Chapter 15
Dane joined Vendi in in the wheel house.
“Where’s your crew?”
Vendi handed Dane a two-way headset.
“You’re it. I sent the on-duty men to crew the Coast Guard boat to look for Hunt per Captain Lynch. They stole a speed boat from the Oak Bluffs Marina. My crew will attempt to track them and intercept.”
“Do you have Shana’s location locked in?”
“We’re on track to reach them in less than five minutes.”
“I’m going down to the main deck to prep for the boarding.”
Vendi nodded.
As Dane clambered down the metal ladder to the main deck, he pulled his phone out and tried calling Shana again.
Shana rose to her knees and moved to the ladder. She had to get down below to Claire.
Sam crawled to the controls with his M16.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine. I need to check on Claire.”
Sam checked the controls.
“We’re still moving, but looks like we’re taking on water. We’ve slowed. We’ll need to get off this ship sooner than later. Meet me on the aft deck with Claire. Suit her in a life vest and keep her out of sight.”
She nodded.
“I’ll be covering you with the M16. Be ready for return fire.”
She disappeared down the ladder and stayed out of the line of sight of the approaching boat. This time she was certain Dagmar Hunt himself had struck.
The boat veered wildly and she was slammed against the hard wall of the wheelhouse cabin.
The staccato beat of shots rang from above.
As she stepped onto the main deck, she slid to the corner of the wall to see how close their attackers were and what they were up to.
Sam continued firing and their boat moved slowly, the engine clanking unnaturally.
Sticking only a sliver of her head past the edge, she stopped breathing, went still for an instant. Hunt’s boat was bigger than theirs—and faster.
And gaining on them.
She didn’t have much time. As she slipped back out of sight, the phone in her back pocket buzzed. Her heart beat wildly and her fingers shook as she pulled it from her pocket and shoved it against her ear.
“Dane.”
Before he had a chance to answer her, his heart froze. Gunfire. The sound was unmistakable in the background.
“What’s your status—”
“It’s Dag—he’s got a boat and he’s closing in. We’re taking fire. We’re in trouble. Call the Coast Guard and—”
“I’m with the Coast Guard. Hang on. Evasive maneuvers. Keep my mother below and hold them off. Our ETA is in four minutes.”
“We’re taking on water. Dane—”
“Shoot to kill. I’ll be there.”
He wanted to say more. He wanted to hear Shana say more. But all he heard were more gunshots. Louder than before, and then the call ended.
Damn it to hell.
He got on the two-way to Vendi.
“They’re under fire. Max out the speed.”
“On it. Keep your binoculars up and keep me posted. Out.”
Shana rushed down the ladder to the staterooms below, the sound of gunfire and Dane’s words ringing in her ears. Shoot to kill. She needed to join Sam in the fight, but first she needed to secure Dane’s mother.
She found Claire at the bottom of the ladder and ready to go. With a life vest on and a gun in hand.
“There’s water coming in.”
“Let’s get up on deck. Aft side of the boat. Out of sight.” Shana took her elbow and rushed her up the ladder, keeping the woman behind her as she made her way to the lounge door and through to the galley.
“Wait in the galley. Keep down. Dane is almost here with the Coast Guard. I’m going up to help Sam hold them off.”
“It’s Dagmar Hunt.”
Shana nodded and left Claire in the galley. Then she raced back up the metal ladder to the wheelhouse to join Sam, noticing that the boat was listing at a thirty-degree angle now.
Keeping low, she joined Sam at the controls.
“How is she?”
“Solid. Staying low in the galley. Dane is on his way with the Coast Guard. Two minutes. That’s all we need is to hold Dag off for two more minutes.”
He nodded.
They each positioned themselves to see Dag’s boat coming at them from the port side.
“Jesus, he’s almost on us and coming in hot.”
Sam grabbed up their AKs and started shooting.
“Take this wheel—evasive moves,” he said.
“Shit, he’s moving in fast.” She jarred the wheel.
Sam continued shooting. Shana watched one of the men on Dag’s boat go down, the pilot, and their boat slowed. She didn’t see Dag. There were two other men.
As she shoved the throttle and pulled the wheel, Sam took a hit and fell back into her. His weapon clattered to the deck out of reach.
“Sam.”
“I’m all right. It’s my arm.” He held his left hand over his right arm and Shana watched the blood seep through his fingers.
She ripped a swatch off the bottom of her shirt and tied it around his arm.
She stood, staying low, but before she could get the automatic, she watched Dag’s boat ram into their port side.
Shana tried to get to the stairs but the impact caused the boat to tilt wildly. She was thrown from the boat and into the water on the aft side away from Dag’s boat.
Hitting the water cooled her, knocked all the nerves and near panic from her.
She hadn’t realized she’d been on edge until the cold ocean enveloped her and she sunk down and then stopped.
For a beat she was suspended in the surreal silent underwater world, looking up, seeing the boats and flashes of flames and the evening sunlight on the surface.
After a moment of serenity, resolve armed her and she kicked her legs.
She popped to the surface and gasped. She still had her gun.
She had no idea if Sam was still on the wheelhouse deck or if Claire was still in the galley.
The boat was moving away from her, or she was being dragged away from the boat.
For a beat, she watched the scene. A fire smoked on the port side of the aft deck where Dag’s boat had collided with their engine. She swam desperately, staying out of the line of sight of anyone on Dag’s boat.
She needed to get back on their boat. She needed to get a clean shot at Dag.
Approaching the wreck that used to be a yacht, Shana saw two of Dag’s men roping the two boats together. They scrambled aboard the yacht.
Searching the wreckage, she didn’t see a sign of Sam or Claire. And she didn’t see Dag.
But the sound of an engine caught her attention. Treading water, she turned.
It was the CG Monomy. Dane is here.
Dane pulled his phone from his back pocket again and punched in Shana’s number. He needed to talk to her, hear her voice, say the things he wanted to say.
“Come on. Answer the damn phone.” He held it to his ear with one hand while he held the binoculars to his eyes. As the phone rang in his ear he looked for a sign of their boat. Two rings down. No answer. No boat.
After the third ring, he spotted two boats on the horizon at one o’clock.
“Shit.” On the fourth ring, he watched the larger boat—Dag’s, he knew—ram into the Gables’ yacht with Shana, his mother, and Sam aboard. A small fire erupted from the engine.
“What the hell happened?” Vendi called him on the two-way. “I see three people on the assailant boat—all men.”
“Get us in shooting distance now.”
Dane dropped his phone and picked up the best long-range firearm they had on board and went topside to get a shot. They closed in fast since the two collided boats were now stationary, with only the waves tossing them.
Dane took a shot at the man standing on deck though it wasn’t Dag. He missed. Too much movement. The man turned and aimed his automatic weapon in Dane’s direction.
They were too far away but not for long. Dane sprayed the deck with bullets. Two other men shot back and as the boat got closer one of the shots rang off the deck. Dane took cover.
He didn’t see Shana or his mother anywhere and there was no sign of Dag either. He didn’t dwell on that, but kept shooting and dodging their fire until he saw one man go down. Now there was only one man shooting back. But in the next second that didn’t matter.
Dag appeared from the cabin doorway, but he wasn’t alone.
He held Dane’s mother in his arms and he had a gun pointed at her head.
He stared at Dane.
They were close enough now. He shouted for Vendi to slow down and proceed with caution. Vendi signaled that he could see the problem and would drop anchor. He joined Dane on deck.
The shooting had stopped. Dane searched the mess of the two collided boats. The small fire was nearly out. The boat Shana and Sam and his mother had been on was riding low in the water. Dane saw no sign of Sam. No sign of Shana.
He clamped down on the bubble of anxiety in his chest and focused on Dag. His weapon was aimed directly at the man’s head. He knew he could make the shot.
Dag stood with his mother at the edge of the boat where the rail had broken, his mother on the edge. Only Dag’s face was visible behind his mother.
Dane could see him smile that sick smile. He had a very narrow shot even at this close distance. It would be better with his Glock now that they were close, but he couldn’t take the chance of changing weapons. Vendi was on his six.
“Do you have a shot?” Dane’s voice sounded unnaturally cold. His breathing steady and slowing.
“Only if I were a sharpshooter.” Vendi answered.
Dane shouted at Dag, knowing he was close enough to hear.
“Drop it, Dag. I will kill you.”
Dag laughed.
In the next split second Dane made the decision. His finger squeezed off the shot.
At the same moment, Dag moved and the bullet missed his head. A red splotch appeared in his gut.
And in the next instant, because he was still alive, Dag pulled the trigger of his gun. As he pitched forward, dragging Dane’s mother with him, Dane saw blood splatter from her gut.
Then, time stood still, as if there were no next moments, no more tics of time. Dane’s mind shut down, frozen solid.
Pure instinct took over from long years of training and survival controlled his hand when he fired again and hit Dag in the face—as he’d meant to do the first time.
He was on automatic pilot, playing out the scene as if he were a robot.
He kept shooting, his aim following the arc of the man’s body as it fell ahead of his mother into the water. Six shots in the space of a second.
Even as Dane ran and vaulted over the railing as if he were a world-class hurdler, jumping into the water, it was like he was being controlled and this was all a scene from a video game. Unreal.
That out-of-body and robotic experience ended as soon as he hit the water.
Dane swam for the spot where he saw the splash of his mother’s body. He didn’t think of whether or not she was alive. He only thought of getting to her.
Shana had taken the shot and saw it hit Dag, but then she heard and saw multiple gun shots and Dag and Claire falling over board.
She tucked her Glock back in her pants and swam for Dane’s mother.
She stroked hard with a lead bubble of turmoil in her throat and her heart pounding in her chest like a hysterical prisoner.
Sam was still on the boat and she had no idea what condition he was in, but there was no time for more than that fleeting pang of concern.
She breathed hard and stroked hard as she steeled herself to find Claire first. Taking a large gulp of air, she dove down to the spot where she knew Dane’s mother would be, where the red cloud of blood spread in the water.
Dane reached his mother and lifted her body to the surface. She felt lifeless. But air bubbled from her mouth and she coughed and sputtered. His heavy heart lightened for an instant. She was alive.
Rising through the surface, Shana emerged from the water and helped him float his mother to the nearing Coast Guard boat.
“She’s bleeding heavily. Let me stanch the wound.” Shana pressed her hand on his mother’s chest where the blood flowed.
How was there anything left inside her? He felt nauseated.
His head pounded with desperation. He had no cool, no calm left.
The words his father had told him often as a kid rolled through his mind.
You need to keep your head at all times, especially when it’s toughest, when it seems impossible.
Never stop acting like a man with a brain, with a thinking mind.
“Let’s get her to the cut-out. Only a few more feet. We’ll get her on board.” Shana chattered keeping him focused.
He felt the solid side of the boat against his shoulder, grabbed the ladder and, reaching around his mother’s torso, hefted her up and onto the dry well of the cutout.
Shana followed impossibly fast and held onto the wound. She knelt beside his mother and ripped the front of her shirt and wadded it into a square and held it, pressing both palms against the wound.
Vendi climbed down. “A medevac copter is on its way.”
Dane gulped air and knelt beside his mother, leaning close to her face.
“Hold on, Mom. Help is on the way.” His emotions strangled him. He needed to stop the pain, to get to that professionally detached place. His hand shook as he caressed her face.
Slipping his hand to her neck, he checked her pulse. It was barely there, faint and fading. He murmured into her ear.
“I love you, Mom. So much. Don’t quit on me.”
Her eyes fluttered and she smiled and touched his hand.
She wore a peaceful look, too pale, but serene.
She smiled at Shana. Dane took a quick look at his partner.
Shana had tears streaming down her face and her hands still pressed against the wound.
Blood seeped between her fingers, dripping from them. His mother’s blood.
He pressed his face close to his mother’s and kissed her forehead. It was cold. He thought he heard her murmur something. Looked into her eyes, willing her to hang on, willing the blood to stop pouring from her.
Her eyes cleared and brightened for a moment. She lost the sad look and looked happy, but only for a flicker.
“Mom, no. Stay with me.” He begged her as her eyes lost focus and fluttered closed.
He squeezed her hand still in his and straightened, his head buzzing.
He shut his eyes. He felt everything in him shutting down.
He hung onto that image of the lightness in her eyes, the way they used to look long, long ago when there were three of them. Before his dad was gone.
Before his mother was gone.