Sin’s arms were bound behind her back, but with a bit of contortion, she was able to pull up her pant leg using her fingertips.
Sweat poured from her brow as she continued to strain. It felt like her shoulders were about to pop out of their sockets, but she refused to give up. The more she strained, the further the tape dug into her flesh.
Finally, she was able to get the leg of her jeans pulled above the top of her boot. Now the hard part, she huffed.
Sin positioned herself on her stomach and began to bang her knee on the hardwood floor hoping to dislodge her lighter. She flopped around on the floor like a Snapper hauled on board a fishing boat. Frustrated, she took a deep breath in, held it and slammed her knee off the floor. With each strike, she reached a new height in pain. On the verge of fracturing her knee cap, she finally felt a slight movement of the lighter inside her boot.
Hearing footsteps approaching, Sin quickly flipped over and sat on her legs as best she could.
Humberto threw open the door and walked in with a Glock 18 automatic pistol. His eyes were dilated and wild.
One bump of cocaine too many, Sin thought.
“Some old friends of yours are coming out to meet us,” he sneered and wiped his runny nose. “They have something special arranged for you.”
Sin moved her arms and legs as best she could and tried to yell from under the tape.
Her moaning and gyrations only made Humberto laugh. He nudged her with the toe of his boot, bent down, and grabbed a fist full of her hair. “Who’s in charge now, Angel?”
Sin could smell his rancid breath and feel the spittle of his words.
He opened his mouth to say something else when someone yelled through the open door. “El Diablo, they are almost here, we need you topside.”
He pulled her face to his and kissed the tape covering her mouth. “I am going to enjoy hearing you beg for your life,” he growled as he dropped her head back onto the hardwood floor.
As soon as Sin heard the door slam shut, she wasted no time resuming her work. With renewed vigor, she managed to get the lighter to drop from her boot. Twisting her body around, she felt for and grabbed it with her fingers. It took a few tries, but she was able to get the flame lit and twisted her wrists so it was near the tape.
Tears came to her eyes as she felt the flame burn her skin as well as the tape. She refused to put it down and risk the chance of not freeing her hands. Pulling her hands apart while keeping the lighter relatively steady, she felt the tape start to give. With enough leeway between her hands, she dropped the lighter and twisted her wrists back and forth until the remainder of the tape broke.
Sin used the lighter to burn the tape between her legs. It was quicker than trying to peel it off by hand. In no time, her arms and legs were free. About to pull the tape from her mouth, she heard another boat bump up against theirs. Her skin crawled when she heard a familiar voice—Bubba.
Troy watched a man come forward with a young, frightened girl. Tears streamed down her dirty cheeks.
“Is this the girl we’ve been waiting for?” Bubba asked.
“Si,” Humberto said. “The gift.”
Troy pointed at the girl. “When you said cargo, you never said anything about girls.”
“Is that a problem?” Bubba asked.
“As long as I get my five grand, I don’t give a damn what the cargo is.”
“Good to hear, or I would have had to kill you, and you would have missed the best surprise of all.”
“What’s that?” Troy said.
“You’ll see.” Bubba looked back at Humberto. “Where is she?”
“Down below.”
“Where’s who?” Troy said.
“Business first,” Bubba said. “Joey, how’s the rest of the cargo?”
Troy looked over his shoulder and saw Joey and two crew members pulling six girls out of the hold of the boat. Each girl looked weaker and more frightened than the last.
“We’re good,” Joey answered.
Charlie bobbed up and down in the water. As soon as he saw the two boats gather on the first reef, he signaled Fletcher to begin stage two of the mission, abandoned his equipment, and swam the final twenty yards with the aid of a mask and snorkel.
Surfacing on the far side of the incoming vessel, he checked his watch.
Fletcher, I hope you and your unit are in position.
From his vantage point, he heard the conversation going on topside.
“Joey, you and the crew take the girls to the orphanage and then come back and get us.”
“That’s not part of the plan, Bubba. We’re supposed to take everyone to York and—”
“I know the damn plan,” Bubba yelled, “You just do as you’re told.” He shooed Joey off the boat by waving his pistol at him. Troy joined Bubba and Humberto as they watched the boat head toward shore.
Bubba pushed Troy toward the door, which led to a lower cabin. “Time to do what you talked about earlier.”
“What’s that?”
“Jump and dump.” A sick grin seemed to swallow his entire face. “Jump and dump,” he repeated.
Charlie slid his dive knife from his leg sheath and placed it between his teeth. He needed both hands free to board the vessel. He used the constant rocking of the boat by the reef to his advantage. As the boat dipped sideways in the trough of a wave, he frog kicked, thrusting himself upward allowing a good grab on the lip of the side rail of the boat before the swell took it in the opposite direction.
He hung in that position and waited. When he no longer heard any voices
