Logan shivered as cold icy fingers danced over his body, like someone had just walked over his grave. And he didn't like it. Not a single bit. He'd had no luck tracking her down. They'd sat in the plaza for hours, nursing a few beers in the process. Even Darla had come back empty handed.

He'd been certain that the girls would have caught up with each other. They had an innate ability to find each other, but nothing had turned up. He knew she'd returned to the room and grabbed her luggage, but where she went after that was anyone's guess.

But a heaviness hung over his head and it wasn't just because she'd left him. He'd felt it out in the field at work, too. A type of sixth sense his buddies called it. They'd always had a leg up on their enemies because he'd been able to tell when something was going down.

"Jason, I'm not liking this. I have a bad feeling," Logan said.

His friend sat back in his chair as he looked around. "It's like the atmosphere on the ship has changed."

Good. He wasn't the only one that's felt it. "Have you seen anything weird?"

"Not really, but I haven't been looking to be honest. What are you thinking?"

"Well, I saw a man with a gun earlier, and I don't think he was part of the security crew. And when I tried to talk with security about it, they brushed me off."

Jason frowned as he drummed his fingers on the table as they sat in the Dining room. Darla hadn't said much since she joined them, but her eyes gave her feelings away. They were withdrawn and staring at nothing. Even though they'd only known each other a few days, the girls had become fairly good friends.

"I'm scared," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"We'll find her, hun," Jason replied, giving her hand a squeeze. "I promise."

Logan picked at his food. Feelings of hunger had long since disappeared and he'd barely taken a bite. "After we finish, I'm gonna run by Customer Service again. If they can't tell me where she is, the least they can do is check on her for me."

Darla brushed the hair back from her eyes and looked at him. "And we'll keep trying to find her. Let's meet on the first floor of the plaza by 10pm."

He was certainly glad that he'd met the two of them. He didn't know what he'd do without them right now. They hadn't bonded with anyone else on board really. They'd become their own little group. And it was fine by him really. He wasn't a big people person anyway.

Pushing his plate away, Logan stood up. "I'm going to inquire around and see what else I can find out. See if I see anything else suspicious. See you guys in a few hours."

After giving Jason a fist bump and Darla a squeeze on the shoulder, he set his sights on returning to the front desk so to speak. They had to be able to tell him something or at least do something for him.

After a short trek to the elevator, he rode up to the middle plaza deck and waited in the long lineup that had gathered. It looked like this was the day that everyone had some stupid question. He shoved his hands in his pockets because if he didn't he was going to push his way through the lineup.

Adrenaline coursed through his body, ramping up his heart rate; it thumped against his ribcage like a drum. He shifted his weight from leg to leg. Every minute he'd spent in this line was one less minute he could be scouring the ship.

Damn it. Logan bit his cheeks, trying to hold his tongue. How long was it going to take for them to move their bloody asses? His breath hissed between his teeth. He needed to find her, needed to know she was okay.

After what felt like 20 agonizing minutes, it was his turn. "I need help, and I don't want to hear that you can't help me. Got it?"

The petite brown haired young woman cowered slightly and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. "How can I help you?" she said, her voice wavering slightly.

"My wife used to share a room with me, but earlier today she moved out. I think she's in danger so I need you to tell me where I can find her."

"What's her name?"

"Tamara Dupon, although, she may still be in the system as Tamara Jackson."

"Well, everything appears to be okay on her file. I don't see any notes that indicate otherwise."

"What is her room number?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, sir. It's confidential."

"I'm her husband, damn it." He stopped a moment and took a deep breath before placing his palms on the counter. "I think she's in danger, so if you can't help me, Get someone who can."

"We can get someone to check on her, but that's as much as I can offer."

Logan reached into his back pocket and pulled out his other wallet and flashed her his badge. "I would like to speak with your supervisor."

He doubted that his badge had much clout on a cruise ship, but it should help put him in front of someone who could help. In order to get the information he wanted, he'd have to concoct a story. Something that would make them reveal her location.

The girl disappeared into the back and within a few minutes a man in a suit with a name tag that said Darren Hollywood came out. "Hi Sir, what can I do for you?"

Logan flashed his badge again. "I really need to speak with you in private."

"Are you working for the cruise ship?"

"No, but I have some sensitive information that you need to hear."

At first he thought the man was going to turn him down, but instead the guy sighed and said he'd be out in a minute. That made him almost leap for joy. He was getting closer to his goal, closer to making sure she was fine.

"This way, Sir," the man said, appearing around the corner.

Logan followed him through a door and into a back office; all the while trying to spin a story in his head. "She's a witness to a very important case and we came on board just to keep her safe until the trial in a few weeks. But the girl is too smart for her own good and managed to evade me. My boss is going to have my hide if I don't find her."

The man sat back in his chair, crossing his arms and staring at Logan suspiciously. "How do I know you are telling the truth?"

"Would I show you my badge if I wasn't? Posing as an officer is a federal offense."

"As I can't speak with your superiors currently, I'm going to have to unfortunately err on the side of caution. I hope you can understand that. However, I'll have someone check on her and then we'll let you know. That's the best I can offer." After he said that, his phone rang and he picked it up, covering the receiver with his hand. "Sorry, I have to take this."

Logan stood up and leaned forward, resting his palms on the desk as he narrowed his eyes at the man. The guy wasn't taking him seriously enough. "I'll give you 24 hours, but if you haven't found her by then, I'm going to be knocking on cabin doors."

As he stormed over to the door, he took a deep breath. He just had to find her. His heart couldn't live life without her anymore. She was his life, his breath. When all the difficult times hit him, it was his memories of her that kept him going. Now, she was close to slipping through his fingers again.

The knot in his stomach grew to the side of a boulder and his chest tightened as he thought of his future without her in it. Alone until the day he died. That's what he knew would happen. No one could take her place. He hoped like hell that she wasn't in danger like his intuition was telling him. If he brought her out here and something happened to her, he'd never forgive himself. Nausea bubbled in his belly. She had to be okay.

"I'll make sure she's okay, don't worry," the man said as Logan opened the door.

"Easy for you to say," he muttered.

Walking down the corridor, he pulled out his phone and brought a picture of Tamara up on the screen. Maybe someone on the ship has seen her, so he proceeded to stop every person that walked by.

After about twenty minutes, he found himself in the gym, ready to release his frustration via the punching bag. No one had spotted her or hadn't recalled spotting her recently. Either something had happened to her or she was purposely trying to remain hidden. But the longer it took him to find her, the more uneasy he became.

"Excuse me," he said to a gentleman walking down the bottom cabin deck. When the man turned to look at him, Logan's eyes widened. "It's you."

***

Tamara wasn't sure how long she was alone in the room for, but the sun had begun to set, casting shadows along the wall of the room. No matter how hard she tugged on the ropes she couldn't get them to loosen. The men had taken a few of the weapons with them, hidden under long trench coats. They stuck out like a sore thumb, so someone was bound to call them on it.

Two of the men took the dead girl via a large bin to the incinerator. The others left to do god knows what. They never said much in front of her, but things didn't look good. Damn it. This wouldn't have happened if she hadn't let her guard down. That wasn't her. Her guard was always up. It was the only way she survived in her world. She knew that it only took a second for one's life to change. She'd seen it happen more times than she cared to admit.

But she worked hard, kept her focus, and it got her out of a hundred jams and then some. Now enter Logan and here she was—tied to a bed with no way out and feeling helpless, nerves frayed. God, she hated that feeling.

Closing her eyes, she tried to think of what to do next. There had to be something to alert others that she was there. Tamara glanced over at the phone on the desk and smacked her head against the headboard in frustration, causing it to thump loudly against the wall. Her heard skipped a beat at the sound and a little well of hope sprang within her. It was the first glimmer of light in a rather dark day.

All she had to do was wait until someone made noise in the hallway and then beat the heck out of the headboard...without killing herself in the process. Just wait until she got her hands on them, she was going to make them black and blue. They wouldn't know what hit them by the time she was done with them.

The words of her boss came back to haunt her. 'Your temper is going to get you into trouble someday.'

He was right. She had to keep a cool head. But she was still going to whoop their asses just in a more calm way. All of them were going to feel her knee between their legs and were going to wish that they had never messed with her.

It was well into the evening now, and all the lights in the suite were off and only the light from the moon overhead lit the room. She surmised that they would be returning to the room soon. They had to sleep somewhere didn't they? But she hoped someone else would come by first.

Fighting to keep her eyes open, she started singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall and desperately wished she could have one. Tamara wanted to be tucked in a corner booth with a beer in her hand and a plate full of spicy chicken wings. Her hands sticky with sauce that Logan wanted to suck clean.

Her core ached at the thought. She desperately wanted to make love to him again, to spend the rest of her life with him. A twinge of regret filled her. He must be beside himself right now. Was this her punishment for leaving him? Her parents had always taught her that marriage is for life. But she didn't want to be the reason why Logan spiraled into the darkness. She didn't want to be the one to ruin his life.

She couldn't do that to his little girl either. Chloe deserved to have a daddy that was fit for the role and coming back to where his nightmare began would take that from her. It was hard enough just being responsible for herself and the city, and she made enough mistakes in those areas.

But she still couldn't help but feel that mother nature was punishing her for leaving him. She said the words 'I do' forever joining them in holy matrimony, even if it was inside foreign church. Tamara smacked her head on the headboard in frustration. What was she supposed to do?

Just as she was about to smack the back of her head again, voices waffled into the room through the crack under the door. With as much strength as she could must, without making herself pass out, Tamara slammed head and shoulder into the headboard, screaming into the tape. "Someone help me!" It came out a garbled mess of sounds, but it was better than nothing.

The voices stopped and she took that moment to do the same all over again. "Help," she cried, her voice muffled. God, she wished she was a ventriloquist.

A moment later, someone knocked on the door and said, "Hello, are you okay in there?"

She screamed into the tape, smashing her head into the headboard again while her legs beat the bed. Her words came out as a mash of sounds behind the tape, but her arms were spread wide and she couldn't use them to remove it.

"Hello, anyone in there?" the voice said again, it sounded a lot like Darla.

"Darla!" Tamara cried, knowing yet again her words were unrecognizable.

"I'm going to go get security. You're going to be okay!" the voice reassured her.

Tamara let out a breath of relief and allowed her head to rest on the wooden headboard. The minute someone set her free, she was going to go speak with security or the captain and let them know that something was about to go down. What it was she didn't know, but it was something big.

A moment later, a few other voices filled the corridor, and she heard a muffled cry before a key card was slipped in the door. The door was pushed open and in tumbled Darla. Crud! And right behind her was that Medusa looking guy.

"Let her go," Tamara tried to cry, tugging once again at the ropes. Darla turned to look at her, fear running rampant in her eyes. If she would have just stayed quiet, her new friend wouldn't be in the same mess she was. Of all the people on the ship that could have been walking by, why did it have to be her?

It was just her dumb luck. All her life it's been that way. Nothing ever worked out the way she wanted it to. Her brother survived a falling elevator, a crazy ex-sub, a crazy ex-girlfriend, and finds the love of his life, and here she was, without her promotion, without her husband, and tied to a bed of a creep.

A shiver slithered down her spine as she watched him drag Darla to the bed beside her. Tamara kicked out with her feet and thwacked him in the hip with her heel, causing him to temporarily release Darla as he fell onto the bed. Her friend bolted towards the door.

-----

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for continuing to read my story. :) Things are really heating up now. Do you think she'll make it out the door? Oh gosh, I hope he doesn't shoot her too. *covers eyes*

If you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to point them out. I haven't begun editing yet.

Have a great weekend!