“Thanks, I appreciate this.”
He turned and left before the woman could say anything further. He’d done as Sarah had asked and made sure the cat had a decent home. At least it wouldn’t starve to death now.
His next stop was at the dock where there were three charter services. He asked benign questions like whether it was possible to hire a boat to take him to the neighboring island. The first two were more than happy to accommodate his request and could arrange it immediately. The third, however, the woman informed him that her husband was already on a trip to the next island and wouldn’t return for some time. When he pressed her, she clammed up and all but shoved him out the door.
Oookay. So it seemed that Sarah had arranged for a charter to make her escape and that she’d likely done it well in advance of her actual departure. He needed to get there a hell of a lot faster than the couple hours it would take by boat.
He hopped one of the two taxis on the island and got dropped off at the airfield on the east end. The guy at the counter eyed him with a speculative gleam when Garrett told him he wanted to charter a helicopter to the next island. Immediately. It was a look that told Garrett this was going to cost him a fuckload of money.
“Sure, I can take you over. I had a client supposed to come in for an aerial tour of the island chain, but I can cancel if the price is right.”
Yeah like Garrett didn’t know that was coming. “You take plastic?”
The guy grinned broadly at Garrett. “Of course.”
Garrett pulled out his wallet and ripped out his credit card. On KGI’s dime, of course. Sam would have a kitten, but oh well. He could always bill Resnick.
“How soon can we leave?”
The guy picked up Garrett’s credit card and smiled. “Just as soon as I run your card.”
CHAPTER 14
PEOPLE just don’t goddamn disappear. Did they? Garrett was tired. He was hungry. And he was one pissed-off motherfucker. He’d been over every inch of this island and there was no sign of Sarah. No one in the harbor had seen her—or so they said. There wasn’t a flight with her on it—as near as he could tell.
The woman had simply vanished into thin air.
He wanted nothing more than to say fuck it all, go home and let Resnick deal with Sarah Daniels. It was what he should do. His sister-in-law was about to deliver. Sam’s hands were tied if they got another job because Garrett was off fucking around in paradise. And quite frankly, he’d have a hell of a lot better time blowing some shit up over playing junior detective. Hell, that was Donovan’s job.
He should just go home and call it good.
But he’d kissed her.
It was a pansy-ass excuse. But if he hadn’t kissed her. If he hadn’t gotten close to her. Hadn’t seen her fear. Hadn’t felt her tremble beneath his fingers. If she hadn’t tasted so damn good. If he hadn’t kissed her, he could go home and forget she ever existed. He could leave her to Resnick and company.
But he couldn’t. Somehow in the course of a few days she’d become his. His responsibility. His to protect.
It was a fucked-up scenario no matter how he looked at it. He couldn’t make it go away no matter how hard he wanted it to. All he knew was that somehow, some way, he and Sarah Daniels were connected.
No, he didn’t like it. But there it was. All laid out, sort of like he felt right now. Balls flapping in the wind.
No man should ever get so damn tied up in a woman. Especially one he barely knew.
Yeah, go home. It’s precisely what he should do.
Then he could better prepare himself for the job of protecting her. While Donovan ran her to ground, he could haul out his arsenal and start planning for the eventualities. Hell, he never went anywhere without at least four rifles and a few handguns. And yet here he was with only a Glock and his winning personality to get himself out of a scrape on this shit hole of an island. And he’d have to leave the Glock behind.
He stalked into the tiny-ass terminal that served as ticketing desk, luggage check and security all in one and tossed his bag onto the stuttering conveyor belt.
“I want to get the hell out of here,” he announced to the startled agent. “What’s your next flight out?”
“Miami,” she said nervously.
“Done. When does it leave?”
“Half hour, sir. They’ll be boarding in the next few minutes.”
Garrett scanned the waiting room to see four other people all watching him like he was the shoe bomber. He smiled through gritted teeth. “Bad breakup. Girlfriend dragged me down here for a vacation and dumped me for the first dude she saw in a Speedo.”
The two men grimaced in sympathy while the two women looked like they thought it was no wonder.
He tossed his credit card onto the counter and hoped to hell Sam hadn’t already discovered the last charge and frozen the account. The agent hastily shoved a printed boarding pass over the counter and then went to secure the routing ticket onto Garrett’s bag.
“You say I have thirty minutes? When is last boarding call?” he asked.
The agent checked her watch. “You have twenty minutes before final boarding. The plane takes off in thirty.”
He nodded and walked back outside, where he pulled out the sat phone. This time Donovan actually answered the phone.
“We have a problem,” Garrett began.
“We?” Donovan echoed. “I don’t see a ‘we’ in this equation.”
“Fuck you,” Garrett growled. “I need your help.”
Donovan sighed. “What else is new? What, did you forget your bathing suit? Oh wait, no, the sunblock right? Give me a minute. I’m actually mustering real sympathy for you here. I might even manage to squeeze out a tear or two.”
“Are you done yet?” Garrett asked impatiently. “Sarah took off.”
There was dead silence.
“She gave you the slip?”
Garrett closed his eyes and braced for what was to come.
Donovan laughed in his ear. “Let me get this straight. All you had to do was stay close to a beautiful woman. Watch over her. Even cozy up to her, if that’s what it took. And she gave you the slip?”
Garrett could hear the fool wheezing through the phone. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and closed his eyes. “I’m going to beat your ass when I get home.”
“Ah man, I wish I could be there to see this one,” Donovan said. “So what are you going to do now?”