That is, until he’d pulled her from the ocean days ago. And look at her now. She was falling all right. How did she stop before she hit the bottom?
The last time she’d seen Gage had been the same summer she’d been interning at an environmental company, and she’d made a huge discovery that had propelled her forward into conservation. A chemical manufacturing plant had been illegally leaking pollutants into the river—a violation of the Clean Water Act. She’d received accolades for that accomplishment that couldn’t have come at a better time. She’d needed the distraction. Her accomplishments landed her research grants and she took off traveling and focusing on marine biology conservation efforts, fixing the world one small step at time, as she always liked to think of it. Wow, time had flown. Years later, she’d been in the middle of research to secure another grant when she’d come back for Karon’s funeral.
And run into Gage Sessions all over again. He said he didn’t believe in coincidences. Neither did she.
Sadie hadn’t realized she’d been staring at him until he lowered his binoculars.
His hazel eyes raked over her then back up to meet her gaze. “What are you looking at?”
“You.” She wanted to ask him if he’d been in love with her before, but that was ridiculous. It didn’t matter one way or the other. That was the past. They were here to find out who killed Karon and who kept trying to kill Sadie.
His face scrunched up. It was hard to tell in the sun, but had his cheeks turned red? He appeared unable to speak.
When he turned to search in the other direction, she watched with him. “What are you looking for?”
He handed them over and she peered through them.
“It’s another boat. So what?” She handed them back.
Gage peered through them again, then finally said, “After years of experience in law enforcement, I’ve learned to trust my senses. That feeling in my gut. Regardless, even if I’m being paranoid, I’d rather be safe than take the risk.”
“Are you saying you have a feeling the boat is coming for us?”
“Not just a feeling.” He slowly lowered the binoculars again. “It’s what’s called a go-fast boat—hard to track by radar. That’s why we’ve had such a hard time getting these guys. They’re fast enough they can escape us if we do find them. They can only carry about a ton of illegal drugs at a time, instead of say, eight tons, so that’s the only disadvantage to drug runners using these boats. But mostly, they have all the advantage.”
A sick feeling roiled in her stomach. “I think I understand what you mean now about that feeling in your gut.”
“I don’t think they’re running from someone, or are on a smuggling mission. This can’t be a coincidence they’re headed in our direction. I definitely think these guys are coming for us.”
Quickly, they retrieved and secured the anchor. Gage started the ignition and steered back toward shore. Already the whir of the other boat’s engine sounded closer, and it seemed to be picking up speed. “Yeah, I think you’re right. They’re headed straight for us.”
Sadie’s heart hammered.
Gage accelerated, the water hitting the Sea Hag and jarring them. “All this time I have been chasing them. The Coast Guard has been trying to track them down, and now they’re going to chase me? I’m not exactly in a position to battle these guys, to arrest them and bring them in. Not with you here.”
Sadie slumped to the floor, hiding away like some coward. She was afraid they would get her this time. They would get them both. “But we don’t know anything. Why are they after us?”
“They’re getting too bold and getting tangled up in their own web.”
“But are they going to get caught or strangle themselves before they get to us? That’s what I’d like to know.”
He swerved the boat in a wide arc back and forth.
As a marine biologist logging many hours on the water—boating and scuba diving—Sadie never thought she would get seasick, but this set of circumstances was proving her wrong. She rose up, wanting to hang her head over the side during this high-speed boat chase, except the other boat was clearly faster. “Gage, what are we going to do? They’re gaining on us.”
A bullet pinged off the boat near her head.
“Get down!”
* * *
Gage returned fire and radioed for help. Clenching his jaw, ignoring the fear twisting his intestines, Gage accelerated and swerved to create large wakes to foil the faster boat’s attempt to overtake them. More pings pounded the hull. Bullets whizzed past.
Too close!
One thing quickly became clear: these guys had no interest in overtaking them or boarding the Sea Hag. These were the drug runners he’d been after. The Changs or their associates. Were they after him and Sadie was caught in the middle? Or were they trying to extinguish them both for their efforts to crack the investigation into Karon’s murder? He could sort that out later. He focused on getting them out of this alive.
But how? How, God? How do I get us out?
He returned fire and steered toward the coast. Help wouldn’t come in time. This was all on him.
Pressed down behind the seat, Sadie covered her head and screamed. “Gage! Do something!”
But he was helpless! In all his years in law enforcement, he’d never found himself being pursued like this. Or protecting someone he cared about so deeply—he would do anything to save her.
“Should we surrender?” she called over the roar of the boat and automatic gunfire.
“No. Absolutely not.”
“What do they want?”
They wanted Gage and Sadie dead. But she knew that. She was just panicking, and his own panic rose—bile in his throat.
Gage accelerated to the max until automatic weapons drove him to the floor with Sadie as the boat headed toward shore miles away. The onslaught of bullets took out the motor and the boat slowed until it drifted.
Her big blue fear-filled eyes looked to him for hope. He could read it there easily enough, but he had nothing to give. Disappointment surged in her gaze. He never expected to see that in her eyes. Never wanted to see it again.
Lord, we’re going to die without some help here!
“Can we jump for it?”
“They’d only gun us down.”
“They’re tearing up the hull with their bullets. It’s going to sink anyway.” She put her head down, covered it with her hands and whimpered. “Oh, God, help us.”
Gage could give Sadie a chance to escape. That was the only way.
She lifted her head. “I know what to do. Let’s rig the boat so it explodes. We’ll escape, but they’ll think we’re dead.”
“You mean a gas explosion? That would be reckless and unpredictable and could get us both killed.” He’d almost rather take his chances with these guys if they’d give them the chance. But they’d hit the motor and the boat was already slowing down as bullets ate up the hull.
“Got any other suggestions?” she asked.
“Nope.” So that was it then. “So I guess that means we’re going with your idea.”
He didn’t tell her but he’d had the same crazy, reckless idea. Sometimes crazy and reckless were the only choices a person had.
Still, she would be off the boat before he rigged it. He scrambled for a couple of flares and remembered the story about flare guns used to fend of pirates from the Somali coast. The flare landed on the pirate’s boat and sank it. But that all depended on the boat, of course. He didn’t expect them to be that fortunate or it to be that easy.
As for rigging the explosion, igniting the gasoline was the main problem.
Yeah. It was all a long shot, but it was all they had. That and prayer. Then they’d face their next challenge. He and Sadie would have to swim wide and deep then two miles back to shore and hope these men would think them dead.
Respect replaced the disappointment in her eyes. “If you think you’re staying behind to ignite the gas, think again.”
“Sadie, you’re going to live through this. I’m going to set it off.”
She shook her head. “Sure you are. But we’ll be in the water when you do. Just pour the gas around, and through some of those bullet holes and along the side. We’ll slip into the water and fire off the flare from a distance. While you’re working, I can hold these guys off with your gun.”
“We can’t shoot the flare. Flares are not like bullets. We’ll be floating in the ocean, with the constant up-and-down motion and aiming the flare for a ballistic arc so it would fall into the boat—pretty much impossible. Flares extinguish before they hit the water, so it could go out before it even hit the boat.”
They were running out of time. They were about to lose this last option as it was. He was grateful they had already donned their dry suits, or the water would kill them just as fast.
He nodded. “So I’m holding them off. Pull the hose and pour the gas from the tank. See if you can drop our dive equipment into the ocean. Maybe we can retrieve it later. It’s worth a shot.”
“No. The oxygen tanks will make the explosion much bigger. But let’s take the BC vests—buoyancy compensator devices—and the flippers.”
“Good thinking.” He nodded. That would help them float and also make better time swimming back to shore.
Gage positioned himself to keep firing at the men until he ran out of bullets. “I need to make the fuse,” he said.
Then Sadie surprised him and suddenly shot a flare at the men’s boat and caused a disturbance. He stared at her, admiration for her surging. Maybe the other boat would ignite and save them the trouble of destroying the Sea Hag, though she was already doomed. He tore a long strip from the shirt he’d removed earlier to don the dry suit and soaked it in gasoline. Then he would have to light it as they slipped into the ocean. Hopefully undetected.
Sadie shot off the next flare and received curses for her efforts.
Gage ignited the fuse, then he grabbed Sadie. They grabbed the vests and flippers and slipped into the water, then swam a safe distance before putting on the vests and flippers. The seconds ticked by, taking far too much time.
At least the men still fired at the boat, getting their entertainment from shredding it, which also confirmed they believed Sadie and Gage were still on board the vessel. The men probably thought Sadie and Gage had finally taken bullets and died. They acted as though they would not be satisfied until the boat was completely demolished and went to rest at the bottom of the ocean.
“Now,” he whispered. “Let’s go.” He sucked in a breath and he dove beneath the surface, pushed deep and kept swimming, Sadie at his side.
He turned on his back and above them, saw the flames of the explosion, then a second blast when the oxygen tanks blew up. Pieces of shattered boat sunk, but not too close, making him grateful they’d gotten a good distance.
He’d never wished he was dead until now.
God, please let them believe we’re dead.
THIRTEEN
Chunks of debris rained down in the ocean from the blast, but none too near where Sadie and Gage swam beneath the surface to escape. They’d made it far enough away to be safe by the time the flames met the gas tanks. Lungs burning, she followed Gage. She thought she could outlast him, but maybe she was wrong. They swam long and hard underwater. Gage finally flipped around to face her then pointed up. Filled with relief, she nodded.
I don’t know that I could hold my breath much longer.
Except he motioned for her to wait on him. Checking the surface for his drug runners?
Hurry!
Cautiously, he slowed just under the surface before he breached, then barely slipped his head above the water to search for their pursuers. Then finally he motioned for her to join him. She didn’t take it slowly but burst through, wishing she could breach like a whale. She dragged in a long breath. She’d always loved the water, but at the same time she feared death by drowning the most.
Treading water, she moved in a circle to get oriented. The waves seemed choppier, rougher now than when they’d been on the boat, and the water was definitely cold.
“At least they’re gone for now,” Gage said.
“Do you think they believe we died in the explosion?” Except now what? She and Gage would swim all the way back to the coast?
“They must or they would still be hanging around.” He tried to hide his uncertainty but she heard it all the same.
“They could also come back and check—we have quite a swim ahead of us and they know that will take us some time. So we’d better get started.”
The whir of a boat resounded. A measure of hope surged, but quickly disappeared. The boat didn’t belong to the Coast Guard.
From a distance, they treaded water and watched the drug runner’s go-fast boat circle the carnage—what remained of the Sea Hag floating on the surface, some of it still in flames. They’d come back to check.
The men hadn’t seen them yet. Maybe it wasn’t their day to die, after all. Except there were still dangers ahead of them. She was a good swimmer, but admittedly, she wasn’t in any condition to swim for two miles.
Gage tugged her down again under the surface. They swam deep and farther away, hoping to remain undetected. The salt water burned her eyes. She wished she had her mask. A snorkel would have been nice too. Might as well lament the fact they hadn’t saved their tanks, but they could thank the oxygen tanks, and all the other accelerants and highly flammable fiberglass hull for the spectacular display that almost took them out with it.
Once again, Sadie followed Gage’s lead to the surface. The drug runners had gone away again. Where had they gone the first time? Was there a bigger boat waiting somewhere?
Gage grinned. “We did it. We fooled them into thinking we’re dead.”
“Yay. A point for us. Maybe they think we’re still alive but we’re going to die anyway trying to make our way back to shore.”
His grin dropped away. “Let’s not waste time or energy then. We can do this. Let’s inflate our BC vests. We’ll float and swim on our backs as long as we can and then swim the rest of the way to shore. It isn’t that far.”
“Right. You’re delusional.” Sadie wasn’t ready to float or swim on her back. It wasn’t that easy in the ocean with bigger waves lapping at her.
“Half the battle is in the mind, Sadie. Make that more than half. Tell yourself we’re going to make it.”
“And do a lot of praying.”
“That goes without saying. God is with us. Never forget that.”
After Sadie had inflated her vest and Gage did the same, he positioned himself on his back and started swimming east.
He’ll never leave nor forsake you. She repeated the verse in her mind and heart. It became her mantra that fought the terror overwhelming her. With each lap of cold ocean water, she relived the trauma of nearly drowning only two days ago all over again. Her heart and spirits sank. This time she and Gage would both die.
No, that’s not going to happen. You and Gage are going to survive this. I can do this. I have to do this.
She calmed her nerves and drove her morbid thoughts deep and buried them at the bottom of the ocean. Then she focused on one thing: surviving. A ray of hope shone in her thoughts and she reached for it. She wasn’t sure she wanted to waste energy talking, but she needed to grip that hope.
“Aren’t your Coast Guard buddies coming for us?” He’d made that radio call for help, after all.
When he didn’t answer, she wasn’t sure if he’d heard her. She needed to conserve her energy but believing someone would come for them would spur her on. Sadie had believed she was much stronger than this, but the seemingly endless attacks on her life were beating her down and dragging her under.
<
br /> I am stronger than this.
But this time, somehow digging down deep and drawing on her inner strength wasn’t working. Panic was close to setting in, and the last thing one should ever do was panic in the water.
“They’re coming, Sadie. All we have to do is swim.”
Right. Had he even been able to give their location before bullets prevented him? And even if he had, they would find the boat’s wreckage and then search for bodies. Sadie couldn’t listen to her own thoughts anymore. She had nothing good to say.
Her breaths came in short, shallow gasps. She wasn’t going to make it, after all.
Gage stopped. “Let’s rest for a bit. Just float.”
And fight the current and waves. Easier said than done. “I don’t get it. Why’d they seek us out like that to kill us? Don’t they know that’s going to bring a hoard of Coast Guard and law enforcement down on them?”
“As far as they know, we’re dead. There’s no one to witness what was done or who was responsible. That’s why most crimes and violence that occur on the high seas go unpunished. The ocean is, for the most part, lawless. It’s much too vast. Just like it has taken us time to find the connection between Karon and Sean and the drug runners. If we don’t, then they could get away with murder. Again. If we don’t survive to tell our story, then it will take them time to sort through what happened today and they might never know.”
Sadie took in his words and let her breathing slow a bit. Her heart still pounded much too fast for comfort.
Finally, he said, “Are you ready to go?”
She nodded. They swam, letting their legs and flippers do most of the work, though it still exhausted them.
“Look, Sadie, we’re close.”
Spotting the small island infused her with hope and she swam for it, ignoring the burn and ache in her muscles, the scream of her lungs. She left Gage behind as she swam. Nah. He’d purposefully swum behind her so that he wouldn’t leave her behind. She knew how he thought. The guy was in excellent physical condition. Sadie only imagined herself in shape.
Thread of Revenge Page 13
