Dangerous Waters (Lantern Beach Book 4)

by Christy Barritt

  “I know you have a lot on your shoulders right now,” Ty said as they moved through the foliage.

  “Thanks for helping me carry it.”

  “Anytime, sweetheart. Anytime.”

  She smiled briefly, knowing he meant the words. And knowing that meant the world to her. When they were through with this, they needed to have a long talk. She wanted to know about the fleeting doubt she’d seen in his eyes. But there would be time for that later.

  She hoped.

  A few minutes later, they paused.

  They’d reached the edge of the woods.

  Cassidy looked up at the towering lighthouse in the distance. Was Orion up there?

  The glare of the sun against the glass made it impossible to tell. But she’d bet on him being here.

  From the other side of the beach, a blatant reflection signaled to them that Mac had arrived.

  Ty took his cell phone and sent a flash of light back to him.

  “It’s showtime, Cassidy,” he said.

  She nodded and gripped her gun as a huge bang exploded on the other side of the lighthouse.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Without wasting any time, Cassidy and Ty rushed to the lightkeeper’s quarters—and the entrance to the lighthouse. Ty took one side of the front door, and Cassidy took the other. Before opening it, Cassidy glanced in the window.

  She saw nothing. No one. Just the dusty old living room.

  But that didn’t really surprise her—Orion was smarter than that. Cassidy had known he was intelligent, but the way he’d planned this down to the last detail sent chills up her spine.

  Ty nodded at her, signaling it was time.

  She braced herself. Ty reached for the door and twisted the knob.

  To her surprise, it opened. Unlocked.

  Was this a trap? She’d be wise to keep that in mind.

  Ty slipped inside first, and Cassidy followed.

  The living room area they’d stepped into was empty, just as she suspected.

  Ty nodded toward the back of the building, where the door to the lighthouse was.

  They’d check out the rooms on the way there. Maybe—just maybe—Serena was in one of them.

  Slowly and methodically, they moved down the hallway. Quietly and carefully, they opened each door. Stealthily and thoroughly, they searched each room.

  No Serena.

  Was she at the top of the lighthouse with Orion? It was a possibility. If that was the case, exactly what was Orion planning? Cassidy’s stomach twisted at the thought.

  They stepped back into the hallway and finally reached the door at the end. The heavy door that was kept locked, the one leading to the tower.

  Ty tugged on it. It opened with a gentle creak.

  They glanced at each other.

  It was a possibility that Orion may not have heard it if the wind was howling from up above. They wouldn’t know unless they kept going.

  As soon as they entered, a figure stepped from behind the staircase, gun drawn and aimed at Cassidy.

  It wasn’t Orion.

  It wasn’t Serena.

  No, it was . . .

  “Rose?” Cassidy croaked, staring at the woman in disbelief.

  Rose Alvarez. The woman who’d been abducted by human traffickers. The woman Cassidy had saved, risking her life to do so.

  But she wasn’t back in Charleston trying to make a better life for herself. No, she was here.

  And she obviously wasn’t offering an extended thank-you by assisting Cassidy. No, she was the mystery woman who’d been with Orion.

  She was on the opposite side of this fight.

  Rose shook her head, still gripping her gun without any sign of nerves shaking her limbs or voice.

  “I’m sorry, Cassidy,” she muttered, only her lips moving. Her teeth appeared clenched and tight.

  “What . . . How . . .” Cassidy hardly had the words to say.

  “It’s a long story,” Rose muttered, as tense as a cat about to pounce. “But I need you both to put down your weapons.”

  “You do realize there are two of us and one of you,” Ty’s gaze remained on Rose’s gun. He could take her. No doubt about it. But the move would be risky.

  “Of course I do! But if you hurt me, your little friend dies. End of story. So I’d think twice about trying anything funny.” She sneered.

  Was Rose on something? That would be Cassidy’s guess. Not flakka. But she didn’t appear to be in her right mind.

  The thought caused a surge of sadness in Cassidy. The woman had been given a second chance at life . . . and this was how she was using it? What a waste. And a shame.

  “Okay,” Cassidy said. She exchanged a look with Ty, and he nodded.

  Slowly, they both lowered their guns to the stone floor.

  Rose had meant the words, and they couldn’t take any chances. Not when someone else’s life was on the line.

  “Now we just need to wait a few minutes,” Rose said. “Right here. Close the door,” she instructed.

  Ty closed it, but his eyes kept going to her gun, as if formulating a plan.

  What if they took her out? How would Orion know? Was he even here still? How were the two communicating?

  The next few minutes would be precarious, at best.

  “How did you get involved with this, Rose?” Cassidy asked, unsure why they had to wait. Unsure if she wanted to know. But she did want answers. Desperately.

  Some of the hardness left her eyes. “I’m sorry, Cassidy. I never meant to do this. But I needed money.”

  “What do I have to do with money?” Cassidy asked.

  And why was everyone willing to sell their souls for some cash? Was wealth really that much of a god? She knew the answer—yes. But desperation could also motivate people to do despicable things. It was a different kind of idol.

  “Someone came into town.” Rose’s breathing appeared more labored now—fast, shallow breaths. Her voice softened slightly, and a thin layer of sweat formed on her lip. “I started running around with the wrong crowd. This guy was using his connections, trying to find someone.”

  “Okay . . .”

  “He had a picture of you. Or someone who looked like you. I realized that you were the same woman wanted by DH-7. The man saw the recognition on my face. He was going to kill me if I didn’t give him the information. I just knew. I had to work with him. I had no other choice.”

  This wasn’t the time to lecture her about how people always had a choice. Cassidy understood now more than ever just how hard it could be.

  “So you led him here?” Ty didn’t bother to hide the surprise and disgust from his voice. First Jimmy James. Now Rose. Betrayal was never easy to swallow.

  “I tried to misdirect him at first. He did this.” She raised her sleeve and revealed a large gash in her arm. “I had to, Cassidy. I had to.”

  “You can walk away now,” Cassidy said, staring at the gun. Time was ticking away. “You can choose your ending.”

  “But I can’t. He’s going to give me a hundred K if I help him.”

  Cassidy’s stomach twisted. “You’re going to choose money over the right thing?”

  “I need the cash.” Her voice trembled. “I know it sounds horrible, but I do. It could change my life.”

  “Don’t do this, Rose,” Ty said. “There are better ways. More honest ways.”

  Footsteps sounded on the stairway. Orion was coming. When he got his hands on her, Cassidy’s life would be over.

  Would Serena finally be safe? Or would he kill her too? Along with Ty?

  Please, Lord . . .

  One more step, and Orion appeared. A smug grin stretched across his face as he pointed his gun at her.

  “If it isn’t Cady,” he muttered. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve dreamed of this day.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “You don’t have to bring anyone else into this, Orion,” Cassidy said. Her stomach curled at the sight of him, at the arrogant expression on his
face and his cocky movement. This was the real Orion. Baggy clothes. Exposed tattoos. Urban dialect.

  All planned. Precise. Deadly.

  “Oh, but I do. Do you realize how many of my friends you made suffer?”

  “I didn’t make them suffer,” she said. “They were involved with a deadly gang, and they made their choices.”

  He’d stopped five steps above the floor, high enough—and far enough—that they couldn’t reach him. And his gun was aimed at Ty, while Rose’s was pointed at Cassidy.

  There was no easy way out of this.

  And there was still no sign of Serena. Time wasn’t on their side right now.

  “Where’s Serena?” Cassidy asked. “She has nothing to do with this.”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Orion smiled, finding a sick satisfaction in holding the power of suffering in his hands. “That’s my little secret.”

  “Let her go,” Ty said. “We can figure it out another way.”

  He chuckled. “Did you know your girlfriend stopped my friend Raul’s heart? I’m sure I can think of a way to make your heart stop as well so she can know how it feels.”

  “No!” Cassidy felt the blood leaving her face at the mere mention of it. “You just want me. Leave him alone.”

  “You’ll have to go through me to get to her,” Ty growled.

  “That could be fun,” Orion said.

  Cassidy couldn’t stomach the thought of it. “What was with all the pretense, Orion? Why’d you catch us in the church parking lot? Why are you drawing this out?”

  “Part of the enjoyment is watching you suffer. Watching your confusion and doubt. Watching you try to figure out if I was really the man you once knew or someone else. I’ve always been fascinated by you, Cady.”

  Her stomach churned as a brief image of the kiss he’d forced on her flashed in her mind. In an instant, she remembered his pungent smell, the repulsive feel of his chapped lips pressing against hers. But she needed to turn this conversation around before Orion got in her head.

  “Who’d you tell I was here?” she asked.

  “No one, of course. I want the money for myself. The satisfaction of knowing I did what no one else could. The gang members back home . . . they’re like a bunch of starved prisoners who are desperate for something to eat and gnaw on. If I turned them loose, this whole place would become crack town for a while.”

  She pushed down a shiver at the image. Her gut clenched. She’d only taken one life, and it was Raul’s. Even though he was a bad guy, it would haunt her for the rest of her life. “What are you doing, Orion? What do you want with me?”

  His cocky grin turned into a sneer. “I’m going to make you pay, just as I promised. You want to know something else strange? One of my cohorts saw Reginald the other day. It turns out he didn’t die. You have a strange habit of having that happen around you.”

  At least Cassidy knew he was okay. Momentary comfort filled her.

  “There are better ways than death,” she said.

  “Unless it came to Raul?”

  “He wasn’t supposed to die. It was an accident.”

  Like a switch had flipped, his playfulness turned to vengeance. “Sure, it was. Tie up your friend.”

  Cassidy glanced at Ty, her heart pounding in her ears. “No, I’m not tying him up.”

  “I don’t think you understand. You’re not the one calling the shots here. Tie him up.”

  “I don’t even have anything to tie him up with.”

  “Rose?”

  Rose reached into her pocket and pulled out some handcuffs. She tossed them to Cassidy.

  “Do it,” Orion ordered. “Or I shoot him.”

  Images of what might happen to Ty filled her head. All of them ended with him dead. The situation felt no-win. She hesitated.

  Orion raised his gun, pointing it at Ty. “I said, do it, and do it now!”

  Rose stepped forward. “Can’t I just do it? Let’s just make this easy.”

  “Yes, let’s make it easy.” As soon as Orion said the words, his gun fired.

  Cassidy held her breath, waiting for the pain. Devastation. Loss.

  Rose collapsed to the floor.

  Cassidy gasped and sank down beside her. “Rose!”

  Blood soaked her shoulder, and she moaned. Her eyes glazed, and shock froze her expression. She wouldn’t make it long, not without help.

  “Now, did I make myself clear?” Orion said. “Handcuff him.”

  “You could have killed her!” Cassidy glanced up at Orion. “She was on your side.”

  “I was going to kill her either way. She was stupid enough to believe I’d split any money with her.”

  “It’s okay, Cassidy,” Ty said. “I’ll be okay.”

  Her hands trembled as she stood and picked up the handcuffs.

  What if Orion got angry and shot Ty? She couldn’t live with that image in mind.

  Ty put his hands together in front of him, desperately trying to tell her something with his gaze. Cassidy wasn’t sure what.

  She snapped the cuffs around his wrists.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, wanting more than anything to turn back time. To go back a few days to when she’d been floating on the clouds with happiness.

  She should have known it wouldn’t last.

  “It’s okay,” Ty told her. “I love you, Cassidy.”

  Emotions lodged in her throat upon hearing the words again. “I love you too, Ty.”

  Orion rushed down the steps and grabbed Ty by the shoulder.

  Cassidy shouted and tried to push him away. It was no use.

  Ty threw his elbow into Orion’s throat. Orion gawked but quickly righted himself. He grabbed Cassidy and put the gun to her head.

  “I’d stop if I were you,” Orion growled.

  Ty raised his hands. “I stopped. Don’t hurt her.”

  “Step into the hallway.”

  Ty seemed to freeze. “Why don’t you take me instead of Cassidy?”

  “Cassidy is the only one I want.” He pressed the gun so hard that Cassidy let out a cry. “Now, step out. Now.”

  “Okay, okay.” Ty gave Cassidy one last look—one that was full of apology and regret.

  As soon as Ty was in the hallway, Orion slammed the door and bolted it shut, barricading them from the rest of the world.

  She could hardly stomach the fact.

  Orion turned back toward Cassidy with that gleam in his gaze again. “Now it’s time for you and me to have some fun.”

  Cassidy felt like she’d stepped outside herself as Orion led her up the lighthouse stairs. She nearly stumbled on the steps. She could hardly breathe.

  They’d come this far only for this. No Serena to be found, Rose was dying, Ty would live the rest of his life in guilt, and Cassidy was breathing her final moments.

  A mental countdown started again. Only she wasn’t sure when this clock would stop.

  “You don’t have to do this,” she said.

  He shoved her onto the catwalk. “Of course I do. You’re going to set an example. Just like Reginald was supposed to. Remember?”

  “I do.” The wind whipped around them, so strong that she pressed herself against the glass of the lantern room. She sucked in a breath. This glass was strong. It would hold her.

  She glanced back. If it didn’t, it was a long way down. What had Ty said? Eleven stories?

  She forced her eyes ahead instead. The water had turned ugly within the last few hours as the tide came in. What had she heard on the news earlier? That the mixture of an offshore storm and a full moon was going to bring an unusually high tide. That looked true now. The water was probably ten feet higher inland.

  “The strange thing is, everyone you supposedly killed is turning up alive,” Orion said. “Why is that?”

  “Zombie apocalypse?” Why had Cassidy said that? It was too late to take it back now.

  Orion chuckled, but it sounded dry and bitter. “Aren’t you funny? Raul was certainly taken with y
ou. That’s what ultimately got him killed.”

  “Raul was evil.”

  The gun slammed into Cassidy’s face, knocking the wind out of her.

  “Shut up! Raul was a good man.”

  She grabbed her aching jaw, trying to alleviate the pain. “What did he ever do that was so good? He looked out for only one person—Raul. He only wanted to make himself richer.”

  “He looked out for all of us.” Spittle hit her face.

  “You’re a fool if that’s what you think,” Cassidy said. “What did he ever do for you?”

  “He gave me a place to stay. Money. A purpose.”

  She inched around the lighthouse, trying to calculate if she could run. How far she could get down the steps before his bullet would find her? Before she tumbled? And this escape became a suicide mission.

  “I think your loyalty is misguided,” she said. “Unless there’s someone else. Who’s paying you?”

  An honest grin crossed his face. “You really don’t know, do you?”

  “Know what?”

  He laughed again. “Raul was never the one calling all the shots, holding all the money.”

  Realization swept through her like the aftershock of a nuclear bomb. “Who is it?”

  “I can’t tell.”

  “Why not? You’re going to kill me anyway.”

  “Because you don’t deserve to know. You deserve to die.” He stared at her and shook his head. “You think you’re so smart. You’re not.”

  “You have no conscience.”

  “Shut up!” He raised his gun and pulled the trigger.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Cassidy grabbed her arm as pain sliced through her. She glanced down, expecting the worst. It appeared the bullet had skimmed her arm. A flesh wound.

  But she knew Orion was just getting started. That wasn’t a mistake. It was a sign of things to come.

  “Raul trusted you,” Orion said, aiming his gun at her. “How could you have done this to him?”

  “Raul was a twisted man. Just like you.” Probably not the best thing Cassidy could say right now, but she may as well speak the truth. It wouldn’t make a difference to the outcome either way.