Dark Tide

by Susan Sleeman

  Gina knocked on the door. “Mind if I stay with you until they come back?”

  “Grab a book and settle in.” Tracy gestured at her extensive library.

  After browsing for a while, Gina pulled out a random book and tried to read, but the ticking of the mantel clock kept reminding her that time was passing so slowly while Derrick and his sisters were endangering their lives for her.

  Tick. Tick. Tick. The sound made every second unbearable. She had to move. Do something. Be busy. She got up and put the book back.

  “Done so soon?” Tracy asked.

  “I can’t concentrate,” Gina replied. “I’ll just check on Sophia.”

  She marched down the hall without a clue what she would do after she made sure Sophia was sleeping. Maybe she could offer to dust or vacuum the already spotless house.

  Sophia was asleep as Gina had expected. She’d gone down for the night effortlessly, so Gina doubted the teething pain would wake her again. Gina wandered back down the hallway.

  A loud thump came from the library. It sounded like something hitting the floor.

  “Is everything okay, Tracy?” Gina called as she hurried toward the room. “Did you hear that noise?” When Tracy didn’t respond, Gina picked up speed.

  A hand came over her mouth as the barrel of a gun was jammed into her temple.

  Gina tried to scream, but the hand clamped tighter. Her heart thumped so hard, she felt as if it was trying to escape her chest. She tried another scream, but her muffled sounds traveled nowhere.

  “There’s no point in screaming,” said a rumbling male voice. “Your friend is out and you’ll just wake your kid. Then I’d have to take her with us.”

  Sophia, no! I can’t risk him hurting Sophia.

  He cocked the gun and ground the icy barrel into her temple. “If you don’t want me to use this, you’ll do exactly as I say.”

  As his minty breath fanned over her neck, she pondered his voice. No hint of an accent. Ontiveros was from Mexico. Was it him or one of his goons? Did he somehow know they’d planned to trap him?

  “If you promise not to yell again, I’ll take my hand off your mouth. Nod if you agree.”

  She nodded quickly.

  He dropped his hand, and she gulped in air.

  “Slowly now. Put your hands behind your back,” he commanded as if he was used to being obeyed. Exactly the way Ontiveros would act. If it was him, she had no choice but to do as he said. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.

  Maybe Sophia, as well.

  As she complied with his demand, she couldn’t seem to take in enough oxygen.

  Breathe. Just breathe. In and out. Slowly. In. Out. That’s it. Think about anything else but the cuffs he’s clamping around your wrists.

  Tracy. “What did you do to Tracy?”

  He chuckled. “A little conk on the head. She’ll wake up embarrassed at failing to protect you and with a monster headache, but she’ll be fine.”

  Will I wake up tomorrow? If not, who will care for Sophia?

  “Please don’t hurt me,” she pleaded.

  “If you follow my directions, you’ll be fine.” He secured the handcuff on her second wrist. “We’re going for a little drive.” He spun her around.

  She expected to see a man with Hispanic origins, but this guy was white and pasty. “Who are you?”

  He laughed. “Not who you expected, huh?”

  “Did Ontiveros send you to get me? Are you taking me to him?”

  “You’ll know soon enough. Now move.” He clamped a hand on her shoulder and shoved her toward the back door.

  She winced at the intensity of his grip as she looked for something, anything, she could leave behind to tell Derrick where she was. But as he dragged her out the door, the only thing she could do was pray that Derrick would find her before this creep delivered her to Ontiveros and the ruthless killer ended her life.

  EIGHTEEN

  Something wasn’t right.

  Derrick checked his watch in the gloom of Gina’s hall closet. They’d been in place—Dani in the family room and Kat in the bedroom—for two hours now with no action.

  None.

  Even if Ontiveros didn’t make an appearance, Derrick had expected one of his goons to show up. Cole worked the situation perfectly. He’d made it easy enough for Ontiveros to get wind of their plan, but not too easy to spook him.

  Derrick’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He cupped his hand over the already darkened screen and found Tracy’s icon blinking at him.

  Gina. His gut twisted as he pressed the icon.

  “Tracy,” he whispered.

  “He knocked me out.” She sounded out of breath. “Took Gina.”

  Derrick’s breath left his body, and he struggled to pull in another one.

  Calm down. You can’t help Gina like this.

  “When?” he croaked out the word.

  “I don’t know. Could’ve been a while. I’ve been out cold.”

  “What about Sophia? Is Sophia okay?” He tensed as he waited for the answer.

  “He didn’t touch her. She’s fine.”

  Thank You, Father. Keep Gina safe, too. Help me find her.

  How? Thoughts ran across Derrick’s mind like a ticker tape. What should he do first?

  Think, man, think. This is your job. Investigation 101. Run the steps.

  Process the scene of Gina’s abduction. Follow up the leads. Get the family involved.

  He shot out of the closet. “Are you good to process the scene, Tracy?”

  “Yes.”

  “Get started then and call in help if you can. We’ll run the rescue mission from here. Call me as soon as you have even the smallest lead.” He hung up and yelled for his sisters.

  They both came running. Dani reached him first. She took one look at him and grabbed his arm. “What’s wrong? Who’s hurt?”

  “Someone knocked Tracy out and abducted Gina.”

  “Oh, no.” Dani’s hand fell limp to her side.

  Kat stepped forward. “How long ago?”

  “We don’t know. Tracy’s been unconscious, so she has no idea how much of a head start they have.”

  Kat’s eyes narrowed. “I hate to say this, but if Ontiveros has her, he could’ve gone deep underground by now.”

  And finding Gina alive will be next to impossible, Derrick thought. He felt as if an elephant sat on his chest. “I should’ve known not to leave her.”

  “Hey, you can’t blame yourself for this.” Dani squeezed his hand and studied him. “You used the information we had at the time to make a sound decision in Gina’s best interest.”

  “I know, but—”

  “No buts, it’s a fact,” Kat said. “Don’t let this distract you. We need to focus on finding her.”

  “She’s right.” Dani let go of his hand and firmed her shoulders.

  “We need a lead.” Kat’s no-nonsense tone comforted Derrick more than any platitude might. “Let’s review what we know.”

  He swallowed hard, biting back his worry and putting on his investigator’s hat. “We know that Ontiveros is behind all of this. And we know he didn’t act alone in the cover-up.”

  “Good,” Kat said enthusiastically. “He had an inside man in the department. Maybe we can get to Ontiveros through this person.”

  “I’ll call Gleason. Hopefully he knows the forensic tech’s name by now, and with Gina in danger, I think he’ll tell me.” Derrick dug out his phone and thumbed through his address book. He tossed up a prayer that the detective would have a change of heart. The moment Gleason answered, Derrick launched into his story. “Do you have the name of Ontiveros’s guy in the forensics department?”

  Gleason sighed. “You know I can’t tell you that.” />
  “Things have changed. Gina’s in danger. If Ontiveros has her, we need to find him, and your guy is the only way I can do it.” Derrick could hear the desperation in his own voice and forced himself to calm down before he scared Gleason away. “Please. I’m begging you. Tell me who it is.”

  Gleason sighed again, then said, “We’re looking at Bo McClain, but I don’t really like him for this. I’m thinking someone is trying to pin it on him.”

  Derrick cupped his hand over the phone and looked at Dani. “Find everything you can on a Bo McClain. Works in the SPD forensics division.”

  “He’s a well-respected cop,” Gleason continued. “Twenty years on the street before the stress of the job got to him. Decided to get the necessary education and moved to forensics, where he’s been a valuable member of the team for the past five years. Doesn’t sound like a guy who’s on the take to me.”

  “Where can I find him?”

  “Sorry, man. I shouldn’t have given you his name— telling you where he lives would be going too far. I’ll be glad to get an alert out on Gina and work the scene for you, but that’s all I can do.”

  “The FBI’s already on scene.”

  “The Bureau?”

  “We’ve been using an agent’s home as our safe house. She was attacked during the abduction.”

  “I still want to process the scene. Give me the address and a description of Gina, so I can issue the alert.”

  Derrick provided Tracy’s address and described Gina, the process bringing her vividly to his mind, making him think of all he might lose if anything happened to her.

  “I’ll get this to dispatch,” Gleason said. “But it would help if you had a picture of her.”

  “No picture,” Derrick said.

  “Okay, we’ll look for a driver’s license photo then. I’ll call if the alert produces any results.”

  He disconnected, but despite Gleason’s help, Derrick’s worry escalated to a frenzy. He cared about Gina. Deeply. And he’d do anything to have a future with her and Sophia.

  He relayed his conversation with Gleason then turned to Dani, who had her laptop open. “Anything?”

  She swiveled the computer. “I’ve got McClain’s address. He’s less than ten minutes from here.”

  “Then let’s get over there and see if he can lead us to Ontiveros.” Derrick didn’t wait for his sisters to agree but charged for the door. He took the steps two at a time, and by the time Dani climbed into the passenger seat and Kat slid in the back, he had the engine running.

  “I’ll put his address in the GPS.” Dani punched it in.

  “Kat, call Tracy,” Derrick said as he merged onto the road. “She might have located something to help.”

  Dani opened her computer. “I’ll keep looking into McClain as we drive.”

  The screen of Dani’s laptop cast a white light over her face while Kat talked with Tracy. The conversation ended almost as quickly as it started.

  “Tracy hasn’t located any leads,” Kat said.

  Frustrated, Derrick pressed harder on the gas pedal and careened in and out of traffic.

  “Slow it down, bro,” Dani said without looking up. “It won’t help Gina if we don’t make it there.”

  Derrick lifted his foot a smidge but kept the car moving above the speed limit.

  Kat leaned over the seat. “We won’t get there if an officer pulls us over, either.”

  Knowing both his sisters spoke the truth, Derrick eased off the gas and slowed to a moderate speed, but his insides continued to race with fear. He couldn’t lose Gina. Not now. Not after he’d found her again. Especially not when it was his fault that she’d been taken. His sisters had said not to blame himself, but how could he not?

  “Bingo! I’m in McClain’s bank account.” Dani ran her finger down the screen. “This is promising—he’s deposited several large sums of cash recently.”

  “Then it’s looking good for him to lead us to Ontiveros,” Kat said.

  Derrick felt a moment of relief. “Cross-reference the deposit dates to the cases thrown out for ballistics issues.”

  From the corner of his eye, he saw the computer flash again.

  “All of them jibe,” Dani soon confirmed.

  “Good work, Dani,” Kat said as her phone rang. “It’s Mitch.” She leaned back and answered with a tone she reserved just for her husband.

  The GPS announced their destination on the right, and Derrick pulled into the parking lot in front of a high-rise apartment building. As he hunted for a parking space, he heard Kat bring Mitch up to speed on McClain. She suddenly stopped talking, and the quiet ratcheted up Derrick’s concern.

  “Hold on,” she said. “I’ll put you on speaker so you can tell Derrick and Dani.”

  “Go ahead, Mitch.” Derrick slid the car into a space.

  “We located the boat we believe Lilly was killed on. We’ve lifted several good latents. My guys are running the prints right now.”

  “Perfect timing,” Dani called out. “McClain is former Army, so start with military databases.”

  “Army?” Derrick shot Dani a look. “You think he acted as the sniper the other day, not Ontiveros or one of his men?”

  “Could be,” Dani said. “He was a Ranger.”

  The Army’s equivalent to a Navy SEAL. Meaning he was dangerous and deadly. If he was the one targeting Gina, they’d simply gotten lucky that he hadn’t succeeded in killing her yet. Rescuing her had just moved into an arena that would challenge all of their resources.

  * * *

  After a few minutes of casing the building, the siblings decided on a surprise attack and slipped up the stairs to McClain’s apartment. Dani picked the lock and silently swung the door open. Darkness greeted them.

  Derrick let his eyes adjust to the blackness lit only with small LED lights from electronic equipment. Once he was able to see, he signaled his sisters to move in, and they crept into the apartment.

  Room by room they stealthily searched. Room by room they came up empty and moved on. At the last room, Derrick’s heart sank.

  “She’s not here.” Derrick holstered his weapon and forced away his disappointment. He couldn’t let this setback keep him from working smart. “There’s bound to be a lead here. We just need to find it.”

  Together, they moved back to the living room, where he flipped on the overhead light.

  “I’ll take the computer.” Dani headed for a laptop on the coffee table.

  “Desk,” Derrick called out and went straight to a mass of papers piled high.

  “With the mess on that desk, you can use my help.” Kat joined him, lifted a stack of papers and quickly sifted through them.

  Derrick bent over another pile and caught a glimpse of a photo peeking from under unpaid bills. He jerked out the picture of a burly man standing on board a speedboat identical to Quentin’s boat.

  He held the photo out for Kat. “Boat’s the same make and model as Quentin’s. If this is McClain’s boat, he could’ve been the one who fired on us at the marina.”

  Kat looked at Dani. “Can you pull up McClain’s driver’s license so we can compare it with this picture?”

  “Sure thing.” Dani clicked away while Derrick and Kat joined her. She held up the computer, displaying McClain’s ID.

  “It’s him all right,” Kat said. “It’s looking more and more like McClain’s the one who’s been trying to kill Gina all along and he’s got her now.”

  Derrick shook his head. “I don’t like the thought that we’re searching for an Army Ranger. Means he could be ruthless. Gina might already be dead.”

  “Or not,” Dani said.

  Derrick cast her a questioning look.

  “Think about it,” she said. “He’s been trying to kill Gina for days, and su
ddenly when he has the perfect opportunity to kill her, he doesn’t take it. Why not?”

  “Maybe he’s supposed to turn her over to Ontiveros,” Derrick suggested.

  “Or as a forensic expert, he doesn’t want to leave any incriminating evidence behind,” Kat offered. “So perhaps he plans to kill her in his boat and dump the body in the water, same as Lilly.”

  Dani nodded. “I always wondered why the killer took Lilly out to the river. This would explain it.”

  The thought of Gina in a boat with a gun to her head made Derrick wince, but he refused to dwell on it. “Then we need to figure out where he moors his boat.”

  “There’s got to be information about his slip rental in that mess on his desk.” Kat hurried back to the desk.

  The three of them rifled through the paperwork.

  “Here.” Dani held up a bill.

  Derrick snatched it from her hand. “It’s the same marina Quentin uses. It’s only a few miles from here. Maybe we can catch McClain.”

  Dani’s forehead furrowed. “He’s got a good head start on us and could’ve already put out to sea.”

  “Then we need a boat, too,” Derrick said. “Let’s head over to the marina, and we can figure out how to get one on the way.”

  They wasted no time rushing down the stairs and were soon on the road again winding through traffic.

  “We should call Gleason,” Kat suggested from the backseat. “Since we now have more information on McClain’s potential involvement, Gleason might agree to help find Gina.”

  “It couldn’t hurt.” Derrick handed his phone to Dani so he could concentrate on driving. “His name’s in my contact list. Put him on speaker.”

  When Gleason answered, Derrick quickly updated him on McClain’s military ties, his finances and the boat. “This is the probable cause you need to haul McClain in for questioning.”

  “Man,” Gleason replied. “I’d never have imagined I was wrong about him. He seemed like such a standup guy.”

  “You work as a detective long enough and you learn not to let anything surprise you.”

  “I suppose you’re right.”