VANNAH
Hazy swirls of fog cover my brain. It’s the continuous bath of sunlight that finally pulls me from the darkness. I struggle to lift my heavy eyelids as the glow of daylight filters through. The sound of plastic dragging over water at a high-speed filter into my lagging thoughts.
Thump, glide, fall.
My body jolts every few seconds and I recognize the feel of a speedboat jetting over choppy waters.
What the hell?
I peel my cheek off of the white leather bench beneath me and get blasted with hot wind in my face. The top knot I had my hair secured in has since turned into red whips lashing at my face and shoulders.
Cool sprays of water across my heated skin send shivers of goosebumps to prickle over my arms and chest.
Normally I loved the ocean, sunlight, and all the fun water spots that come with living at the beach. But right this second, I really wish I could remember how the hell I got on a boat.
With my eyes screwed shut I think back over the last thing I can remember. The beach, a man’s voice. Dark hair, black eyes. He stepped out of seemingly thin air with something in his hand. A cloth. It smelled of disgusting perspiration and something sweet.
Oh, God! Had that been chloroform? It had to be. I inhaled and then nothing. That’s how it worked, right?
Get up, get up, get up! my head screams but the more I struggle to clear the last bits of fog the faster my body realizes there’s more than one problem on my horizon.
I move to push myself up, but my arms refuse to move. Not because they don’t want to, but because the thick rope binding them behind my back is a bit of an obstacle.
Blood suddenly pounds in my ears and I’m wide awake. Hammers beat against the sides of my head but I force the pain aside trying to get my eyes to focus. It’s late afternoon by the position of the sun. And over the edges of the boat, I can’t see land in either direction. Not a freaking good sign.
I flail around on the bench, but nada. There’s not even an inch of give to the rope. And now I can’t seem to breathe. Silver dots bob up and down in my vision.
Come on, Vannah! Pull your shit together.Angry darkness pours through me. Think. What the hell can I do? Jump and hope I don’t get eaten by sharks if I can manage to swim back to land? Not with tied arms, I won’t. Let them take me to wherever it is they are headed and escape from there?
Like I have any other choice?
Shit.I cast around with my eyes and find a bulky man twice my size in the captain’s chair, his hand on the throttle at the front of the boat. Another beast, maybe somewhat smaller than the other, stands with his legs spread wide as he rides the dips of the boat over the water. Both have their backs toward me.
Are they the only two? I don’t see a lower deck so that’s at least one good sign. The sound of the engine masks my struggles so far, but how long before they notice I’m awake? And then what?
I yank harder on my bindings but my struggles only make the grip of the rope dig into my skin more. I try to move the lower half of my body but my legs are just as caught as the rest of me. And that is not the only problem. Now I see why I can’t move more than an inch at a time. The other end of the rope wrapped around my body is tied off to a gray block of cement at my feet.
Oh shit.
My heart doesn’t skip nor does it lodge in my chest like a block of ice. Nope. It just stops cold leaving my body to go numb. I’m about to find out what it’s like to sleep with the fish.
Sun pours over me, heating the tender flesh around the edges of the harshly textured rope. I don’t know why I am fixated on this point. It’s not like it will burn for long after they throw me overboard.
My arms and legs might not be free but my mouth is and I am not my father. I won’t go down without a fight. “Hey, assholes. What the holy fuck are you doing?”
I never said I was smart when it came to mouthing off. Today doesn’t seem like a day I need to learn that particular skill set either.
“I said assholes, what the hell do you think you are doing?”
I force more vehemence into my words and try to sound more put off than scared.
The second two sets of matching black eyes slice my way, I want to say I am unmoved but that would be a fat lie. I’m fucking terrified. I nearly wet my bikini bottoms because what I see in those dark abysses is the absence of humanity. They’ve done this so many times they don’t care anymore, if they ever did to begin with. They probably have a favorite dumping spot. At least my vengeful spirit won’t be lonely.
I scowl at their backs when they turn back around and simply ignore me. I recognize their types. They hung around my father’s house all the time when he worked for Chicago’s Mafia Underlord of Evil. I have one takeaway from that time and it spells deep trouble for me. Because if these two are anything like those men, then a woman’s life means less than nothing.
I brace against the back of the bench as the boat lunges forward, sending sprays of water into the air.
I fight against the ropes again this time for general rebellion and not because it will get me anywhere.