Page 16 of An Epic Voyage
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Griffin reluctantlyleft Indigo to her task.He didn’t envy her in the job ahead.Jinger Jenkins was a complete nightmare in every sense of the word.He’d never met a more spoiled, arrogant, entitled person in his life.He had no idea what Benedict saw in her.Frankly, he didn’t know how she didn’t topple over every time she stood.She was thin to the point of gauntness, with bones poking through her deeply tanned skin, and had a ridiculously large, surgically enhanced chest.Her face might’ve been pretty at one time and she photographed well.She had big blue eyes and poofy blonde hair, but Botox injections and collagen-enhanced lips made her look more plastic than real.Plus, she was just plain evil.That trait tended to make anyone look ugly.
Griffin had the overwhelming urge to stay with Indigo and show her around, but he had a job to do—one he’d been working toward for months.There was no time for distractions.
He returned to the loading dock.All the yacht personnel had been previously vetted, as had the staff on the island.Van Houten usually traveled with an enormous entourage, but he’d pared down significantly for the trip.The only guests on the boat besides Benedict and Jinger were Indigo Adair, in place of Pammy Baxter, Jordy Crier, Jinger’s personal stylist, and Franklin Shepherd, Benedict’s assistant.Van Houten had numerous personal bodyguards, but only three in his inner circle.They were also on board while the rest remained in Los Angeles and Miami.
Griffin entered the security room and turned the television to a weather channel.What started as a tropical disturbance in the Atlantic had developed into a tropical depression and was now a tropical storm.The next step would be a hurricane.It wasn’t currently projected to hit Van Houten Island, located halfway between The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.However, despite advances in technology, hurricanes were notoriously unpredictable.
Griffin had notified Van Houten about the possible impending storm, but Benedict had brushed him off, saying they never came near his place.It wasn’t as if the man had an impenetrable shield around his land.Disasters happened.Griffin needed to be prepared for all contingencies.
Despite his misgivings, he proceeded with his duties.In the few short months he’d been employed with Van Houten, he’d worked his way to head of logistics security, but he hadn’t been able to break into Van Houten’s private cadre of protectors.The three men tasked with that duty had been with him for years.
Before anyone had boarded the yacht, Griffin had gone over every square inch himself.Every.Square.Inch.Because of the massive size, it had taken him hours.There was nothing on board that shouldn’t be.
This would be Griffin’s first trip to the archipelago.He planned on searching every inch of that too.The item he was looking for wasn’t in Van Houten’s Los Angeles mansion, nor on his private jet, helicopter, or yacht.That left the island.Hopefully, Griffin would hit pay dirt there.
Chapter Six
Indigo had worked caseswith less than favorable conditions.She’d crawled through bat-infested caves, navigated alligator-filled swamps, and dealt with the scum of the earth.Nothing had prepared her for Jinger Jenkins.The woman was a hellion.And demanding.And a monster.
There was barely a scratch on one of her acrylic fingernails, but the woman had demanded that Indigo redo all ten.Fine.She had complied, using the color Jinger selected.Once it was on, Jinger had decided she hated it and blamed Indy.She’d redone Jinger’s nails two more times after that.Indy had come so close to grabbing the poison-laced polish from her bag, but she’d managed to stop herself.Homicide was never the answer, especially not so soon into her mission.
Thankfully, she hadn’t needed to remove the acrylic, or it would have taken at least an hour, maybe more.Indy wasn’t sure she could be in that woman’s presence for that long.She had patience, but Jinger sorely tested it.After exchanging phone numbers, Indy had fled as fast as possible.
“So, Pammy fobbed this job off on you, huh?”
Indy looked up from inventorying the makeup in the salon to see a man with a platinum-blond mohawk and several ear piercings smiling at her.
“Actually, she fell ill.”
“Bullshit,” the man coughed into his hand.
Indy smiled, instantly liking him.“I’m Indigo.”
“Oh, what a unique name.I love it.”He stepped closer, studying her face.“Girl, it’s the color of your gorgeous eyes.”
