Gabe recognized it immediately. “Ryan!”
“How are these people getting through?” Sam mumbled as Paisley said, “Is this Investigator Parker?”
“Yes. Do you have Gabe?”
“Yo, where are you, man?” Gabe asked.
“Just left my house. All secure. I’m almost to the camp. We’ve got roadblocks. The camp’s surrounded. SWAT’s on-site. I don’t know how this guy thinks he’s getting out of here.”
Gabe filled him in on Sabrina’s and Paisley’s theories.
“Paisley, where’s this pipe?” Ryan asked.
Sam pointed again and said, “I’m coming up on the lake. I’m barely above the treetops, but we won’t have a line of sight until we get right over it. Which will be in about thirty seconds.”
Paisley handed Gabe a pair of binoculars.
“I can hear the chopper,” Ryan said.
“Let’s see what we can see. Hang on, Ryan.”
Gabe craned his neck, trying to get a visual on the lake. When it came into view, it came and went—fast.
But there was one thing he was sure of.
There was a canoe.
And someone was in it.
29
Anissa estimated her depth at five feet. Deep enough to keep her hands and feet from accidentally breaking the surface but not so deep that she would waste any air going down or coming up. And at this depth, she could see the compass when she held it close to her face.
Everything burned as she took stroke after stroke. Her arms, her legs, her lungs.
She was out of practice, but she’d grown up free-diving in the waters off her island home of Yap. She could survive a little burn. The dark shadow of the canoe filtered through the water. Almost there.
She surfaced without touching the canoe and tried to breathe without gasping.
Oxygen. Thank you, Jesus, for air. May I never take it for granted.
As her own heartbeat slowed, a new sound reached her ears.
A chopper.
She turned toward the sound.
That was the news chopper and it was flying low.
Straight toward her.
Was that—? Gabe pressed closer to the window. Could it be?
“Someone’s in the water by the canoe.” Paisley’s excitement confirmed what Gabe thought he’d seen.
“It’s Anissa.” What on earth was she doing in the middle of the lake? When this was over, they were going to have a long chat about survival tactics and how a big one was not to swim into the middle of a lake when someone was trying to kill you.
“How can we help her?” Paisley asked.
“Let’s buzz the camp,” Sam said. “Draw attention to us and not to her.”
“He might shoot at us,” Vic said.
“Yes. Yes, he might.” Sam’s grim pronouncement didn’t change her mind though. She pointed the chopper straight at the main house. “I’ve been shot at before.”
“Well, I haven’t,” Vic mumbled into his headset. “Can we film this?”
“Do you have a way to record without transmitting?” Gabe asked. He didn’t want to believe that this wouldn’t end well, but he didn’t want to risk Steve and Tonya Davidson and Velma Brown watching their daughter killed on the local news.
“Sure can,” Sam said.
“Then do it.” Maybe the footage could be used in court if needed. “Ryan, you still there, bro?”
“Still here. We have the place surrounded, but we’re staying out of sight and staying quiet.”
“Listen, Anissa’s in the lake at the canoe. Liz looks like she’s asleep. Maybe he drugged her.” Gabe couldn’t even consider the chance that she was dead. “We’re flying over the rest of the camp to see if we can get a visual on Harvey.”
“It’s risky, man.”
“I know, but it wasn’t my idea. Our pilot is a hotshot.”
“Got that right, babe.” Sam dropped the chopper lower than seemed safe and aimed it straight for the main house. “Let’s see who’s home and give that brave girl a fighting chance.”
If she survived, Anissa would find out who was flying that chopper and hug them for a week.
She pulled her knife from her belt and cut through the anchor line. As soon as the canoe was free, she reached one hand under the pointed bottom, shrugged it against her shoulder, and swam toward the beach area.
For a few seconds, she couldn’t tell if she was making any progress. This was not the most efficient method of getting the canoe to the dock, but it kept her from getting her head blown off.
Lord, don’t let him shoot at the canoe.
The helicopter continued to swoop around the camp and Anissa swam for all she was worth, thankful for every second she’d spent in the gym and in the water.
A moan from the canoe both soothed and worried Anissa. The noise meant she wasn’t risking her life for a dead girl. But it also meant Liz might panic and sit up.
“Liz, don’t move,” Anissa whispered. “I need you to be still. Please.” Anissa kept up the murmuring, unsure if Liz was conscious enough to understand.
A few more strokes and she would be close enough to shove the canoe onto the beach.
She allowed her body to go vertical and her feet touched the grainy sand of the beach. She paused. “Liz, honey? Are you awake? Can you hear me? Don’t sit up. Just give me a little whisper.”
“Mmm.”
“Wonderful. Listen. We’re in a bit of a spot here, but we’re only a few feet from the shore or the dock. Do you know how to swim?”
“Yes.”
“Brilliant.” A plan was forming. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was the best she could come up with on the fly.
“Can you tell if you’re tied to the boat?” Harvey had said she was, but . . .
A shot. Then another. Chunks of the canoe sprayed over Anissa.
“Liz!”
“Gabe! Shots fired. Two!” Ryan’s voice came through the headsets.
Sam whipped the helicopter around and headed back toward the lake.
The canoe was now ten feet from shore. But it was tipping at a bizarre angle.
“That canoe is going down,” Vic said.
When Gabe found the canoe through the binoculars, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Liz was still in the boat, thrashing wildly against restraints as the canoe tipped at a forty-five-degree angle. He couldn’t see Anissa anywhere.
Had she been shot?
Was she on the bottom of the lake?
Sam was relaying what she was seeing to Ryan. She had to have been a military pilot at one time. The woman had nerves of steel. Her voice was calm, but there was fury behind it. “Feel like going for a swim, Investigator?”
Gabe couldn’t believe what she was offering. She’d have to hover near the canoe. A canoe that someone was shooting at. “Can you get me down there?”
The huffing noise Sam made was a mixture of exasperation and annoyance. “I wouldn’t have asked if I couldn’t do it.”
“Then yes!”
Gabe pulled off the headset and removed everything else he could get to and handed them to Vic.
“You’ll have to be ready to jump when I tell you,” Sam said. “No hesitation. I’m going to put you a little off the shore so you don’t break your legs on the bottom.”
That was a wonderful idea.
“Open that door and get ready.”
Gabe did as he was instructed. As they got closer to the canoe, Gabe could see that Liz’s hands were tied to the sides of it. The end her feet were in was already submerged. Anissa’s head popped up for far too brief a moment, then she went down again.
Gabe had no idea if she was injured. “Ready.”
Gabe had never jumped out of a helicopter, but nothing was going to keep him from getting to that canoe.
“Jump!”
Gabe threw himself from the chopper, expecting at any moment to feel the scorch of a bullet, but it never came.
When he hit the water, pai
n radiated through his chest. His arm and shoulder screamed at him, but he forced himself to the surface and then to Anissa.
Anissa sawed through the last rope trapping Liz’s feet to the canoe.
Thank you.
In a worst-case scenario—well, if she ignored the very real possibility of them being shot—Liz could stand outside the canoe while Anissa worked to free her arms.
Poor girl. She’d been a trouper through the whole thing, although it was also possible that she was in shock.
The roar of the helicopter was deafening, the wash churning the water as Anissa surfaced.
Her momentary irritation vanished when Gabe’s head appeared only a few feet away.
She didn’t bother asking him what he was doing. He shouldn’t be in this nasty water. He shouldn’t be swimming. His arm was not ready for this. But that wasn’t stopping him.
He swam to her as she sawed at the bonds trapping Liz’s hands. Without saying a word, he reached for his own knife and went to work on the other side.
The helicopter bobbed and weaved in the space between them and the main house. But no more shots were fired.
What was Harvey doing?
Harvey tossed the rifle to the side.
Nothing ever went well when he tried to kill Anissa Bell.
He picked up the 9mm and tucked it at his waist.
Then he picked up the detonator.
He was sorry it had come to this. He was. The goal had always been Anissa.
He’d never intended for anyone else to die, but he was not going back to jail.
This was all Jack Bell’s fault, and he could live with the consequences for the rest of his existence.
That helicopter would fly him out of here, and then while they were all stressed out over the charges he’d placed on the pipe, he would blow the place to kingdom come.
30
With Gabe’s help, Liz was freed from the canoe. Liz seemed dazed. Had he drugged her? Or was it shock? Anissa couldn’t tell. She kept a hand on Liz, making sure she stayed low in the water rather than risk becoming an easy target.
“What’s the plan?” Gabe asked Anissa as they pulled Liz along with them toward the dock.
Anissa didn’t have a clue. She was in a contaminated lake with an immunocompromised girl and a man with a still-healing stab wound. What she needed to do was get them both out of this water. Because if they survived Harvey only to die from a cryptosporidium infection, she was not going to be able to handle that.
“Dios,” Gabe said. There’d been no warning. He’d just launched into prayer. Verbal prayer, no less. “We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
Yes, Lord. Show us what to do.
Anissa scanned the shoreline. If she tried to retrace her original steps from the trees to the water, they might have a chance. “Follow me.”
With a quick glance to be sure Liz was behind her, Anissa swam toward the canoe rack and climbed to shore over and around the canoes there. Once Liz and Gabe joined her, she pointed to the path she’d taken earlier. “We’ll have to run for it. The next time the chopper dips down, we go.”
Gabe nodded. Liz nodded.
They waited.
Gabe didn’t even want to think about exposing themselves, but where they were provided minimal coverage. All Harvey had to do was look closely and they’d be sitting ducks.
As soon as the chopper came between them and the house, they took off. He led, with his good arm tucked through Liz’s. Anissa was right behind them.
“Going somewhere?”
A cruel voice, far too close.
Gabe had a split second to decide. Freeze.
Or run.
He ran. Liz ran with him.
“Not you, missy.”
Gabe hesitated, but Liz’s momentum propelled him forward and he knew.
Anissa would never get over it if anything happened to Liz. She’d sacrificed herself for Liz, and right now all he could do was get Liz out of here.
When they got to the trees, he found the little pile of things Anissa had left behind, including, hallelujah, her weapon and her phone.
He grabbed the gun and spun around. Harvey was two feet from Anissa. His gun pointed at her head.
“Tell your boyfriend to have the chopper land. That pilot is going to give me a ride out of here, or you will die and this whole place will blow.”
“You’re going to kill me anyway, Harvey. I’m not going to risk my friends for you.”
Harvey laughed. The fact that he didn’t sound deranged made him more terrifying. “I don’t think you’ll get to make that choice. Will she, Investigator Chavez?”
Gabe didn’t have a shot. Harvey was behind Anissa, and downslope slightly. There was no way for Gabe to get to him without shooting her.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to have that news chopper land. They are going to fly me out of here. They will not be followed. And then I will tell them where the explosives are. If you fail to follow my wishes, we all die. This place is set to blow in five minutes.”
“You’re bluffing.” Anissa didn’t know if he was bluffing, but it couldn’t hurt to keep him talking.
“Oh, you wish that, don’t you? But here’s what I know. I know the charges I set on that ancient pipe connecting this water supply to Lake Porter will blow in five minutes. When they do, there will be nothing to prevent almost all of this lake from draining into Lake Porter. But there won’t be anything you can do to stop it because this entire facility—all these lovely wooden cabins—will be in flames.”
Could Harvey Dixon have done all this? How long had the camp been closed?
Anissa didn’t like the look on Gabe’s face. She could be reading him wrong, but she didn’t think she was. Gabe believed what Harvey was saying could be true.
“Liz, could you hand me that phone?” Gabe asked in a calm, polite voice.
Liz handed him Anissa’s phone. He punched in a few numbers and held it to his ear.
“Parker, we have a bit of a situation here.” A pause. “Oh? Lovely. Well, this gentleman claims he’s put explosive charges all over this camp and on the pipe that connects this lake to Lake Porter. He has requested that we provide him a way to leave the facility. Specifically, the chopper—”
“Hurry up!” Harvey’s angry scream startled everyone. “I’d rather not die today if it’s all the same to you!”
He might be faking it. But—
Anissa lunged for him. She hit him across his chest and they tumbled into the water. She got a full breath of air right before her head went under.
He was strong. Stronger than she’d anticipated. He’d dropped the gun and now he twisted around, holding her under. He did have weight on his side. And a good grip. He got his hands around her throat. Was this the last thing Carly felt, right before she died?
Maybe. But Anissa had something that Carly didn’t have.
Anissa had a knife. And she knew how to use it.
She allowed herself to go almost limp. Her arms, she hoped, appeared to be flailing uselessly when what they were really doing was trying to get a grip on the sheath.
Got it.
She didn’t want to kill this man. Despite everything he’d done, all the pain he’d caused, the lives he’d taken and the lives he’d attempted to destroy, she didn’t want him dead.
But she didn’t want to die either.
She thrust the knife upward.
Gabe ran toward the water, but all he could see were thrashing bodies. He couldn’t tell where Anissa ended and Harvey began.
Then everything went still.
Anissa! The water bloody.
For an interminable second, Gabe couldn’t see anything in the silt and sand.
Then Anissa’s head emerged. She stood, gasping. “Help me get him out!”
Get him out? Gabe stood beside her. “Are you sure?”
Anissa, sucking in lungsful of air, nodded. “Yes.”
Together, they pulled Harvey D
ixon’s limp body from the lake. The chopper set down on the nearby field. Paisley and Vic ran toward them. What were they doing?
Paisley grabbed Liz and ran with her back to the chopper. Vic came all the way to the water’s edge. Gasping for air, he said, “Have to go. Bomb. Real. Now.”
Harvey, limp and bleeding, was still breathing. “We’d better not die for this guy,” Gabe said. It took all three of them—Gabe, Anissa, and Vic—to get Harvey up. They carried him to the chopper and shoved him aboard. As soon as everyone was on, Sam lifted off.
They had cleared the tree line when the first explosion ripped through the air. Followed by a second. And a third.
31
CHRISTMAS EVE—YAP, MICRONESIA
“Ready?” Anissa’s excitement was contagious. Gabe was ready, all right. She had no idea how ready. They made use of their masks and snorkels as they swam toward the buoy marking the spot for them to descend in the crystal-clear water.
After promising the captain they would return, he and Anissa had arrived in Yap three days earlier. Gabe had met Anissa’s parents, briefly, after they’d flown back to the States in August. Jack Bell had been overwhelmed with grief at the knowledge that someone he’d arrested four decades earlier could have harbored such a vendetta.
Harvey Dixon had survived the stabbing and the cryptosporidium that had made all of them sick in the week after the camp blew up. Dixon had gotten a plea deal after providing the names and locations of three other children he’d kidnapped and handed over to the dirty adoption attorney.
His prison sentence was still long enough that he wouldn’t be up for parole until he was ninety-two. Not that ninety-two-year-olds couldn’t be dangerous, but they would deal with that when the time came.
Part of his plea deal involved a full confession for the death of Carly Nichols and the kidnapping of Jillian Davidson. It had all been a case of mistaken identity. Harvey had gotten out of prison with one goal: kill Jack Bell. But Jack Bell was in Yap, literally on the other side of the world.
So Harvey had gone for the next best thing.
One Final Breath Page 28
