Accidental Eyewitness

by Michelle Karl

  Ellen looked out the door, ducking beneath his shoulder. She saw the boat. It’d be a risk to reach either dock before the men outside the community center noticed them, but if they were quick, they’d be able to make it. Starting the boat, on the other hand, was another question entirely—but she’d honestly never known anyone in the Schroeder Lake area to take too many precautions with their boats, especially during the off-season with so few people about. Who would even be in the area to steal a boat? Plus, most folks had an easy view of their dock from the giant windows in their cottage, which overlooked the lake, similar to the giant picture windows at the Fosters’ place.

  Seeing the boat docked a short distance away, she had a feeling the keys would still be in the ignition—and if not, well, they’d have to cross that bridge when they came to it. Hopefully it’d be only a matter of minutes before the police arrived.

  “We’re going to borrow that boat.” She raised her shoulders as Leo tossed her a look of alarm. “Do you have a better idea?”

  He lifted his chin. “Have you looked at the sky?”

  “It’s either stay here and get shot, or risk being on a lake during a storm that hasn’t even started yet. I’d rather put as much distance between us and these guys as possible, and maybe lead them away from your brothers and friends.”

  Leo’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t offer any resistance to her plan. Was he angry with her for destroying Sam’s bachelor party and putting everyone at risk? Who was going to pay for all the damages? What if one of the guys inside made an error in judgment and got shot? What if—

  “Ellen, if we’re doing this, we have to go now. I don’t know where you keep going, but I need you present until we’re safe. Can you do that?”

  She swallowed hard against the dryness in her throat. She didn’t mean to keep falling into her own thoughts. It had been a long time since the memories and the guilt crept up on her—and she’d never had this many episodes, one after another. Could she guarantee she’d be able to stave them off? No, but she had to try.

  Two more gunshots sounded, followed by an angry yell. The attackers were getting impatient. Ellen slipped underneath Leo’s arm, which held the door open, bounced on her heels—and ran with every ounce of energy she had toward the dock.

  * * *

  Shelter us in Your arms, Lord. Leo bolted after Ellen, surprised at her speed and energy. She ran with perfect form and a lightness in her step that disguised the urgency of the situation. The part of his brain that was trying to keep calm recalled that Ellen had played sports in high school, but for the life of him he couldn’t recall which ones. But he did remember that she’d stopped playing at some point, rather suddenly—perhaps after her father’s death, when she and Jamie had to take up a lot of responsibilities at home. Particularly as their mother’s mental health had begun to spiral.

  Jamie had never been all that open about what happened, but Leo did know that it had taken quite a toll on Ellen, hence the overprotectiveness. If he’d grown up with a younger sister instead of two brothers, he might have been overprotective, too. Though, as the peacemaker of the Thrace siblings, he did act a little protective—but it had more to do with protecting their unity as a family than anything else. All brothers fought, that was normal, but Aaron and Sam had butted heads almost every day.

  It had been quite the balancing act, growing up with one brother who knew exactly what he wanted out of life and one who’d figured life would just hand things to him as he needed them. Thankfully, Sam had grown up a lot over the years, and not only had he developed into a responsible, courageous RCMP officer, he was now about to marry an incredible woman who was perfect for him. As for Aaron, while he hadn’t yet found someone to spend his life with, the man seemed more or less married to his job. Aaron had always been the most enthusiastic of the Thrace brothers when it came to following their father into the RCMP, and his commitment showed. Rumor had it that Aaron would be up for a significant promotion soon, which he deserved.

  But with both of his brothers moving along secure paths, Leo had started to feel a little uneasy about where he fit in. He’d been so focused on himself, his career and on making sure all three Thrace brothers stayed on good terms with each other, he was starting to wonder if he’d been missing something. Like building actual relationships that held meaning and seeking value in life outside of his little bubble. He’d hoped that coming back to his childhood hometown for Sam’s wedding might help to provide some perspective on things.

  Not that now was the time to start. Right now, he needed to stay one step ahead of people who wanted to take his life away. It didn’t take perspective to figure that out.

  Lifting up a prayer with each step, Leo tried to keep pace with Ellen. They made it about halfway to the dock before he heard shouting behind them. They’d been spotted. Ellen’s pace didn’t falter, but she shifted her head as if tempted to look back.

  “Don’t look, keep going,” he said. She redirected her focus and kept pushing, despite the sudden, loud gunshots behind them. There was something totally bizarre about the thieves having made a sudden attack during the daytime, not to mention their willingness to shoot blindly into a community center where there were other, uninvolved people present who would undoubtedly have cell phones and the ability to immediately call the police. A bloodbath certainly wouldn’t help the thieves with their break-and-enter business, and if anything, it would turn up the heat over Rod’s death and spur a province-wide manhunt.

  What are they thinking?

  Maybe they weren’t, and that was the problem. Still, something about this scenario didn’t sit right—but he and Ellen could parse that out once they were beyond the range of gunfire.

  Ellen reached the boat and nearly dove in, keeping herself low as she made her way to the front. Leo held his breath, hoping for good news.

  A split second later the engine started, and Ellen ran back onto the dock. “We have to cast off!”

  Leo could have kicked himself for wasting precious seconds he could have been using to untie the boat. The men who’d shot up the community center were halfway to the dock, all of them wearing dark ball caps and red bandannas tied around their mouths. They also wore denim pants and plain black T-shirts. Definitely the same guys who’d broken into the Fosters’ cottage when Ellen had been working. His fingers fumbled over the knots—and then Ellen dropped next to him, kneeling and focused. They pulled the last strand of rope free just as two of the men reached the far end of the dock.

  Ellen jumped back into the boat, and Leo followed behind. He braced himself for gunfire as one man raised his weapon, but Ellen gave the boat gas and the watercraft burst forward. Leo lost his footing and fell onto the padded passenger seats.

  “Are you okay?” Ellen called over her shoulder.

  Leo pushed himself upright, rattled but unharmed. “I’m all right. Are you? Do you know how to steer this thing?”

  “Sort of. Not particularly. A little bit?” She glanced back at him, but her eyes almost immediately slipped past and found the dock. Her lips parted in surprise as her forehead creased. “Uh, Leo?”

  Worry seized his gut. He twisted around to look. Several of the armed thieves had made their way farther down the shoreline to the next cottage’s dock and were stealing a boat of their own.

  A lump formed in Leo’s throat. Wilderness, he could deal with. Problems on land, he could handle. But boats? Even during his childhood, the Thrace family hadn’t spent much time on Schroeder Lake, and when they had, it was in little self-propelled kayaks or canoes, not high-powered motorboats. He didn’t even swim all that well, and hadn’t been in the water for years.

  “Can we beat them across the lake? Or, I don’t know, circle around and lead them back to the community center? The police should arrive at any second.”

  Ellen pressed her lips together and turned back to the steering wheel. Rudder? Leo had no idea what t
he different parts of the boat were called, or how fast different types of boats could go. As their enemies came closer, Ellen gave the engine more gas. Leo didn’t miss how her hands tightened around the steering wheel, knuckles growing white as tension pushed her shoulders up around her ears.

  He reached out to rest his hand on her hip, not wanting to interfere with her steering or focus but aching to offer reassurance. “Ellen, you’re doing fantastic. I know you’re feeling unsure about your skill here, but you’re far better at it than I could possibly be. I can barely cut an oar through the water properly, let alone pilot a giant speedboat like this.”

  “Cuddy cabin,” she said, her voice flat and matter-of-fact. “It’s called a cuddy cabin, which means there’s not a real below-decks to speak of, just enough room in the little berth to sleep and use the washroom.”

  “You know a lot about boats?” He noticed how her shoulders started to relax the longer she talked. He risked a glance back at their pursuers. He and Ellen still had a decent lead, but the thieves were gaining on them bit by bit. “A little more gas, Ellen. I know we’re going really, really fast. But you have control, I can tell.”

  Her right eye twitched at the word control, which he filed away for later. His words had touched a nerve, but without hesitation, she increased the speed. Leo’s heart pounded against his ribs. The speed they were traveling felt uncomfortable enough for him as a passenger, and with that last burst of power, the boat seemed to have taken on a life of its own. The wheel shook and tried to pull out from Ellen’s grasp.

  “You’ve got this. You’re doing so well, Ellie.”

  She gasped and released the wheel. It was only a split second, less than a fraction of a moment before she grabbed it again, but it was enough. The boat jerked to the left, sending them careening toward the shore at a terrifying speed. Ellen struggled to pull it back the other way, to right their course, but something had affected her and she was having trouble getting them back on track.

  Leo leaped from his seat and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her body from behind to grip the steering wheel above both of her hands. “Tell me what to do,” he said, trying not to shout into her ear, though it was difficult to hear anything above the whine of the engine grinding at near max capacity.

  A gunshot sounded off the stern. A quick glance back told him that their pursuers weren’t much closer yet, but had clued in that there might be a way to rattle them again. If Ellen lost control of the boat a second time at this speed, they risked crashing into a dock or even into one of the boat sheds along the shore. The end result would be nothing short of deadly.

  God, guide her hands.

  “They’re coming up pretty quickly behind us. Here’s an idea—what if we veer to the right and double back? We can keep our distance from the gunshots, but it’ll take the guy driving the boat a few seconds to follow suit. It might give us a lead to get back to shore.” He risked another glance at their pursuers, praying that at any moment he’d see red-and-blue lights approaching the community center behind them.

  “Starboard,” Ellen said.

  “What?”

  “Starboard.” She leaned to the right and guided the wheel. Leo leaned into it with her, helping to control the steering, keeping his grip gentle but firm. “The right side of a boat is starboard.”

  He felt her body lose the slightest bit of tension when she spoke. “How do you know all this boat stuff? You’ll have to tell me about it when we’re back.” He checked the water behind them as their boat made the turn. The cuddy cabin took the turn quite wide, but at the speed they were going, if they attempted the maneuver any faster or made sharp movements, they’d risk capsizing. They were already having enough issues keeping the watercraft steady, and the last thing he and Ellen needed was to be pitched into the water at the direct mercy of the men with guns. Especially since he couldn’t really swim.

  Once they’d completed their 180-degree turn to head back to shore, their boat was seconds away from drawing alongside the boat driven by the thieves. Leo stiffened. He and Ellen would have to brace themselves and duck, momentarily taking their eyes off the water, but better that than risk a bullet.

  “All right, Ellen, we need to get down in three, two—wait, what are they doing?”

  He wanted to yell. They couldn’t catch a break.

  Instead of making the turn as he and Ellen had and following the cuddy cabin boat back to shore, the thieves did exactly what Leo had been too cautious to attempt. The man at the helm yanked the wheel to the right well before reaching Leo and Ellen’s boat, sending the thieves’ boat into a sideways skid on the water. Leo watched with helplessness as one of the men aboard lost his balance and went careening overboard, landing in the water with a splash.

  All too quickly, the driver corrected the boat’s balance and regained its forward momentum.

  The driver gunned the engine, sending his stolen boat on a collision course headed straight toward them.

  EIGHT

  “Ellen?” Leo’s voice was urgent in her ear. She didn’t miss the underlying tension in his attempted show of calm. She also didn’t miss the boat that was heading directly for them.

  “I see it,” she said. “I have an idea.”

  Whether the idea would work or was even plausible, she didn’t know. Technically speaking, she didn’t know how to drive a motorboat, either, but Leo had seemed even more clueless than her, and his confidence in her had given her the courage to keep going.

  Until he’d called her by the nickname she hadn’t heard since the day her mother died.

  “Care to share?” In her peripheral vision, she saw Leo’s head swing back and forth, between the boat and the shore they were headed for. It was too far and too risky to try putting on more speed. They were already traveling dangerously fast, and there was no telling whether their pursuer was crazy enough to increase his boat’s speed, too.

  So she did the opposite.

  “Hold on tight,” she told Leo.

  Then she slammed on the brake at the same moment the driver of the other boat abandoned ship and dove into the water.

  The other boat zipped past their bow, so close that Ellen could make out the dents and scratches in its paint.

  The instant it passed by, she kicked the cuddy cabin into high gear again, racing toward the shore and the community center. Two more masked men were standing at the edge of the water, pointing their weapons at the lake.

  At least they’re smart enough not to fire when we’re so close to their own crew, she thought.

  “The thieves’ boat is going to crash in about three seconds. No, don’t look,” Leo said. “Uh-oh. It’s going to hit someone’s boat shed.” She appreciated the notice, and though it was tempting to risk a glance, she stayed focused despite the sound of a heavy object slamming into a wooden structure. Boards cracked and metal crunched, but she refused to be swayed.

  She’d planned to zip back up to the community center dock, but with the other armed thieves standing right on the shore, there was no way.

  “We’re going to have to run for it,” she said, the realization making her stomach sick. She looked at the fuel gauge in the boat. They’d expended almost the entire tank with their high-speed flight around the lake, and letting the fuel run out would make them sitting ducks. Landing the boat elsewhere would also mean potentially wandering into a dangerous situation—what if the thieves had cars and could then just follow and nab them? At least they had one form of transportation left, and it went where cars couldn’t follow.

  Rumblings of thunder overhead also told her it was time to get off the lake, lest the situation become doubly unsafe.

  “Pull up at the dock on the other side of the community center,” Leo suggested. “It’s closer to the edge of the property where the horses are tethered. It’ll be tight, but we don’t exactly have another option.”

 
Her thoughts exactly. She tried to keep her breathing steady as she slowed the boat, but not too much. She kept them going fast enough that the moment the cuddy cabin came alongside the shore, she and Leo leaped over the side onto the dock and sprinted toward the shed.

  Angry shouting grew closer as the thieves also raced to reach them. Bangs split the air.

  “Are they shooting again? With horses nearby?” She wanted to scream. Maybe they weren’t so smart, after all.

  The instant they reached the shed, she and Leo vaulted onto the horses, gripped the reins and burst back out again. Air rushed past Ellen’s face as another bang sounded, and she gasped as the sound made her head spin, her vision blurring as the darkness started to encroach...

  “Focus, Ellen! Focus!” Leo’s shouting brought her back to the present. They galloped across the community center property and veered onto the narrow trail. The shouts of their pursuers grew quieter as the distance between them increased.

  When the loudest sound around them was the continued deep rumble of thunder overhead, they slowed the horses. Leo looked over his shoulder at her, then slowed further until they rode alongside each other.

  “Are you okay? How are you holding up?”

  She shrugged. She honestly wasn’t sure. Anxiety gnawed at her insides now that the adrenaline rush had begun to fade, and a sense of hopelessness had begun to pervade her thoughts.

  “We’re going to be all right,” Leo said, though his voice sounded as shaky as she felt. “If they’d followed us, we’d have heard them by now. I’m going to get Jamie on the phone and tell him to send some uniforms out to the community center—oh, hang on, he’s calling right now.”

  Jamie’s voice came through loud and clear on the speaker the second Leo answered. “What just happened? Are you two all right? I got a call from inside the community center. Apparently there were shots fired and—”