The Black Feather Read Online Free

at that last pothole. You’re lucky that’s all I lost. My breakfast has already bounced up into my throat. If you want to go tearing around like some teenager, that’s your business. But I don’t want any part of it. Turn this vehicle around and take me back to the ship right now.”
    “I wonder if you realize how sexy you sound with that demanding attitude.”
    “I should warn you that this is definitely not a time where flattery is going to make me change my mind. You’ll have to continue this craziness on your own. I want to go back. I mean it, Thad.”
    His fingers flexed on the wheel, and he shook his head.
    “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he said.
    “Can’t or won’t?”
    “What difference does it make? Either way, I won’t be taking you back.”
    Her fingers gripped the edge of the seat as a disturbing thought filled her head with painful clarity.
    “Wait a minute. Are you saying we’re not going back to the ship? Ever?”
    He gave her a quick, pitying look.
    “I’m sorry, Suzanne,” he said, his voice sounding truly apologetic. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”
    “You hoped what wouldn’t come to this? What’s going on, Thad?”
    The panic forming in her belly swiftly began to rise to her throat.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I know you’re frightened. I promise I’m not going to hurt you, Suzanne.”
    “If you really mean that, you’ll let me go to the ship, or let me out and I’ll find my own way back.” She grabbed for the tie on her scarf as a tuft of wind threatened to blow it away.
    “Please, Thad,” she pleaded when he didn’t answer. “You really are scaring me now.”
    “I know; and I am sorry. Remember when I said you should trust my judgment?”
    “Ye . . . yes,” she stuttered in a shaky whisper while her fingers dug deeper into the seat.
    “Well, now would be a good time to start.”
    Maya’s words popped inside her head. Had she suspected something like this was going to happen?
    “I don’t understand why you’re doing this. Please just tell...” She stopped, thinking of a way she might get Thad to turn back. “I have to call Heather. She’s going to be frantic when I don’t return.”
    She fumbled in her purse and dug out her cell phone.
    Thad surprised her by reaching over and snatching it out of her hand. The Jeep jerked sideways while he jammed the phone into his shirt pocket.
    “I’d rather you didn’t make any calls right now. Linc and Maya will contact Heather.”
    “What about my stuff? My clothes? My jewelry?”
    “They’ll get everything.”
    “So their meeting in town was just a ruse to get me out of their house. Why?”
    “Let’s just say it’s for your own protection.”
    Suzanne gritted her teeth.
    “Can your friends also get me a refund for the days I’m going to be missing on the cruise? Or is that not part of your crazy scheme?”
    “I’ll reimburse you myself if that’ll make you happy.”
    “What would really make me happy is to turn the clock back to the day we met, so I could run the other way.”
    “Aw, now you’ve hurt my feelings.”
    “What feelings? If you had any you’d turn this vehicle around and get me out of here.”
    Thad answered her by swerving the Jeep onto a much smaller road that wasn’t really a road at all, but more of a muddy trail barely wide enough to accommodate them. They were in deep jungle now with no signs of civilization that Suzanne could see in the increasingly thick foliage.
    He’d been forced to slow down and adjust to the terrain, although they were still going much too fast for her comfort. Large plants swept against the vehicle, and an occasional one slapped its way inside causing Suzanne to jerk away. Thad drove over vines crisscrossing their path, crushing the leaves beneath the wheels, while small rocks sprang up making pinging sounds against the underside of the Jeep.
    The dense jungle greedily trapped the sun making the air hang heavy and hot around them. Suzanne