Caden blinked. “Wait a minute. Maybe that’s what we need. We need to send him running.”
Travis met his gaze, his jaw tight, eyes narrowed. “I think you’re right. Turn that spotlight on and let’s try this again.”
“You got it!”
Ava crept down the hallway, her heart in her throat. She thought it might be permanently lodged there at this point. The fact that she could no longer hear Nicolai worried her—for her father’s sake. But at least her father was on the same deck as the torture room, so if she could find something to deal with the chains, then—
Footsteps in the hallway alerted her and sent her hurrying to the room she’d run from only a few minutes before—or had it been longer? She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it didn’t matter. The longer she stayed out of Nicolai’s clutches, the better her—and her father’s—chance of survival. Maybe.
She slipped inside and shut the door. There was a deadbolt on the inside and she twisted it. It could be opened from the outside, but at least if Nicolai decided to do so, the noise of it opening would give her a heads-up.
She leaned her forehead against the cool steel and swallowed hard while her fingers spasmed around the handle of the knife. Her desire not to see what the room held was overshadowed by her desperation to save her father.
With a deep breath, she turned. And saw her father on the television screen mounted on the far wall. He paced his enclosure like a restless lion. When he let out a scream, it echoed through the room and singed her eardrums.
“Dad,” she whispered. “Can you hear me?”
He whirled toward the camera, his wild eyes landing on hers. “Ava?” He strode toward the television and reached out a hand as though he could touch her through the screen.
“I’m coming.”
“Get off this boat!”
“Get your shoes on and be ready to run.”
A mixture of resignation and hope flared in his eyes. “If you make it to the door, the code is 1379. At least that’s what Nicolai taunted me with. Said if I could get word to someone where I was, the code to the room was 1379. Told me that over and over.”
“Okay. Be ready. I’ve got to find something to get the chains off.”
She turned. He’d lit candles around the table centered in the room and her stomach lurched. She desperately tried not to picture herself strapped to it and at the mercy of a madman. The flames flickered ominously in the dark area, casting shadows on the walls and ceiling.
Focus, Ava. She scanned the tools on the wall behind the table. A saw, hammer, a bucket of nails. A cat-o’-nine-tails and more. “Don’t think about what those are for,” she whispered, “just find what you need.”
And then her eyes landed on the most important thing there—bolt cutters. Keeping her gaze from everything else, she hurried toward the cutters, yanked them from the wall, and strode back to the door.
Only to hear the lock turn.
Ava froze for a split second, then stepped to the hinged side of the door.
Nicolai pushed it open and Ava waited, her blood pounding in her veins. He walked forward and she timed her move according to his footsteps.
Then he paused.
Come on, one more step.
Ava’s gaze swung to the television where her father watched with horror stamped on his features. “I’m going to find a way to get to you, Nicolai,” he said. “I see Ava got away. I’m next.”
“She’s still on this boat,” Nicolai answered with a sneer in his voice. “I’ll find her.”
One more step! She shifted the bolt cutters higher.
“Now!” Her father’s shout spurred her.
She swept around the edge of the door, swung the cutters, and caught Nicolai on the side of the head.
With a grunt, he staggered back and slammed against the wall. He pushed off and stumbled forward, hands reaching for her. She spun away and he lunged. But he missed and crashed into the table. The candles wobbled, several hit the carpeted floor. Then Nicolai’s eyes closed, and he dropped with a thud, blood gushing down his temple to pool on the carpet. She couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. Was he faking?
“Get out of the room, Ava! Go!”
The flames licked along the carpet quickly and were too much for her to try to put out at this point. She had nothing to use. She started to turn but caught a glimpse of Nicolai’s chest rising.
She raised the cutters to hit the man who had terrorized and murdered so many one more time, but hesitated.
“Ava!” Her father’s strangled cry swung her gaze up. He gave a slow shake of his head.
But she didn’t need his silent protest. She couldn’t do it. Not with Nicolai unconscious and no longer a threat. It would feel too much like murder.
And besides, death would be too easy for him. She leaned over and poked him in the arm, and got no reaction. “Leave him, Ava!”
“I’m going.” She started to rise, and Nicolai’s hand clamped hard around her wrist.
“Ava!” Her father’s shout echoed in her ears. She kicked out, caught Nicolai in the stomach, and yanked out of his grip. She spun and raced to the door.
“You’ll pay for this!”
She glanced back. Nicolai had pushed himself to his feet and stood there swaying, blood dripping off his chin, while the flames reached toward the wall with the tools. He tried to walk, only to fall to his knees, his hand raised to his head. She almost went back for him but couldn’t take the chance that he’d manage to overpower her. With one last look at the man, she snagged the knob and pulled the door shut.
Bolt cutters in hand, she ran to her father’s room-slash-prison and punched in the numbers. 1379. Please, please work.
The beeps echoed through the hallway.
Smoke seeped under the torture room door to swirl around her.
She ignored it and pulled her father’s door open. He stood as close as he could get to the entrance, hands held out in front of him. “Hurry.”
Ava ran to cut the chains shackling him to the wall first. Once he was free, she grabbed one hand and turned to lead him out of the room. Flames were already eating up the carpet in the hallway, and the thick smoke blinded her for a moment.
“We’ll get those others off as soon as we can,” she shouted over the roar of the fire.
“I’m good. Let’s get out of here.”
Together they raced for the stairs.
A gunshot sounded behind them and Ava ducked. Her father shoved her ahead of him. “Go!”
Ava bolted up the stairs, still clutching the cutters.
Another shot pinged off the ceiling in front of her. At the top, she spun away from the stairwell and her father did the same. Two more bullets whipped past.
Her father gripped her hand. “Into the water!”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
“This isn’t working.” Caden raked a hand through his hair and dejection set in.
“We’re not done yet,” the pilot said. “We’ve still got the part of the lake on the other side of that island.”
“We’ve been covering the same territory for the last hour.”
“This is a big lake, Caden,” Travis said. “Lots of little islands. Several big ones. Water patrol has started going island to island.”