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Chapter 1

The last notes of her song were fading out of the room as Saina rose carefully from the foot of the bed

Theback on his pillow as he drooled on it Saina nudged hier and decided with relief he would probably sleep for a while Her lullaby had done its work, and he’d fallen asleep without laying one greasy finger on her

If she was lucky, he’d be snoring for a few hours, and wake up not the slightest bit wiser for his little nap, everygown around her shoulders and drew in a breath

It was a big rooh to hide ave her a moment of pause, but she knew that what she was really after wouldn’t fit in the shoebox-sized compartment, so she continued her hunt until she found the suitcase under the bunk It was locked, but too ridiculously heavy for its size to be clothing The handcuff hanging open off the handle oal

She slipped her hairpin kit out of her dark, upswept hair and wriggled it into the lock, grateful that it wasn’t a digital systeently, and the tumblers fell away and clicked open Saina unsnapped the clasps and tipped the lid back to expose bricks of pale gray, plastic-wrapped, just as it had been described

This was it

She sat back on her heels She hated this whole job, every part of it was distasteful and wrong, even if the people on this yacht were all low-life slers who deserved no better But her directions had been very specific and her Voice… her Voice needed her No one else was going to come to her rescue, so it was up to Saina

She went to the closet and got the lurid pink carry-on she had bought the week before, e its contents on the floor

The bricks all but filled it, leaving roo purse with her phone and , she stuffed into the handcuffed suitcase, shoving as left to the very back of the closet

Saina paused at the doorway and cracked the door, and was glad to see that the short hallas ee towards the bow of the yacht, and she crept down the stairs towards the stern, pulling the luggage behind her as quietly as she could e

Two guards were standing outside the door out onto the back deck, s loudly

Saina observed thehy tied along the side of the boat It was pitch black out, in the very early hours of theThe tropical air arm and thick with hu

Saina chewed on her cheek for a hed, sucked her breath in, loosened her dressing gown, and sauntered out of the door like she owned it

Her appearance arrested their conversation, and she heaved a dra her breasts out of the ski-songed

“It’s that lounge singer Anders picked up at Jaco yesterday,” one of thenized

“And what a bore that guy was,” Saina said, giving the more from her than a nap, but they wouldn’t know that She put one hand on her round hip and inspected her fingernails on the other

They stared, cigarettes hanging fro looks Saina immediately dubbed them Skeptical and Hopeful in her head, based on their expressions

Skeptical eyed her overloaded rolling luggage curiously, while Hopeful couldn’t stop staring at the cleavage spilling out of the frilly little nu Saina turned her attention on Skeptical, huhtly under her breath

“You looking to give us a little private show?” Hopeful suggested gleefully

Saina answered with a few bars of an appropriate pop song:

“Are you looking