“I can’t! One of the god damned engines is blown!”
Another booming roar and suddenly the window beside DeSalliers dissolved into a thousand shards of glass, which went flying across the cabin. Dar pressed her body against the wall and threw her arm up to protect her face.
“Shit!” DeSalliers shoved off from the bar and bounced into Gregos, grabbing the gun from his henchman’s belt and heading in Dar’s direction.
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN GETTING on the
Dixie
and finding a way not to collapse, Kerry managed to get herself under control and put a screeching halt to her runaway panic. She staggered across the pitching back deck as Andrew threw himself at the ladder, yelling to a very scared-looking Charlie up top.
Bud was lying on the deck, still out cold. Bob was clinging to the railing, his eyes as huge as baseballs. “Oh my God,” he was saying, over and over again. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.”
“Please shut up.” Kerry went past him and into the cabin, her knees barely holding her as she made it to the bench seats and yanked them up. She grabbed the shotgun case and pulled it out, her hands shaking.
Can I even load it?
With impatient fingers, Kerry
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shoved shells into place and worked the pump action. Then she stood up and headed for the door, grabbing the frame as the
Dixie
heeled over and picked up speed. She went outside, stopping short as she almost plowed into Andrew.
He looked at her, his eyes flicking to the shotgun. “Ya’ll wanna give me that there thing?”
“No,” Kerry answered hoarsely. “I know how to shoot it.”
The boat bounced over the waves, the spray drenching both of them. “Figured you did,” Andrew replied. “But Ah figure Ah got more practice at it.” He held out a hand. “And Ah know what part of that boat to hit.”
Kerry handed the rifle over without another word. She followed him as he went to the side rail and got up onto the edging, then moved around to the bow of the boat. The storm almost obscured the DeSalliers’ boat, but Kerry could see it crashing through the waves ahead of them, and she hung on to the side cleats with both hands as she squinted into the rain.
Andrew went to the front rail and knelt on the deck, curling one arm around the metal and propping up the shotgun with his other.
DeSalliers’ boat was much faster than theirs, Kerry suddenly remembered. “Dad! They can outrun us!” she yelled as loud as she could.
“Naw,” Andrew yelled back. “Ripped the fuel line out of one of them engines.” He glanced behind him with a tense, rakish expression. “Jest in case.”
Kerry crawled up behind him and held on to the rail, willing the
Dixie
to go faster. Her insides were tied in knots, and she realized then, just kneeling there, that she had no idea if Dar was even alive. A soft sound emerged from her throat and she gripped the rails with both hands. “Oh, God…please, please,” she begged in a whisper. “Please don’t take her from me.”
She wasn’t sure if Andrew heard her, but when she looked up again, he was looking back at her, those quiet, gentle blue eyes so very much like Dar’s visible in the light from the
Dixie
’s windows.
“S’gonna be all right, Kerry,” Andrew told her. “We’re gonna get them.”
Kerry felt tears welling up again. “I don’t want to lose her,” she managed to get out. “I can’t.”
The big man gazed back at her with compassion and understanding. “Me neither, sweetheart. Only kid Ah got.” He turned back around and threw the gun to his shoulder, sighting down the barrel and squeezing the trigger in a move just that fast.
The gun discharged, hitting DeSalliers’ yacht just above the waterline. It swerved, and in the light from the cabin he saw a silhouette, one he recognized. He pumped a shell into the chamber 318
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and shot again, blowing out the window. “Step closer, you piece of meat,” he muttered under his breath. “Hope them fish are hungry.”
DAR WATCHED THE muzzle of the gun as DeSalliers pointed it directly at her. She was out of room to run, and the door was on the other side of the cabin.
Trapped. Fuck.
“Take this.” DeSalliers threw the radio mic at her. “Tell them to fucking back off, or I’m going to blow your fucking head off.”
Dar caught the mic by reflex and held it, her finger brushing the button.
“Tell them!” DeSalliers screamed. He pointed the gun at her head, balancing himself against the wall with his other hand as the boat pitched in the waves. “Now!”
In that moment, Dar understood that she was likely to die. She didn’t believe for one second that DeSalliers would hesitate to shoot her if she called off the
Dixie
, and frankly, she didn’t believe for one second her father and her partner would stop, even if she asked them to.
So.
Dar wondered what it would feel like, and hoped it would be fast. Then she reserved the pain in her heart for missing Kerry, and how sorry she’d be to leave her. God, how much that hurt.
“Tell them!”
The pain echoed through her. Dar whipped the mic back at him. “Fuck you,” she yelled back. “I ain’t telling them shit! I hope they run right over this piece of crap, with you in it!”
DeSalliers ducked the mic and thrust the gun toward her, squeezing the trigger with a ghastly grimace.
Dar flinched reflexively, and brought her hand up in a futile attempt to protect her face, closing her eyes as she waited for the pistol to fire.
Click.
Dar stared past her hand at DeSalliers. He squeezed the trigger again.
Click.
Dar jumped forward and grabbed the gun, wrestling it from his grasp. “Stupid asshole.” She threw the gun from her with as much force as she could. “I’m gonna kick your stinking ass.”
He stumbled backwards but she was on him now, pouncing like a cat and grabbing him by the lapels. Kerry had done damage to his face, but Dar wasn’t interested in disfiguring him. She went for his throat, her hands closing on it as she let out a roar of anger and dug for his windpipe.
“Aough!” DeSalliers grabbed at her hands, kicking her in the knees as he tried to get away. “Help!”
Dar kept her grip as the boat pitched wildly and they fell
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against the wall, her shoulder smashing against the window painfully. She saw Gregos trying to get to his feet, but she kept on squeezing DeSalliers, hearing the gagging noises her adversary was making.
“Hang on, boss!” The bodyguard grabbed a chair and threw it at Dar.
As she sensed the motion, Dar turned them both and the chair slammed into DeSalliers’ back. He screamed, best he could with his throat being compressed, and fell heavily against Dar.
She twisted and tried to keep her feet, but just then the boat leaned over radically, and she found herself, DeSalliers, and the guard all falling through the air and smashing against the huge window on the far side of the cabin. When it shattered, Dar felt the surface drop out from under them and then she smelled the sea and diesel, and thought she heard screaming.
Maybe it was her.
“THEY’RE SLOWING DOWN!” Charlie yelled from the bridge.
“Taking on water!”
“Bet your ass,” Andy yelled back. “Get this damn thing nose up to the back of that damn thing!” He put down the shotgun and pulled a large automatic from the pack at his belt, standing up and holding the railing as they closed in. “Teach them bastards to mess with mah kid.”
Kerry could see men running around over on the yacht, and two came up on deck, yelling in alarm as they spotted the
Dixie
.
She strained her eyes, searching for Dar’s figure among all the shadows and willing it to appear. Praying for it. Begging a God she’d lately wondered about for this one small favor. This one little thing, in the cosmic sense. This one life. “Please.”
The bow swung closer and Andrew got ready to jump from one ship to the other, his body coiled in waiting, the gun held in ready position as he prepared to attack.
As the two vessels converged, the bigger one suddenly heeled over, listing toward them as a muffled explosion sounded deep within. Just as Andrew was about to leap, the windows in the cabin shattered from the inside and bodies came flying out, hitting the water as the boat listed onto its side and came perilously close to capsizing.
Kerry bolted forward, and without thinking, leaped into the water from the bow, her eyes finding the outline she’d been searching for.
“Son of a…” Andrew scrambled to put the gun away and go after her. “Son of a… Ya damn kids!”
“Andy!” Charlie yelled. “What’s goin on! That damn boat’s sinkin’!”
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“Damned if I know!” Andy jumped overboard into the water.
Kerry found herself being swamped by the waves. She realized that without any gear, she was at the mercy of the sea, and she struggled, taking half a breath before a wave crashed over her head.
Then she started swimming toward where she’d seen the bodies enter the water, taking gasps of air whenever she could. The water was dark around her, and she could hear men screaming as DeSalliers’ boat slowly capsized, low booms still coming from the interior.
She heard a splash behind her, and then the surface of the water lit up as the
Dixie
’s searchlight came on. She coughed up a mouthful of water and kept swimming, searching the surface desperately as no sign of the fallen figures showed itself to her. A shudder ran through the water, and Kerry heard a cracking noise nearby. Part of the boat was breaking off, and furnishings were falling out through the broken window. She ducked as a chair plunged into the water next to her.
It was raining hard, and Kerry could feel her arms and legs growing heavy as they churned the water, moving her forward a little at a time as her eyes roved over the surface. The waves swamped over her and her head went under, making her swallow a mouthful of seawater. She broke the surface again, coughing.
Another wave swelled, but she ducked under it before it could knock her down. When her eyes opened, the dark roil of the sea was punctured briefly by the
Dixie
’s light, and she saw a figure beneath her, hanging limp in the water.
Kerry’s heart stopped. Then a hand gripped her ankle and she surged upward in shock, her head breaking the surface as her lungs inflated and a scream emerged.
Dar broke the surface next to her and grabbed hold of her arm.
“Ker!” She held her other hand up to block the light from the boat.
“Let’s get outta here!”
Kerry reached out and touched Dar’s face, ignoring everything else.
Dar gave a faint smile. “C’mon.” She started for the
Dixie
, fighting through the waves and rain, keeping hold of Kerry with one hand.
Buoyed by Dar’s presence, Kerry felt as if the waves now gently cradled her, ushering her toward safety in a world turned right way up and blessed, and full—for her—of God’s grace. Even the thunder sounded like laughter in her ears.
“CAREFUL.” ANDREW MANAGED to get a hand on the dive ladder as the
Dixie
wallowed in the waves. He got a foot on the bottom rung just as the stern of the boat lifted up out of the water,
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taking him with it and nearly sending him flying off into the engine wash. “Jesus.”
Bud was on the other end of the wall, battered face swollen and still bleeding. He leaned over and extended a hand. “Grab on!”
Andy did so without hesitation, being pulled from the water and rolling up onto the deck as Bud hauled backwards, only to come back up onto his knees and immediately head back to the ladder. “Dar!”
“Holy shit.” Bud had tied a rope off to the deck railing and now he tossed it into the water, where two heads could be seen appearing and disappearing in the waves. “I left the Navy ’cause I didn’t want to do this shit no more.”
Andrew muffled a snort of laughter. “Tell me ’bout it.” He held on to the side of the boat and anxiously watched his daughters catch hold of the rescue rope. “Spent more tahm with mah ass in alligators after Ah signed them discharge papers than before.”
“Bud!” Charlie yelled down from the bridge. “We got waves coming in; we’re gonna swamp!” He gave the diesels a little gas, sliding the stern sideways.
“Get them engines in idle!” Andy roared back. “Hold it! They ain’t got no tow!”
Dar now had both hands on the rope, and Kerry had both arms around Dar, relying on the taller woman’s strength to pull them toward the boat.
“Help me pull ’em in.” Bud started hauling in the line.
“C’mere, useless! Get your hands on the rope!” he yelled at Bob, who had, to his credit, been anxiously hovering, unsure of what to do.
“I got it!” Bob took hold of the rope and pulled, almost losing his balance as the waves rolled the boat in a half circle. “Shit!”
The stern of the boat rose and fell, slamming the dive ladder into the water, nearly hitting Dar in the head. Stopping her forward progress just in time to miss being struck, she released the rope at the last second, then grabbed the ladder.
“Oh, she ain’t never gonna be able to… Jesus!” Andy scrambled for the ladder, lunging half off the back deck as the stern came up again, pulling both women with it. He grabbed for Dar’s shirt.
“Le—”
“I got it!” Dar yelled back, her biceps curled into stark muscularity as she held both of them up against the pressure. “Get out of the way!” she gasped, scrambling to get a foot on the lower rung as the bow rose and the stern plunged back down into the water.
Kerry just hung on as tightly as she could. She considered releasing her grip to grab the ladder, but the thought of falling backwards into the sea alone just… She couldn’t.
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Dar got both feet on the ladder and waited, feeling the rear start to rise again. “Get ready, we’re coming in!” she screamed, lunging forward as the ladder lifted under them and pitched them almost right into the back of the boat.
Hands grabbed them and held them as Andy slammed back the hatch and hauled on the line. “Go! Go! Go!” he hollered. “Git, Charlie!”
The engines roared to full power in an instant, and the boat went from a wallowing helplessness into an almost painful arc.