17
She had been quiet the entire tour of Christabelle’s House and had let Ryker keep to himself on the drive back to his place. They’d changed clothes for the boat. When Ryker emerged from his room, he was on the phone issuing orders left and right to help Christabelle’s in any and every way possible.
He’d hung up, hugged her tightly, and whispered “thank you” in her ear before kissing her. He seemed lighter as he grabbed a picnic basket and held her hand as they walked down the dock to the boat. Although yacht would be more descriptive. It was a fast sporting vessel with a full galley, spacious cabin, a stateroom, and a huge upper salon.
Now he was giving her a tour of Shadows Landing via the river, but a ship off in the distance captured her attention.
“Is that a pirate ship over there?” Kenzie asked as she stared at the black skull and crossbones flag whipping in the breeze.
“That’s Skeeter. Once a week he leads tourists on a pirate ship tour and they hunt for treasure. He’s cleaning the boat up from the tourists yesterday,” Ryker explained as if it was completely normal to see a pirate ship behind the church. “See, that’s how the pirates who built up Shadows Landing did it. When the tides are right, you can get ships into that branch of the river. There are underground tunnels from the shore leading to the church where their stolen goods were stored. They’d keep their ships hidden there during low tide since the militia and British couldn’t turn down this branch at low tide. If they tried to follow the pirates, they’d get stuck and disappear after being attacked by the town.”
“Your town has a colorful history. Is the speedboat racing toward us part of the tour? Are they going to attack the pirate ship?” Kenzie asked as she took in the speedboat with two people on board, both of whom had their faces covered.
Ryker turned and frowned as he watched the boat speeding closer to them. Suddenly Kenzie saw a gun. Ryker tackled her to the floor of the boat before she could scream. He used his body to cover hers as gunfire peppered his boat. Windows broke, glass fell onto them, and she screamed into Ryker’s chest.
Then suddenly Ryker wasn’t there. He reached into a storage area, pulled out a gun, and was returning fire out the cockpit door. Kenzie was in a state of disbelief as he calmly and coolly returned fire.
“Can you drive a boat?” Ryker yelled and suddenly everything snapped back into focus. They were being shot at and she needed to act, and act fast.
“Yes. What do you need me to do?”
“Drive straight for the church and beach the boat. We can take cover in the tunnels. Here, take my phone and call Granger while you drive. Tell him what’s going on.”
Ryker shoved his phone at her and returned fire as the speedboat circled them. Kenzie peeked over the shattered windshield to get her bearings and then shoved the throttle forward. The boat reacted instantly and shot forward as she steered it toward the shore. Once she was going in the right direction, she used the phone’s voice command to call Granger.
“Hey, Ryk.”
“We’re in a boat behind the church and some other boat is trying to shoot us. Ryker is returning fire,” Kenzie yelled into the phone as she took another peek and adjusted the steering wheel. “Hello?”
The line went dead and Kenzie just hoped he’d heard her. A second later, the church bells began to ring, but the sound was overshadowed by a deep, concussive boom.
Kenzie screamed and ducked as Ryker cursed and dropped to the deck.
“What the hell was that?” Kenzie screamed.
Ryker turned to look at her from where they were lying on the deck and smiled. “Apparently, the cannons on Skeeter’s pirate ship aren’t just for show. He’s firing on the boat trying to attack us.”
The church bells continued to ring, sirens sounded, cannons boomed, and guns blazed. Suddenly Kenzie felt the boat jerk to the side.
“We’re being boarded! Keep heading straight for the church,” Ryker yelled as he charged from the cockpit and onto the bow. The man there raised his hand to fire at Ryker and Kenzie turned the boat sharply. Both men tumbled to the side and lost their guns.
Boom!
Kenzie ducked as a cannonball splashed down near the other boat. The cannon fire was getting closer as Kenzie neared the shore. She looked up to make sure she was still on target for beaching the boat when she saw people running from every direction through the cemetery. Some had guns, some had swords, and some had old-time boarding pikes.
Suddenly a police boat swerved around the pirate ship. It was filled with people, only two of them wearing sheriff’s uniforms. Gator hung off one side with a massive axe in hand. A deputy with dark skin and a fierce expression on his face held a sniper rifle and was firing at the speedboat currently circling her. Then she saw Harper with a sword and a huge man she recognized as Harper’s husband, Dare, with a handgun, all on the police boat.
As soon as the people made it to the water from the cemetery, they boarded every boat they could find. Some had kayaks, some were in speedboats, some in fishing boats, and some launched pontoon boats. The sight of Turtle in a kayak with a dagger between his teeth as he paddled out to meet them was a sight she wouldn’t soon forget.
Bam!
The speedboat rammed the side of the yacht and sent Ryker and the man he was fighting staggering to the side. Ryker regained his balance first and landed a solid punch to the man attacking him.
“Ryker!” Harper yelled over the sounds and chaos. Granger steered the police cruiser at top speed straight for them. Kenzie didn’t know what to do so she just kept the boat aimed for the shore. The deputy shot at the other speedboat, which then circled back to take cover on her other side.
“Sword!” Harper yelled as her husband held the waistband of her jeans so she could lean as far over the police boat as possible. At the last second, she threw the massive sword and Ryker caught it.
In one swift move he thrust it into his attacker’s gut. Kenzie throttled the boat back as she neared the beach and raced forward as Ryker pulled the sword from the man’s stomach.
“Who do you work for?” Ryker yelled as Kenzie dropped to her knees and pressed her hands to the man’s wound.
The man shook his head and Ryker placed the tip of the sword to the man’s neck. “Ryker,” Kenzie said softly, but he didn’t acknowledge her.
“One last chance. Who sent you to kill me?”
Kenzie’s eyes shot back up to Ryker as the adrenaline began to slow and reality slammed into her. Someone had tried to kill them. But she also knew she couldn’t let Ryker kill this man. So, she pressed as hard as she could onto his wound, making him scream in pain. “Answer the question. Who sent you to kill Ryker?”
A round of gunfire went off, then a cannon boom, and then there was quiet. Well, until the entire town of Shadows Landing tried to board the boat.
Granger and his deputy were the first on board. After securing the area, everyone else seemed to manage to fit on the boat.
Granger pulled off the mask of a man with dark hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin who stared back at them. “Your buddy is dead. Start talking or you will be, too.”
Kenzie looked at Granger’s tight face and wondered how far the lawman would go.
“Vaffanculo,” the man said in an Italian accent accompanied with a very clear hand gesture.