She waited and watched. And was rewarded with a slight movement of his eyelids. Excited, she bent down and talked to him again. Explaining where they were and what had happened. "You have to wake up, please."
He moaned slightly and slowly opened his eyes. There was an unfocused look to his gaze. "Hawk, it"s Tesla. Wake up and stay quiet."
His gaze sharpened and then suddenly they came into focus. She smiled encouragingly at him. "That"s better. You need to be careful when you move. You were hit on the head and are still bleeding. You"ve been out for a long time."
His gaze roamed her face.
"They are likely to come back any time. That"s the only thing," she said apologetically. "And I"m afraid we might be on a boat."
His gaze sharpened. "Your face," he said in cold and clear tones. "What happened to your face?"
She reached up and gently touched her hot face. "They hit me because I wouldn"t tell them anything." She dropped her head and whispered, "I"m not sure what they"ll do when they come back."
"You won"t be here," he promised.
"Maybe and maybe not," she said, hoping he was going to be well enough to leave, but not so sure at this point. She studied his white face in concern. "You are injured."
He sat up slowly and quickly checked his body over. When he reached his head, he winced. "Could use a shot of whiskey right now but other than a headache, I"m fine." He climbed to his feet and helped her up. She gasped as she straightened.
"Ribs?"
"I don"t know," she whispered. "Maybe."
He ran his hands over her in a professional manner and nodded. "Looks like they"ve cracked a couple. Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds," he said between clenched teeth.
"Daniel and two others," she whispered, wishing he hadn"t said cracked and ribs in the same sentence. Now they hurt, d.a.m.n it.
"They will pay."
She nodded, not worrying about that right now. "We need to get back. I don"t have much time before my demonstration."
She felt more than saw his startled gaze. She stared at the door. "Do we just open it? See what"s out there?" She hated the fear in her voice. Hated the fear in her soul.
"Did you tell them anything?" Hawk asked. "Thought I heard some of the questioning but can"t be sure what I was hearing."
"No, I didn"t," she whispered, wrapping her arms around her chest. "But I wanted to." She raised a shamed glance to meet his bravely. "I"m sorry."
He gave her a gentle smile. "For what? For being human?"
"It"s so easy to fail," she admitted.
"But you didn"t. Now," he grabbed her arm slightly and nudged her toward the door. "I"ll sneak out first."
She nodded. She hated to see his shaky steps as he made his way to the door, but as if every step gave him strength, by the time he was at the door he stood tall. Ready. She straightened, gaining strength from him. Thank G.o.d she wasn"t alone.
"MASON. WE HAVE received notice that a yacht was taken out on the lake this morning."
Mason turned to look at Swede. "A yacht?"
"Not a big luxury schooner we might a.s.sociate with the name, but a small tight ship that had been rented for a week. They brought it back last night and handed it over. But then this morning it was gone from its mooring."
"The same people?" he asked, frowning. Wondering why they"d have taken a boat out. Unless it was because no one could hear her scream. The thought made his stomach heave. The lake was huge. And the weather rough and wild and erratic. He had no idea if this missing boat had anything to do with Tesla or not, but they had little to go on. However, it was a short hop over the back wall to the neighboring town and down to the dock. He slowly stiffened and walked back outside. Swede at his side. They both studied the back wall.
"It would be easy," Swede said. "Carry her over the wall and to the neighbors."
"Who happen to be gone for a week." Mason frowned. "But why take Hawk?"
"To leave nothing behind."
Mason nodded. There could be other reasons, but that made the most sense. If he had the manpower. And if Hawk wasn"t dead. "He"s still alive. He has to be. Otherwise they"d have left him in place."
"I have a better idea why they took Hawk."
Mason turned to look at Shadow. His smile was harshly thin. "To force Tesla to give them what they want." He paused. "She"s proven a little too stubborn for their liking at this point and having someone else to beat up would make her more cooperative."
"Ha," Mason snapped. "Not even that will help."
"But they don"t know that," Shadow said with the merest of a smile.
A call came from the hall. It was Dane. "The two men stationed outside have been found. Dead."
"That"s how they got inside then. And likely out. Okay. Tear the two houses apart looking for answers."
"Not sure we need to. The owner of the second house owns a boat. The same one that went missing off the marina this morning."
"And the owner?"
"We"re trying to contact him. He"s somewhere in Ireland on a hike I understand. So far, no luck in finding just where."
"Find him. And we"re after the boat." He looked over at Swede. "Let"s go."
Chapter 24.
TESLA WAITED FOR Hawk to peer out the door. She worried about his head. He looked dangerous as h.e.l.l and as mean as a rattlesnake. She loved it. He shoved her behind him. He was awfully arrogant though. Although Mason was worse. Hawk opened the door wider and stepped out. She caught her breath. If she could see easier she wouldn"t be so panicked. Actually, yeah she would.
He held out a hand. She grabbed it and slipped out into the tiny hallway. The boat was listing to the side now. He raced along the hallway to the small door up ahead. He tried to open it, but it wouldn"t budge. It was locked. She groaned, but he did something she couldn"t see and the door popped open.
With care, he opened it wide enough for her to see a set of stairs in front of them. And something else.
She grabbed his hand and squeezed, then pointed to the floor.
Water was seeping in.
He nodded. Leading her up the four stairs he lifted his head to the boat deck and peered around.
"Is anyone there?" she whispered.
He held his hand up to stop her from talking then motioned for her to stay there. She nodded. Where the h.e.l.l could she go? She looked around. They were on a boat somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. She spun around, just her head visible but could see nothing geographical around them but water. Including rising up her feet.
He raced back to her. "Come on. It"s empty and sinking fast."
She swallowed hard. "They were going to kill us this time, weren"t they?"
He nodded. "If you hadn"t woken me when you did, I"d be gone already."
She looked back and realized the water was up the second stair. They had minutes only. "Is there a dinghy, a rowboat, something to help?"
"No." In a sudden movement, he asked, "Can you swim?"
"Yes," she said hesitantly. "But not that well." She stared out at the water and the foggy conditions. They were miles from land. "Do we stay with the boat?"
"For as long as she"s above water, but we need to find something that floats to help support us."
"Right."
But she hadn"t even digested his comment before he was stripping off the large cushions from the driver and pa.s.senger seats. Straps he cut from somewhere had the two floats tied together. She felt better when she saw that. The last thing she wanted was to get separated from him.
"Are they watching us?"
"Not likely. They"ve gone." He stopped what he was doing. "Did they get it?"
She stared at him. Her hand went to the cross on her necklace and gripped it tight. "They might have taken the hard drive and the rest of my computer equipment, but they didn"t get the program."
He grinned. "Excellent."
"But they could have whatever Robert had at his place."
Hawk froze. "And what did he have?"
"Parts of it," she admitted. "Early prototype."
"Is it enough?"
"No."
"Good enough."
"Do we know what happened to him?"
"Not yet."
HAWK REFRAINED FROM telling her that there was no way the kidnappers would let Robert live. If he"d betrayed her, he was dead because they couldn"t trust him. If he hadn"t betrayed her, he was dead because he wouldn"t give them what they wanted. And if he hadn"t given it over right away then he"d be so badly injured, he"d be dead anyway.
She was smart enough to figure it out on her own.
He knew the team would be here soon. They"d have tracked them down by now. What she hadn"t figured out was that with cracked ribs, swimming was going to be a b.i.t.c.h. He needed to get her to safety fast. Under the back seat he found a set of oars. He grinned. Now they were talking.
There were minutes left before the boat sunk fully. Precious minutes he needed.
Then the time was gone and they were in the water. Tesla on the float and holding on, fear on her face. He wasn"t afraid of the water. This was his domain. His preferred medium for any warfare. They wanted to come. Let them. He"d give them a surprise.
As if his thoughts had conjured them up, he heard sounds of a boat motoring toward them. He could hope it was a rescue, but...
A piece of pipe was strung through his belt loop, his ankle knife was in his hand, and he slipped into the cold water.
Frigid water. And he realized they had a bigger enemy now. The temperature was deadly. They had maybe forty minutes before she"d be numb. He yelled at her. "Climb on fully. The temperature is too cold for us to last very long."
She gazed at him in surprise then understanding. With effort she climbed, and he could see the moment the ribs screamed as she pulled herself on top. Then she reached out a hand to help him.
He stared at it.
He was a SEAL, this was his domain, and she, injured and hurting, was trying to help him get out of the cold water.
She was something.
Chapter 25.
"HELP!" SHE CRIED out to the approaching vessel. "Help."
No response.
s.h.i.t. It was a power boat. Large with someone dressed in black. And she knew this rescue wasn"t going to go well. d.a.m.n it. She shifted higher so Hawk was hidden from sight.
"Help!"
Still no response. There wasn"t much left of the boat they originally woke up on. In fact, just a few bits of loose debris floated beside her. She grabbed a water bottle that floated by. She"d take that.
The boat came alongside. The man in black walked to the side closest to her. And held out a hand.
She didn"t recognize him.
But she had limited choices. She reached up and caught his hand. He gave a rough tug and pulled her aboard. She groaned as her ribs took more abuse. Then he helped her to sit down. So maybe a rescuer? But she didn"t believe in fairy tales anymore.