The Heist

drive up in a golf cart, and watched him step out from behind the wheel. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and white shorts. He was deeply tanned, with a sprinkling of premature gray in his hair, and his body was muscled in the way that men get muscled from working out in a prison yard, liftingweights and running along the fenced perimeter day after day because it’s all there is to do. Griffin’s prison was his tropical island.
    “Go get him, tiger,” Nick said to Kate. “Turn his world upside down.”
    “I’m not sure I can do that,” Kate said.
    “You did it to me,” Nick said. “And you can do it to him.”
    As the boat neared shore, Kate tried out some of Boyd’s Method acting, imagining herself in the afterglow of sex, parts of her still swollen and pulsing, her heart still beating fast, her skin flushed.
    “Are you okay?” Nick asked. “You sound like you’re hyperventilating. Do you need a paper bag?”
    “I’m fine,” Kate said. “Got a little heartburn from your cooking.”
    Okay, she thought, maybe I should dial back on the Method stuff.
    Griffin saw the hot bitch in the red dress studying his body, and he saw the smile it brought to her face. Nice, he thought. This was starting out very well and they hadn’t even met yet. He gestured to his men to help bring the dinghy ashore. Three of the tribesmen sloshed out into the water and pulled the boat up onto the beach.
    Dumah stepped up beside Griffin. “I don’t like this. We have no idea who they are.”
    “She’s a wealthy young woman who decided to take a cruise in pirate-infested waters on an expensive yacht with a flag on the mast that said ‘Come and get it.’ ”
    “And yet here they are,” Dumah said. “How did they escape?”
    “I’m sure there’s a good explanation,” Griffin said. “You keep an eye on her crew. I’ll watch her.”
    Griffin stepped into the warm, shallow water and offered his hand to the woman as she climbed out of the boat.
    “Oh, thank God,” she said. “A friendly face. For a minute there, I was afraid we were trading one bad situation for another. What if we’d come ashore on an island occupied by pirates?”
    “Fortunately, that’s not the case,” Griffin said, leading her to the beach and leaving her two crew members to fend for themselves. “I’m Daniel Dravot and this is my private island. You’re safe here.”
    “That’s a huge relief after what we’ve just been through. I’m Eunice Huffnagle.” She gestured to her two crew members standing a respectful distance away with Dumah and the curious tribespeople. “Willie is my ship’s captain, and Sam is first mate.”
    “Eunice Huffnagle,” Griffin said. “What an unusual name.”
    “I was named after my great-aunt. She went insane one night and killed her mate.” Kate cut her eyes to Nick.
    “Your boat looks like it’s sustained significant damage,” Griffin said. “You don’t have your great-aunt on board, do you?”
    “Goodness, no. We were attacked by pirates,” Kate said. “They came out of nowhere on speedboats and just started shooting at us with machine guns. Luckily, no one was hurt. We have to call the coast guard right away.”
    “There’s no point. There’s nothing the authorities can do.”
    “But those pirates are still out there, waiting to ambush somebody else.”
    “It’s a big sea with a thousand islands, all of it infested with pirates. You escaped. Consider yourself very, very lucky.”
    “So it’s just open season on the tourists.”
    “Only the ones who stray far from civilization and flaunt their wealth and vulnerability.”
    He regretted the remark the instant he made it. Insulting a woman was probably not the best strategy for getting her into bed. But, to his relief, she didn’t seem offended. She shrugged his comment off.
    “I wanted to get away from it all and experience the true Indonesia, not sit around in one of Daddy’s hotels. So I rented this little boat. What’s the point of having lots of money if you don’t spend it?”
    “So true,” Griffin said, trying to sneak a peek down her silky top. “How did you get away from the pirates? Surely you couldn’t have outrun them.”
    “Sam blew up their boat with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.”
    Eunice said it in a casual, offhand sort of way that made it seem as if she was referring to a common yacht accessory.
    “Really?” Griffin looked over her shoulder to Sam, who nodded.
    “Her father is very