I took his apparent concern as a good sign for me. It meant I had a chance to make it through this. Not being someone who wanted to depend on someone else for security, however, I continued working the chair after he left the room. It was wooden, for crying out loud! I had to be able to break it eventually. Eventually the wood would give, right? At least that was my thinking on the matter.
The chair didn’t seem to budge. There didn’t seem to be any distress or any weak points I could exploit to free myself. I didn’t want to be stuck on this boat waiting for Gage to arrive or for Dimitri to decide he was tired of playing with me.
If my theory about the bear’s concern over Gage’s arrival was true, it meant that I offered him a distraction. As a useful distraction, he would probably keep me around until the last minute, which increased my chances of being rescued.
My mind filled to the brim with possibilities and theories, questions and reflections. Just as Dimitri seemed to need me as a distraction, I was beginning to realize I needed him, too. I felt like there was some truth in what he’d told me earlier about looking forward to talking to me at Kings of Hell HQ, but not because he knew he was going to talk me into helping him at some point. I felt that I understood why he had looked forward to talking to me, because in my wooden chair, locked away in a closet and unable to tell if it were day or night, I felt the same way.
I caught myself wanting him to come back in so I would at least have someone to talk to or listen to besides my own thoughts, which were getting more and more persistent, and more and more panicked. Dimitri was becoming a comfort, offering me solace from the growing noise in my own head. I wanted him back because he also helped me pass the time faster than the waves rocking the boat. Even if it meant having to listen to him fantasize about killing me.
Chapter 30
Gage
We took two boats out in the middle of the night, shrouded by darkness. The mayor had given us night vision goggles and made sure we were equipped with the right gear for jumping in the water in the middle of the night to swim a good bit of the way to the yacht.
There were five of us in each boat. We had fully automatic assault rifles, handguns, and knives, just in case it got down to hand-to-hand combat. We even had radio headsets so that we could communicate with each other across the water.
“Alright, guys, let’s get a little closer. We’ll stop when we can see the boat,” I told everyone. We had a GPS app that had locked onto Ivan’s cell phone, courtesy of the mayor, again. He’d pulled some strings to get access to the phone system he used.
“I still don’t like using all this stuff the mayor gave us,” Jorell chimed in. “It feels too much like we’re working for him.”
“Let’s keep the line clear for important updates,” I responded. “And, Jorell, think of him as a wealthy partner with incredible connections. You’ll be surprised who you ended up using as partners in our line of work. So let’s be grateful that he was willing to help us.”
“Right, he could have been a dick and turned everyone against us. We could have been picked up by the Feds instead of being attacked by Ivan’s men,” Juarez chimed in.
“Alright, guys, that’s enough. We’ll air this out when we get back to HQ. Right now we have a job to do, so let’s get to work. Keep your eyes out for Ivan’s yacht.” I listened as the line went dead.
Jorell was becoming a problem. He seemed to want to foster dissent, but little did he know, his time with us was coming to a close. As part of my new push to better the MC, I wasn’t going to be able to tolerate him for much longer. His attitude wasn’t productive or helpful.
“I think I see something,” Ricky said over the line. Sure enough, there was a small green blip on the horizon.
“That looks like it,” I said.
“Hey, if we’re out here with night vision goggles on, how do we know Ivan doesn’t have anyone watching for us with night vision?” Jorell asked. “Sorry, it just occurred to me.”
“You know, you’re right,” I replied. It seemed that none of us had thought of that. “I’m sorry, guys, but I think it’s too late to do anything about it. Let’s get a little closer to make sure it’s actually him, and then let’s ditch the boats. The best way we can avoid being detected is by splitting up in the water instead of sitting together in these boats.”
“Right,” Jorell agreed.
“Hey, there aren’t any sharks or anything we need to worry about in Lake Michigan, right?” Juarez asked, getting a laugh out of everybody.