Dark Tide

by Susan Sleeman

  “So are you going to help us?” Derrick pushed again.

  “I’d like to.” He paused, as if trying to decide what to do. “But you got the information without a warrant, so it’s of no use to me. The best I can do is work on legally obtaining the same info.”

  “Gina needs your help now, not after you repeat the work we’ve already done,” Derrick yelled at him. “Color outside the box for once and bring this guy in.”

  “You may have operated outside the law when you were on the force, but that’s not how we do things in California.”

  Derrick ground his teeth. “At least put a bulletin out on him.”

  “No,” Gleason said firmly. “It would do more harm than good. McClain still has buddies on the force who’d see the alert and warn him. If he thinks we’re coming for him, he might do something rash.”

  “He’s already done something rash,” Derrick shouted. “He’s kidnapped a woman.” The woman I love.

  “But she could still be alive, and I won’t go off half-cocked and make the situation worse.”

  “Fine,” Derrick shouted. “But be advised if anything happens to Gina, I’ll hold you personally responsible.” Fuming, Derrick slammed a hand against the wheel.

  “You want me to hang up?” Dani asked.

  Derrick nodded. “I’ve never felt so helpless in my life,” he said. But even as he spoke the words, the memory of his parents’ deaths flashed into his mind, and he knew today’s feeling wasn’t new to him.

  He couldn’t believe how fresh the grief felt. And the guilt. Both emotions were still there. Holding him captive. That’s why he’d let Gina walk out of his life. Just as she’d said—he didn’t feel like he deserved to be happy.

  Help me find her, Father. Please help me find her.

  Dani set his phone in the console. “I’ll try to locate McClain’s boat information. If he has a GPS system installed, I might be able to pinpoint his location.”

  “Good. Do that.”

  Kat leaned forward. “And why don’t we call Quentin? He might be able to get the Coast Guard to send someone after Gina.”

  “Better yet, we could use his boat to go after her ourselves.” He flashed a look at Dani, who was already at work on her computer. “Quentin’s number’s in my cell, Kat. Call him and put it on speaker.”

  Quentin answered on the third ring, and Derrick raced ahead with his story. “Can you get the Coast Guard to dispatch a boat for her?”

  “I’ll call them, but it’ll be faster if I go after her myself.”

  “Not without me.”

  Quentin didn’t respond.

  “C’mon, man,” Derrick said. “After the way you stonewalled us, you owe me that much—not to mention what you owe Gina.”

  “Agreed. I’ll meet you at the marina.”

  “McClain’s boat is the same make and model as yours. We’ll text his photo to you in case you arrive before us and he’s still at the pier.”

  Derrick could hear Quentin was already on the move, and he grunted his acknowledgment.

  “Hang up the phone, Kat,” Derrick said. “We have a rescue to perform.”

  NINETEEN

  As they turned onto the drive leading to the marina, Gina frantically searched for a way to escape her captor. She could think of only one reason he was taking her to a boat. Just as with Lilly, he planned to kill her and dump her body where no one would ever find her. She needed to get away, but she had little hope of escape with her wrist securely cuffed to the door. Maybe if she got him to tell her his plan, she’d be better prepared to make a run for it when he unlocked the cuff. She’d have to ease into it.

  She looked at him, searching for an idea of what to say. “You don’t look like a drug dealer.”

  He laughed. “What do I look like then?”

  “A law-abiding citizen.”

  He glanced at her. “Better than that, I’m a former cop.”

  Her heart dropped. If he admitted this, it meant he planned to kill her. Even more reason to keep asking questions.

  “I wondered about the handcuffs,” she said lightly, hoping to play down her worry. “How does a former cop get mixed up with Ontiveros?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I got tired of pulling lowlifes off the street day after day only for them to have some lawyer get their charges thrown out. Then they’d reoffend, and I’d just have to haul them in again. I started drinking to blow off the pressure. Before long, the drinking carried over to my work. My partner was gonna report me, so I came up with the bright idea to move to forensics. Was a good gig until I fell off the wagon and ran up some gambling debts.”

  “And let me guess, that’s where Ontiveros came in,” Gina said.

  “Yep. He was facing a murder rap. He needed someone to falsify ballistics to get him off. I needed the cash for my debts. Voila. A partnership was formed.”

  “The murder was Perry Axton’s, right?”

  He glanced at her. “I see that pretty boy you hired did his homework.”

  His comment reminded her of the family’s jokes about how pretty Derrick was. The longing to have him by her side nearly brought her to tears. She clenched her teeth until the feeling passed and looked at her abductor again. “What I don’t get is how you went from changing a report to trying to kill me.”

  “Simple. You saw the log that could put Ontiveros away for life and me for a good long time. You couldn’t live to tell about it.”

  She shook her head. “But murder? Why not just go to jail for tampering with evidence? You’d get out a lot sooner than if you were caught and convicted of murder.”

  “That’s true, if Ontiveros let me live to see that day. But I’m here to tell you, sister, that he wouldn’t have let me get to trial. I needed to clean up this mess or start digging my own grave.”

  “So you killed Jon,” she said with sad resignation.

  “I didn’t kill him,” he spit out forcefully. “Ontiveros did. I’m former military. Your brother didn’t deserve to die like the other lowlifes Ontiveros offed.”

  “Then why are you still working for him?”

  He sneered. “You don’t walk away from someone like him. At least not alive.”

  “And that means you have to kill for him?”

  He shrugged as if life meant nothing to him and pointed his car toward the dock.

  The choppy water let her know what she was in for, and her pulse ratcheted higher. “And now you’re going to kill me like you killed Lilly, right?”

  “If she’d listened to me, she wouldn’t have had to die,” he said as he parked near a boat identical to Quentin’s. “I thought she was you at first and tried to restrain her, but she pulled off my mask. She could ID me, so she had to go.”

  “I suppose you shot her on the river to ensure no one would ever find her.”

  “Nah, I’m a forensic tech, remember? I took her out there to get rid of any trace evidence.” He shifted into Park and came around the car to open the door. He pointed his gun at her chest and gave her the key to remove the cuff from the door. “Step out nice and slow with your hands in front.”

  When she did, he grabbed the dangling cuff and dragged her onto the boat.

  “Sit.” He shoved her down and waved his gun at her. “I’m going to untie the boat. Don’t try anything stupid.”

  She looked around for a way out. He hadn’t cuffed her to the boat, so maybe she could jump overboard. No. The water was too shallow to hide her, and he’d simply use his gun to end her life before she could take cover. She searched again, hoping someone would stroll down the pier, but the only movement this late at night was the water lapping against the boats. She’d have to wait for a better time.

  What better time? Once out in the ocean, she wouldn’t escape alive. Maybe s
he could distract him and delay their departure so help could arrive.

  She offered a quick prayer then looked at her abductor. “You never told me your name.”

  He didn’t look up from his task. “No need for you to know.”

  She tried another topic. “So you brought me out here to get rid of evidence, like you did with Lilly. I wouldn’t have thought you’d risk me escaping.”

  His ice-cold eyes raked over her. “I’d think twice about taking off, if I was you.” He aimed his gun at her.

  Visions of him pointing a gun at her in her apartment came flooding back. She couldn’t count on this one jamming. She’d have to play down her escape.

  “I’m not trying to escape,” she lied as convincingly as she could. “I simply wondered after all those attempts to kill me, why you haven’t taken the chance now that you finally have it.”

  “Right now you’re worth more to me alive than dead.” He moved to the other tie-down.

  “I don’t understand,” Gina said.

  “Your little team of investigators ratted me out to the cops.” He snarled. “Fortunately I got wind of it in time, but they’ll soon be looking for me. You’re my ticket out of town.”

  “A hostage?” Gina said hopefully. “Does that mean you don’t plan to kill me?”

  “That’s a good question.” He tossed the rope into the boat and picked up his gun. “One I’m sure you don’t want to hear the answer to.”

  * * *

  As Derrick swung the car into the marina’s parking lot, Kat’s phone rang. “It’s Mitch again.”

  Derrick piloted the car toward Quentin’s boat while she put Mitch on speaker.

  “I’ve got an ID for the fingerprints,” he said.

  “Let me guess,” Kat replied. “It’s a former Army Ranger named Bo McClain.”

  “You knew?”

  “We weren’t positive, but you just confirmed it.”

  “Any word on Gina?”

  Kat brought him up to speed then quickly said goodbye while Derrick parked as close to Quentin’s boat as possible.

  “I’m outta here.” Derrick jumped out and checked his ammo. Kat and Dani did the same.

  “No one’s coming with me,” Derrick said.

  Kat furrowed her brow. “Not a good idea.”

  “Someone needs to stay here in case the police or Coast Guard actually dispatches help.”

  “I can do that while I keep looking for McClain’s GPS device,” Dani said.

  Kat crossed her arms in a stubborn stance. “That frees me up to come with you.”

  “It’ll be dangerous out there, and I can’t be thinking about your safety. The rescue will take my full focus and having you there will distract me.”

  “Gee, if only I was trained for situations like this and knew how to handle myself.” Kat frowned at him.

  He shook his head and grabbed extra ammo.

  “Fine.” Kat sighed. “I don’t want to make the situation worse. If you think my going with you would do that, then I’ll stay here.”

  “Thanks, Kat.” He gave her a quick hug. “If I can get a phone signal out there, I’ll call you as soon as we find her.”

  “Bring her back safely,” Dani said, but Derrick was already running for the boat and didn’t respond.

  By the time he got there, Quentin was untying the mooring ropes. “I saw a guy matching McClain’s description taking off when I arrived.”

  “And Gina?” Derrick asked.

  “Didn’t see her.”

  “So this could be someone else.”

  “Could be, but there’s little traffic out here at night, so our best bet is to head out in the direction of that boat and hope it was McClain.”

  “Is the Guard on the way?”

  “Not yet.” He tossed his rope into the boat. “If we get close enough to McClain to prove he has Gina, I’ll radio in our coordinates and they’ve promised to respond.”

  “That’s better than nothing I guess.” Derrick followed Quentin onboard.

  Quentin went straight for the steering wheel. “This is going to be fast and rough.” He glanced at Derrick. “If you can’t handle it, you’d best bail now.”

  Derrick jerked his head at the open waters. “Just go.”

  “Okay then,” Quentin said doubtfully. “Have a seat.”

  He fired up the powerful motor and eased away from the pier. Once they hit open water, he accelerated hard, pushing Derrick’s back against the seat and reminding him of a carnival ride. The front section of the boat lifted in the air, and they flew over choppy waves spitting seawater in their faces.

  Derrick rose to his knees to scan the horizon. Even with a full moon, he couldn’t see far ahead. Quentin kept them moving at a steady clip, but suddenly he throttled down and killed the lights. He lifted what had to be night-vision binoculars. “There’s a boat ahead on the starboard side. A man is at the helm—about the right size and shape to be McClain. I see another person on board in the back. Smaller. Seated. Could be Gina.”

  He passed the binoculars to Derrick, who confirmed Quentin’s take. “You’re the expert out here. How do we approach?”

  “He’s not moving as fast as we were, so we should be able to catch him after we power back up. Though once he sees our lights he’s likely to take off.”

  “Can we run in the dark?”

  “Not at the speeds we’ll be traveling.” Quentin tapped the binoculars. “Keep the boat in sight and warn me if he changes course.”

  “Do you really think we have a chance?”

  Quentin shrugged. “We’ll just have to hope McClain is too busy to see us coming.”

  * * *

  Gina tried to sweep the hair out of her face, but it made no difference. Despite her efforts, strands caught the wind and bit into her cheek. Chilled and wet, she huddled forward to avoid the stinging spray.

  The farther they traveled from shore, the more she feared no one would ever find her. If they didn’t, who would look after Sophia? Jon had died so recently that she hadn’t arranged for Sophia’s care in the event of her death. Her sweet little Sophia, all alone. Gina could hardly bear the thought.

  No, she warned herself. Don’t think that way. Only a quitter has those thoughts, and you are not a quitter.

  Maybe Derrick had located her and was on his way.

  Derrick. The man she’d worked so hard not to fall for these past few days. But it didn’t matter how hard she struggled, the feelings were there. And real. Thinking about losing her life made the thought of him not committing irrelevant. He wanted to change, and she wanted to help him. She knew he’d never deliberately hurt her or Sophia, so she’d trust him and take the risk.

  Her captor suddenly downshifted the boat, the massive bow setting into the water. She sat up and watched for a chance to free herself. He punched a few buttons on a device that looked like a portable GPS system then slammed his fist against the boat and spit out a long string of curse words.

  “Something wrong?” she asked, hoping the question didn’t make him angrier.

  “Nothing I can’t fix.” He dug into a storage compartment and came out holding a flashlight. He shone it on the navigation system and started pressing buttons.

  With his focus on the problem, Gina decided it would be the perfect time to act. If she caught him from behind with a full-body check, she might be able to launch him into the water. But it would only work if she hit him hard in the upper body, gaining enough momentum to clear the side.

  Praying for help, she slowly got to her feet and inched forward. His head remained bent over his task. She continued to assess her plan as she moved. She couldn’t ease up beside him or he’d see her. One sudden lunge was her only chance. She readied herself, curling forward for maximum oomph. Hoping her f
rozen muscles would cooperate, she set her feet in position to lunge—but the hum of an engine coming from the ocean behind them made her captor suddenly spin and see her.

  He smacked her down, causing her head to slam against the hard molded plastic of a seat. Warm, sticky blood dripped into her eye. She pressed a hand against the wound to stop the bleeding. Pain shot through her skull at the pressure, but she kept pushing, until the intensity made her woozy.

  She pulled her hand away and tried to get to her feet.

  He pressed a booted foot on her side as he scanned the ocean behind them. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay down.”

  The hum of a large motor grew closer.

  Please, God, let it be Derrick. Or the Coast Guard. Someone, anyone to end this nightmare.

  Her captor dug in a storage bench next to her and extracted a rifle. He kept his foot on her side as he loaded cartridges into the gun.

  Keep whoever’s in the approaching boat safe.

  Her captor removed his foot and pressed the rifle’s barrel against the side of her head. She cringed, but he pressed harder. “This is how easily I can end your life if you move even a fraction of an inch from your spot. Got that?”

  “Yes,” she said, her voice trembling and revealing her inner turmoil.

  He lifted his foot and slowly backed to the driver’s seat, the rifle butt lodged against his chest. At the wheel, he rested the gun at his side then rammed the speed control forward. He grabbed an elastic strap and secured the steering wheel to maintain the course bearing.

  Moving unsteadily, he passed her and planted his knees on the backseat with his upper body lying prone on the rear of the boat. He hefted his rifle into firing position and waited.

  As they rode the choppy waters, the other boat’s motor roared closer. She feared the minute he confirmed the boat was here to rescue her he’d open fire. She couldn’t let her captor shoot anyone in that boat. Or her, for that matter.

  She looked around and spotted a life jacket tucked under the seat. If he started firing, she could lunge at him to knock him off course. Even if she plunged into the water with him, the vest would keep her afloat.