Chapter 29
The boathouse wasn’t large. By the time Leland reached the rear hallway, the team had cleared nearly everything else—galley kitchen, storage room, lower deck access. Only one room remained.
The narrow hall stretched ahead, the low light throwing shadows across the floor and onto the door at the far end. Leland moved cautiously but quickly, Dev beside him, and Alec just behind while the others locked down the exits.
Callan’s voice came through his earpiece. “Thermal pickup confirmed. Two heat signatures in the room at the end of the hall.”
“Movement?” Leland asked quietly.
A brief pause came as Callan adjusted the feed from the drone positioned outside the structure.
“They’re stationary.”
That bothered him. But heat meant she was here and still alive. Leland increased his pace, weapon at the ready, as they closed in on the door.
He tried the knob. With barely a touch, it swung inward. Too easy. Alarm bells went off in his head.
Using hand signals, he had the three men stack behind him. They breached, weapons ready to fire. The room was empty except for two inflatable mannequins and space heaters blowing hot air.
“Fucking decoys,” Leland growled.
“Son of a bitch,” Alec snapped.
“No, no, no—” Callan exclaimed at the same time.
Then he heard what sounded like a motor beneath his feet.
“Lower dock,” Dev barked.
“There was no lower dock,” Callan replied.
Julia didn’t have time for them to argue.
Leland scanned the room and yanked open the only other door, revealing a ladder descending to the water below. He was halfway down them as the boat started pulling out of the hidden slip.
Julia sat in the stern, wrists bound to the railing, as Strickland swung the wheel hard toward open water. Her gaze lifted and locked onto Leland.
Relief hit her face so fast and raw, it nearly stopped his heart. Just as quickly, it vanished as the boat lurched forward.
He’d be damned if he let her slip away.
He dropped onto the dock. Every instinct, every ounce of fear, fury, and helplessness burning in his gut, propelled him forward.
He hit the end at full speed and launched himself into the air as the boat cleared the structure.
For one terrible second, there was nothing beneath him but black water and the roar of the motor.
At the last possible moment, his hand caught the side rail. Pain exploded through his shoulder as his body slammed against the hull. His boots struck water before finding the side edge of the boat as it fishtailed hard, Strickland trying to throw him.
“Leland!” Julia cried out as his body flew sideways.
But he held on. For her.
He hauled himself upward hand over hand against the pitching motion of the boat until he could swing a leg over and pull himself on board.
Strickland abandoned the wheel and lunged at him. They collided brutally, both nearly tumbling over the side. The boat rocked violently beneath them, wake sloshing hard against the hull.
A blade flashed in the other man’s hand.
Knife!” Julia screamed.
Strickland slashed fast and low, driving Leland toward the rail.
To avoid a slicing blow, he arched, black churning water just inches behind him.
Strickland pressed his advantage and the knife against his throat.
Leland caught his wrist, and they grappled.
Even in his awkward position, Leland outmatched him in strength.
He shoved him back and, catching him off-balance, slammed his knife hand against the railing.
Not once, but twice, until the blade clattered onto the deck and slid somewhere out of sight.
More determined than panicked, Strickland came at him hard, fists flying. One clipped him on the jaw.
Leland had long since burned through his fear. All that remained was fury. He drove a brutal punch into Strickland’s ribs. Another under his chin snapped his head up sharply.
The man reeled, blood on his lips, but he kept fighting because he knew what losing brought him.
Leland caught flashes of movement behind him. Julia, with the dropped knife in hand, twisted awkwardly, sawing at the ropes around her wrists in frantic, jerking strokes. The unmoored boat drifted through the narrow channel, the engine still running while dark pilings rushed closer by the second.
He couldn’t spare more attention than that. One lethal threat at a time.
Strickland didn’t match him in size or skill, but he fought like a man with nothing to lose. Every opening Leland created closed again almost instantly under Strickland’s brutal desperation.
A right hook came hard toward his jaw, but it didn’t land as he ducked and dodged.
He lost his footing on the wet deck, however, going down on one knee.
Strickland saw his opening. His expression changed from fear to hope.
He looked around for a weapon. An instant later, he bore down on him, red canister fire extinguisher raised to strike.
Leland had enough time to prepare for the blow. Arms raised to cover his head, twisting away. The impact was jarring, but his back took the brunt of it.
He came up swinging, climbing to his feet as he landed punches, a right cross, a devastating left hook, driving Strickland into the console with enough force to crack the fiberglass. But the man answered again.
“Leland. Duck!” Julia’s voice cracked through the chaos.
He dropped instinctively, already moving before her words fully registered.
A deafening pop rent the air. Red light exploded across the deck as a flare slammed into Strickland’s shoulder. He screamed in pain. The burning flare ricocheted wildly off the deck while Strickland staggered under the hit.
That was enough. Leland drove into him full force, tackling him hard as the boat rocked violently beneath them. He rolled, coming up on his knees and slammed the son of a bitch face-first into the deck.
The boat jolted sideways at the same time Alec vaulted aboard from Dev’s pursuit boat, weapon already drawn.
“Don’t move,” Alec barked.
Strickland struggled once beneath Leland’s grip. Then stilled. Breathing hard.
“We’ve got him,” Dev said, moving past Alec.
Leland relinquished his place, barely noticing as Dev shoved his knee into Strickland’s back and cuffed him. His priority shifted immediately. Turning, he searched for Julia.
She was on her knees a few feet away, half gasping for breath, half sobbing.
He crossed the distance in two strides and dropped in front of her. His hands cupped her shoulders gently. “You’re okay.”
It wasn’t a question but a statement trying to convince himself.
She nodded once, breath catching. “I’m okay.”
He pulled her into him hard, arms locking around her as relief crashed through him like a physical force. She was alive. Thank God.
But after the first desperate second, their embrace registered as wrong. She wasn’t holding on. The realization hit hard enough to make him lean away, searching her face.
Was it pain? Shock? Or worse… rejection.
God knew he’d earned that after the way he’d fought her every step of the way. She was looking down. He couldn’t read her.
“Julia?” His voice cracked from exertion and dread.
She looked up, eyes wide and wet with soul-crushing tears. Then she twisted, showing him her still bound wrists. “Can you untie me?” she asked shakily. “I need to hold you, too.”
That nearly destroyed him.
Leland swore softly and reached for the knife Alec handed him without being asked. His hands were suddenly less steady than they’d been during the entire fight as he cut through the remaining rope.
The second her hands were free, Julia threw herself against him.
This time, she held on just as tightly.
Dev’s voice echoed over the water, already shifting to command. “Call it in. Suspect in custody. Victim secure.”
Sirens sounded, faint in the distance. Too late to matter.
Leland didn’t let her go as others moved around them. Not yet. Not until he was absolutely certain she wasn’t going anywhere.