Long Gone Read Online Free PDF

card. “He thinks he might trade this baby in for one of my newer models.”
    The older man looked at the younger. “Did the boss say anything to you about this?”  
    The youth shrugged. “No, Skipper, but he gets a new boat every year, don’t he?”
    “Yes, he does, and he buys them from me,” Drake smoothly inserted. “I’m sure it just slipped his mind. He did say he was busy lately. How about I take a quick look around, then you can fetch Mr. Jameson when I’m ready to assess the cabin. I brought my mechanic with me.” He jerked his thumb toward his father, who sent the men a nod.
    “Why don’t you show my mechanic the engine room,” Drake suggested to the junior deckhand. “That way, I can get started up here and it’ll go faster.”
    “I’ll go get the boss,” the older man decided, backing toward the cabin.
    “Sure, if you don’t mind disturbing him,” Drake said easily. “He must be pretty distracted to have forgotten our appointment.”
    The skipper backtracked toward Drake and jerked his head at his underling. “Go ahead and show him. What do you wanna look at first?” he asked Drake. 
    “How about the pilot room? I’ll start up there and work my way down,” Drake suggested. “A boat’s only as good as her engine and pilot rooms, wouldn’t you say?”
    The skipper didn’t say anything. Gesturing for Drake to precede him to the upper decks, he remained a safe distance behind him until they reached the pilot room. There he went straight to the phone by the wheel and picked it up, turning his back to Drake for the first time. “What did you say your name was again?” Clearly, he’d changed his mind about alerting Jameson.
    That was Drake’s cue to bring the man to his knees. He did so with a well-executed chop to the neck. 
    Even then, the skipper put up a good fight, forcing Drake to render him unconscious with a sleeper hold. Once the man went limp, he bound his hands behind his back using the phone cord and gagged him with a rag. 
    That done, he hurried down the steps in search of his father, trying all the while not to dwell on what might be happening to Skyler , who’d been alone with Jameson all this time.

Chapter Four
     
    A throbbing pain brought Skyler’s hand up to her temple. She cracked her eyes open only to squeeze them shut again as nausea rose up and the pounding intensified. Dear God . Why was she lying on her back in so much discomfort?  
    The memories came flooding back—how she had foolishly opened the door to a stranger, been overpowered, and forced to breathe chloroform vapors. She jerked upright, only to be yanked back by something biting into her right wrist. 
    Rolling her head upon a pillow, she peered up at the handcuff chaining her wrist to a brass headboard. Her eyes flew wide as she took in the odd dimensions of an unfamiliar bedroom. The built-in cabinetry and rounded window drove home the realization that she’d been stowed aboard a boat. 
    One of her father’s favorite me thod s of d ispos ing of problematic people was taking them out to sea—and never bringing them back .
    Yanking on the handcuff, she tried desperately to slip her hand through, only the cuff had been cinched too tightly. She fell back onto the leopard-patterned coverlet, defeated.
    There was no denying the truth. T hey had found her .
    A barb of terror lanced her chest and nausea roiled in her again. With a moan of misery, she leaned over the edge of the bed just in time to keep from retching on herself .
    She felt better with an empty stomach, but before she could gather her thoughts to devise a means of escape, footsteps sounded outside the door. The knob turned and the d oor swung inward. The familiar visage of the man stepping into the room brought a gasp of recognition to her lips as he shut and locked the door behind him.
    Ashton Jameson , her one-time fiancé and a dedicated Centurion.
    The blood drained from Skyler’s face as he drew closer, smirking. Dressed in