Opening his eyes, he found himself in a dimly lit room.
Looking around, he suddenly caught his breath.
“Elizabeth…?”
Her hand flew across his face, slapping him so hard she almost knocked him to the floor.
“You murderous bastard! I hope you burn in hell!” she hissed angrily, then stepped back and leaned against the wall.
Words failing him and utterly dumbfounded, he was desperately trying to make sense of her presence when a heavily muscled thug wearing a balaclava stepped in front of him.
“Who are you? Where am I? Do you work for Conchello?” Jim stammered anxiously.
“Jim Parker, you’re a dead man walking, but you’re about to be given a second chance, not that you deserve it. Redeem yourself and get a few years behind bars, or I’ll call Conchello, tell him how you lied, then drop you off inside the gates of his estate.”
Though he wasn’t sure if his interrogator was the same man who had called himself John, Jim didn’t care. The guy’s voice held menace, the threat was real, and the decision an impossible one.
* * *
Sonny Conchello ruled his gang with a barbed wire fist. That was why Scott believed the ploy to get Jim to the island would be successful. Scott also knew, faced with a choice, the DEA boss might find a lifetime in prison safer than cooperating and betraying Conchello.
But Elizabeth knew Jim.
She’d worked with him for years.
Scott was sure her presence would be helpful.
Dashing back to the safehouse in a powerful speedboat to pick her up, the moment he’d walked inside, he’d realized having her with him for the interrogation had been an excuse.
He’d missed her.
Hurriedly returning to St. Thomas, he’d left her in the safety of the small home, then he and Jack had hurried off to meet Jim at the airport.
Now looming over him in the dimly lit, small room, he was glad she was there, even though she’d allowed herself to get a bit carried away with the slap.
“So, Jim,” he continued, “do I feed you to Conchello, or will you cooperate?”
“I, uh, I don’t know what you mean,” Jim grunted.
“Don’t even go there,” Scott retorted, but before he could continue, his phone chirped. Pulling it from his pocket, he glanced at the screen. “Jim, I’m going to leave you to rethink that statement. Elizabeth, we need to step out for a minute.”
“I’d rather stay here and beat the crap out of him,” Elizabeth snapped, glaring at her former boss.
“If he doesn’t play ball I might just let you,” Scott replied calmly. “You can think about that too, Jim. She has claws as well as karate chops.”
Striding quickly to the door and gesturing Elizabeth to walk out ahead of him, he closed and locked it behind him.
“Scott, what is it? Why did we have to leave?”
“Take a look,” he replied, showing her the phone as he guided her down the hall and into a comfortable lounge.
The camera in Dan Miller’s hotel room had sent a signal to Scott’s phone alerting him to an intruder. Scott had been waiting for the appearance of one of Conchello’s men, but he hadn’t expected such an important errand boy.
“Who is that?” Elizabeth asked as they sat down on the couch.
“His name is Ewen McDonald. Conchello brought him in from Australia a few months ago to head up his operation here,” Scott replied, watching the blond-haired man begin a methodical search. “In a perfect world, I’d have him, Conchello, and all the other rats in one place and throw a net over them. Making deals with bad guys has never appealed to me.”
“Me either. You should try to get everyone at that camp on the island.”
“It’s hazardous, but if Plan A doesn’t work it’s an option.”
“You still haven’t told me about Plan A. In fact you still haven’t told me about a lot of things. When are you going to fill me in?”
“Soon,” he promised. “Ah, he’s found the rolled-up banknotes. That’s weird. He’s moving behind the back of that television set.”
“What the hell is he doing?” Elizabeth muttered. “It looks as if… yeah… he’s unscrewing the back.”
Captivated, they watched closely as Ewen reached inside and retrieved a package of white powder wrapped in plastic.
“I don’t believe it,” Elizabeth muttered, shaking her head. “Didn’t you search the room?”
“Of course, you saw us, but quickly, and we didn’t think to take the television apart,” Scott declared, hastily opening his briefcase on the coffee table and retrieving a second phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Jack.”
“So… he was here when you dropped me off, and with you when you picked up Jim, and the guy you were with when you picked up David Clark, right?”
“Yep.”
“Dammit, Scott, you need to fill in all the blanks,” she demanded, glaring at him. “I still don’t even know who you work for, or should I say, who you two work for.”
“I told you I will,” he shot back as Jack answered the call. “Hey, Jack.”
“Hi, Scott, what’s up?”
“Get over to Dan Miller’s hotel now! We have an opportunity to compromise Ewen MacDonald, but you have to move fast. I just watched him pull a packet of narcotics from the back of the television set.”
“You’ve gotta be shittin’ me.”
“He’s still searching, but I don’t think he’ll be there much longer.”
“I’m on my way, though I suspect he’ll be a tough nut to crack.”
“Yeah, I agree, but his disappearance will shake up Conchello.”
“True. Does Frank know? He might want to involve the locals.”
“Not yet, I needed to talk to you first, but I’ll call him. Nab Ewen while you can. We don’t want to blow an opportunity like this.”
“On my way, and I’ll pressure him there. He won’t have time to think too much.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be watching.”
“I assume Frank’s your boss,” Elizabeth said as Scott ended the call.
“My chief,” Scott corrected her. “Damn, it looks like Ewen’s getting ready to leave. I hope Jack gets there in time.”
“I thought you were calling Frank to let him know.”
“I’ll make the call once Jack has him under
