When Kai came inside a short while later and headed for the stairs to go up to the wheelhouse, she frowned in confusion. “We’re leaving?”
“I talked about heading out to the Penguin Bank and he was all for it. He seems eager to go out to deeper water, and when I mentioned the possibility of seeing sharks, his eyes lit up.” Kai chuckled. “I don’t know why you tourists get turned on by sharks so much.”
Elodie shuddered. “I’m not a tourist, and besides, I could go my entire life without seeing a real-live shark and be perfectly happy.”
“He doesn’t seem too interested in fishing anyway,” Kai went on. “All he’s talked about is how different things are here compared to Massachusetts. He’s also curious as to how you came to be working on a charter fishing boat in Hawaii.” Kai grinned. “You have to admit, it’s kinda funny, you aren’t exactly the typical employee.”
“You mean I’m too white and too old and not into surfing,” Elodie said with a chuckle.
“Exactly. Your turn to entertain while I get us farther out into the deeper waters,” Kai said.
“Thanks,” Elodie muttered. She wasn’t concerned that Steven had talked about her to Kai, she knew she wasn’t what people expected when they signed up for the charter. For some reason, people always seemed surprised to find a woman on the boat when they arrived, as if women couldn’t be fishermen or employed by a fishing vessel. As long as she was under the Columbus family’s radar, she didn’t care if the tourists wondered what her story was.
Thirty minutes later, the Fish Tales was bobbing in the deeper waters far off the coast of Waikiki. Elodie didn’t particularly like it when they came out this far, but it was all a part of the job. At least this trip would be done soon. They only had two more hours before they’d need to head back in.
She was somewhat lost in her head, thinking about going to Makapuu with Scott later and making a mental note to reapply her sunscreen. Her skin had definitely gotten darker since she’d been in Hawaii, but she still burnt way too easily, and she wanted to protect herself as much as possible.
A weird noise from the back deck where the poles were in the water made her turn around.
Steven was standing on the back deck with his arms at his sides, staring at her with an expression she couldn’t decipher.
A shiver went through her, and for the first time, she felt uneasy. Elodie took a step toward the doors separating the inner seating area from the back deck—then froze when she saw what Steven was holding.
A gun. It had a longer barrel than she’d expected.
Then she noticed Kai. He was lying face down on the deck behind Steven, not moving.
Her instincts kicked in, and she spun and bolted for the stairs that led up to the wheelhouse.
She knew the door wouldn’t stop Steven for long, and she was literally in the middle of nowhere. There was no place to hide on the small boat, not like when she was on the Asaka Express and had endless places to hide from the pirates.
“Elodie!” Steven called out, and she shivered again…
Then realized he’d used her real name. He hadn’t called her Melody.
Her heart sank.
Fuck. Paul Columbus had found her. Steven wasn’t him, of course, but he was obviously a trusted member of the family.
Adrenaline coursed through her body as she looked around the wheelhouse. There was no way she could get back to shore before Steven, or whatever his name was, burst into the small space. He was going to kill her. She knew that as easily as she knew her name.
He confirmed it with his next taunting words.
“You can’t get away, Elodie. This is it. You’ve had a good run, but your time is up. You knew you’d never get away from us.”
Elodie looked at the small side window in the wheelhouse and reached for the latch. She wasn’t going down without a fight. She had too much to live for. She had Scott. And friends. A life. A few months ago, she might’ve given in, but not now.
She wiggled her upper body out the window and managed to get her feet out and under her without falling off the side of the boat. There was a narrow ledge around the upper part of the boat, and she shimmied around it, frantically trying to come up with a plan. It was only then that she remembered the emergency location beacon Kahoni and Perry had installed on the boat, just in case. It would automatically be triggered to transmit their location if the ship sank, but it could also be manually activated from the wheelhouse.
But it was too late to go back. She saw Steven’s head pop through the window she’d just climbed out of. He laughed at her.
“Where are you gonna go, Elodie? There’s nowhere to go. Look around you, you’re not gonna survive this. Come back inside and I’ll make your death quick and painless.”
Elodie inched farther away from him until she was overlooking the back deck. Looking down, she once again saw Kai lying on the deck, blood pooling under him. She wanted to cry. This was exactly what she didn’t want to happen. Someone else getting hurt or dying because of her.
Panic began to set in. What was she going to do? She had very few options here. She had no weapon, and Steven could easily overpower her. She didn’t believe for a second that he’d kill her quickly. The nasty gleam in his eyes belied his words.
“Hey, girl.”
She jerked in surprise and saw Steven looking up at her from the lower deck. He’d moved fast, getting from the wheelhouse to the deck seemingly in seconds.
She scooted around the ledge once again, so Steven wouldn’t have a direct line of fire if he decided to shoot her while she was up here.
She looked out across the water and could barely make out Diamond Head. Kai had played right into his hands, bringing them out even farther on the water. And since it was Sunday, there weren’t nearly the amount of fishing boats running today. Quickly glancing around, Elodie realized she couldn’t see even one. They were literally the only boat out this far, this early.
“You’re making this so much harder than it needs to be,” Steven mocked. “Come down before I’m forced to shoot you while you’re up there. You know your body will just fall into the sea and sink to the bottom where you’ll be eaten by fish and sharks.”
And just like that, she knew that was his plan all along. He was going to dump her body into the ocean and no one would ever know what happened to her. Scott would forever wonder if she’d ran off on him or if something had happened.
No, he’d know she would never up and leave without a word. But even knowing that, her disappearance would devastate him.
Her mind was racing, trying to come up with a solution to her predicament. A way to come out of this alive.
And then, just like that, Elodie knew what she had to do.
Everything within her rebelled, but she knew it was the only way. The one chance she had of making it out of this alive. It was a slim chance, and so many things could go wrong, but she literally had no other choice.
She turned her head and saw Steven leaning against the back railing of the boat, staring at her. He could’ve shot her at any time, but instead he was enjoying her panic. The evilness in his eyes was as clear as day now, and Elodie knew without a doubt if he got his hands on her, she was in for a world of hurt.
“I’m sorry, Kai,” she whispered.