Dead By Nightfall by Beverly Barton Page A

may have taken Nic.”
    Without giving his breakfast another thought, Griff shot to his feet and hurried out of the kitchen. Shaughnessy lumbered along behind him, his size sixteen shoes pounding against the wooden hallway floor.
    As they rushed to the office suite, Maleah caught up with them. Sanders met Griff at the door. He held up several computer printouts.
    â€œThere is a privately owned island, off the coast of Belize, south of Mexico, in the Caribbean Sea that could be where Linden took Nicole,” Sanders said, and without taking a breath added, “I contacted the deputy prime minister personally, explained the situation, and he agreed to cut through all the red tape. The information we needed just came in a couple of minutes ago. The title for the island shows that it is owned by Kroy Enterprises.”
    â€œKroy again,” Griff said. “Do you have the exact location?”
    Griff’s heartbeat strummed inside his head. They could be in Belize in a few hours. Was it possible they had actually found Nic so easily, that there was a chance they could bring her home today?
    â€œShelter Island consists of nine acres of heavily wooded land and is located northwest of the Cat Cayes range. There is no landing strip on the island, so unless Linden took Nicole there by helicopter, he had to have taken her by boat.”
    â€œDo we have anyone in Belize?” Griff asked as he rammed past Sanders and went straight to his desk.
    â€œWe have several freelance operatives we can trust.”
    â€œI want to know if and when a private jet owned by Kroy Enterprises landed in Belize or Mexico or—”
    â€œRett’s handling that now.” Sanders glanced at Everett Dawson who was at that moment on the telephone.
    Griff scanned the office, saw that Sanders, Rett Dawson, Shaughnessy, and Maleah were the only people in the suite. “Where’s Luke Sentell? He hasn’t left yet, has he?”
    â€œLuke hasn’t come up to the main house this morning. I assume he’s still asleep down at the bunkhouse,” Maleah told them.
    â€œGet him,” Griff said, his voice deadly calm. “I need him to postpone his trip to Europe.”
    Maleah turned and immediately left the room.
    They could wait to gather more info, to be absolutely certain that Nic was being held captive on Shelter Island, but Griff wasn’t willing to postpone doing what his gut told him to do now. Yeah, sure, they could be walking into a trap. Or the mastermind behind Malcolm York’s resurrection could have planted the info leading them straight to Shelter Island as a decoy. Linden could have taken Nic anywhere. For all they knew, she could be halfway around the world by now.
    Â 
    Before Mr. Auburn Hair began to rouse, Nic slipped into the robe hanging on the bathroom door and tossed Lina the matching gown. While Nic poured the contents of the wine bottle into the commode and flushed the merlot, Lina kept watch over the sleeping hunter. Just as Nic came out of the bathroom, a loud knock rocked the heavy wooden door seconds before Anthony Linden swept into the room, a package under his arm. He glanced from Nic to Lina and then at Mr. Auburn Hair, who rolled onto his back and mumbled incoherently, apparently coming out of his drug-induced sleep.
    â€œIt would appear you two wore him out.” Linden grinned at them. “Neither of you look the worse for wear.” He walked over to Nic, ran the back of his hand down her back, and into the V of her robe. “I find the bruises on your neck exciting. I’m sure other men will, too.”
    Nic cringed at his touch. Bastard!
    â€œLina, leave us,” Linden said. “Go to your quarters and pack. You’ll be leaving the island in less than an hour.”
    They were on an island. She knew it. That was the reason she had been transported from the airplane to a boat. Apparently there wasn’t a landing strip on the island.
    Lina hurried