by Lisa Harris
Damien was breathing hard.
Case was too. His partner looked at him. “You hit?”
Damien assessed. “No. I’m good.” He holstered his gun.
Case nodded, securing his own weapon. He advanced on the bodies and kicked Miller’s gun farther from Vossler, even though it was clear from the man’s wide, staring eyes he wouldn’t be reaching for it again.
Damien bent and felt Miller’s throat.
Case looked at him, waiting.
Damien shook his head. He dropped his gaze to the floor between his knees. He conjured up a memory of Sheila—the one of her batting her lashes at him as she licked frosting from her thumb. Her eyes twinkling with humor, her lips parting on a smile. He eased out a breath and came back to the scene.
Across the room, Case was already calling in the incident.
The paperwork on this would take hours. They’d have to give separate statements. But the bullet hole in the wall to the left of the door would make it pretty clear they’d been taking fire when they discharged their weapons. They would be cleared, but it would be a long night of waiting.
Tonight was supposed to be his date with Sheila. He wasn’t going to make it.
He pulled out his phone to call her and noticed again on his lock screen that he had an email. This time the from name registered. Holden Parker.
He swiped to open it.
You’ll want to watch this right away. Camryn found it in the pocket of her coat. She thinks Treyvon Johnson put it there. Holden
Damien’s heart kicked up a beat. Could this be the information Treyvon had tried to get to him? The email contained a video link. He clicked it.
By fifteen seconds in, he was on his feet. “Case, you’ve got to watch this. We need to get it to the lab for enhancement, right away.”
Camryn flailed. Fought through her terror. Tried to determine which way was up. The waves dragged her into deeper water, and she bobbed to the surface, but there was something hard above her head holding her under. She pounded at it, but, especially with the resistance of the water, her efforts were futile.
Her whole body was starting to go numb now, and a sharp pain pierced her skull. She’d been without oxygen for too long.
In that moment, instinct kicked in—literally. She kicked hard with her legs and stroked with her arms. Her feet pushed off something hard and she shot forward.
Her head burst above the water.
She treaded water and gasped a couple lungsful of oxygen. “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.”
Her eyes were adjusted to the darkness now, and she could see that the inside of the cinderblock building was rimmed with a wooden deck shaped in a U. The open end of the U was in the deepest part of the water, and a garage-type door sealed off that end of the unit. She was in a boathouse. She swam to the nearest part of the deck and pulled herself out of the water.
Cold encased her in a glacial blanket. She wrapped her arms around herself and clamped her teeth against their chattering. She thought of Holden’s rule number two. Never get wet. Your chances of survival drop to near zero in that case.
Outside she heard voices. She followed the boards back to the door and pressed her ear to it, willing herself to hear above the tremors wracking her body. It was no use. All she could make out was two female voices volleying through a conversation. She pulled back from the door and searched the room for any weapon. Because as soon as Kate had gotten rid of whoever was out there, she’d be back to finish what she’d started. But the room was empty. Nothing in sight except the rim of decking at her feet and the water filling the middle of the U.
Camryn eyed the garage door. Deep in the water, she could see a lighter strip that indicated the door didn’t reach all the way to the ocean floor. She thought of the boat that had pulled up right outside to talk to Kate.
Holden had said not to get wet. But she was already wet. And near zero chances were better than her chances if she stayed in here and waited for Kate to come back for her.
But… she swallowed. She would have to go back in the water. Swim underwater, in fact. Under the door and all the way to the other side of the boat. Maybe she could use it to hide from Kate.
Before she could lose her nerve, she slipped off the deck and into the waves. She gasped at the shock of the icy waters but gave herself no time to adjust. The sooner she got out of here, the sooner she could get out of the water and figure out how to get warm. Taking a deep breath, she dove under. The boathouse doors only went about two feet under the waterline, leaving a good-sized gap for her to slip under.
Frigidity seemed to constrict every muscle, and the waves that had earlier pulled her into deep water now resisted her attempts to escape the boathouse. Panic stole her purpose and she bobbed back up inside. Tears threatened. But she couldn’t give up.
She closed her eyes and pulled in a breath. “Jesus, give me peace. Give me strength. And warmth.”
Outside, the boat engine roared to life. Kate called a loud goodbye.
This was her last chance!
The door banged open behind her.
With one last gulp of air, she willed herself silently beneath the black water, thankful it would take Kate’s eyes a moment to adjust. This time, she remembered to use the proper underwater strokes. She kicked her legs firmly in tandem with firm sweeps of her arms and was through the gap!
But as she bobbed to the surface outside, the boat was already disappearing into the haze of falling sleet. Her hopes deflated. She was too late to catch it.
Behind her she heard a raucous round of cursing.
And then her leg spasmed into a cramp.
Chapter Twenty-One
A short dock extended from the side of the boathouse, with a ladder attached to the end. Fighting the cramp in her leg, Camryn dogpaddled to the ladder and hauled herself out of the water. Much as she would have liked to collapse on the boards of the dock, she didn’t dare. Kate would emerge from the boathouse at any moment. She needed to get into hiding.
She hurried the length of the slush-slick dock and leapt from it onto the rocky shore. There was no beach here. Only land that gave sharply away to water. Her boot prints were clearly visible in the traitorous ice, but there was nothing she could do about that now. Maybe the falling sleet would fill them before Kate emerged.
Her boots gushed and slurped as she fought through thick shoreline brush toward Holden’s clearing. The salal was thick. And the leaves had sharp points beneath the layer of wet slush that coated them. But her one aim was to put distance between her and Kate.
Her lips trembled with cold and every part of her ached.
She surged through one thicket, took a few steps, and encountered another.
Behind her the door of the boathouse clanged open.
Camryn collapsed into the center of the thicket, branches closing in above her head. She held her breath, listening. Not daring to move.
Kate cursed. “You can’t escape me, Camryn! I know you’re out here!” There was a pause, and then Kate gave a bellow of triumph.
She’d obviously found the footprints. Camryn’s only hope now was to put as much distance between them as possible.
Camryn surged from her hiding place and sprinted as quickly as she could up the hill. The deeper into the trees she went, the less snow there would be. Also, that was in the direction of the house.
But Holden had told her to go to the cellar. She froze. She’d already ruined things by not listening to him once. Of course, his plan had been to come find her there, and that wouldn’t happen now, but it was closer than the house. And it had bolts on the inside of the door. And a heater.
Behind her, Kate swore, crashing through the brush. “I was going to kill you quickly, Camryn. Now I’m changing my mind!”
Camryn changed directions and tore through a patch of salal in the direction of the cellar. The thicket clutched and tore at her and hindered every step, but she burst through the other side. And sobbed in relief. This was the familiar clearing. Now she only h
ad to find the door.
She surged forward, but a tree root caught her boot, and her numb limbs were too slow to recover. She slammed into the ground, and another root glanced off the side of her head, shooting pain through her skull.
With a groan and a shake of her head, she pushed to her hands and knees and started to rise. But just then, Kate’s feet came into view.
Camryn looked up.
Into the barrel of Kate’s gun.
Kate was breathing hard, but Camryn was grudgingly impressed that a woman of her age had caught up to her so quickly.
She slumped onto the ground, all hope lost. She was beaten, shaking, scratched, and bloodied. “Just end it already.”
Kate gave her a triumphant smile, still panting hard. “I will.” She moved the gun to align with Camryn’s head.
Camryn closed her eyes.
The shot came then, and Camryn flinched. Flinched? Had Kate missed? She braced for another shot, holding her breath.
Beside her something crashed into the brush.
Her eyes flew open. Kate no longer stood above her.
She scrambled away from where she’d fallen and rose to a crouch, spinning to search for what had crashed into the brush.
She gasped, hand flying to her mouth as she lurched backward.
Kate’s body lay at an odd angle against a thicket of salal that had apparently repelled her fall. A trickle of blood dribbled down one of her cheeks. Her mouth hung open and her eyes stared sightlessly.
Footsteps crunched in the snow.
Camryn jolted and spun around to face the sound. Unbelieving, she blinked and blinked again. “H-Holden?”
He strode down the hill, stuffing a gun into the back of his waistband. One side of his head was still matted with blood. But his eyes! Oh! His eyes were full of life and fire that refused to let hers go.
She searched him from head to toe. “You’re alive?”
His eyes crinkled. “I was just thinking the same about you.”
“I can’t believe it.”
One corner of his mouth ticked up as he stopped before her. “Takes more than mere bullets or crazed gun-wielding women to take us superheroes down.”
She wanted to laugh, but part of her still couldn’t believe what had just happened. She dragged her gaze to Kate. And then the trembling set in. Tears blurred her vision, and the shaking in her limbs grew so strong that she stumbled.
“Come here. I’ve got you. Don’t look at her.” Holden wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. He turned her head away from the sight of Kate and hugged her briefly, but then he set her back from him and shrugged out of his leather coat, swinging it around her shoulders. He pulled her back against his chest, and the warmth of the coat enveloped her in a cocoon of his scent. She tucked her face into the collar and simply relished the sturdy strength of him supporting her weight.
After a moment, the wind picked up, slicing through the wet fabric of her jeans and reminding her she was still soaking wet.
She lifted her face to Holden’s. “I’m sorry I let Kate see me at your house.”
He crooked one finger under her chin and caressed her with his thumb, shaking his head. “She knew anyhow, remember? She’d seen your packages already.”
Camryn studied the center of his T-shirt. “That was my fault too. I should have changed the name on the address.”
His thumb continued to tantalize her chin. “If we are going to cast blame, I should have thought to tell you to put my name on the packages. But neither of us knew Kate would go so far as to snoop through my mail in her suspicion.”
Camryn searched his face. “I’m so glad you’re alive. When I saw all that blood under your head, I thought…” Tears filled her vision and choked off her voice.
Holden cupped her face and swiped her tears with his thumbs. “She only clipped me a good one along the side of the head. See?” He angled his head.
The gash was shallow, and it seemed to have stopped bleeding, even if his hair was still matted with blood.
Camryn reached a hand toward it but couldn’t bring herself to go farther than touching his cheek. “You should get that checked out at a hospital.”
He turned his face into her palm and dropped a kiss there. “I will. But first I have to tell you I’m very disappointed in you.”
The teasing note in his voice lightened the mood, but she had no idea what he could be talking about. She tilted her head and searched his face. “Oh?”
He nodded. “You broke one of my cardinal rules about cold survival. You got wet.”
She chuckled. “I did. But in my defense, I was pushed. She took me to some boathouse over there.” She pointed.
“My neighbor’s. His father was an avid boater, but he’s too busy with work to use it. If Kate had succeeded…” He didn’t seem able to complete the sentence. Instead, he cupped a hand at the side of her head and dropped a kiss into her hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t do a better job of protecting you. I missed all the signs.”
Camryn laid a finger to his lips. “She was just an eccentric old woman. The perfect disguise. I don’t blame you. Not at all.” And since the conversation needed to return to a lighter tone, she quirked him a smile. “And I want you to know that I really am a superhero because I had to swim to get away.”
His brows arched. “I’m impressed. You’ll have to tell me all about it, but first I want to get you out of this cold. Think you can walk?”
She nodded, but on her first step, her numb foot twisted beneath her.
“Whoa, there!” Holden swept her into his arms and started up the hill.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, embarrassed to be so helpless. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” He winked at her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Three weeks later
Camryn had unpacked the last box of things she’d brought with her from the mainland and set the last book on the small bookshelf in her upstairs ocean-view room. She stepped back and looked around in satisfaction.
The view from the room’s large octagonal window was gorgeous, and never before in her life had she been more aware of how God’s guiding hand had directed her to this place. If she hadn’t been walking that Everett street that fateful night, she never would have ended up here. Thankfulness for a loving God who’d directed her even when she wasn’t aware of it, swept through her.
Mrs. Hutchinson was thrilled to have her renting this room, and already Camryn had eaten more baked goods than she probably did all last year. She would have to come up with a workout schedule, or she was going to bloat up like one of the whales that could sometimes be seen from her window.
“Yoo-hoo!” Mrs. Hutchinson called up the stairs to her. “The sheriff is here. And he’s asking to see you!”
Camryn’s heart rate ratcheted up a notch. The elderly woman made it sound like he was here to call, but Camryn glanced at her phone. Sure enough, it was time for Holden to pick her up for her first day of work.
“Coming!” she called.
A vehicle would need to be the next thing on her “to buy” list.
She grabbed the suit jacket she’d chosen for today and reassessed herself in the mirror on the back of her door. She patted her upswept hair and gave her business attire a nod. She would do.
She hurried down the stairs to meet Holden. Excitement at the prospect of seeing him had her stomach quavering. It had been a whole week since she’d seen him last.
On doctor’s orders, he’d been at home on bed rest this past week. It had taken her two weeks after the shooting to talk him into going to get his head checked. And just as she’d suspected from his constant headaches, he’d sustained a fracture when Kate shot him. Thankfully, it had only been what the doctor had called a “simple linear fracture.” But the doctor had mandated that he rest, flat on his back for a week.
Holden had been none too happy about it. And Camryn hadn’t felt comfortable enough in their relationship to go to his house to visit him.
During the first week after the shooting, she’d seen him often due to the investigation into Kate’s death. While they’d never been able to enhance the video Camryn had found enough to definitively say that Kate had been in the warehouse meeting, they’d found plenty of evidence at her house to indicate she’d been one of the ringleaders planning the riots. They’d also found on her computer the video the kid in the GTO had taken of Camryn the night of the hit and run, and a grainy picture of Camryn sitting on the street, obviously taken by someone else. Camryn still shivered when she thought about that.
Unfortunately, that first day, they’d also found Jay’s body in the passenger seat of his car. Kate had killed him. And the officers from Everett had confirmed that he was indeed her son—hers and Kirk Vossler’s. They’d apparently been together years ago and recently rekindled their relationship.
The detectives seemed to think Kate might have been using Vossler for his money because they’d found evidence at her house of a plan to eliminate him once he’d set her up with the cheaply purchased real estate and businesses.
The two politicians who’d also been in the warehouse video had been arrested and were slated to stand in separate trials early next month.
From the stairs, Camryn noted Holden pacing in Mrs. Hutchinson’s living room. She paused on the bottom step, taking him in. In his brown uniform, with his Stetson in one hand, he looked wonderful and handsome and…grumpy?
Her heart rate stuttered. She’d hoped he’d be as excited to see her as she was to see him. “Hi,” she ventured uncertainly.
He spun to face her, his leisurely gaze drifting the length of her. His throat worked. “Hi, yourself.”
“How are you feeling?”
A sweep of his hat brushed away her concern. “Fine. Tired of laying around.”
She let her gaze skim his uniform. “I see that you are planning to get right back to work.”
His fingers crimped the brim of the hat. “No reason not to. You ready?” He looked toward the door.
