Bullard looked at his friend with a lopsided grin. “I guess. In the criminal world, they don’t take responsibility for their actions, do they?”
“Nope. And they’re not starting now either. Don’t ever think that this wasn’t something that could have ever happened because honestly, revenge has always been in the cards.”
“I guess, but it’s pretty damn shitty when it’s not me who’s been taken but her.”
“In the criminal mind, you’re the one who brought this on by surviving the plane crash,” he said. “Yet you know that you’ve been given a second chance. It’s up to you to decide what you want to make of it.”
“That sounds like some heebie-jeebie bullshit New Age stuff,” he muttered.
“Ah, but it’s the truth, and you know it.”
“Doesn’t mean I want to listen.”
“Hell,” Dave said, feigning disgust, “you don’t listen in the best of times.”
Bullard burst out laughing at that. “You have a point there.”
“I know you really well,” Dave said. “No way in hell you would be anything other than yourself, and I’m so grateful that, even after all you’ve been through, I can still see you being you.”
“Ditto,” he said. “But now let’s make sure that whoever it is who’s taken her pays the price for being them.”
Chapter 9
When she and her kidnapper finally reached the mainland, Leia was almost numb. Her body was sloshed with water, and she could barely even talk. Her teeth chattered, and, even though a hot sun baked down on her, she hadn’t had enough time to dry out. She was quickly picked up and tossed over his shoulder, and he stepped out onto a small marina. Nobody cared or appeared to even notice that she was being carted off in this way. He quickly slipped her off his shoulder and carried her, as if she were a damsel in distress.
Which she definitely was, but he was the one reason for her state. And because she couldn’t do anything, and the grip that he had her in was like iron, she didn’t even struggle. She was so damn weak and cold that she couldn’t cry out either. She just glared up at her kidnapper.
He smiled. “Not exactly how you thought the day would end, is it?” he said cheerfully.
“I don’t know if you’re prepared for the way your day will end,” she said, through her chattering teeth.
“Man, you’re cold, aren’t you? I hate to even pick you up and carry you, you’re so icy.”
She said, “You left me getting pounded by water.”
He shrugged. “Wasn’t really expecting you to get that cold. If you get sick, I won’t be happy.”
“Then you need to get me warm,” she muttered. But her body now convulsed with shivers.
He looked at her in concern. “You’re no good to me if you’re dead.”
She gave a broken laugh. “You haven’t even told me why you’ve taken me.”
“Well,” he said, “I am putting you up between two bidders.”
She stared up at him, her eyes going wide. “What?”
“Well, when we—when word got out to the real world that somebody named Bullard might have survived the crash, there was definitely some interest. I heard about a bunch of guys trying to take out Bullard’s team, but I’d been off on the sidelines, until I was contacted by somebody else who wanted to make sure that now that they’d discovered you, that you stayed quiet.”
She stared at him in shock. “So this is about me?”
“See? That’s the thing about people. They always think it’s about them.” Then he laughed and laughed and laughed. “It is about you,” he said. “I’m just trying to figure out how to cash in on a double set of profits here.”
“And that is?”
“Well, by kidnapping you, I’m pretty well guaranteeing that Bullard’s coming too. Coming after me. But the way I see it, then I can get paid for you, and I can get paid for him,” he said. “And then I can just disappear.”
She stared up at him, shocked at his audacity, and yet it made a sick kind of sense. “Do you really think you’ll survive him?”
“He’s not so tough,” he said, “and he did get brought down on the plane after all.”
“Doesn’t mean he’d be fooled a second time.” Even though she had no idea what the initial circumstances were that had brought down Bullard, she couldn’t imagine that he’d get onto any plane again easily. But then again it was Bullard, so who knew? He seemed to take risks all the time to have ended up in such a mess and having nightmares about all the violence in his world. “He’s a good man,” she said. “You’ve got no business setting him up for a murder.”
“I didn’t say anything about murder. I don’t know anything about a murder,” he said, with that false innocence in his tone. “Why this guy wants Bullard has nothing to do with me.”
“Do you know who it is?”
“Yep, I sure do,” he said. “It’s kinda funny actually. Somebody else is looking to set up a business and take over Bullard’s spot in the hierarchy. Especially now that Kingdom Securities is circling the drain.”
She remembered hearing that name. “Did you have anything to do with them going down?”
“Hell no,” he said. “That woman was sheer poison. You only get involved with somebody like that if you don’t want to live very long.”
She frowned, trying to piece together the bits, but it wasn’t easy. Finally she just asked, “Who is it who wants Bullard dead?”
“Well, this guy does, and he’s willing to pay big money.”
“And are you the only one after Bullard?”
“Well, I would have said yes, but I don’t trust this guy either, so, probably not. I’ll have to prove Bullard’s existence and make sure I’m the one who gets the payout.”
“Wow,” she said, “who knew this world was so cutthroat?”
“Absolutely no honor among thieves,” he said, “and anybody who tells you otherwise is a liar.”
“Good to know,” she muttered. “Not that I expect to spend any time with thieves.”
“Ha! Some people would say that Bullard was the worst of the worst.”
“No,” she said quietly, “that I know is a lie. But go ahead and tell yourself whatever you need to in order to justify sending this innocent man to his death.”
He laughed. “God, when a woman falls in love,” he said, “it’s such a joke.”
“What’s the matter? Did nobody ever love you?” she asked, with a pitying voice.
He glared at her. “I can have any fucking woman I want.”
“Well, you can probably have sex with any woman. But only if she’s getting something out of it,” she corrected. His jaw stiffened, and he didn’t say another word. She realized that she probably shouldn’t piss him off quite so much, but it was a little hard not to when she was his prisoner and freezing to boot. When he stepped on board another boat that looked like a small yacht, she was carried downstairs and tossed onto a bed, a bunch of blankets thrown on top of her.