17. Indiana
Rhinorocked violently as the deafening explosion ripped her engine apart. As the detonation rang in my ears, charred chunks of my boat rained across the deck. I leaned over Dad, desperate to protect him.
“Tyler,” I cried, glaring at the black smoke smothering the area where he’d stood.
Acrid fumes burned my tongue.
Dad groaned.
“It’s okay, Dad.”
“It’s not fucking okay.”
“Just keep still.” Adjusting my bloody hands over his wound, I searched the smoky chaos.
Come on Tyler, where are you?
“Answer me, Kingsley!” I forced his name past the knot in my throat. Tears welled in my eyes.
I have to find him, but I can’t leave Dad.
My heart hammered a thundering rhythm as flames leaped to the sky.
Oh God. Did he go overboard?
I reached for Dad’s hand. “Dad, I need to find Tyler.”
I removed my hand from the bullet wound, and Dad gasped.
“Sorry. Just keep the pressure on.” I placed his other hand over the first. I kissed his forehead. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Indy. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, you stop that, Dad. I need you, so don’t do anything stupid. You hear me?”
His cloudy eyes blinked in slow motion.
“I love you, Dad. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back?—”
Thick black smoke caught in the ocean breeze and drifted into the equipment cupboard, threatening to smother us.
Shit, we need to get out of here before we suffocate.
Tears streamed from my eyes as I pushed open the other door, desperate for clean air.
“Tyler! Where are you?” Holding my breath, I crossed the upper deck to the railing.
The engine sizzled, and sparks flicked along the rusted frame.
I scanned the dive deck and my heart launched to my throat. “Tyler!”
Directly below me, his limp body emerged from the smoke.
Gripping the railing, I raced along the deck to the stairs.
No. No. No.
I jumped down to the dive deck and sprinted over twisted debris.
“Tyler!” I fell to my knees.
He groaned.
“Oh, thank God.” I yanked bits of charred metal off his wetsuit that had burned into the rubber. I gripped his arm. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”
Soot painted my palms like warpaint as I rolled him onto his back and helped him sit. “Tyler, come on, you bastard. Help me.”
A mild explosion erupted from the engine, and flaming metal flew into the air. It landed on the dive deck next to a chunk of glass.
Oh fuck!Dad’s broken whiskey bottle.
“Tyler.” I slapped his cheek. “We gotta move!”
Blinking, he shook his head. I hugged him to my side.
A spark landed on the wet patch on the deck.
I hauled him to his feet.
A blue flame raced across the timber.
His legs were like rubber as I forced him to the stairs.
A tremendous roar erupted behind me.
Clutching the railing, I screamed as I forced Tyler’s unruly legs up the stairs.
Another explosion ripped through the air. As we crashed in a tangle of arms and legs on the upper deck, I hugged Tyler to my body.
He jerked back, his piercing blue eyes were wide . . . and awake.
“Are you okay?” We both said at the same time.
His concern was a balm to my chaos.
“Yes,” I cried as we scrambled to our feet, “but Dad’s not.”
I ran to the equipment room and fell on my knees beside Dad. “Dad!” His hands had fallen to his sides, and foaming blood oozed from his wound. “Dad, talk to me!”
He groaned. “Will ya stop yelling at me?”
A strained chuckle burst from my lips as I pressed my hand over the wound.
Tyler ran into the room on unsteady legs. Soot covered his cheek, and his hair was a matted mess on his forehead. “Where’s your fire extinguisher?”
“On the wall in the hut.”
He squatted at my side. “You still with us, Old Man?”
“Don’t worry about me. Save our fucking boat,” Dad said.
“Copy that.” Tyler sprinted away.
The inferno devoured the lower deck, reducing the stacks of money to ash, and flames leaped three feet into the air, licking the rusty railing that overlooked the dive deck below.
Dad groaned. “Indy, forget about me. You need?—”
“Hey. Cut that out.” I pressed harder on his wound.
He winced.
“You’re going to be fine, Dad.”
He turned his fierce glare on me. His warm blood seeped through my fingers.
“Indy.” Dad’s soothing tone scared the crap out of me. “I need to tell you something.” His once strong fingers trembled, and he placed his hand over mine. His skin seemed paper thin, like too much blood had left his extremities.
Clutching the fire extinguisher, Tyler ran headfirst into the thick smoke. He blasted the deck with a stream of foam. Rhino groaned like a monstrous beast was trying to claw out of our cabins below.
“Tyler’s putting out the fire, Dad. We’ll be okay.”
“He’s a good man. You need to trust him.”
I blinked at my father, and his teary eyes mirrored the flaming chaos.
“Wow,” I said. “He’s really done a number on you.”
He attempted to laugh but gasped as pain etched the lines of his face deeper.
A burst of sparks erupted from the air compressor as Tyler doused the fire with thick foam. Flames crawled up from the deck and curled over the edge like the devil’s fingers reaching for Dad and me.
I should have helped Tyler, but it was already too late. The fire was out of control.
“Indiana, listen to me.” Dad’s grip on my hand tightened.
“Okay, I hear you, Dad. You want me to trust Tyler.”
“It’s not that.” He growled, and the fear in his eyes ripped into me.
He’s dying. He knows it, and I know it.
“I’m sorry you wasted so much time searching for the bastards who killed your mom.” His voice was gravelly, like his throat was scorched.
“I’m not. I’m going to get those fuckers, Dad. I promise you.” I squeezed his hand.
“I killed them.” He sucked in a huge mouthful of air.
“What are you talking about?”
“While you were in hospital . . .” Dad smacked his lips together.
Frowning, I leaned closer, trying to follow his train of thought. “Hospital?”
“Yeah, to get those stitches in your leg.”
I blinked at him. That was twenty-two years ago. The day mom died.
“What are you talking about?”
“I tracked those fuckers down, and I killed them. I shot both of them with that ancient gun.”
My jaw dropped. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to. A million times, I wanted to. But I didn’t want you hating me.”
“What? Why would I hate you?”
“Because I’m a murderer, just like them.”
“You’re nothing like them, Dad. They murdered for trinkets. You killed them because they killed Mom, and they nearly killed me. They deserved to die.”
A sob burst from his throat. “But you wasted all those years searching for ghosts.”
Tyler was a blur against the blaze as he backed up the stairs. The flames seemed to follow him as if daring him to have a go. He sprayed the foam, left and right, but the fire brushed it off like a dog shaking water off its back. Tyler’s jaw was clamped with determination. He must have been boiling in that wetsuit. Or maybe it was protecting him.
Flames reared at him as he raced farther along the deck and blasted foam onto the air compressor’s rubber hose. His bravery was incredible.
But it was useless. That fire was in control now.
“You can stop giving Tyler a hard time. Trust him, Indy.”
“I already do, Dad.”
“He’s a good man. And the cops weren’t the bad guys. It was me.”
“You’re not a bad guy, Dad. You’re a hero.”
“I can’t hold it!” Tyler yelled and glanced at me over his shoulder. “Get out of there.”
His command was also a plea.
My gaze darted between the two men in my world. One slipping away, and the other trying to save what little I had left.
Dad yanked my hand off his stomach. “Go, Indy.”
“I’m not leaving you.” Tears streaked down my face.
Pain crawled across Dad’s face as he reached up and cupped my cheek. “I’m so proud of you, and your mom would have been so proud of her beautiful, strong daughter.”
A sob burst from my lips.
“Indy, when I killed those men, I took back the things they stole from us.”
My jaw dropped. “The gold coins?”
He nodded. “And the rest.”
I frowned. That treasure was the reason Mom was murdered. “What did you do with it?”
“I returned it to where we found it.” He squeezed my hand. “You remember where that is, don’t you?”
The deck quaked beneath us.
“What was that?” I darted my gaze to the inferno.
“Indy!” Tyler yelled from the top of the step that bordered the flames. He aimed the extinguisher at the blaze, but nothing happened.
Oh fuck. The fire extinguisher is empty.
Tyler tossed the tank aside and sprinted toward us.
“I love you, Indy.” Dad’s hand slipped from my fingers.
“Get out of there!” Tyler yanked the equipment room door wider.
“Kingsley,” Dad croaked.
“We have to get you out of here.” Tyler grabbed Dad’s arm to lift him.
“No!” Dad barked and slapped Tyler away. “Leave me.”
“Hell no,” Tyler hissed.
“Listen to me, you fool.” Dad gripped Tyler’s wrist so hard his knuckles bulged. “I’m dying. You can’t save me. I need you to save Indiana.”
A tangled web of emotions twisted Tyler’s expression.
My chin dimpled. “No. Dad.”
Dad raised his hand with a stern look I’d seen on him a thousand times.
Tyler squeezed his palm to my father’s. “I promise I’ll look after her.”
“I know you will.” Dad’s voice broke. “I’m so pleased I met you.”
His hand flopped onto his chest.
I gasped. Tears streamed down my cheeks. “I love you, Dad.”
His eyes rolled to me, and the fog that had clouded his irises forever shifted away. “Goodbye, my sweet Indy.”
A sob burst from my lips as the light in his eyes faded and his eyelids closed.
“Oh my god.” I sucked in a ragged breath.
Tyler pulled me to my feet and wrapped his arms around me.
As I sobbed into his chest, the flames roared behind me.