Chapter Thirty-One
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S he never should have left Bristol with him.
The angry thought kept rolling over and over in Cassie’s mind as she sped north on the soaked, windswept highway, heading for the marina where Bristol had been taken more than half an hour ago.
She kept veering between fury and being scared sick. He’d fucking sworn to her face to protect Bristol, and at the time, given the situation and the DEA involvement, Cassie had felt she’d had no choice but to comply and leave her in his care. And what had he done? Left her alone without protection while she and Tristan were en route to get her at the condo, resulting in Bristol being taken hostage by a contract killer for the cartel running this entire region.
She eased up as little as possible on the accelerator as they neared a steep curve in the wet road, taking it fast enough that Tristan set a hand on the dash to steady himself. But he didn’t say anything as she sped up to exit it.
Smart man. Driving was one of her strongest skills. She knew exactly how far she could push this vehicle in these conditions and maintain control, so she wasn’t letting up an inch. Not when every second counted.
“How far now?” she asked him.
“Just under three miles until the turnoff.” He was texting someone. “Gavin and Decker are a few minutes behind us, and the Sheriff’s Department has been notified. Along with the DEA and Coast Guard.”
“Good.” She and Tristan would be the first ones on scene, and they had no idea what to expect. “Anything else from him ?” She refused to say his name. Bastard.
“Not that I know of. CPS is in the process of gaining access to security cameras at the marina—” He paused. “They’re saying the footage confirms that Bristol arrived at the marina with the same guy who took her from the condo. Five-ten, early-thirties, brown hair, muscular build. She still had the hood over her head. He took her aboard a boat named Sea Siren and headed out of the harbor.”
“Then we’re gonna need a boat to go after her.”
“Yeah, on it.” He kept texting.
“No identity on him yet?”
“No.”
“What about the other guy?”
“He’s in pursuit.”
Cassie clenched her jaw. If he got Bristol killed, she would end him even if it meant spending the rest of her life in prison.
The rest of the drive passed in a tense silence, her anxiety mounting as she took the turnoff for the marina and headed toward the water. Was Bristol okay? No, she had to be. It made no sense for the enforcer to go to the trouble of kidnapping her in broad daylight and dragging her out on a boat in the middle of this storm if he’d just planned to kill her.
He had to be using her as bait. To lure him .
An evil part of her hoped he got what he deserved for putting Bristol in this situation. Just as long as her stepsister wasn’t hurt in the process.
She sped down the road that curved toward the water. The marina appeared up ahead, the parking lot mostly empty. Beside her, she felt the change in Tristan. He was on full alert, weapon already in hand, ready to face whatever awaited them.
She was glad they’d been assigned together for this.
“Anything else from CPS before we do this?” she asked, looking out to sea. She didn’t see any boats out there.
“A handful of people arrived at the marina in the past ten minutes.”
Well, that was helpful. “Probably boat owners wanting to secure their vessels in this storm.”
She turned into the parking lot, did a quick visual sweep before driving to a spot near the gates. “Ready?” she asked, killing the engine.
“Yep.”
They got out together, each of them automatically taking their own half of the field of view. She spotted one person at a berth close to the entrance, securing the lines on his boat. In the distance, two men were walking away from them along the wooden planking. One other stood on the deck of a boat berthed two rows over from them.
Stepping onto the closest dock, she raised her high-powered binos to scan beyond the breakwaters. A pleasure craft was powering back toward the harbor mouth. And beyond it in the distance, a small cabin cruiser rocked with the waves. “Vessel inbound, and one heading out to sea.” The name on the stern was fuzzy. She squinted, tightened the focus. “It’s them.”
“I’ll alert CPS.”
She didn’t answer because her throat was suddenly too tight to speak. She stared at the distant boat, thinking of Bristol bound and terrified inside it. “There’s no way we’ll catch up to them in this storm.” Even if they’d had a boat ready.
“CPS is updating the Coast Guard.”
As sick as she felt to admit it, that was probably Bristol’s only chance.
She lowered the binos, adrenaline pumping through her, with no available outlet. There wasn’t a damned other thing she could do to help Bristol at the moment. “Now what?” She wanted to scream. Held it back, buried it deep down.
“Keep tabs on the boat and give updates until we hear more. That’s all we can do.”
Yeah, and it fucking sucked. She swallowed, fear twisting her stomach. “Do you know she doesn’t even swear?”
Tristan glanced at her. “Who? Bristol?”
She nodded. “I can count on one hand how many times I’ve heard her curse in all the years I’ve known her. And never the F word.” She shook her head, telling herself her eyes were watering because of the wind. She was too professional to ever break down while she was on the clock. “She didn’t deserve any of this.”
“No. But we’re going to do everything we can to help get her back safely.”
Cassie raised the binoculars again. The Sea Siren was still heading slowly out to sea, her silhouette bobbing up and down between the wild waves. Meanwhile, the pleasure craft was now at the harbor mouth. It cruised toward the end of the farthest dock.
The occupant jumped off to tie up the boat. A man. He straightened, turned to face the parking lot. A shot cracked out. The man crumpled to his knees, clutching the bright red stain blooming on his chest.
She and Tristan both darted for cover, weapons up.
Pop, pop.
A boat motor roared to life. She and Tristan both peered around the edge of the boat they were crouched behind. “Shit,” Cassie breathed. The two men she’d seen on the dock earlier were driving the boat back toward the mouth of the harbor.
The wounded man was lying on his back beside the berth, his legs moving slowly.
She called it in, racing with Tristan toward the downed man with weapons in hand, their feet thudding over the slick wooden planks. The guy was still alive, clutching the wound in his chest.
Tristan got there first and crouched beside him. Leaving him to try and stop the bleeding, she turned her back on them, guarding their six while she quickly relayed everything to Ryder. Beyond the end of the harbormaster’s office, she saw a CPS vehicle pull into the parking lot and stop next to hers. Gavin and Decker stepped out.
She tapped her earpiece. “Suspect down. Bring a first aid kit.”
“Copy,” Gavin answered. She raised an arm and waved at them to get their attention. They spotted her and broke into a run, a bright red first aid kit in Gavin’s hand.
“Did you get a good look at the shooters?” Ryder asked her.
“Negative. I didn’t see their faces close up.”
“We’ll check the security footage. Are they still heading out to sea?”
“Affirm. Gavin and Decker just arrived on scene.”
“Good. Do you still have a visual on Sea Siren ?”
She turned around and looked through the binos again. The shooters were speeding in Sea Siren ’s direction. The boat was much smaller and faster and must have had a more powerful engine because it was gaining ground fast.
“I can still—” She stopped, her insides freezing.
“Cassie? What do you see?”
“Smoke,” she answered, heart slamming in terror at the dark plume rising from the stern. “ Sea Siren ’s on fire.”