Her acting didn’t deter the man. She could smell the pine needles of gin on his breath as he leaned over her body. His eyes were bloodshot and glazed. His lips were still, his hands calm and steady. He slid his hand under her shirt along her backside and ran his cold, leathery hand up and down, up and down. Erin trembled at his touch, which is exactly when she saw him close his eyes. His touch lingered along her lower back. Was he going to slide his hand down the back of her pants? Feel the trim of her panties? She could only peer around the other side of his body to see his other hand on his crotch. “I’m sorry. I have to finish this chapter. See you downstairs in a half hour?”
His eyes flickered.
He rose to his feet and smiled. “Of course. I’ll check what’s cooking down there. Smells like roast.”
“Yum. I’m hungry.”
With that, he left. And two days later, so did she. Not that much convincing was needed, but her boyfriend aided in her escape, and they lived on their own, starting with the streets for twenty-four hours and eventually moving in with his cousin Eddie. Erin’s boyfriend, Josh, lived fast and loose without regard of anyone else’s perception of who he was or what he was up to next. He was rather homely looking, with bushy eyebrows and a curved nose, but he had this way of always making her feel good about herself. He made her look forward to things. It was good to feel excited instead of hopeless. She didn’t know why a guy like that was interested in her. She was structured, focused on her studies. Regardless, they were happy together. Perhaps they both had qualities the other lacked. They filled each other’s gaps, so to speak.
A plan soon took shape. They shared a vision, but they needed the cash to bring that vision to fruition. Money would get them a sufficient living situation, a new school to finish out her last two years (the most important time to line up her full ride to medical school) and a little left over for a down payment on a modest garage. Eric was quite the mechanic. He absolutely loved working with cars. It was his dream.
Cousin Eddie had a close friend who worked in a small, remote bank, under absolutely pitiful surveillance. Short-staffed and dead quiet, excluding the rush times of the day, it’d be a surefire lock. Despite its small size and lackluster security, it still carried a decent amount of cash on hand, nothing marked in the back. They’d hit this spot, cut Eddie and his friend in on the deal, and start their lives with an estimated amount of twenty thousand dollars.
They hit first thing in the morning. Josh borrowed a gun from Eddie. Just for show.
The robbery went fine, despite how nervous she was waiting in the car. But then, they had a tail. It continued for hours.
Cars were switched, the original plate of the getaway car ditched, but the tail kept reappearing and never shook loose. Then… the warehouse. Josh did what she thought he’d never be capable of doing.
“Hey.” Erin jerked to the side to find Stefan poking his head out of the door. He looked ghastly, skin white, hair strewn about in a wacky mess.
“Where have you been?” she asked.
“Where is Trevor?”
“Still out looking! We were supposed to meet thirty minutes ago. Now Skye is gone.”
No devious smile formed due to his mastery of plans; only fatigue and confusion rested on Stefan’s pale face. “Come with me.”
“Stefan, this has gone too far. I got your text. That’s just sick.” Her tears bubbled to the surface.
“Text? I couldn’t text you if I wanted to. Just get in here. Please.”
He peered outside his door around toward Bruce’s cabin and the surrounding area. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“I don’t know exactly. Let me show you.”
She followed him inside.
Next was a surveillance room that Stefan had kept behind closed doors. The amount of tech was impressive. He had views of the island from every angle, including all the groomed trails that would have catered to his game. Erin didn’t know exactly how to feel about the curtain that had been pulled back, unveiling his spy squad. She didn’t know where to look after a few seconds, so she rested her eyes upon Stefan, who looked completely rundown.
“You haven’t left.”
He shook his head. “I lost track of time. I’ve been sleeping for twenty-four hours. Horrible flu. Can’t seem to shake it.”
Erin handed her phone over to him.
“What are you showing me?”
“Check the text.”
He read it and narrowed his brow. “Shit…”
“Tell me that shit means you understand what is going on here.”
He looked Erin deep in the eyes, evoking honesty. “There’s something going on. It’s not my doing. I swear.” He bent down, shaky in the knees. He pulled a blanket tightly around him, shivering, even though the stuffy room was hot.
“The text?”
“Someone else is having some fun.”
“Why do you have all this?”
“A simple precaution. I had reservations about showing you this, but I have to. When I’m not out there, I’m making sure everyone is safe. I’m working around the clock, Erin, except…”
“The last twenty-four hours.”
“Exactly. I’ve been just swamped with this. It’s a horrible flu. I’ve never had anything like it.”
“Trevor was throwing up all of last night. I think I’ve felt some of it too. Just a bug I guess, or do we have some sort of foreign virus?”
“We shouldn’t. There’s nothing unique for traveling here. We all have our shots that I sent to you guys. I just don’t know.”
“Unfortunately, it’s the least of our problems right now,” she said. “The text?”
He shifted in his chair, his sweat sliding down his cheek. “I’m coming out of it. The worst happened ten hours ago. Have you met some of the staff here yet?”
“One. Teresa. You think they have something to do with this?”
“I can’t say for sure. But there’s something not quite right with them. I need to show you something.”
He directed her attention to one of the monitors, a small Samsung TV mounted in the corner. The footage was of the rocky cliffs from above. “Our drone got footage of Trevor. It’s strange, Erin. Really strange.”
Erin watched Trevor on the screen sprinting through the trees chasing something, but it unclear as to what. “Is that Trevor?” She knew it was.
“Who else would it be?” he replied.
“What is he doing?”
“I was hoping you could fill me in,” he said.
Stefan fast-forwarded the recording to Trevor standing in the water. “He doesn’t move an inch for almost ten minutes.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t really know what we are looking at. I mean, what are you suggesting?”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just pretty concerned that two people are missing on my island. Maybe you can tell me what to think here.”
“Can’t you check your footage. You should be able to find them, no?”
“I checked. Drones didn’t track them like they should.”
“Trevor will be back soon. I need to talk to him.”
“Whoever is pulling these strings, they want us to keep playing out the game. At least for the time being. To be safe, we should go.”
“You don’t actually think that they’re in danger.”
“I have no idea. All I know is I want Trevor with us. Better to be certain.”