Dark Vengeance by Kristi Belcamino (libby ebook reader .txt) 📗

Arrow made a U-turn. At the marina, there was no sign of the black car, and the ferry to the mainland of Sumatra was not docked. I forked over some cash for information from the clerk at the ferry terminal, only to be told the ferry I’d come in on had left immediately after and there wouldn’t be another one coming until tomorrow morning.

It was partly good news. That meant that it was unlikely anyone had left the island with Rose on the ferry. But it didn’t discount the possibility that she’d been taken away on a private boat.

Back in the truck, I shook my head.

“I was on the last ferry in, and it immediately turned around and headed back.”

“And you’re sure she didn’t leave on her own?” Arrow asked.

 “Rose would never have left without Dylan,” I said. “Especially if he was hurt.

Makeda looked at me with those green eyes. “You’re right.”

“We need to find her,” I said. “I’m going to sleep in her hut tonight. Maybe she’ll come back. But I don’t think so. She was taken against her will. I know it. Please tell me anything you can.” I stared at her. She stared back.

She studied me for a long moment and said, “I can’t help you.”

3

Same lame response.

I didn’t understand Makeda’s deal.

When we arrived back at the surf camp I jumped out, thanking them for the ride, and then headed toward Rose’s hut.

A quick survey of the interior did not turn up any type of bloody weapon—rusted or not. Or the book of love letters. A few other books, but not that one. My heart sank. She’d taken it with her? Using the flashlight on my phone, I searched the ground around the hut and then walked up to the road. I searched the ground for any clues, any sign of Rose. There was nothing.

My phone gave a warning that the battery was low. I had a few spare battery packs in my bag, but wanted to save them for emergencies. I wasn’t sure when I could find a place to plug in my phone. This surf camp was really off the grid. Hell, the whole island was off the grid.

Back in the hut, I curled up on the futon mattress on the floor, pulling the light blanket over me.

I was utterly exhausted, but sleep eluded me. My mind was racing. It was too much of a coincidence that Rose was kidnapped when I showed up and started asking about her.

It meant that my questions had triggered her kidnapping. Or worse, that her kidnapping was tied to my arrival on the island.

I hated either option. Because anyway you looked at it, her kidnapping was a direct result of my being here. And Dylan’s injuries were, too, for that matter.

As I lay in the dark, listening to the sound of the waves breaking down on the beach, I replayed every move I’d made since I stepped off the ferry. Right before Rose was taken, I’d been down at the beach talking to the surfers. I thought about each one of them. I kept going back to the petite girl and the two guys she was with. She had looked at me with utter hatred. And that’s when I remembered, Dre, the blonde boy, had mumbled something—I think he said “Fucking Benny”—and left the group. Had he gone to sound an alarm? Because when I raced back to the group with Dylan, he was there. That meant he couldn’t have been the one to take Rose. But maybe he’d arranged for it to happen.

Dylan must’ve been trying to protect her and gotten hurt that way. Or else someone had used Dylan to get Rose to cooperate. That was probably it. Rose was very capable of fighting off the average predator. Unless they were threatening something or someone she loved. Like Dylan.

That made the most sense to me.

If that were true, it also meant that there was probably more than one person involved.

Someone to threaten to kill Dylan and someone to take Rose away.

My eyes grew heavy, and my body began to feel as if it were sinking into the futon. Finally, sleep was near. There was something so soothing about the slight cool breeze coming in the window and the sounds of the ocean lapping the shore so near. Besides that, the night was silent and dark. Especially in the hut. I could barely make out the lighter shape of the window across the room and only then because it was filled with stars.

So many stars. I could see why Rose had come here.

There was something so peaceful about this place. It felt like not only the other side of the earth, but a place that remained untouched by the modern world.

I thought about the other young people I’d met tonight.

They were all here to escape something. It was obvious.

As I grew sleepier, my thoughts drifted. I realized that although I was a city girl, Rose had almost always been a beach girl. First, we lived by the ocean in San Diego, then she lived with Eva in Italy and then she spent the rest of her childhood years a few blocks away from the beach in Barcelona.

Of course, she would feel at home here. The ocean and beach were part of her.

I yawned, and guilt swarmed me. I was going to sleep when I should be out looking for Rose. But I didn’t even know where to start looking. The island wasn’t that big, but it was big enough that it would take more than a few hours to scour it. What I needed was help. I needed to somehow convince Makeda to help me find Rose. Or at least point me in the right direction.

I didn’t understand her reluctance. She helped me with Dylan without hesitation, but any mention of finding Rose was rebuffed immediately without explanation.

Odd.

When she said she wouldn’t help me, there was something odd in