Page 72 of Take Me Back
“You better be. Tell me when you see the lights of Genie Caye.”
I jam the throttle down again and turn right before heading straight toward the light on the tower. About ten minutes later, the man yells, and I slow again.
“What?”
“See the lights? The red one there?”
My eyes search the darkness until I find the red light.
“That’s a buoy. The research station in front of Genie Caye. All those other lights are on the island.”
Now that I know where I’m looking, it’s lit up like the circus is in town. Even more lights than the vacation-home island I plucked this guy from. But I can’t just go driving up to their dock like I did his. I need a plan.
It seems my navigator is of the same opinion.
“You need a distraction. I’m assuming there’s something on that island you want real fucking bad.”
I weigh my options and go with telling the truth. “My wife.”
He releases a breath. “Fuck, man. She run off?”
“Someone took her.”
Both his eyebrows go up. “Shit. Okay. So, you got a plan?”
I think about the guy in front of me, and the fact that I promised I wouldn’t kill him if he helped me. I didn’t promise him he wouldn’t get injured, though. Maybe it makes me an asshole, but I don’t care.
“I might.”
“Good, because you’re gonna need it. That place islitup.”
“What’s on the other side of the island? Where can I go in without being seen?”
“They cleared most of the mangrove and filled it in with sand so they could build cabanas for the researchers. If I were holding your wife, I’d put her in one of those.”
“Give me the layout.”
“There’s a main house in the middle. Then there are probably six or so cabanas spread out closer to the shore. On the beach near where the buoy sits, there’s an equipment shed. Your best bet is going in near one of the cabanas.”
“So I go in around the back.”
“You only got a few minutes before someone realizes you’re there, because it’s small and open. With all those lights, they’ll see you coming for sure.”
I actually did well with my kidnapping, because this guy knows his shit. “That’s where you come in.”
He gives me a hesitant look. “What the fuck do you mean, me?”
“You’re the diversion.”
“Oh, no, man. I didn’t sign up for this shit. I didn’t sign up for any of it. I don’t need to get dead tonight.”
My expression turns hard, and I hope he realizes just how serious I am. “You don’t help me, you’re definitely getting dead. You do help me, and I’ll find a way to make sure you get compensated.”
His gaze narrows. “You’re fucking crazy. You know that, right?”
I don’t have time to argue with him.
“Which is why you don’t want to piss me off. I’m getting off around the back side of the island. Then you’re gonna take the boat and crash it.”
