CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
Hallie spun around, throwing her hands up. “What? Just pick up and leave? No way. I haven’t even gotten started. I can’t just give up now.” She couldn’t believe he was just ready to throw in the towel because she had seen some shady guys a couple of times this week.
Sam steadied the boat and reached out, coaxing her to leave at once. “Hallie, I’m telling you. Whatever they’re doing back here is illegal, and if we become witnesses to whatever that is … well, it would be way too easy for them to make us disappear out here. We can’t risk it.”
“At least let me set up my camera traps,” she said, swinging her duffle bag filled with gear.
“Absolutely not. Imagine what they’d do if they found out you were setting up hidden cameras back here. Might as well paint bull’s eyes on our backs. Let’s go.”
Reluctantly, she stepped into the boat.
Sam struggled to start the outboard motor, mumbling obscenities with each failed attempt. He was so engrossed in the engine that he never heard the series of loud splashes along the shore.
Hallie’s eyes were drawn toward the sounds, and she spotted a trio of jaguars who had leaped from the shoreline and were rapidly swimming toward the island. She’d seen plenty of jaguars, and these were anything but typical. They were huge, and instead of beautifully smooth coats, their fur was marked with heavy scars. These jaguars lived a brutal existence, and they struck fear in her heart. They were definitely not the type of jaguars she had hoped to see.
“Sam!” she shouted.
Sam grabbed his rifle just as the first cat emerged from the water. It snarled, baring its fangs. Taking aim, he fired and struck the animal. It screamed in pain, falling back into the water. By the time he swung the lever and cocked his rifle, the other two cats had already closed in. One of the jaguars took a swipe at Sam, striking him in the head. The jaguar’s claws ripped through his cheek and knocked him off the boat.
Hallie watched hopelessly as the rifle fell and sank deep into the muddy bayou. Sam lay motionless, either knocked out or perhaps even dead. Hallie screamed in a futile attempt to scare off the attacking beasts.
With Sam out of their way, the remaining two jaguars closed in on either side of her. There was nowhere for her to go. Nowhere for her to run. She was about to become their dinner. The same cats she had been hunting would be the death of her.
Suddenly the cats stood on their hind legs and reached skyward, stretching their long bodies into the air. Their skin bubbled, and their limbs twisted. A sickening popping sound erupted from their bodies. Hallie watched in horror as the cats transformed into men … two of the same scraggly men she’d spotted earlier in the week. She didn’t know if she was going to pass out or throw the fuck up from the gruesome sight.
The wounded cat dragged itself out of the water, struggling to transform as the others had. Writhing in the mud, it screamed in pain.
She turned her head, not wanting to see what would happen next.
“I ain’t healing right.” The half-jaguar growled in a human voice. A gurgling noise rose from deep inside him before he stopped thrashing and lay still.
“I think it’s safe to say he’s dead. Well, I never liked him much anyway.” One of the men shrugged. He was more disgusted than upset by his colleague’s sudden death.
“Yeah, but now we’re down one more of us. That just means more work for us. At least he got the guy who shot him.” The other man shoved their dead partner’s corpse into the bayou without batting so much as an eyelash.
As hard as she tried, Hallie couldn’t force herself to stop her body from shaking. What she had just witnessed was impossible. It was as if she was trapped in some sort of horrible nightmare.
“At least he didn’t mess up the girl. We can have some fun with her before she joins that old man. Come on, Frank. Let’s do her.” The man stared at her, a crooked smile crossing his dirty, scarred face. He licked his cracked lips, stepping closer to her.
“Relax, Carl. Not yet. We need to find out what she knows and who she has talked to. And after that damn gunshot, we need to move her to the main camp. We don’t know if anyone else might have heard it. Grab her stuff and put it in the boat. I’ve got her.”
There was no use in running. The small island had become a trap, and she and Sam had stepped right into it. She was well and truly fucked. No one else knew where she was or about the men she had seen throughout the week.
Frank grabbed Hallie by the hair and dragged her from Sam’s boat. He tossed her onto the sandy beach. She stayed down, knowing he would probably enjoy the chase if she tried to run.
“Check this out, Frank. Her bag is filled with trail cameras. There’s a map, binoculars, a laptop, a tablet, and a phone.”
“That’s mine!” Hallie shouted. All of her research was on her laptop. She didn’t know what she would do if they destroyed it.
Frank snagged the phone and crushed it against a tree, throwing the shattered pieces into the water. “Can’t have that. We’ll have a talk about these cameras later … a very close, one on one talk,” he whispered, leaning close enough for his greasy whiskers to brush her ear.
“What the hell are you?” she blurted out, unable to keep the question in a moment longer.
“None of your fucking business,” Carl growled.
“I saw you change from a jaguar to a man. How is that even possible?” Hallie knew she should keep her mouth shut, but the question flew out before she could stop it.
Carl swung his arm, his open hand slapping her across the face. “Imagine if that was my claws.”
Trying to control her shock, Hallie focused on her breathing and tried not to look at Sam’s body. It was clear to her that escape from the monsters wasn’t an option. Whatever questions she had ever entertained about the possible existence of the supernatural world were finally answered. And as far as she was concerned, it was terrifying.
“Get your ass back in the boat,” Frank growled, throwing the duffle bag in with her. Hallie moved her ass faster than she ever had, not wanting to know what would happen if she didn’t.