“Is that a problem?”
“I’m not sure,” Ryland said. “Is there any reason for them to think it’s us?”
He fell silent for a moment. “I don’t know,” he said, “unless she was the bait to bring us out.”
At that, Ryland took one look at him, his gaze wide, and suddenly called out, “Hang on, everybody.” He immediately turned the boat, making a hard left to come up even closer against the shore. The boat behind him followed suit. “Shit,” he said. “I would highly suspect that’s exactly what happened.”
“Get Kano on the phone,” Bullard called back to Dave.
“Already there,” he said, “and Ice is bringing up the satellite on us.”
“Good, but it could be too damn late for all of us,” Bullard said. Just as they reached the shore, a good twenty feet off, he took one look backward and saw the speedboat behind them.
The gunman stood up with his weapon.
“Jump!” he roared. Just as he hit the water, the air above him split with bullets.
Chapter 13
Leia cried out in shock and horror as the boat exploded, wood and fiberglass shattering everywhere. Of the men she saw no sign, but how could they possibly have avoided that onslaught of bullets? Tears dripped down her face as she stared at what had once been a boat and several men. She looked at the shooter, who stood there laughing, as proud as he could be.
“You’re a monster,” she cried out, but immediately he turned the gun on her. She sucked in her breath but refused to let her gaze drop. “How is it you can do something like that and laugh?”
“Because it was fun,” he said, with a flick of his wrist. “They were after us, and now we got them. We have to confirm that they can’t come after me anymore. Plus, there’s a price on Bullard’s head to boot. Besides, I’m not against having a second payout for this job.”
“So you already knew about both jobs, didn’t you?”
“Of course,” he said. “Why would I pay somebody when I can take the money myself?” He turned and looked at his driver. “Go to the shore and make sure Bullard is down.”
She turned her gaze to the spot where the boat had disappeared. She knew there wasn’t a chance that anybody could have survived, but, since Bullard had survived so much worse, she had to wonder. Her stomach sick, she watched anxiously. The pilot pulled up closer, did a couple swoops around at a very slow pace, looking and waiting to see if anybody surfaced. She watched as the gunman walked from side to side, searching.
He fired a couple potshots, then shrugged. “Nobody has surfaced,” he said. Then he looked at the driver. “You see anyone?”
“No, I don’t. But we don’t get paid if we don’t get the damn bodies.”
“Right,” he said. “I didn’t think of that.” He frowned. “Get a team down here to search.” He pulled out his phone and rattled out some orders in a different language.
She sat with her knees tight against her chest, and her arms wrapped around her knees, rocking back and forth. In her mind, she was whispering, Please no, please no, please make sure nobody was here to take out. Even as she sat here, she felt a hand on her back. She froze and heard a whisper and twisted slightly. Bullard was there, his hands reaching for her. Before she realized what had happened, he pulled her into the water, like a seal. Once underneath, his lips brushed over the top of hers, as he moved her away from the boat. She knew that the gunman would be there, so she tried to kick hard, but he held her still against him, his legs strong and powerful as he moved deeper and deeper and deeper.
Just when she thought she couldn’t breathe anymore, he shifted toward land. When they surfaced, he placed a finger against her lips, rolled her onto her back and held her under, but just enough for her mouth to surface. She opened up her mouth, gasping for air, and, as soon as she caught another breath, she was pulled under once again. She stared at him in shock, and he moved her again, this time toward something that she couldn’t really see from underneath. He surfaced beside her; this time her whole head was allowed to come up, and she lay here gasping, trying to catch her breath.
“Are you okay?” he asked hoarsely, holding her close.
She wrapped her arms around his chest, so he wasn’t totally supporting her. “I’m okay. Are you?” she asked. “I was terrified when he started firing at you.”
“He can keep firing all he wants,” Bullard said. “He may have taken out our boat, but we certainly are capable of handling them.”
“He’s psychotic,” she said. “He doesn’t give a shit. He killed the kidnapper just so he didn’t have to pay him.”
“Good,” Bullard said in a calm voice. “Saves me that job.” She looked at him in surprise, but he just smiled, then leaned over and kissed her gently on her cold lips. “Now we’ll get you back safely.”
“Well, that would be a dream,” she said, “but there’s still that damn doctor.”
He nodded. “I know. But I don’t understand what that’s about after all this time.” As she hesitated, his gaze narrowed. “Come on. Tell me why he’s still after you.”
“I have a recording of him talking to somebody,” she said. “It’s in a safe deposit box in New York. I didn’t even listen to all of it. I just realized it would get me killed, and I threw it in there and ran.”
“Does he know you have it?”
She shook her head and said, “I can’t imagine that he does. Nobody else knew about it. I think he’s just trying to make sure, now that I have surfaced, that I won’t cause him more trouble.”
“That was my take, but, if you have any proof,” he said, “we need it.”
She gave him a sad smile. “It won’t be proof. He’ll wiggle away, just like he did last time.”
“Maybe not,” Fallon said, coming up beside her.
She looked at him and asked, “Are you okay too? Anyone hurt?”
“We’re all fine,” he said. “We’ve got people coming to get us.”
She nodded slowly. “And somebody who can handle this guy?”
Just then, two speedboats came whipping through the water. At the noise, she looked over.
“Stay down,” Bullard snapped, pulling her closer.
“Who are they?” she murmured.
“Ours,” Fallon said.
She looked at him in surprise. “So fast?”
“Yeah. We’ve got more men all around. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry, he says,” she said, with a broken laugh. “My life was so calm not very long ago,” she said, “and now it’s turned to chaos again.”
“That’s not necessarily a problem,” Bullard murmured. “It’s probably a good thing at this point in time. You need to be moving forward in life.”
She groaned. “I blame you for this.”
“And I take full responsibility too,” he said. “I still think it’s better for you.”
“I prefer living in my hideaway,” she murmured, staring at him.