Page 20 of Paradise Ties

He heard her voice in his mind, and his eyes moved to her as he answered her using the connection they shared to send her his thoughts. “Luce, are you okay?”

“Yes, fine, just pissed off these pricks are ruining my plans.”

Jace smiled despite the situation. Never one to overreact in these types of cases, his fiancée was cool and more worried about her wedding plans than the immediate danger.

“Do you recognise any of the men?”

“No, do you?”

“No, but Jack might. Have you accessed the alarm on the watch?”

“Yes, hopefully the others can organise something. If it were just us, I’d say we could overpower them. But with no weapons and so many civilians, it could end in a blood bath.”

“I agree. Let’s hold tight and see what they want. My guess is a ransom.”

“Mine too. She looks terrified.”

Jace looked at the Princess who did, in fact, look terrified. Her guard was dead, shot when the first round of bullets had hit. It was a miracle nobody else was injured or dead, but then maybe not.

These men looked like they had been planning everything for a while. The sound of the sirens went quiet. Jace noticed the doors to the back of the bar being rigged with explosives and figured all the entrances were the same. The local police wouldn’t have anyone able to deal with that and would need to call in help from the mainland.

He needed to listen in to the men’s thoughts and hope he could interpret their language clearly enough to give him some insight. He concentrated on the one with the scar as he seemed to be in charge.

Two hours.

Jace wondered what that meant but was distracted by a scream from one of the girls in Drew’s group. He glanced over to see her stand, and in a panic, make a run for freedom.

“Nooooo,” he heard in his mind and in his ears as Drew dove to grab her.

A hail of bullets mowed the woman down, her body jerking with each round that ripped through her. Jace watched in horror as she fell to the ground lifeless, blood spatters all around her, including on the sobbing woman Drew now held in his arms.

“Would anyone else like to try me today?” the leader growled as he looked at the hostages with hatred. He glared at Drew and Mara. “Shut her up or she’ll be next.”

Jace felt his hands clench into fists but locked eyes with Drew and nodded. Drew lifted his chin slightly as he spoke quietly to Mara who sniffed and stopped crying but averted her eyes from her dead friend.

“Jace.”

He flinched at Celeste’s voice in his head, never having heard it before. Her abilities weren’t communication, and he wondered what was going on. “Celeste, how are you doing this?”

“I don’t know, but I knew I had to try. Can you talk to Zin?”

“I haven’t tried. Normally I can hear thoughts but not usually have a conversation. I can try.”

“You need to.”

She sounded upset, and for the first time since the gunmen had started shooting, he felt real fear curl through him.

“Did you see something?” he asked cautiously. His eyes locked on hers, and she gave a slight nod. He could see the fear in her green eyes. “What did you see?”

She was silent for a few beats, and he had a horrible feeling in his gut. “I see you, Zin and Jack on the floor with your hands behind your backs. Your heads are down and the man with the scar is ranting and raving at you. Then he turns and points the gun at Zin and then… he fires.”

Jace swallowed. Fear and grief were tangible in her voice, and he wanted to reach out and comfort her but couldn’t. “I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen, Celeste.”

They both knew his words were empty because Celeste had never had a vision that didn’t happen. He contemplated telling Lucy but decided against it. She’d lose her mind and do something to try and stop it, and he’d rather die and have her live than watch her get killed.

He felt his wrist vibrate and glanced around to make sure he didn’t have eyes on him before he looked down. The screen was dark except for a tiny blue pinprick of light which meant someone was listening in.

The cavalry had joined the party. Now he could try and get them some information. He saw Will and Zin lift their chins at him in acknowledgement that they too had been alerted. He then began to count the men, the weapons, their positions, and any threats he could see. As soon as he got the opportunity, he’d get the information to whoever was on the other end.