Heather Graham Bundle: The Island / Ghost Walk / Killing Kelly / The Vision

“Where’s Beth?” Keith asked the man.

“I don’t know. And quite frankly, this is all becoming a bit of a fiasco. Miss Anderson should be here, saying good-night with me. Whatever you people were so certain of tonight certainly didn’t happen—”

Keith ignored him. “Where are Ben and Amber?”

“Mr. Henson, I’m afraid I don’t know, and I’m still quite busy—and you look a mess.”

Keith walked past him, continuing to search the area. His blue-haired dance partner glanced at him and gasped.

Shaking his head, he hurried to the patio, since the closest door led out in that direction. There was no one there, but the door to the men’s locker room was ajar. Keith ran toward it and burst in.

He was stunned to see a figure on the floor. As he hurried over, he heard a groaning sound. He was stunned to discover Ben Anderson, struggling to sit up.

“Ben, what happened?”

Ben shook his head. “I was in here…I don’t know. My head. I came in because I’d left my watch in my locker…must have tripped. I was walking toward it…look, it’s open.” His eyes widened. “Amber…Amber was waiting for me, by the door. I told her to wait—not to wander off. Oh, God, she didn’t wait. She wandered. She didn’t listen. She didn’t realize…wouldn’t believe it could be dangerous here!” He stared at Keith. “My daughter! You have to find my daughter.”

Keith straightened. “Have you seen your sister?”

“No.”

“I’ll get you help,” Keith said.

Then he was out the door, shouting. He ran into a waiter in the patio and grabbed him by the lapels. “There’s a man hurt in there—get help. Get the police.”

The waiter paled and turned to do as he’d been told. Keith raced down onto the lawn. A few people were straggling out to spend the night on their boats. He searched through the crowds on each pier.

In the distance, he saw Amber Anderson getting on a boat. He frowned. There was someone else on the boat…and on the dock, but he couldn’t tell who.

Amber probably knew most of the people who had boats here, he reminded himself. But even so, why wasn’t she waiting for her father, the way she’d undoubtedly been told to do?

Amber’s father was lying on the floor of the men’s locker room, after being struck by someone, for some reason.

Keith started ripping off his dinner jacket as he raced down the pier.

“NO! DON’T LISTEN TO HIM. Get out of here,” Beth insisted. She was terrified but trying desperately not to sound it. Her mind was racing. She knew that if she didn’t somehow force Amber to escape, they would both be prisoners and probably end up murdered.

“She’s already listening to me, honey,” Brad said.

It was true. Amber was already on the boat.

At that moment Sandy came out of the cabin. She had stripped down to the white shirt worn by the caterers beneath their tux jackets. Tonight, she was wearing a disheveled red wig, and she’d designed a perfect smattering of freckles over her nose. She wore big, thick-rimmed glasses.

“Brad, what—oh!” she began.

“Get on the boat,” Brad told Beth.

“Amber, get off the boat!” she cried.

There were tears in her niece’s eyes then. “Aunt Beth, he’ll kill you.”

“Amber, he’ll kill us both!”

“No,” Sandy protested suddenly. “Get on the boat. Please, just get on the boat. We’ve got to get out of here.” She turned pleading eyes on Brad. “Brad, don’t hurt her. Get on the boat, just get on the boat. Please, nothing will happen to either of you if you’ll just get on the boat. Brad?” she implored.

“What the hell do you want me to do? They’ll both go screaming for help. We’ve got to get out of here now—with them aboard,” Brad replied roughly. “Get the lines, kid,” he said, addressing Amber. “I’ve seen your dad’s boat—I’m sure you know what you’re doing. I don’t want to hurt your aunt—Sandy there likes her a whole lot. But this is a pretty desperate situation you’ve caused for us. Tell your aunt to get her pretty rump on the boat so I don’t have to kill her, and help us get out of here!”

Beth wasn’t even sure that Brad cut her on purpose, but the knife moved against her throat, and she choked out a small sound of pain.

Amber jumped like a rabbit and did as she’d been told. Sandy stepped up to the rail as Brad prodded Beth forward, forcing her to either step or fall onto the deck.

Once they were all on board, he grabbed Beth by the hair, dragging her down to the small cabin. “If you hurt Amber in any way, I swear I’ll kill you,” she said, her voice shaking despite the bravado of the words. She didn’t consider herself a particularly brave person, but she had discovered a deep-seated maternal instinct. She would fight to her last breath for her niece.

KEITH GOT CLOSE ENOUGH to see the knife at Beth’s throat before the boat headed out. He swore, weighing his options. If cornered, they might kill one of their hostages, as a warning to back off.

He reached for his cell phone; it was gone. He’d lost it in the scuffle out front. Swearing silently beneath his breath, he started to move again, kicking off his shoes as he ran to the end of the pier, then dived into the water. He surfaced, then paused briefly to reconnoiter.

The boat was just moving within the speed limit of the law and following good boating etiquette. They were obviously trying not to be noticed. That was his first piece of luck. He swam hard.

His second piece of luck came when he realized that they’d been in a hurry and careless of the lines. One was trailing in the water. He caught hold of it just as the boat began to increase its speed. He strained to pull himself up closer, fighting to clear the motor. As the boat began to scud across the water, he held on for dear life.

“TIE HER UP!” Brad shouted to Sandy.

“You are not going to—” Beth began. She stopped. The knife again. She swallowed hard. “I’ll do anything if you’ll just let her go,” she said quietly.