Clint Wolf Boxed Set: Books 16 - 18

by BJ Bourg

  Her eyes smarted from the blow, but she was undeterred. Giving chase again, she quickly overtook him and grabbed onto the back of his shorts this time. As she held on tight with her right hand, she brought the rescue tank to her mouth with her left hand and took another breath. Twenty-eight left.

  Scorpion reached back and began battering her about the head and shoulders with a fist, trying to break free from her clutches. Regan lifted the rescue tank to her face in an attempt to ward off the blows. It helped. Every now and then, one of his punches got through her guard, but they were only glancing blows now and weren’t doing any damage.

  Regan could feel that they were sinking farther to the bottom, and she guessed that it was because of the heavy tank Scorpion was carrying. She tried to stop their descent, but the weight of the tank and his wild thrashing were too much even for her powerful legs.

  Taking a chance, she let go of his waistband and reached for the arm holding the tank. Her hand brushed against his face and she could tell that the regulator second stage was in his mouth. As long as he had air and was holding onto that tank, she knew it would be next to impossible to get him to the surface, so she reached for the regulator. Just as her fingers wrapped around it, he punched wildly at her and made hard contact with her left hand, jamming her left thumb and knocking the rescue tank loose.

  Regan gasped as she reached desperately for the handheld tank, but missed. The reaction caused her to lose valuable air. Scorpion must’ve sensed that she was at a disadvantage, because he began striking out wildly again and was able to grab her around the throat with his powerful hand.

  A sense of calm realization flooded over Regan. She understood she might very well die in these muddy waters today. The feeling was not unlike what she had experienced when her leg had become trapped under a log while kayaking on the Ocoee River three years ago. At that time, she had removed her knife and was prepared to cut her own leg off to save—

  My knife!

  Fading fast and desperate for air, Regan tried to break Scorpion’s grip with her left hand while reaching into her shorts with her right hand. Her head felt like it was about to explode just as her fingers wrapped around the handle of the Cold Steel Ti-Lite. With a flick of her thumb, she whipped open the four-inch blade and plunged it into Scorpion’s side.

  Regan heard an audible grunt through the water as she twisted the knife in the wound, but it only made Scorpion squeeze her neck tighter. The life nearly squeezed right out of her, Regan reached desperately for the hose to the respirator with her left hand and tried pulling it to meet the knife blade. She began to convulse, but somehow managed to press the razor-sharp blade to the hose and give it a tug. Scorpion immediately let go of her throat as his air supply was suddenly shut off.

  The water surrounding them erupted in an explosion of bubbles as the hose snapped around like a whip. Scorpion must’ve been breathing in when she cut the hose, because he began thrashing about wildly, as though trying to claw his way to the surface.

  As for Regan, her body began to relax as she prepared to succumb to the unrelenting urge to take a deep breath. She knew there was no way she could hold her breath all the way to the surface. As she thought of her husband coming home to an empty house, tears began leaking from her wide-open eyes and mixing with the black water that surrounded her like a coffin.

  CHAPTER 42

  I stood with mouth agape, as did Melvin and the three men left on the other boat.

  “What the hell happened?” the captain on the other boat asked. “Why’d he jump?”

  No one had an answer. I had seen Regan take her rescue tank with her, so I knew she could last down there for at least an hour. I thought about jumping in after her, but I wouldn’t know where to begin searching and I couldn’t survive more than a minute or two underwater. I felt desperate, like I had to do something.

  “Where are they?” I asked, scrambling back and forth along the edge of the boat, trying to penetrate the vast blackness beneath us. “Does anyone see anything?”

  Regan and Saul had disappeared into a sea of bubbles, but everything had calmed down on the surface. Every now and then a single bubble or two would rise to the surface and pop. Other than that, there was no sign of life down there.

  “I can’t see shit,” said one of the men on the other boat.

  Melvin maneuvered his boat until it was positioned directly over where we’d last seen Regan go under, and then he leaned over the side. After scanning the area directly under us, he glanced up and scanned the bayou around us.

  “They could’ve gone off in any direction,” he said. “There’s no way to be sure of their location. Even if a bubble comes up, it doesn’t mean they’re still in that spot. It’ll take some time for the bubble to rise to the surface and, depending on how deep they’re diving, they could be yards away by the time we see it.”

  I ripped off my shirt and boots.

  “What’re you doing?” Melvin asked.

  “I want to be ready in case I have to go in after her,” I said, not sure myself why I’d done it. At the time, it felt like the right thing to do, but now I felt foolish. If I jumped in and tried to find her, I would be wasting time and disturbing the water, which would make it harder to find her.

  “Look, there’s another bubble,” called one of the men from the other boat.

  Melvin moved our boat toward the bubble and then let it drift. We were rocking with the motion of the gentle waves. It was cooler now that the sun was going down. Had it not been for Regan disappearing, this could turn out to be a nice and peaceful evening on the water. But she had disappeared and I was starting to worry. What would I tell Amy? Or Regan’s husband?

  “As long as there are bubbles, she should be fine,” Melvin said. Although he tried to sound confident, I could plainly see the worry lines on his face. Regan was in grave danger and we both knew it.

  I inched farther out over the edge of Melvin’s boat and tried to see into the dark water. I was about to pull back when the bayou suddenly exploded into action. Thousands of bubbles shot to the surface.

  “That’s not normal,” Melvin said.

  I scanned the water, searching desperately for any sign of Regan. The dark water had become white with bubbles and I could actually see a few feet beneath the surface now, but she was nowhere to be seen. As I continued to search, I noticed something that caused my stomach to grow weak—the white bubbles had suddenly turned red.

  “Melvin, are you seeing this?”

  Melvin was suddenly standing beside me. “Oh, shit, that can’t be good.”

  We watched in horror as a body suddenly ascended from the depths of the shadowy water, pushing a stream of blood up with it. When the body broke the surface, I was relieved to see it was the man named Saul and he was the one bleeding, but I grew instantly concerned when Regan didn’t appear with him.

  I reached forward and grabbed Saul by the hair and jerked him closer to the boat. Melvin grabbed onto one of his arms and helped me pull him into the boat.

  “Where’s Regan?” I asked as I searched for a wound.

  Saul was writhing in pain, clutching at his left rib. Blood oozed through his fingers and began to puddle on the floor of the aluminum hull. Exercising some force, I ripped his hands away to reveal a nasty knife wound in his left rib.

  “Where in the hell is Regan?” I asked again, shaking him roughly.

  “Dead, I hope!” Water and saliva sprayed from his mouth as he spat the words. “The bitch stuck me!”

  I instantly tore away from Saul and dove right over the side of the boat, hitting the water kicking my feet and stroking my hands. I had no clue where to begin searching, so I just headed directly into the trail of blood on the water. Based on what I had learned of the bayou in this area, it was about twenty feet deep. I didn’t know how fast I was descending, but I knew I had to be getting close.

  I swam with my eyes wide open, but I couldn’t see but a few inches in front of my face. Thus, it was without warning th
at the floor of the bayou rose up and met me. My left arm sunk into the soft mud first and it was followed immediately by my face. I struggled to hold my breath while pawing briefly at the mud on my face.

  I then began feeling around frantically, searching the soft mud for Regan’s body. My hand brushed against something that was partially buried in the mud. It felt smooth and round and I instantly knew it was the rescue tank. I was grateful to find it, but it also filled my heart with dread. If it was at the bottom of the bayou it wasn’t in Regan’s hands. That meant she was out of air and in deep trouble.

  I took a quick breath from the rescue tank and continued searching the bottom of the bayou. I clawed at the mud with my left hand to pull myself forward and felt around with my right hand, which also held the rescue tank. After about thirty long seconds, my hand brushed against something soft and I realized it was Regan’s belly.

  I fumbled around until I found her face in the darkness. My heart dropped to my bare feet when my fingers slipped into her wide open mouth. Dropping the tank and pulling her up against me, I shoved off of the bottom as hard as I could and raced for the top. Her body was completely limp. While she was only about five-foot, five inches and couldn’t weigh more than 125, she felt like 200 pounds of dead weight.

  My legs were burning. I could hardly lift my arm anymore. My strength was waning. It began to feel like I was swimming in slow motion, and then—just like that—I started sinking. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t get any lift in the water. I had reached my limits. I opened my eyes and glanced up. The water above me was brighter than earlier. I was so close.

  With the last of my strength, I grabbed Regan with both hands and shoved her upward above me. For my efforts, I sank deeper into the bayou, but it was worth it. She had apparently broken the surface of the water, where Melvin had been waiting. I saw her being lifted from the blackness and I sighed in relief.

  Now that I wasn’t pulling another human through the water, I was able to swim to the surface and finally suck in a mouthful of air. I treaded water for a second as I fought to catch my breath. As I bobbed along in the water, I saw Melvin’s broad back leaning over something in the boat. I couldn’t see Regan, but I knew she was stretched out on the hull floor and Melvin was doing chest compressions.

  Saying a silent prayer, I swam to the boat and dragged myself onboard. Saul was still bleeding in the corner, but I ignored him. I crawled exhaustively toward Melvin and Regan, whose head rocked from side to side as Melvin rendered aid. I quickly took hold of her head and, after tilting it back, gave several rescue breaths.

  Melvin continued the chest compressions. I moved my right hand to Regan’s neck and felt for a pulse with my index and middle fingers. I thought I felt a faint pulse. I was about to announce it to Melvin when she suddenly began choking. Water sprayed from her mouth. I quickly reached forward and helped Melvin turn her onto her side.

  “I’ve got her,” I said to Melvin. “Just get us out of here!”

  CHAPTER 43

  It was almost dark when we arrived at the boat launch, and Saul didn’t look so good. At first, I wasn’t sure why Regan had stabbed him under the water, but I knew it had to have been for a good reason, so I had left him to bleed until I was certain she was okay.

  Once Regan was alert and breathing normally, I had grabbed my shirt from the bench seat and applied pressure to the knife wound in Saul’s side. He had lost a lot of blood by that point. Although I had been able to slow the bleeding significantly, he was barely conscious when we reached the launch.

  Melvin had radioed for two ambulances to meet us and they were already backed up to the slip when we arrived. Two medics handed a spinal board to Melvin. Saul groaned weakly when we lifted him onto the board and strapped him in place.

  “Ready?” Melvin asked, squatting and grabbing one end of the board.

  I nodded and grabbed the other end. We lifted it and handed him off to the two medics. I then turned to Regan, who was seated on the center bench with a blanket draped over her shoulder.

  “How’re you feeling?”

  A tired smile spread across her face. “I’m fine.”

  “We’re gonna get you to the hospital for observation, okay?”

  She nodded and I helped her to her feet.

  “Regan!” called a male voice from the parking lot. “Regan!”

  I walked her toward the side of the boat just as a man raced across the lot and approached us. His face was pale—almost as pale as Saul’s had been—and his hair was wild.

  “Abel,” Regan said when she saw him. “What’re you doing here?”

  He reached for her and hooked his hands under her arms. He steadied her as she stepped onto the pier. They were met by another pair of medics.

  “They called me an hour ago,” Abel explained. “I got here as fast as I could. Thankfully, I was already on the way home when I got the call.”

  “Clint, this is my husband, Abel,” Regan said. “Abel—Clint.”

  I shook the man’s hand and stood back to let the medics get in and walk Regan to the ambulance.

  Susan and Amy were standing with Mayor Cain and Laura near a tree. Amy approached and shot a thumb toward the ambulance that held Saul.

  “Is this our suspect?” She wore jeans and a Polo shirt with our logo embroidered on the left breast pocket. “Is he under arrest?”

  “I don’t know if he killed Chrissy or Frank, but he tried to kill Regan, so he’s definitely under arrest.”

  “I’ll ride with them to the hospital.”

  I thanked her and was about to join Susan when someone called my name. The captain of the Diable D’eau Noire had followed us to the launch. He and his two men were standing on the wooden pier looking confused. He was waving me over.

  “What the hell’s going on?” asked the captain. “What’d Saul do?”

  “What’s his last name?” I asked.

  “Bankston.”

  “How long has he worked with y’all?”

  “I guess it’s been about three months. He showed up at Spearmonger’s looking to do some diving in Lake Berg and Le Diable Lake. From what I heard, Natalie was recommending one of the other outfits but Gabe was in the shop and he told Saul we were the best.” He glanced at one of the other men and shrugged. “He wasn’t lying.”

  “Where’s Saul staying?” I asked.

  “He stayed at the bunkhouse with us on most nights, but not always. He stayed to himself a lot and didn’t talk much.”

  “Where’d he stay when he wasn’t at the bunkhouse?”

  The captain glanced at the other men. “Do either of you know?”

  They both shook their heads.

  “I don’t know either.” The captain shrugged again. “As long as my men show up to work on time and don’t dive while high, I don’t really care about anything else.”

  “Did he have a girlfriend?”

  “Not that I knew of.”

  “Where’s he originally from?”

  “Florida or Alabama—one of those places. And I don’t know if he actually said that’s where he was from or if he just mentioned diving in those places.” He took a breath and shook his head. “Like I said, he didn’t talk much. He was a real secretive guy.”

  I thanked them and started to walk away when the captain stopped me.

  “Why’d he run from y’all?”

  I considered the question. I actually didn’t know why he had jumped into the lake and fled. It could be a simple matter of him having an outstanding warrant for speeding or some other crime, or he could be our killer. His name had never come up during the course of our investigation, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t him.

  “I don’t know,” I finally said, “but we’re going to find out.”

  I joined Susan, Pauline, and Laura.

  “Well?” Pauline asked. “Is it finally over? Do we have our guy?”

  “I’m heading to the hospital to meet Amy,” I said. “Hopefully, he’s alert and we’ll be able to intervie
w him.”

  “What if he doesn’t talk?” Susan asked.

  I glanced at Laura, who was hanging on our every word.

  “All of this is off the record,” I said. “Understood?”

  “Yeah, I understand.”

  “If he doesn’t talk,” I continued, “we’ll hold him on attempted first degree murder charges for his attack on Regan, and then we’ll just keep working.”

  Susan waved for me to follow her. I did and she led me out of earshot of Laura and Pauline.

  “If we didn’t have probable cause to arrest Saul, he had every right to jump in the water and swim away,” she said. “It’s no different than someone running when they see a police car.”

  “That’s true,” I said with a nod, “and Regan had every right to jump in and go for a swim herself. She accidentally bumped into him and he violently kicked her in the face. That’s when she actively tried to take him into custody. He responded by choking her.”

  Susan sighed. “Amy said she was a smart one.”

  “Yes, she is.” I nodded for emphasis and then frowned. “He nearly drowned her, Sue. We came very close to losing her. Melvin had to give her CPR to bring her back.”

  “She was unresponsive?” Susan asked incredulously. “I didn’t know it had gotten that bad. Karla just said they needed two ambulances to respond and that a suspect was down and an officer injured. I didn’t realize she almost died.”

  “Yeah, I found her at the bottom of the bayou unconscious. It was a close call. Melvin saved her life.”

  “So did you,” she said. “If she was unconscious, I know she didn’t get out of the water on her own.”

  I explained how I hadn’t been able to make it to the surface on my own. “It was just too damn deep. I played out before I reached the surface. If Melvin hadn’t pulled her out, we might both still be down there.”

  “Well, I’m glad all of you are okay.” She touched my bare chest. “Where’s your shirt?”