Tori froze. “You think Josh is FBI?”
“Gotta be,” Gabe replied, looking around surreptitiously. They all gathered close to hear him. “Nobody else is gonna come out this far. Ocean interdiction … if it’s guns or drugs … that’s got to be FBI.”
“We’ll find out soon enough, I guess,” Miguel said.
Tori didn’t like the way the men looked at one another then. She had already figured out what the next step with Josh would be, but hearing the weight in Miguel’s words, the truth of it struck home. Only hours ago, she’d made love to the man who had betrayed them all, who was their prisoner.
FBI. Shit.
Two instincts were at war within her — one terrified to go to prison and the other unwilling to stand by while they beat Josh, or even killed him. He had deceived her, but that had been his job. And now that she had pondered it a while, she couldn’t believe that the passion in his eyes, the urgency, had been a charade. She played the last few weeks over in her head and understood now why he had waited so long to make a move on her, no matter how obvious she allowed her attraction to him to become. He had wanted to avoid the complication, but the sexual tension had become too much for both of them.
Damn it.
If she let this happen — if she let them kill him — she wouldn’t be able to live with herself.
“I’m coming with you,” she said. “I want to be there.”
Dwyer scoffed, but averted his eyes when she glared at him. The Rio brothers shared a wary glance before Gabe shook his head.
“Not gonna happen, Tori. You’re here to be the eyes and ears of Viscaya Shipping, and there are some things our employers don’t need to know. Some things they don’t want to know. It’s how they protect themselves.”
“Gabe—”
The captain shook his head. “No. Your part in this is done.” He turned to his brother. “Miguel, you and Dwyer get up to the wheelhouse. Set a course for that island, and pick a landing party. I want those guns.”
The two mates started immediately for the stairs. In the moonlight, Gabe turned back to Tori.
“We’ll go ashore at first light. If you want to come along for that, you’re welcome. But for now, go to bed. It’s better you sleep through this.”
He hesitated, but when she didn’t respond to his dismissal, Gabe turned his back on her and followed Miguel and Dwyer. Tori watched him go and then looked out to the sea again. Moonlight glinted white off the black tips of the waves.
Sleep. How could she possibly sleep with the memory of Josh’s kiss still on her lips?
23
FBI Special Agent Joshua Hart sat in a chair in the level-three rec room, waiting for the captain to arrive and wishing for an ice pack for his face. Gabe Rio had only hit him three or four times, but the man could throw a punch. The left side of Josh’s face throbbed, and if he made any kind of expression at all, it ached like hell. His nose had to be broken, but right now it just felt swollen. Adrenaline wasn’t helping. His heartbeat sped along, pumping blood, making the throbbing in his cheek and mouth that much worse.
“Fuck,” he whispered to himself. He used his tongue to probe his teeth, making sure they were all intact. He didn’t find any loose or broken, so he had that going for him.
The thought made him laugh, softly, and that sent a fresh shot of pain through his face.
Then he thought of Tori, and the pain worsened. What must she be thinking now? The moment they had met, he had felt the powerful connection between them, and the more he learned about her, the more he admired her. Secretive as she was, still he had gleaned some bits of an ugly past. But Tori had put that past behind her, whittling away the bits of her that had allowed her to be a victim until all that was left was the strength at her core.
From the outset, there had been a sexual frisson between them. Josh had reminded himself a thousand times what the rules were, and what Voss would say. He had flirted and joked but kept a wall between himself and Tori, until at last he had stopped caring about the rules and the vast amounts of shit he’d end up taking from his partner.
But he’d also stopped thinking about what it would mean for Tori, and that made him feel like an utter prick. If there was anything he could do to make it up to her, he would. First, though, he had to make sure the Rio brothers didn’t kill his ass and throw him overboard.
At least the chair was comfortable. He’d been sitting in it ever since Boggs had hustled him into the room with a slap on the back of the head and a promise to return with the captain. Josh wasn’t looking forward to that. Boggs had already hated him, even before tonight, just for the connection he had made with Tori. Not that the gorilla had any particular interest in her — his focus was Angie Tyree — but Boggs was that kind of guy. Suspicious of men who didn’t treat women like shit, jealous and hateful toward men around whom women were comfortable.
The guy had kinks galore. He’d been itching to hand out a beating to someone ever since the day they set sail. Now he would get the chance.
Tupper and Valente had accompanied Boggs and Josh up to the rec room, and they were probably the ones guarding the doors right now. Josh knew he ought to have at least made an attempt at escaping, but really, there would be no point. Hand to hand, he could probably have taken the loutish Tupper, and Valente seemed a decent enough guy that he’d probably hesitate, giving Josh an opportunity to take him down, too. But Boggs would be out there, and though the room had two doors, there would be no telling which exit Boggs might be covering. And even if he picked the right one, managed to get past one man, the captain would be along shortly, and no one on the crew would let Josh pass. Not even Tori.
No. Better to wait for a time when they weren’t paying so much attention. Let them ruminate a bit, realize that they were out at sea and he had nowhere to run, no way to escape. When they let their guard down, he could get a signal out.
He just had to hold on. Keep calm. Stay in control.
And get some ice for his face.
Glancing around, he saw the soda machine on the wall beyond the Ping-Pong table and got up, hoping that someone had bothered to refill the machine. The machine had been bypassed so it didn’t cost anything to get a soda out of it, and they kept it stocked from the Antoinette’s supplies. Already anticipating the feeling of an icy Coke can held against his swollen face, he made his way around the Ping-Pong table.
That’s where he was standing when the starboard side door swung open and the captain stepped in, with Hank Boggs lumbering behind him.
Gabe Rio froze, staring at him.
“What the fuck you think you’re doing?” Boggs asked.
Josh didn’t bother to shrug. “Getting a Coke.” He tapped the button, the mechanism inside groaned, and the familiar red can clanked down into the machine’s dispensary tray.
As he picked up the Coke, Boggs stormed across the room and slapped it out of his hand. Josh gritted his teeth, desperately wanting to throw a punch, crush his larynx, but reminded himself he had nowhere to go. He had to bide his time.
Still, it was hard to remember that when Boggs grabbed the back of his neck and propelled him across the room, then practically slammed him back into the chair.
“You wanted a Coke, huh?” Boggs asked. “You’re a fucking comedian.”
Now Josh did shrug. “I like Coke.”
Boggs reached down and grabbed him by the neck, starting to choke him. All Josh could see was the big man’s sweat and grease-stained shirt and his greasy face and his flaring nostrils. Then he heard the captain’s voice.
“Chief. Back off. That’s not what we want.”