Page 26 of Wild Temple (Tyson Wild Thriller #84)

A fter a moment of stillness, it seemed like we were in the clear. No commotion in other parts of the house. Nothing to indicate we’d alerted the guy on the couch, or anyone else, to our presence.

The comforter on the bed had the same pattern as the one in the proof of life photo of Hannah.

She had been in this room!

We cleared the closet, but there was no sign of her.

JD slipped out of the room, and we cleared the other two guest rooms upstairs, but found nothing.

After our previous encounters, maybe Caspian was low on staff. I knew at least three of them needed body bags.

We took the switchback staircase below. It dumped us off in the living room. The guy was still crashed out on the couch.

JD and I advanced, clearing the corners .

The TV flickered, casting a cool glow across the room.

With my pistol against the scumbag's head, I said, “Wake up, asshole!”

He snorted, shook, and peeled his eyes open.

“Make a sound, and I’ll blow your head off,” I hissed.

Jack hustled around the couch and lifted the guy’s pistol from a shoulder holster.

“Where’s the girl?” I demanded in a low growl.

“What girl? What are you talking about?”

By his English and lack of an accent, he was an American.

I cracked him in the back of the head with the grip of my pistol. It opened a nice gash, and blood seeped through his short, dark hair.

He winced with pain. “Ow! What’d you do that for?”

“I’m not playing games with you,” I hissed.

“I don’t know. They took her.”

“Who took her?”

“Caspian and Vlad.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m nobody. I’m just looking after the place.”

“Bullshit.” I smacked his head again.

“Ow! Seriously, stop that!”

“Where did they take her? ”

The dirtbag hesitated.

I cracked him again.

By this time, the blood had trickled through his hair, run down his neck, and stained the collar of his white dress shirt.

“Man, you’re gonna give me brain damage.”

“You’re going to get a whole lot worse than that if you don’t start answering my questions.”

JD kept his weapon aimed at the dirtbag.

I displayed a picture of Hannah on my phone and shoved the image in his face. “Where is she?”

"They took her to one of the other properties," the scumbag said.

"Where?”

"I don't know. Caspian has rental villas all over the island. They didn't say where they were going.”

"Why move her around?"

"In case assholes like you came looking for her."

I swiped the screen to display an image of Isabella. "What about her?”

The dirtbag studied the image for a moment. "I've never seen her before.”

I motioned like I was gonna hit him in the head again.

He winced in anticipation. "I swear! I don't know. I've never seen her before in my life. ”

"What's Caspian’s cell phone number?" I asked.

"I don't know it off the top of my head.”

I dug into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. I scrolled through his contact list and memorized Caspian’s number. I would send it to Talia later and have her track his device.

The door handle twisted, and the front door opened. Another goon stepped in. He’d been on the front porch smoking a cigarette—the faint traces drifted through the air as he entered. His eyes rounded when he saw us. I spun around and took aim as he drew his pistol.

My finger squeezed the trigger, and muzzleflash lit up the dim room. My bullets rocketed across the living room, pelting the scumbag in the chest. Crimson blossomed his shirt as he fell back against the wall, leaving a stain as he slid down to the tile.

The dirtbag on the couch had taken the opportunity to lunge toward Jack during the distraction. He tackled JD, and the two fell onto the glass coffee table, shattering it. Shards of glass rained down, dancing on the tile.

Jack managed to buck the scumbag off him, then lit him up with gunfire as he charged.

Bullets punctured his chest.

He groaned with agony as he crashed against broken shards of glass. The dirtbag gasped and gurgled for a moment, then went still.

I shared a look with JD.

"Whoops," he said .

I hustled around the couch and helped him to his feet.

"I say it's high time we get out of here," Jack said.

I didn't disagree.

We crunched across broken glass, hustled through the kitchen, then out the sliding glass doors to the patio. We climbed over the perimeter wall and dropped down on the other side. I didn’t want to exit through the gate and trip the motion-activated camera.

JD and I slinked down the alley between the two houses, then scanned the street.

It was quiet and empty.

We darted from the alley and hustled down the block to the moped, hopped on, and fired up the engine. I twisted the throttle, and the exhaust purred as we zipped away.

"That could have gone better," JD shouted over the wind and engine noise.

We were leaving a trail of bodies and not making much progress. Not exactly how to maintain a low profile. We drove back to the hotel, parked the scooter in the lot, and hustled back to the room. I turned my phone on and texted Talia the digits. By that time, the sun was just cresting the horizon.

We burst through the door, and Brooke greeted us with concerned eyes. "How did it go? Did you find Hannah?”

With a grim frown, I shook my head. "How’s Kelsey?"

Brooke shrugged. "She seems fine. ”

Kelsey was still asleep.

It wasn’t long after that when a knock at the door startled us. “Police! Open up!”