the other one.

“Please, let us go,” she pleaded to deaf ears.Bruiser One pretended not to hear her.She almost kicked him in the balls when he chained their wrists and ankles.It would make getting out of them more challenging, but not impossible.

When he shoved them down a short set of steps into a dark, dank room, she stumbled over Griffin, and they landed in a heap on the floor.

“Sorry,” she told him as she maneuvered upright.

“Are you okay?”

“Pissed.I almost—”

“Indigo?”

She turned her head and blinked into the darkness.“Jordy?Is that you?”

“Over here.”

She and Griffin made their way toward the voice, their steps slowed by the chains around their feet.As they approached, she heard sobbing.

“Jordy, are you okay?”Faint light spilled inside from a round window high on the wall.She spotted him and dropped beside him.He was also constrained, his hair was mussed, and one of his eyes was swollen shut.

“I’ve been better, but thank God you’re alive.I was worried when you didn’t make it onto the boat.”

“What happened to you?”