Page 57 of Dark Horizon New Dawn

Crawling to the dresser, she used the handles to hoist herself up and reached for the purse. She pulled it down, catching it before it could hit the floor, and cradled it to her chest as she caught her breath.

The little movement she'd made had exhausted her, and she was so nauseous that she almost threw up. Maybe it was the drugs that were still affecting her like that, or maybe it was the fear she was trying to shove into a corner of her mind so she could think instead of panic.

After resting for a moment, Margo opened her purse and reached inside. Her heart sank. The phone wasn't there.

Of course, it wasn't. That was the first thing they would have gotten rid of, probably tossing it overboard or even before that into a garbage bin.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the dresser. How the hell had Alberto managed to carry two unconscious women out of the hotel?

Someone must have helped him.

Margo imagined being stuffed into a laundry cart like she'd seen in the movies, one cart for her and another for Jasmine. A van had probably waited for them next to the service exit, and Alberto and his accomplice had loaded them inside.

Or perhaps it happened some other way. Maybe she and Jasmine had walked out on their own two feet, the drugs making them pliant and obedient like two automatons. She'd seen that in movies, too.

Tomorrow, Mia and Frankie would arrive on the Perfect Match cruise ship, and when they couldn't find her, they would call the police. But what good would that do?

She'd heard about the local police and how corrupt they were. But perhaps it would work to her advantage. Tom could bribe someone to actually make an effort to find her.

Mia would beg him to do that, and Tom didn't refuse Mia anything, so maybe there was hope she would be rescued before Carlos, the guy that señor wanted to gift her to, could put his hands on her.

41

NEGAL

Now that they had two tables pushed together, there was plenty of room for everyone, and Roni got to work while the rest of them drank coffee and tried to stay awake.

As Negal peeked at what the kid was doing, he saw that Roni was watching footage from several cameras at once and at ten times the speed. It was difficult for Negal to follow, and given that his senses were superior to the immortals', it was very impressive that the kid was able to take all of that in.

"I'm going to move Mia to the bedroom," Toven said quietly as he walked over to the couch.

She had fallen asleep and didn't wake up when Toven lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

Negal was glad that she managed to fall asleep before Turner gave them his assessment. According to him, the situation was much worse than what the rest of them had considered, and he wasn't wrong.

They were all hoping that Roni would find a clue as to Margo's whereabouts, but that would only solve half of the problem. Even if they could retrieve her without engaging the Doomers, the entire ship was at risk, and Kian was thinking about aborting the rest of the cruise and flying everyone home, but not directly to Los Angeles.

He and Turner were discussing sending people to different airports around the country and having them fly to Los Angeles from there.

The question was what to do with the rescued women who had no passports.

"The remaining couples that were supposed to be married on the cruise will be disappointed," Onegus said. "I wish there was a way we could continue as planned, but even taking out all the Doomers in Cabo won't help. That will only make the Brotherhood more rabid about retaliation."

Kalugal smoothed his hand over his short beard. "There must be some way to turn this around, but my brain is too sluggish this late at night to come up with anything."

"I've got something," Roni said when Toven returned to the living room. "I'll slow it for you." He turned the screen around so most of them could see it. "Here is Margo leaving her room last evening."

The camera was in the corridor, and Negal saw one of the doors open, and a woman walk out. She wore a sleeveless dress that was somewhat shapeless and looked like nothing special at first glance, but then she lifted her head and looked straight at the surveillance camera, and Negal's heart lurched into his throat. There was that fierce look that had been haunting him, and it seemed like she was looking at him and challenging him to come to her aid.

"I ran the footage until two other women rushed in. I assume that was her sister-in-law and one of her friends. That means that Margo never returned to her room. She told Mia that Jasmine and her boyfriend were staying in the presidential suite, so I watched that feed next. Margo and Jasmine entered the suite a little over an hour after Margo had left her room, and a few minutes later, the boyfriend walked in." Roni rewound the feed and slowed it down so they could see the boyfriend walking out of the elevator, pulling out his card key, and entering the suite.

"He's a good-looking guy," Onegus said. "But he's not immortal. He's not military, either. He looks too soft."

Negal memorized the maggot's face. If he harmed Margo, he was going to pay.

Roni sped up the recording. "Room service arrived about forty minutes after the boyfriend, and given how packed the cart is, they ordered dinner. There is also a bucket with two bottles of wine."

The waiter entered the suite, and several minutes later, he left. Roni sped up the recording again. "Now things start to get interesting." He slowed the feed again. "About two hours later, the same waiter arrives with a laundry cart, and behind him, another guy is pushing a second one. It's a two-bedroom suite, so two laundry carts wouldn't have been too out of place if it was daytime, but in the middle of the night, I'd say that's suspicious as hell."

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