“Which is going to take forever. That’s why we have the chopper.” He pressed his palms to burning eyes. “What if he came out here and hooked up the boat and hauled it off and this is all for nothing?” He hated to ask that out loud, but he had to face the possibility that he was wrong. God, we need some help here. Please, please let us find her.
The prayers had gone up nonstop, and he knew Sarah and the others were adding their prayers to the mix as well. But . . . no Ava.
“What if I was wrong?” he asked.
Travis glanced up from his study of the lake as the spotlight illuminated yet another land mass in the middle of the water. “Sorry, buddy. Maybe—” He frowned. “Hey, is that smoke?” he asked. “Hey, Roger, keep the light on that smoke, will you?”
“Yeah,” the pilot said, “passing around to see where it’s coming from.”
Caden looked out the door. “It’s that yacht. The one we saw earlier. Get lower! I think someone just jumped off the deck!”
The helicopter swooped lower, causing the water to churn. “It’s Ava! And someone’s with her!”
A flash sparked from the yacht and something solid hit the windshield with a thud. Caden jerked back. “They’re shooting at us!” Another bullet pinged on Caden’s side.
“Gotta get out of here,” Roger said.
“No way! I’m not leaving Ava with an active shooter!” Caden ripped off his Kevlar vest that would sink him like a rock. “I’m jumping. Get me close enough.” Then he pulled his headset off so he didn’t have to hear the protests coming from the others.
Travis shoved a life jacket into his hands and grabbed one for himself. “Guess I’m coming too. Send the water police to the right island!”
“Go!” Roger motioned for them to bail just as a huge fireball headed toward them. “It’s a flare!”
Caden jumped, feet straight out below him. Travis followed and he heard the chopper whine off just as he hit the water with a hard whoosh and lost his grip on the life jacket.
He kicked, pushing himself back up toward the surface. He broke through and looked around for Travis. He spotted him about ten feet away. “You okay?” Caden called. The life jacket floated nearby and he grabbed it.
“Yeah. You?”
“Peachy.”
“Then let’s go get Ava.” Travis struck out in the direction they’d seen Ava go in. More gunshots bit the water in that same area, spurring Caden to stroke faster. The water was cold and his clothes weighed him down, but Ava was in trouble.
At least she was alive. Relief made him want to go weak, but he pressed on. He hadn’t realized how terrified he’d been that he would be too late. If he was even able to find her at all. But he’d seen her. Even though he’d lost her for the moment, she was alive.
He caught up to Travis. “Swim for the island. That’s where they’ll have to go.”
The gunshots had ceased.
Guided by the burning yacht, fighting the weight of his clothing and his desperate fear for Ava, he swam, his senses tuned to the scene in front of him.
Finally, his feet hit the bottom of the lake and he pushed through to the shore, feeling the fatigue in his muscles but the adrenaline flowing through his veins.
Travis joined him on the sandy beach, and together they raced for the tree line in case the shooter was still looking for a target.
The yacht still burned, a bright spot amidst the inky blackness. “How long do you think it’ll take the water police to get here?”
“Shouldn’t be long. My concern is whether or not Nicolai made it off the boat. If he didn’t, then we should be good.”
A shot rang out beyond the trees and Caden hit the ground. Travis did the same a second later. “That wasn’t aimed at us, was it?”
“No,” Caden said, “but I guess that answers our question.”
“Yeah. Nicolai’s out there and so are Ava and maybe her father.”
The bullet screamed past Ava’s ear and she ducked back behind the tree trunk. Her blood pulsed and she fought the fear that wanted to suck her under. She had no idea where they were or how they’d gotten there. Her father pressed a hand to his bloodied side and groaned. “Ava, get down.”
“I’m down, but I need to know where he is.”
“The bullet came from your left. I think he was running from the direction of the yacht when he fired.”
“And I think it was a shot in the dark. I don’t think he knows where we are.” Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one.
When they’d jumped from the deck and hit the water, Ava had managed to grab her father and pull him to the surface. But he’d been hit by one of Nicolai’s bullets and had a hard time using the arm to swim—not to mention he still wore the shackles on his wrists. She’d had to drop the bolt cutters to pull him through the water. Now, exhaustion swept over her and her muscles trembled. But somehow, someway, they were going to survive this. She needed to tell Caden she loved him. And she wanted to go out on a date with him. No, she wanted to go out on many dates with him. And she wanted to kiss him. And she wanted to see her mom again, then hug her brother and tell him she would do better as a sister. She refused to cry as the thoughts pressed in.
“It’s not too bad, I don’t think,” her dad said, looking at the wound in his bicep and bringing her back to reality. “I think it might have nicked the bone, but it’s not broken. Just painful.” He looked up. “Guess we might have matching scars.”
“Lovely.”
She could only pray he was right because she had no idea how she was going to signal their location and bring help. The burning yacht should alert the water police for the need to investigate, but she was going to have to warn them—or anyone else drawn to the flames—about Nicolai. “Stay here, Dad. I’ve got to watch for help. If anyone comes close, Nicolai’s going to shoot them and take their boat to escape.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Make sure he doesn’t have a chance to kill anyone else.”
He caught her hand. “Ava, you can’t—”
She covered his mouth. “Stop. There’s no other choice. If we want to get to safety and make sure no one else dies in the process, I’ve got to do something.”
He groaned and leaned his head back against the tree. “Please don’t get yourself killed.”
“That’s the plan.” She planted a kiss on his forehead. Then hesitated. She grabbed a sturdy tree branch and snapped off a portion of it, creating a sharp point. “Send this through his heart if you have to.”
“Not sure that man has a heart, but this is good. Better than nothing, for sure.” He shifted with a low grunt and nodded. “Okay, I’m set. Let’s go.”
“You’re not coming.”
“I sure am.”
“You’ll make too much noise, Dad. Your breathing alone will alert Nicolai to our location. You sit here, get your breathing under control—and trust that you and the Navy trained me well enough to do what I need to do.”
He studied her for a brief moment. It was dark, but the moon filtered through the trees, allowing her to see his face. Finally, he nodded. “You’re right. Do what you’ve got to do.”