43. Cole

CHAPTER 43

COLE

W hat a way to die.

Cole wouldn’t get a funeral, no memorial, no flowers, but at least Frankie could avoid making a decision over whether he should be buried or cremated.

He watched Bella standing in the doorway opposite, trying to keep as far as possible from the corpse behind her, the remains of a person who’d curled into the corner of the cell to die. Until now, he’d never known the real Bella, the brave, murderous woman who stood before him. She looked quite at home with a gun in her hands. But no matter how courageous she was, or how experienced with firearms, even she couldn’t escape the man firing bullets from above.

Suddenly, she smiled, and the effect was quite unsettling. Why was she smiling? There wasn’t even a tiny glimmer of light in this situation, not unless you counted those overhead bulbs that made dark seem like day.

Bella turned and walked to the back of the cell, then tugged the blanket away from the dead body. Cole saw that it had once been a young woman. She was wearing a bikini, and wisps of long blonde hair hung around her shrunken shoulders.

What was her story? How had she found herself here in this hellhole? Was she related to the other body Cole had seen? Had they been friends? Lovers?

Bella slid a knife out of her bikini top. Where had she gotten that from? Yesterday, they’d only had one knife between them, and it was still attached to the makeshift spear he’d dropped onto the jetty when he saw the boat approaching. He watched as she sliced into the middle of the blanket and pulled it over her head like a poncho.

Cole shuddered. No amount of money in the world could have convinced him to do that. Death cooties were a thing, and did she have no respect for the deceased?

Bella put a finger to her lips.

What was she doing?

She tiptoed forward and a moment later, a deafening bang rang out, then another, and sparks showered from the ceiling. When they flickered out, the place was left in sudden darkness. Gunshots boomed, then the door of his cell clanged open. His eyes had barely adjusted to the gloom when a hand clamped around his wrist in a viselike grip, and Bella pulled him with her as she ran.

They sprinted along the central aisle, the man on the upper tier firing wildly after them. A sharp pain slashed across Cole’s left shoulder, and he yelped in shock, but then they were running out the door, down the hallway, down another hallway and another and another and finally into the sally port. Bella didn’t stop until they were outside in daylight, and as Cole collapsed on the ground, she slammed the gate and clicked the padlock into place.

“Well, that was fun,” she said.

“You think that was fun ?”

“I guess fear blunted your sarcasm detector.”

“Who are you? ”

She held out a hand, the one that wasn’t grasping the gun. “Bella Knight. Pleased to meet you.”

“Bella? Or Jerry?” She looked a little surprised for a second, but she quickly covered it up. “And I know you don’t write obituaries for a living.”

“Either name works, and I kind of do create obituaries. It wasn’t a total lie.”

“Writing about death and killing people are two very different things.”

“To-may-to, to-mah-to.”

“Are you going to kill me too?” Cole asked.

“Have you lost your fucking mind? I just put myself in the line of fire to save you.”

He had to concede that was true. The woman was crazy. The edge of the blanket touched him, and he shuddered.

“But I’ve seen your face.”

“And the rest of me as well. This isn’t the movies, Cole. If it was, that shitbird would’ve vaulted over the railings without breaking both of his legs, and we’d have settled things with a fistfight.”

“So, what happens now?”

“Now, I head back inside to finish what I started, and you keep well out of the way.”

Yes, she was definitely insane. How had she seemed so normal back in Vegas? On the boat? He’d slept beside her night after night without having the faintest clue she was capable of this .

“For a moment, I thought you said you were going to go back inside.”

“That’s exactly what I said.”

“Do you want to die?”

“I’m not going to waste nearly a decade of training getting killed by a two-bit criminal.”

“A decade of training?”

He should have guessed .

“Yeah, I’m one of those dirty little secrets the United States doesn’t like to talk about. Please don’t repeat that. I don’t want to kill you, but if you try to tell our story on Oprah, I won’t have a choice.”

“Have you ever done that before? Killed a boyfriend?”

She grimaced. “It was a very different scenario.”

What the hell? “So you have?”

Bella led him to the shade of a stand of trees and slumped onto a rock, still wearing the blanket—up close, it smelled gross—with the gun in her lap. He noticed she didn’t take her eyes off the prison building.

“It wasn’t like that,” she said. “I had a different job back then, and the guy had a fair idea of what I did.” She sighed. “That was the problem.”

“Then how was it different?”

For the longest time, Bella didn’t answer the question. Cole considered making a run for it, but they were on an island. Even if he jumped into the sea, Bella was a better swimmer than him.

Finally, she spoke.

“We were both in intelligence at the time. Different areas. He was Middle East; I was Russia. Long story short, he stole information from me, sold it to enemies of the United States, and set me up to take the fall.”

“Are you serious?”

“Nearly all the time. Apparently, it’s one of my many, many faults.”

“That’s not true.”

The briefest smile flickered, and then it was gone. “This has been a weird month.”

“Understatement of the damn century.”

“At least now you know why I don’t date. It’s not a ‘you’ problem; it’s most definitely a ‘me’ problem. Honestly, you’re a great guy. ”

“You don’t date because of your ex? Or because of your job?”

“Both.”

“Couldn’t you just date people you don’t work with?”

She tilted her head to one side and stared at him.

“Okay. Right.”

“And most of my colleagues are female anyway.”

All the half-truths were beginning to unravel. “Your writing group? How about Marcel? Is he like James Bond or something?”

Bella burst out laughing. “Hell, no. We took him to the range once, and the recoil totally freaked him out. He showed up with silver-spangled ear defenders.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s our assistant. He cooks and manages the house.”

“The house? You live with your colleagues?”

“It works for us.”

“In Las Vegas?”

The levity vanished in a heartbeat. “It’s better if I don’t tell you the details.”

Still, Cole pushed. After all the lies, he deserved the truth. “What about your apartment?”

“It wasn’t my apartment.”

“What did you do, book it on Airbnb while we were in the grocery store?” Cole thought back to that day. “No, there were personal belongings inside.”

Bella turned almost sulky. “I borrowed it. A friend met me in the store with the key, and more people ran over there with props.”

“A well-oiled machine,” Cole murmured.

Bella’s smile was soft, maybe even genuine. “Yes, we are.”

But the smile soon slipped away, and Cole had a feeling that although she was smart and competent, joy was a rarity in her life .

“So, you go inside and kill the guy. Then what happens afterward?”

“Afterward, I’ll wrap up here and head to Windjammer Bank to sort out the Crosswind situation.” She glanced at her watch. “The timing is awkward, and the Mako’s loud. The approach is going to be a challenge.”

It took a moment for her words to sink in, and then anger bubbled through Cole’s veins. She’d lied, she’d shot a man in front of him, and now she wanted to abandon him on Skeleton Cay?

“Are you kidding me? You’re just going to leave me here?”

“Not permanently. I’ll send someone to pick you up as soon as I get back to the mainland.”

“What? So they can arrest me for the murders of five men?”

“I will absolutely get things smoothed over in regard to that.”

Cole took hold of her arms. Too late, he realised she could probably dump him on his ass if she chose to, but she just glanced at his fingers digging into her biceps.

“This blanket is gross,” he said.

“Thanks, I already knew that.”

“I can’t believe you took it off a corpse.”

“Better than making myself a clear target. Are you holding my arms for any particular reason?”

He took a deep breath. “Bella, we came to this island together, and we’re leaving together. Forget about the Crosswind . When I get back home, I’ll report the theft to the authorities, and they can look for her.”

“Sweetie, two years ago, the paramilitary arm of the San Gallicano Department of Emergency Services joined a training exercise with the US Navy, and they blew up one of their own boats. Not real explosives, obviously, but they had no idea what they were targeting. Trust me when I say they’ll fuck up whatever they try to do.”

“She’s insured.” Not for her full value, but Cole would get a decent sum of money back. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t get hurt.”

“In the six weeks I’ve known you, you’ve broken your leg tripping down stairs and been bitten by a snake.”

She just looked at him.

“You didn’t get bitten by a snake, did you?”

“I was drunk. Some little bitch in a bar stabbed me with a glass because she thought I was making a move on her boyfriend.”

“And were you?”

“Of course not.”

“You made a move on me in a bar.”

“You were hot and single.”

Cole blew out a long breath. “And your leg?”

“I don’t think you want to know.”

“I do want to know.”

“Fine. I vaulted over your credenza and fell into your wine cellar.”

Huh? Cole looked for a sign that she was joking because despite what she said, she did have a sense of humour. A very dark sense of humour, and now he was beginning to understand why. But there was no hint of amusement.

“Bella, why did you vault over my credenza?”

“Because a guy was shooting at me.”

“In my house?”

“He used a suppressor, and you’re the heaviest sleeper I’ve ever met.”

“There was a gunman in my house ?”

She held up four fingers.

“ Four gunmen?”

“Uh-huh. ”

“What happened to them?”

“You definitely don’t want to know that. When you go back to Vegas, you need to watch your back, okay? It wasn’t a one-off, and I’m not sure the situation has been resolved yet. At the time, I figured they were there for me because, let’s face it, I’m great at pissing people off. But then we met again when Thelma broke down, and you told me about Jimmy, and I got to thinking what if I was wrong?”

“Jimmy? I haven’t heard a word from Jimmy since he came to my office.”

“But he’s been sending messages.”

“Well, I haven’t received any.”

“Yes, you have. Lucy was a message.”

“Lucy? The cops said that was a problem with a motorcycle club.”

“The cops are idiots. And I think in hindsight, the four men at your home were just there to deliver a post-Jimmy warning. Scare you a bit. But I saw guns, and I wasn’t about to let them tiptoe upstairs to your bedroom.”

“You say they were shooting. Where were all the bullet holes? I didn’t see any bullet holes.”

And Bella had told so many lies—what was one more?

“Yeah, so we took care of that.”

“Took care of it? What do you mean, took care of it?”

“Cleaned the place up. Spackled the holes and painted. I’m sorry about Tinkerbell, by the way. The team tried to match the new paint to the existing paint, and they didn’t check whether it was non-toxic.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“Yeah, well, that’s up to you. I’m also sorry about Lucy. We were monitoring you, but not your staff at that time.”

“Why do you think Lucy’s acci— injury was something to do with this Jimmy guy?”

“Whoever is behind this is basically hiring psychos off the dark web so he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty. ‘Jimmy’ was probably an out-of-work actor.”

“How do you even know that?”

“You remember when we went for breakfast at the Sunrise Diner?”

How could Cole forget? He’d never before been to a restaurant where a guy got wheeled away on a stretcher, plus Bella had walked out on him. That morning was burned into his brain for eternity.

“What happened in the bathroom, Bella?”

“The guy shoved me into a stall and tried to strangle me. Obviously, it didn’t work out as he hoped, and it’s doubtful he can have children anymore.”

“Is he still alive?”

Bella nodded. “But he doesn’t know much. Chances are, we’ll let him go when it’s over.”

“When what’s over?”

“When we find the person pulling the strings.”

“Nobody in the finance department could find any evidence of the debt he spoke about. The only loans on the books have a clear counterparty. Banks, mostly, but there’s also a high-interest loan with a fund that specialises in distressed businesses. That’s secured on the house, so there wasn’t really any need to fill in the bullet holes. The place will be sold soon anyway.”

“You’re taking this better than I thought you would.”

“My life fell apart the day I received the phone call from Uncle Mike’s attorney. Things have only gone downhill from there.”

“If it wasn’t for the threat to your life, I would have walked away, I swear.”

“And you think that would have been better?”

“Yes? You wouldn’t have developed feelings for me that way.”

“Just because you want to avoid relationships for the rest of your life doesn’t mean I do. You said that when we got back to Vegas, we’d find a way to make things work. Was that another lie?”

“No?”

“You don’t sound certain.”

“I don’t get much free time when I’m working, but I would have come over whenever I was in town. And I’m not quitting the Jimmy case until it’s solved. There is a loan. A cool million in Bitcoin.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“You really need to tell your finance team not to click on random links in their emails.”

“You hacked my accounting system?”

“Not personally. Digging through cyberspace isn’t my forte, so I leave that part to the experts. Look, it’ll be fine—just keep your head down and don’t go anywhere alone while we get everything sorted out. A PI is working on the case as we speak. How do you feel about staying at the hotel?”

“A PI? How the hell did a PI get involved?”

“I hired her. She’s very good.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“You say that a lot, and honestly, it can be better to live life in blissful ignorance. Sometimes I wish I could do that.” Bella shrugged out of his grip and rose to her feet. “But it is what it is. We shouldn’t sit around talking any longer. I can’t be certain that there isn’t another way out of the prison building, and we definitely don’t want that motherfucker flanking us, or worse, escaping the island.”

Cole wasn’t sure being flanked was better than the guy escaping, but he kept his mouth shut on that point. He wasn’t the one in control here. No, that honour belonged to the woman who, until two hours ago, he’d hoped to spend his future with.

“I need some shoes,” she said .

“Tell me you’re not going to take the corpse’s shoes.”

“She wasn’t wearing any shoes. I’m going to check out the guys from the boat and pick the one with the smallest feet and the least blood splatter.”

Cole failed to suppress the shudder that ran through him. “Blood splatter?”

“Chill, you don’t have to look at them. Just tuck yourself into the trees and stay quiet.”

“Are you going to kill the guy left inside?”

“If there’s a safe way to capture him, I’ll do it, but I’m not risking my life or yours. Taking people alive requires more planning, manpower, and equipment than taking them dead.”

“Can’t we just leave? Their boat is in the harbour, and it isn’t your job to round up every criminal on the planet.”

Bella might have misrepresented herself in the worst possible way, but Cole still didn’t want to see her die. Not to mention the fact that if she did get hurt, he’d be stranded on this island with only a gun-wielding psycho for company.

“That is literally my job.”

“We could go back to Emerald Shores. Forget the last two months ever happened.”

Forget the good times as well as the bad. Why did the thought of that hurt so much? Cole should have been horrified that his girlfriend could kill five men without breaking a sweat, but if she hadn’t done that, he’d have no thoughts at all because he’d be dead.

“We could try to forget, but you’d still be stuck with some guy who may or may not be called Jimmy. And you’d still owe a million bucks in Bitcoin.”

Okay, so that was a problem. At least if he were dead, Cole wouldn’t need to worry about the Galaxy anymore.

“And if we leave now,” Bella continued, “Number Six could start destroying evidence of whatever it is they’re doing in the prison. Or maybe he has friends, and they’ll come and pick him up?”

“What do you think they’re doing in the prison?”

Bella shrugged. “When I first realised they were using the place, I figured on human trafficking because that’s the perfect holding facility. It’s possible those bodies in the cells could have been girls who didn’t make it.”

Cole shook his head. “Jeron more or less said that those were people who ignored the ban on visiting the island.”

“Jeron?”

“The man in front of my cell. One of the others called him that.”

“Okay, so it’s probably some other kind of smuggling.”

“Like wildlife? I’ve heard rumours about that.”

“Possibly, but my money is on drugs. A boat comes from South America and drops off the goods, then these assholes pick up what they need when they need it. The government conveniently made this place off-limits, and folks in law enforcement are too superstitious to come here. Didn’t you say there was a drug problem in San Gallicano?”

Yes, Cole had said that. Could a gang really be using Skeleton Cay to store drugs? Bella’s logic made terrifying sense, and it also stirred up anger Cole hadn’t felt in a long time. Frankie’s little brother had died from an overdose a little over a year ago, and even though her father kept pushing for change from his position in government, nothing ever got done.

Cole was about to give in, to tell Bella to do whatever she needed to do, when she surprised him by acquiescing.

“Okay, fine. Let’s go take a look at the boat.”

At last, she stripped off the disgusting blanket and slung the gun across her chest using the carry strap. She even moved differently now, stealthy and catlike. Cole’s dick hardened involuntarily because the sick, sick part of him couldn’t keep his eyes off her ass in that bikini as she led him to the harbour with deadly grace.

A little way down the path, she held up a hand, stopping him.

“Wait here.”

“Where are you going?”

“Just wait here.”

She slipped into the foliage, and when she didn’t return right away, nerves set in. Cole began to feel vulnerable. Another minute, and he followed the path she’d taken, only to bump into her coming the other way. The first thing he noticed was that she was wearing a jacket. And boots, and a pair of sweatpants rolled over at the waist.

“Can’t you follow even the simplest of instructions?”

“Is there any dead person on this island whose clothing you aren’t going to borrow?”

“It’s not as if he needs it anymore. Do you want a shirt? I can find you a shirt.”

“No, I don’t want a fucking shirt.”

Cole would rather have sunburn than death cooties.