“If we could have gotten rid of Brogan’s sister, then none of us would have been identified,” Kai snapped, his anger obviously brewing. “Son of a bitch, Bear, this is ridiculous. How the hell did he manage to fuck up?”

“We warned him,” Poppa Bear seemed to be reminding him. “Samantha Bryce ain’t no man’s dummy. And her instincts are out of this world. She was already gettin’ suspicious of him and he wouldn’t hear it.”

Kai muttered something that caused Poppa Bear to chuckle in amusement. “Just ’cause she’s a lesbian don’t make her no dummy, Kai.”

“Fine, she’s no dummy,” Kai snapped, his tone hard and angry. “Kraig wasn’t stupid either. So how did she manage it?”

“I told you Kraig was underestimating her,” Poppa Bear retorted, obviously becoming irritated. “I even told Kraig and he wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Stupid bastard,” Kai cursed again. “I should have called one of the men in from Illinois. They wouldn’t have put up with her shit.”

“Yeah, us Southern boys just seem to have trouble believin’ our womenfolk are as smart as we are.” Poppa guffawed. “It ends up gettin’ most of us hurt. Boys like Kraig end up gettin’ killed.”

Poppa Bear looked back at her, winked again, this time without the smile, but with a warning look instead before turning back to Kai.

“Give ’em a call, Kai,” Poppa Bear told him patiently. “Make the call to Ray, he has a cooler head. Those boys just blow up and lose their senses when they get pissed.”

“Now don’t it just break my heart that they’re gonna get pissed,” Kai sneered. “See if you can find that location scrambler for me.”

“Hell, I told you to keep it with you, Kai,” Poppa Bear growled in irritation. “Hang on.”

Straightening from his chair Poppa Bear moved down the hall to the back bedroom. Watching him, Eve saw him going through the blankets on the bed before turning into the bathroom. Empty-handed, he moved back into the bedroom, started going through some bags then moments later gave a muffled “Aha.”

Stepping back into the hall, he paused.

Pushing a small metal key quickly into her hand, he whispered so low she barely heard him. “Wait for the sign. Unlock. Go over back into water. Hear me?”

She nodded quickly.

Rising, he took a quick step away from her as she felt the cool light weight of the key in her curled fingers.

“I got our location scrambler,” Poppa Bear announced as he moved back into the kitchen. “Is there anything else you need, young’un?”

Kai laughed fondly as he stepped to the other man and took the device.

“Two hours,” Kai remarked. “That should be plenty of time for them to get everyone together.”

“Definitely,” Poppa Bear agreed. “Make sure old Dawg has plenty of help loadin’ all that purty gold.”

Eve watched as Kai plugged his phone into it then quickly made his call.

Location scrambler?

She knew it was possible to track cell phones, but strangely enough no one had taken her cell phone from her bag, nor had they turned it off. It was lying at the bottom of the bunk bed, and she prayed it was providing a beacon to the houseboat.

As she watched, Kai moved past Poppa Bear toward her as the phone rang.

“Hello,” Grandpa Ray answered the phone carefully.

“Ray Mackay?” Kai asked.

“It is.”

“Your niece Eve wants to say hello,” he spoke into the speaker phone. “Here she is.”

“Grandpa? I’m fine,” she told him, avoiding Kai’s cruel, hazel eyes. “Tell Brogan not to worry.”

Kai pulled the phone back.

“Ray, if you ever want to see Eve alive again, then listen up. And tell your boys they better follow my directions exactly.” He chuckled then. “And tell Brogan to worry. ’Cause if they don’t hurry, then I’m going to have a little personal party with Ms. Mackay here. I’ll show her how a real man fucks.”

He smiled down at Eve in leering lust before turning and pacing back to the front of the boat before he began conveying his “orders” to Ray.

As Kai spoke, Poppa Bear moved back to the hall, turned, and mouthed “Now.”

Eve moved. Carefully turning the key in her fingers she inserted it into the lock and turned it carefully.

The cuffs clicked open.

Glancing up the hall again to see Poppa Bear’s wide form blocking Kai’s sight down the hall, she quickly slid from the bunk before slipping into the back room and moving nervously to the sliding glass door at the back.

Sliding it open just enough to slip onto the narrow deck, she edged over to the ladder that led into the water and quickly began descending.

The water was still chilly.

Summer hadn’t gotten as hot as it normally did by now, but even then, the deeper waters took longer to warm.

Not quite icy but definitely uncomfortable, the water washed over her ankles, her knees as she glanced up quickly, all too aware of the two men Kai had directed onto the top deck of the houseboat.

Thankfully, the overhang from the second floor and deck roof provided just enough protection that they wouldn’t see her easing into the water, but after she got into the cold lake, there would be no swimming for shore.

The water lapped over her waist, causing a shiver to wash up her spine as she ran out of ladder and finished lowering herself by holding onto the ladder’s rungs with her hands.

She was at the last rung, thinking desperately, trying to figure out how to hide when a hard hand suddenly capped over her mouth.

She froze.

“Hello, baby,” Brogan whispered at her ear. “Ready to go hide with me?”

Relief rushed through her with tidal wave force, sucking the strength from her knees and making her damned glad she didn’t need them right now.

As he helped her, she turned in his arms, feeling the wetsuit he wore and seeing the oxygen tank on his back, the rebreather on his face.

“We’re going under the boat,” he explained quickly. “On three take a deep breath. One. Two. Three.”

They went under as a sudden shout exploded from inside the houseboat.

Holding on to Brogan she was surprised when he ducked straight under the houseboat then resurfaced beneath it in the cavity created between the two floaters the boat was built on.

Brogan wasn’t alone.

As they resurfaced Dawg was suddenly pushing a diving tank over her arms as Brogan held her up, his hands gripping her waist.

Natches and Rowdy were behind him, Chaya behind them.

“Remember how to use this?” Dawg asked quickly as a regulator was attached and Natches ducked under the water.

She nodded quickly.

A second later fins were being pushed on her feet as Brogan quickly fitted the weight belt around her waist.

“Go with Chaya. Once they can’t find you they’ll start the motor and we’ll all be in trouble if you’re not out of here,” Dawg growled.

“Brogan . . .”

“Don’t get him killed, Eve,” Dawg snapped. “Go with Chaya now.” He pushed the regulator between her lips.

“Love you, Eve. Always,” Brogan whispered at her ear before Dawg pushed her beneath the surface and Chaya grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the way.

It was like a war zone under the water, she thought in amazement as Chaya continued to drag her out of the way.

Brogan, Dawg, Rowdy, Natches, and Chaya weren’t the only ones beneath the cool surface.

Deep enough beneath the boat for safety and to ensure they weren’t seen, two underwater propelled, sled-like vehicles waiting with two frogmen outfitted with military rebreathers such as the ones Brogan and the Mackays were wearing.

Of course, Eve hadn’t been that lucky. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear anything going on. All she could do was hold on to Chaya as the other woman directed her while unclipping an underwater propulsion device from her waist belt and activating it.

Immediately they were drawn through the water as Eve saw the first lines of water being split from bullets firing into the depths. And all she could do was worry and pray.