Chapter 52

Panic whipped through Danika as the boat's engine sputtered then died. What had she done? The controls weren't intuitive to her. She thought she was putting the engine into neutral, but then her hand had bumped something and all the noise shut off.

Ezra was moving more now, but he still seemed out of it. He still had his gun, but as long as he didn't sit up and shoot her, she would be okay.

She heard something and looked up, seeing another small white boat headed her way, along with a huge gray boat that looked like it belonged to the military. Then, there was the other boat approaching.

"Oh God," slipped from her lips as fear ramped up. She wasn't sure why she felt fear, but it might have to do with the obscene amount of conditioning Ezra had forced on her. When she'd been in England with him, he'd always made a big deal about her being in the country illegally and how they would have arrested her and put her in prison to abuse her. The man had lied to her so often she didn't know that anything he'd said had been real .

She squinted, trying to make out the people on the smaller white boat who were waving at her. Was that James?

She shielded her eyes, wishing she had something like a pair of binoculars so she could make out the men on that little boat. She turned, determined to find something useful on this boat, and noticed Ezra's eyes were open. He was trying to sit up.

The kind, nurturing part of her wanted to help him, but he'd done so much to her that she couldn't lend him a hand. Her feelings about him were twisted up with the pain he'd inflicted. Still, she felt guilty about wanting to push him overboard but knew that getting close to him would only put her in danger. Her only hope was that James might be on the approaching boat.

She glanced around and realized all three boats were close. It was hard to make out what exactly was going on, but the one boat approaching from the south looked dangerous. She swore one of the men had a gun pointed her way.

Seconds later, the glass on the windscreen in front of the steering wheel shattered. Danika screamed and ducked low, praying the assholes didn't shoot again.

How could they even aim, let alone fire on her? The boats were rocking way too much to know where to fire.

The people on the small boat coming closer were yelling something at her. The larger military-looking boat picked up speed and angled away from her, moving closer to the people who'd shot at her. More shots were fired, and she stayed down.

That's when her gaze slammed into Ezra's. He was conscious. He grimaced as he pushed himself up to sit on the cushioned seat across from her.

"You'll never escape me." Ezra's words were slurred, his eyes a little unfocused, but he was still dangerous. Blood ran down his neck, and he squinted as he wiped at it with his hand.

She had to get rid of him, but the gun in his hand made her freeze. He was injured but not useless. He could still kill her with the gun. Even with his diminished strength, she didn't know if she could overpower him and wrestle away the weapon. Something needed to turn in her favor, or she wouldn't make it off this boat alive.