Page 37 of Silk Shadow

CHAPTER 16

Izzy was terrified. She'd been in this squalid, stinking cabin all night and now the sun was up—she could see it shining through the grubby porthole—she still had no idea who had kidnapped her or why.

Of course, it must have something to do with the mine in Mexico and her father's death. A psycho stalker or obsessed fan wouldn’t hire a small army to abduct her off a yacht. She had yet to put faces to her attackers.

The fishing trawler had bucked and rolled as they sailed through the night. At first, she'd felt so ill, she'd puked in the bucket in the corner of the room, but after a couple of hours, it had subsided. Although drained, she wasn't nauseous anymore, thank God.

Now the ship seemed to have stopped moving, if you could call it that. It still bopped and weaved, listing one way and then the other, but the engines were silent. At one point, she thought she'd heard the anchor roll down.

The thick porthole window was her only light source and she spent most of her time staring out of it, but all she could see was the dark green ocean stretching for miles until it merged with the horizon.

The sky was as blue as it was in San Diego, so she guessed they were still off the California coast somewhere, although she had no idea where. They'd taken her phone as soon as they'd thrown her into the motorboat and tossed it overboard. Right now, it was lying at the bottom of the ocean.

Not that it did her any good there.

Her slinky silver dress and high-heeled sandals looked ridiculous out here, but they hadn't given her a change of clothes and she wasn't about to walk barefoot around this cabin. Judging by the grime on the floor, it hadn't been cleaned in decades.

The whole place reeked of fish. She'd smelled it as soon as she came on board. It was a sizable fishing trawler, three or four times the length of Casper's yacht, but it was weathered and run-down. A real rust-bucket.

Her stomach rumbled. She was hungry, but more than that, she was dying for a drink of water. Would they bother to feed her and give her water? Or were they planning on killing her eventually, in which case anything they gave her was a waste.

She stifled a sob. If she cried now, she'd never stop.

Her last vision was of Viper firing his gun at the attackers while he tackled Robert, getting him out of the firing line. Her bodyguard, her protector. Well, he hadn't managed to save her this time.

The door rattled, and she scuttled to the back of the room, crouching in the corner.

Oh, God. This is it. They've come to kill me.

It opened, and a man in a ski mask stood there. "Here's some food and water." He didn't come in, just put it on the floor inside the door and closed it again.

Once she was sure he'd gone, she fell on the water jug and drank half of it in one go. She knew she ought to sip it, but she was so thirsty she couldn't control herself. The food was only a chunk of stale bread, but it tasted like a gourmet meal. She wolfed it down, for once grateful for the carbs. They would keep her strength up.

They obviously didn't want to get rid of her just yet. What did that mean? She doubted they'd want to talk her out of selling the mine when it was easier to kill her. No one would find her body if they tossed her overboard.

She went back to the window. The sea looked cold and uninviting. Was that to be her watery grave? A few dark clouds had gathered on the horizon and appeared to be rolling toward them. It looked like there was a storm coming.

In order to keep from panicking, she thought about the events leading up to her kidnapping. How had the assailants known she'd be on that yacht? She hadn't even known until that very afternoon.

Viper had been right all along. The party on the yacht had provided the perfect opportunity for a surprise attack. Isolated, miles away from land, with no protection other than one man with a handgun. Useless against four terrifying machine guns.

Viper.

She thought longingly of the man that had not left her side these last few days. What was he doing now? Would he get into trouble for losing her?

Pat would certainly have something to say about that. Viper would probably lose his job. Even now, he could be back in the States licking his wounds. She was a failed mission. An op that had gone wrong.

She stifled another sob.

Why did thinking about him make her so emotional? Or was it the realization that no one was coming for her, that she was completely alone out here?

Nobody knew where she was.

Her only hope was that the kidnappers would negotiate with her. Her life for the mine. But when an organization resorted to kidnapping, they were usually past the point of negotiation.

Her dear father. He'd been so passionate about the project in Mexico.

"We've brought running water and electricity to the most inaccessible local communities," he'd told her proudly only last year.

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