Eyes of Fire

had to be around the drop-off somewhere, and that’s where I was headed.”

“Diving alone,” Adam said.

“Well, that’s rather beside the point right now, isn’t it?” Hank asked. “Sweet Jesus, older brothers never do let you grow up, do they?” he said to Yancy with a smile.

“Hank….” Adam said, steering him back to the conversation.

“I was hit on the head. I woke up in what I thought was a damp basement. It seemed like I was kept in complete darkness forever. I was threatened daily to get me to talk about the ship. Water was kept from me. Food, too. I was stripped, left to lie on a concrete floor. I never saw my attackers. No one ever talked to me, except one man. His tone was always flat, no accent to his voice. He warned me to tell him what I knew about the ship or face torture, even death. Whoever it was eventually decided that I didn’t know as much as he had thought originally, but that maybe I could be helpful.

“One day I was given back my clothes and fed, I was even given wine and beer. Things were passed to me through a little swing in the bottom of a barred wooden door. There was always one guard at the door, and he was always replaced at about five in the evening.

“One day, I was given research books and materials, some that I’d never seen before. I was told that I could be a free man as soon as I could guarantee that I could find the ship. I never believed that. I figured I’d be a dead man as soon as I discovered where the ship might be.

“Anyway, a few days ago, it seemed that I became much less interesting. No one came to ask me what I might have learned. When the new guard came to replace the old guard in the afternoon, I heard them whispering to each other outside the door. I couldn’t hear everything, but they knew, Adam, that you’d come to Seafire Isle and that it might mess up some plans that were already under way here. Well, anyway, I’m not exactly the hero type. I’d never tried to bash down the door and kill the guards or anything. But I’d made a pet out of a rat, and he’d made a hole in the concrete. I spent months digging at that hole, and hiding it with the one blanket they’d given me. I managed to sneak out that night. I’d been in a warehouse on a river. I might have tried to reach the police, but there were men around the place, and I didn’t know who might be a legitimate worker and who might be ready to slit my throat. There happened to be a nice little yacht at the dock in front of the warehouse. I stole it. I let the current take me downriver at first so that I could make a silent getaway. I realized I was on the Miami River, revved up the motor, and high-tailed it for the sea. I knew I had to get here, because you were here, and I had to see Yancy and Sam. Besides, I was afraid to trust anyone else.”

Adam felt a shiver rake through him. Hank was alive. He had to remember just to be grateful for that fact. He had always blamed himself for Hank’s having come to the island. He’d never told him about his affair with Sam; he’d just told him about the diving.

And the Beldona.

Hank’s letters to him from the island had been filled with excitement. They’d described the diving, the house—and the dive mistress. The tragedy of Justin’s disappearance—and the dive mistress. The assumption that his little brother had fallen in love with Sam had been half of what had sent him flying off to work in South America.

The determination to find either Hank or his killer had brought him to the island.

He stepped forward a little awkwardly, taking his brother in his arms. Adam’s dad had been a cop, killed in action. Hank’s father had lost a battle with cancer, and their mother had died seven years ago of pneumonia. Each was all the other had.

“I wish Sam had been willing to wait for an explanation,” Hank said. “I just couldn’t step out in front of everyone. I took a boat out alone today with Yancy’s help because I was praying I could find the answer before anything else happened. I was wrong. I need help. I need Sam. But I also need to stay hidden, because I know if I’m discovered here, I’m dead. Someone on this island is working for the same people who made my life hell for a year.”

“You’re certain no one has seen you except for Yancy, Sam and me?”

Hank gave him an awkward grin. “And my baby. Adam, have you seen my baby? Isn’t he beautiful?” Hank slipped an arm around Yancy, pulling her against him. “Even when I was gone, when she thought I was dead, she wanted my baby.”

“The baby is great,” Adam said huskily. He didn’t want to tell his brother what a fool he felt, certain that Brian had belonged to Hank and Sam rather than Hank and Yancy. “I’ve got to find Sam, got to make her understand. Damn her, I was right about this. I couldn’t tell her about Hank when he insisted he had to tell her himself.”

“Adam, whether you’re right or wrong, what she feels right now is what matters. You’ve got to find a way to explain this to her,” Yancy said.

“Let me go after her,” Hank said. “And tell her that I was being held prisoner.”

“You can’t go after her. You can’t be seen, remember? Hank, it’s imperative now that you be extremely careful. Fool. You should have come to me before you went diving.”

“I tried to go to Sam, and I would have come to you. I came out to talk to you both earlier, but…”

“But what?”

“Well, damn it, Adam, you were both busy—with each other.” Hank looked down, embarrassed.

“Oh, God!” Adam groaned. So Hank had tried to see Sam earlier. Instead, he’d seen…

“Hank, don’t you think of leaving this house. You don’t know who’s working for the people who kidnapped you. You have to stay hidden here and try to think of anything at all that might help us, any little detail. Sam will understand once she’s had a chance to talk to you.”

“Maybe I should go look for her,” Yancy said. “Talk to her.”

“Oh, God,” Adam said suddenly.

“What?” Yancy demanded.

“She’s alone!” Adam hissed.

“We’re on an island. Where can she go?” Hank asked.

“Oh, God, I’d forgotten!” Yancy breathed.

“Forgotten what?” Hank demanded.

“I told you that she’d been attacked!” Yancy said to Hank. “Adam—”

Adam was already heading out of the house. “Damn, but we are fools! Hide Hank, Yancy, he’s in tremendous danger now. Sweet Jesus, she’s alone!” He swore, swiftly following in Sam’s wake. By the time he reached the porch, he was calling her name. By the time he reached the lawn, he was running, fear igniting inside him like wildfire.

What fools. Someone had surely just been waiting for them to make a mistake!

And they’d made it. Oh, God, they’d made it.

Water…

She could feel it. Not touching her, but around her. Rocking her. Her head was spinning painfully with the kind of spiraling sensation that made her afraid she was going to be sick.

As the whirling mire within her head began to subside, Sam realized that she was on a boat. She was feeling the rise and fall of the surf lifting the vessel, letting it fall again, lifting it once more.

She listened for the sound of a motor.

There was none.

She tried to open her eyes and realized that she was blindfolded.

She tried to move.

Her wrists were bound to something.

Oh, my God, Adam, what a fool I was to forget. Why didn’t you talk to me? Why didn’t you trust me? Why did I get so angry at seeing Hank when I’m so happy he’s alive? Why didn’t I realize my danger even when I was ready to wring your neck? Do you really love me, Adam, or were you after something else all along?

Will it ever matter?

She swallowed hard. Adam wasn’t here to help her. She would have to save herself.

She inhaled deeply, trying to remain calm, to keep some sense of reason. Trying to picture her position in her mind’s eye. She was lying on her back, head slightly propped. Once the spinning subsided a little more, she could