“Thanks, sugar.” He kissed her on the cheek before sprinting toward the front door. He let out a whistle, returned by Rick from the backyard.
Glancing behind them, he saw Callie had already disappeared.
“Damn, girl’s fast,” Gus muttered.
“You have no idea.” He tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. He wasn’t a trained commando, but it wouldn’t be the first time someone had taken a shot at him. One of the best perks of being a gator shifter?
As long as someone wasn’t using armor-piercing bullets, he could shift and turn his back to someone and it was like they’d popped him with a BB gun.
Counting to three on his fingers so Gus could see, together they rushed through the door, guns ready.
They came face-to-face with a guy in the foyer, who was so shocked to see two big, naked, armed black guys rushing at him that he didn’t have time to raise his gun before Wyatt dropped him with one bullet between his eyes.
Stepping over the man’s body, Wyatt followed the mental blueprint he had from Marisela’s thoughts. Erik was, hopefully, still here.
But first, there was at least another of Esparza’s men to take down.
Gus stayed close as Wyatt led the way down the hall toward the master bedroom. The door to the bedroom opened, and Wyatt put a bullet through that man’s head, too.
They had almost made the door when they heard the sound of breaking glass. As they rushed in, they spotted Erik diving through the broken window.
But, more importantly, the two men were there, and alive.
“Rick, Jan! Need you in here, now!” While Erik might escape him, he was more worried about making sure they got the two men out and to safety. There was at least one more of Esparza’s men floating around somewhere. Not to mention the sound of gunshots in the quiet neighborhood would quickly bring the cops.
He grabbed Joseph, chair and all, and hauled him toward the window. “It’s all right, Papa Flipper. The cavalry is here.”
Gus dragged Sam and his chair close to the window, too. Rick appeared on the other side, in naked human form.
“He’s getting away,” Rick said.
“I don’t care. How you with handcuffs?”
“This is not the time to ask about my love life, dude.”
“Asshole,” Jan said, shoving him aside. “No key?”
“No time.” Wyatt grabbed a comforter off the bed and threw it over the windowsill to cover up the broken glass still there. Jan climbed into the room and examined the men’s restraints. “I can break the chains but don’t want to risk hurting them. You can get the cuffs off later once you’ve got them safe. They look like a standard handcuff key.”
“Do what you gotta do,” Wyatt told him. “We need to be movin’ already. Cops gonna be on their way.”
Gus had gotten their blindfolds off and removed the tape from their mouths. “Where’s that fucking Erik?” Joseph yelled. “Someone get him. Don’t let him get away.”
“He’s on the menu,” Wyatt assured him. “Don’t you worry ’bout that. Right now, we need to get you two outta here.”
Jan knelt behind the chairs. Wyatt saw him bend his head to the chains and heard him breathing heavily. A moment later, the shifter snapped the frozen links on Joseph’s restraints, then Sam’s.
“Don’t worry about us,” Joseph said to Wyatt as he stood. “Go after Erik!”
“You got this?” he asked Gus.
“I got it. We’ll get them to the boat. You go.”
Wyatt handed him his gun and climbed through the window. Outside, he narrowed his eyes to adjust his night vision. It only took him a second to pick up movement as he spotted Erik climbing over the fence on the far side of a yard two houses down.
“Gotcha now, you fucker,” he muttered as he climbed and gave chase.
* * * *
Sean heard the gunshots echo over the water and knew it was only a matter of minutes before someone called the sheriff’s office and then the key would be swarming with deputies. He cranked the engine and headed as fast as he dared down the darkened canal.
He rounded the corner and shifted into neutral, then briefly into reverse to stop his forward momentum. His dad and Joseph, followed by a naked Gus, were heading toward the seawall.
Emery shifted and stood. “Where’s Wyatt?”
“He went after Erik,” Gus told him. “I sent Rick and Jan off already. They needed to go before they’re spotted.” He waded into the water after Sam and Joseph.
Sean grabbed Joseph’s hand and hauled him over the side into the boat while Gus boosted him. Then his dad. He wanted to hug both of them and knew there was no time for warm and fuzzy greetings.
Gus handed two guns to Sean. “I’ll go after them. Emery, you get in the boat.” He took off running.
Emery looked torn. Sean waved him off. “No, go help Wyatt. Take a chunk out of that fucker for me. I got this. I’ll get them back to the house and have someone wait for you guys at the marina to pick you up.”
“Thanks, babe.” Emery went bolting up the yard in the direction Gus had gone.
As Sean got the engines shifted into gear again and turned them around, he wondered how the 911 dispatchers would react to a number of reports of buff, naked men running around the neighborhood.
In addition to whatever condition they found the other bodies.
It wouldn’t be the most low-profile operation to ever happen but it couldn’t be tied back to the shifters. Also, given Esparza’s reputation, hopefully it would be attributed to his drug activities and chalked up to a gang dispute.
As they sped down the canal into the night, Sean felt his dad pat him on the shoulder. “You all right, son?”
He nodded. “Yeah. How about you?”
“Been better, but I can’t complain.” He looked around. “You’d better not have scratched my boat. I don’t remember giving you permission to take it out. What’s wrong with your boat?”
Joseph burst out laughing behind them.
Sean grinned. His dad had to be all right if he could bust his balls like that. “Love you, too, Dad. Great to have you back.”
Chapter Twenty-One
When Sean walked into the house with the two men, both Louise and Helen gave out happy shouts and ran to embrace their men.
Callie, who’d stopped by to check on things, watched, head cocked and a smile on her face. “See? I love it when a plan comes together.” She tapped her fist against her chest. “Gets me right here, every time.”
Helen broke down sobbing as Sam held her. “It’s okay,” he softly said. “I’m all right. Everything’s fine now.”
Sean walked over and hugged Callie. “Thank you. All four of you. Whatever you are.”
“Everything turn out all right, I take it?”
“Sort of. Gus, Wyatt, and Emery are still out after Erik.”
“I should be out there with them,” Joseph said.
“Oh, no you don’t, Joseph Nadel,” Louise told him. “Your ass is staying right here with me. You’ve had enough fun for one lifetime, much less one night.”
Lina, Rick, and Jan returned a few minutes later. “Cops are already swarming all over the key,” Jan said. “We saw them heading out there as we were driving back. I suggest getting everyone out of there before they put up roadblocks.”
Sean called Denby’s cell and left a message for him.
Beyond that…all they could do was wait to hear back from Emery, Gus, and Wyatt.
* * * *
Emery caught sight of Wyatt and finally managed to close the distance between them. “Which way?” he softly asked.
Wyatt shook his head and held up a hand for silence. About twenty yards ahead of them, they heard a splash.
Wyatt let out a loud whistle, returned seconds later by Gus somewhere behind them. Then he shifted and dove into the canal.
Emery dove in, too, shifting before he even hit the water and wasting no time following Wyatt.
He knew he could outswim Wyatt and pulled ahead as
he heard Gus splash into the water behind them.
Letting out an echolocation blast, he located Erik ahead of them.
There was no way the fucker would escape him this time. And nothing would save his life when Emery finally caught him.
He’d finish this fucking bullshit once and for all.
He poured on speed, slowly gaining as he followed Erik into Lemon Bay. If they reached open water, he’d lose Gus and Wyatt as backup.
But if he had his way, Erik wouldn’t reach the Gulf.
Not alive, anyway.
They hit the deeper Intracoastal channel, and then Erik did something Emery didn’t understand. He headed north, toward the Tom Adams Bridge, instead of south, the fastest way to open water. Only as Emery closed in did he realize what Erik intended to do. There were two publicly accessible spits of land on either side of the bridge, where people fished. And even through the water he could already hear the sirens as law enforcement converged on the island.
Shit.
If Erik made it to land and beached himself, that meant Emery couldn’t get him if Erik could attract law enforcement attention.
The same trick he’d pulled the last time to escape them.
But there was nothing to stop Wyatt and Gus at that point. Alligators had the tactical advantage of being able to move, shifted, over land or through water.
He knew Gus and Wyatt were still behind him and on the trail. He tried to keep up with Erik, who dodged between the bridge’s pilings to try to hide from him.
Emery took a precious moment to shift and catch a glimpse of one of the fishing areas.
Deserted.
Grinning, Emery looked behind him to see Gus and Wyatt gaining. He pointed in Erik’s general direction and shifted back, happy to see both alligators changing course to head the way he’d indicated.
No fucking way would Erik escape them this time.
Emery heard a couple of boats in the distance, but was so focused on not losing Erik that he didn’t realize one of them was a marine patrol boat moving up on plane in the no-wake area, lights going, heading for the center of the bridge span.
Emery dove at the last second, catching a glancing blow from the hull off his side, which knocked the wind out of him. Gus turned and came back to check on him while Wyatt kept going.
“Don’t lose him!” Emery gasped after he shifted back. “I’m okay. Go!”
Gus shifted into human form. “You sure?”
“Just go. Whatever you do, don’t lose the fucker.”
Gus shifted back and raced away. Emery also shifted and, keeping closer to the bottom and using his echolocation, tried to find Wyatt and Erik.
Nothing.
Gus couldn’t find them, either.
Emery thought at first maybe Wyatt had caught up with the dolphin and taken him in a death roll under the bridge, but neither he nor Gus could find any sign of either shifter, or the remains of an attack.
After searching back and forth under the bridge and among the pilings, and the waters on either side of the bridge for nearly an hour, Gus and Emery got back together under the bridge and shifted into human form to talk. “Nothing?” Emery asked him.
If he’d lost Erik again after all of this, he’d never forgive himself.
Gus shook his head. “Let’s wait on Wyatt.” They shifted back and settled in to wait.
They waited.
And waited.
* * * *
Wyatt didn’t bother slowing down to check on Emery. Gus was closer and could see to him. He knew he couldn’t lose sight of Erik and risk the fucker getting away yet again.
He’d never forgive himself if that happened.
When he realized Erik had given up on his obvious original plan to beach himself, Wyatt dipped low into the channel and used the changing tide to his advantage to follow the dolphin shifter. He thought Erik would try to break for open water, but the asshole surprised Wyatt when he saw Erik breach for a breath, and then head toward one of the condo buildings on the key where they had a large docking complex.
The current was now sweeping to the south, faster along the bottom of the channel, and allowed Wyatt to catch up to the dolphin shifter. He ignored a couple of smaller bio bull sharks he passed, knowing from experience they weren’t interested in him.
Erik was too panicked to notice Wyatt sneaking up behind him. As the dolphin shifted back to human form and reached up to pull himself out of the water onto a dock, Wyatt lunged, grabbing the man by the lower right leg and dragging him into the water.
Erik’s scream was cut short by his plunge back into the water as Wyatt turned, intent on towing him out to the deeper channel and holding him there until he drowned. Blood filled the murky water, further clouded by the struggle stirring up the bottom of the shallows.
Erik pounded on Wyatt’s head with his fists, ineffectual against his tough, armor-like hide.
No, you don’t, boy. Wyatt continued his progress toward deeper water. Not this time. Wyatt was unable to shake the memory of the two dolphin shifters Erik had killed, or some of the mental images Marisela had shown him of what her brother had allowed to happen to her.
Any man who would hook up with an asshole like Hector Esparza was scum. Factoring in Erik’s crimes only cemented the dolphin’s death sentence.
Erik thrashed against Wyatt, the scent of blood thick in the water. The gator knew he could easily outlast the dolphin shifter in terms of breath-holding skills. Especially when he’d caught Erik by surprise and the man was still in human form.
Wyatt was almost to the deeper channel when something solid broadsided him hard, stunning him. Startled, he clamped down harder on Erik’s leg, his teeth crushing and ripping the appendage free from the shifter.
Erik immediately shifted into dolphin form and spun away from Wyatt, who lost sight of him in the dark, turbid water. As he turned, still dazed by the blow, he caught a glimpse of one of the two bull sharks and realized the bio-predators had come in, drawn by all the blood, and took a shot at him.
Dammit! He swallowed the leg and, after rising to the surface for a breath, headed in the direction Erik and his two new pursuers had gone.
By the time he reached where the channel led into the open waters of the Gulf, there were no signs of Erik or the sharks. He spent some time looking in both directions, and eventually gave up after finding no sign of either.
Son of a bitch. He didn’t want to give up searching, but knew at that time it’d be hopeless. From the size of the chunk of Erik’s leg now residing in his belly, he suspected the shifter wouldn’t last long. Especially with two bio-bull sharks on his tail.
* * * *
Finally, after another hour, just when Emery thought they’d have to head back to Thatcher’s without Wyatt, and hoping it didn’t mean Erik had gotten the jump on his friend, Gus shifted into human form and let out a whoop.
“There he is.”
In the distance, to the south and from the direction of the Gulf access, an alligator slowly swam toward them, his ridged, armored back visible in the water under the light of the nearly full moon.
Emery shifted back, too. Together, they sat in the shadowed shallows under the bridge and waited.
Wyatt drew close, apparently none the worse for wear.
“Well?” Emery asked, almost dreading the answer. “Did you get him?”
The toothy expression seemed to be a grin. Then Wyatt started convulsing, his sides heaving.
“Wyatt? Are you all right?”
After a few moments, the alligator threw up a right foot and lower portion of a leg, bitten off about halfway down the calf.
Wyatt shifted into his human form and spit in the water, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Sure, I just fine. But if he even survives that, which I doubt he will by the way he was bleeding, he’s going to be awfully slow to get around now. If I’m not mistaken, even shifting won’t put something back on what’s been bit clean off. Last I saw him, there were a couple of bio bull sharks
sniffin’ after him and all that blood in the water. I doubt he got very far after that. Unfortunately, I lost them in open water.”
He rinsed his mouth out with salt water. “Damn, that boy tastes nasty. Glad to get that out of my craw.”
Emery tackled him with a hug that drove both men back into the water. “Oh my god, I love you, dude!”
Wyatt laughed. “Okay, I love you, too, Flipper. Now get your naked, silly self off of me, and let’s get our asses out of here and get some food. I got me a mate to properly introduce myself to.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was a beautiful evening. The cookout earlier had been a fantastic success, with kids having fun getting to know each other, adults catching up, and the immediate Nadel clan and friends breathing a sigh of relief that Joseph and Sam were safe, Marisela was now Wyatt’s mate, and that her brother and most of his henchmen were dead. The remaining one had escaped in the confusion, but everyone suspected he’d likely be more worried about getting away than getting revenge.
The only cipher remaining was Erik. While many assumed he’d probably died, based on Wyatt’s report, Sean wasn’t so sure. He knew Emery wouldn’t disagree with him in private, no matter what his public statement on the matter.
Erik was a slippery fuck. Until Sean saw his body with his own eyes, he wouldn’t believe he was dead. They were keeping a close eye on all the marine mammal rescue facilities, but none had reported taking in a dolphin with a partially bitten-off tail fluke.
Sean did believe, however, that even Erik wasn’t stupid enough to try to take on the numbers in the superpod without backup. Considering his backup was dead, and Erik himself severely wounded, Sean knew he could relax.
For a while, at least.
Not to mention having the sharks as their own backup for the swims was an ironic comfort. Emery had assured Sean they couldn’t understand what the dolphins said while shifted, and in human form, the few people who knew what had happened were sworn to secrecy to not discuss the events of the kidnapping while the sharks were around.
Without Porpoise Page 14
