Chain Reaction

by Rebecca York

  When she felt like her lungs were going to burst, she knew she had to come up. But she held off for agonizing seconds longer, and to her vast relief, the sound of the blades receded into the background.

  Kicking to the surface again, she gulped in air, shook the wet hair out of her eyes and looked around. The mist still hung low over the water, and she saw no one.

  She should do what Gage had told her to do—get to the next estate, but now she felt too dispirited to swim. Gage had sent her on ahead and gotten caught by the cops.

  When she saw movement along the shore, she ducked low, keeping only her nose and eyes above the water. From her covert position, she saw a figure climbing the rocks.

  Her heart stopped, then started up again in double time as she saw Gage running through the marsh and into the water.

  He stopped and thrust something into a net bag, then slung it over his shoulder again.

  She wanted to shout his name, but she kept her lips pressed together. Treading water, she waited with her pulse pounding as he came closer to her.

  She knew the exact moment when he spotted her. His eyes turned fierce. “Go!” he mouthed as he stripped off his pants and shoes.

  She started swimming again, and he caught up before she’d gotten twenty yards farther.

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded, keeping his voice low.

  She ached to pull him into her arms and hang on. She had to content herself with moving close and pressing her shoulder to his. “I—I heard the gunfire,” she gasped. “Are you all right? What happened?”

  “I’m okay, but I don’t know what happened. It sounded like they were shooting at each other.”

  She stared at him, trying to wrap her mind around that concept. “Why?”

  “Maybe they got confused in the fog.”

  Before she could ask another question, he spoke again. “Move it before the chopper comes back.”

  She knew he was right, and she started stroking again. But she had never been a strong swimmer, and she felt as though she had been in the water for hours. As she struggled to follow Gage, her arms and legs began to feel like lead.

  Even dragging a heavy case through the water, Gage plowed ahead—until he realized she wasn’t beside him.

  Dropping back, he asked, “Are you all right?”

  “You go ahead.”

  “Don’t be crazy!” He stayed beside her, jeopardizing his own safety.

  Breathing hard, she kept swimming, glad that he was with her because she didn’t know where they were going.

  “This way.”

  With a feeling of relief, she stroked toward the shore, expelling a grateful sigh when her feet finally touched solid ground.

  They’d entered the water through a marsh. Down-river, the beach was sandy. A lot better than the previous muck.

  As she staggered out of the water, she looked over at Gage. He was wearing only a pair of swimming trunks, and she had on the proverbial wet T-shirt.

  Gasping from the swim, she wanted to flop down on the sand and close her eyes. But Gage took hold of her arm.

  “Sorry. We can’t stay out in the open. If that chopper comes back and sees us, we’re toast.”

  THE NOISE of the helicopter was like a buzz sounding in Rand’s brain as he crouched over his partner, pressing his hand against the wadded-up jacket that wasn’t doing much to stop the bleeding from Richard’s chest.

  One minute they’d both been sneaking up on the campsite. Then shots had stopped them in their tracks.

  Rand had ducked behind a tree, while Richard had returned fire. And he’d gotten hit.

  “Hang on. Just hang on. The paramedics are coming,” Rand whispered, still trying to stanch the blood seeping through his partner’s shirt.

  From where he lay in a pile of leaves, Richard looked up, the light fading from his eyes. When his eyelids flickered, Rand closed the fingers of his free hand around his partner’s shoulder.

  He could see Richard trying to focus on him.

  “Stay awake,” he ordered. “I know you want to go to sleep, but don’t do it.”

  Richard’s lips moved, but no words came out.

  Time dragged by, and Rand cursed under his breath. Where were the damn paramedics?

  In the next moment, he knew it was too late.

  Still, Rand pressed two fingers to his partner’s carotid artery. He felt nothing. Reaching up, he closed Richard’s eyes, trying to wrap his mind around the realization that his partner was dead.

  How had it happened? Nobody had acted like a damn hot dog. They’d cased the estate. They’d determined that someone was there—most likely Darnell. And they’d moved in slowly and carefully with a trained team.

  Then, suddenly, it had all gone wrong. Darnell must have caught on to the attack and left the tent. Then he’d slipped into the woods. Instead of clearing out of the area, he’d circled around them and started shooting.

  Rand had escaped the trap. But Richard was dead.

  He still couldn’t believe it. The attack had been too fast and too unexpected.

  “Bastard,” he muttered. He didn’t know whether he was talking to himself or Richard. “He won’t get away. I swear it. I’ll track him down and bring him in—dead or alive. Preferably dead.”

  It seemed incredible that he’d felt sorry for Gage Darnell. He’d started to think that the guy might have been set up. Obviously that had been a bunch of crap. First Darnell had killed the janitor when the man had gotten in his way. Then he’d turned and fired on the police when he could have run. That meant he was spiraling out of control.

  “I’ll get him,” he repeated, this time knowing he was making the promise to Richard. The vow made him feel marginally better until he thought about what he had to do next—tell Richard’s wife her husband was dead. He’d have to get there soon, before the media got hold of this and she heard it on the television.

  PICKING HERSELF UP, Lily followed Gage across the rocks and into the woods. The air wasn’t really cold but her skin and shirt were wet, and when a little breeze came up, she began to shiver.

  As her teeth started to chatter, Gage slung his arm around her shoulder.

  “Okay?”

  “Yes,” she lied.

  Like refugees from a shipwreck, they staggered through the woods. The fog was lifting, and she saw that this patch of ground had been left natural with thick underbrush blocking their way.

  As they detoured around a tangle of brambles, thorns and twigs scratched against her skin, and she winced.

  Gage pulled her closer against his side. “We need some clothes.”

  She nodded.

  Just as they reached a dirt road hemmed in by low vegetation, a roar rose above them.

  The chopper was coming back, widening its search.

  Gage cursed and grabbed her hand, urging her down into a tangle of honeysuckle and blackberry bushes, the underbrush inflicting more scratches on her naked legs and thighs. Quickly, he pulled part of the vines over their heads and shoulders, trying to obscure the view from above.

  Gage leaned over her, and she realized he was trying to cover her body with his.

  “No,” she whispered. “I’ve got the dark shirt. They can see your back easier than mine.”

  “Yeah.” He shifted his position, letting her lean over him while the chopper swung back and forth in the air above them.

  As she huddled under the vines, Lily couldn’t help feeling as if a bull’s-eye was painted on her back.

  Gage pressed his cheek against her shoulder. “Relax.”

  “I can’t. What if they land? What if they start beating the bushes for us?” she asked, hearing the quavering sound of her own voice.

  He kept his own tone steady. “Where the hell would they land? On the water? If they see us, they’ve got to call it in.”

  “Or start shooting,” she couldn’t help adding.

  “They won’t,” he muttered, but this time he sounded less sure.

  She wanted to l
ook up and see if the chopper was hovering directly over them. But she struggled not to move, not to give away their position.

  WHEN RAND heard someone running toward him through the woods, he tensed, then saw that the paramedics had finally arrived.

  He eyed the two young men with anger. “You’re too late,” he spat out.

  “We got here as fast as we could.”

  “Forget it. I don’t want to hear your excuses. A cop died today. A good man. One of the best.” Whirling, he stalked away toward his vehicle.

  Before he reached the car, one of the uniformed officers came forward. It was obvious that the man hadn’t wanted to approach while Rand was with Richard.

  “Sir?”

  “He’s dead.”

  “I’m sorry,” the man answered perfunctorily. Well, what could he say, after all? He hadn’t had the privilege of knowing Richard Francis as a friend and trusted colleague.

  The officer got right back to business. “The tent’s empty. But it looks like the wife was there. She left her bra on top of the sleeping bag.”

  Her bra? Apparently Lily Darnell wasn’t here under duress this time. He’d bet that the minute she’d slipped out of her parents’ house, she’d headed for her husband’s camp.

  Had she known all along where to find Darnell—and only been waiting for her chance to hook up? Or had she guessed where he might be and taken a chance?

  Either way, they’d been cozied up here. And when she’d taken off, she hadn’t bothered to get dressed. Rand pictured her running through the woods half-naked. Why?

  Suddenly, the reason popped into his head.

  “The river. That’s where they went. Into the water.”

  He was thinking aloud now. “Darnell must have had an escape plan. He wouldn’t try to swim across the river, would he?” With a sudden feeling of hope, he looked at the cop. “Get teams over to the estates on the left and right. We’ve still got a chance to nail him.”

  THE CHOPPER sped off, and Gage stood. He was almost naked and covered with scratches that stung his back, chest and legs. But he didn’t stop to inspect the damage.

  “Come on. We’ve got to hurry.”

  “Do you think they saw us?”

  “It doesn’t matter. They’ll search for us here,” he answered, then was sorry about the harsh assessment when he saw the way Lily’s face contorted.

  He led Lily confidently up the road as though he knew exactly where he was going, while his gaze darted around the woods, searching desperately for landmarks. He’d come here by the land route, not by the river. So he didn’t even know exactly where he was.

  Finally, to his vast relief, he saw a tree that had blown over in the wind but was still being held up by surrounding pines. Looking at the configuration, he breathed out a sigh.

  “What?” Lily asked.

  “Nothing.” He left the road, forging through the underbrush, acquiring more scratches as he went, until he saw the car, partially hidden by more brambles. He picked up his pace.

  That was when he heard the sound of a vehicle speeding toward them along the dirt road.

  Chapter Twelve

  Gage felt Lily grab his arm.

  “Is that the cops?”

  “It’s not the welcoming committee,” he snapped, then immediately apologized. “Sorry. I’m kind of tense.”

  “We both are.”

  With the new skills he’d acquired, he popped the locks on the car doors. Lily was already at the passenger door. When she heard the latch open, she slipped into the front seat while he opened the trunk and threw the bag of electronics equipment inside.

  Although they were still both wet and half naked, he drove out of the hiding place, then plowed through a gap in the trees and hit another narrow road. Hidden behind a screen of leaves, they watched a police car speed by. When it had disappeared, they turned in the other direction.

  “That road ends in about a mile, and they’ll come back this way,” Gage muttered.

  “Then where are we going?” Lily asked.

  “Along the river,” he answered, hoping the cops hadn’t had time to block all the exits to the property.

  Emerging from the woods, he made a sharp left, then drove onto a manicured lawn that swooped down to the water. The wide-open space made him feel like a moving target, but he had no choice. If they didn’t make it out of here in the next few minutes, the game was up.

  As he drove, he thought about the gunfire they’d both heard. The cops had been shooting at somebody. Did they think it was him? Or had the cops fought it out with each other?

  He hoped not, because if one of them had gotten shot, that meant all bets were off for Gage Darnell.

  He made it to the other side of a sprawling white house, then found the way blocked by a couple of cars. They were either a roadblock or a row of vehicles that belonged to the property owner.

  Lily gulped, as she saw the barrier.

  “Duck,” he ordered.

  She did as he asked, and he crouched as low as he could, angling to the right. When no one popped up with guns blazing, he breathed out a sigh.

  “It’s not the cops,” he told Lily as he squeezed through a small gap between one of the cars and a privet hedge, the mirror catching on a branch as he eased past. He kept going, hearing the branch crack as the car made it to the unobstructed part of the driveway.

  Hands fused to the wheel, he headed past the house and onto a blacktop road.

  It looked like they were in the clear, until a patrol car came speeding toward them with the lights flashing, obviously responding to an emergency call.

  Lily gasped.

  “Get down again,” he shouted. “So they don’t see us together.”

  Once more, she folded down in her seat, and he kept driving at a normal pace, figuring that the cops didn’t know anybody had gotten away yet. They also didn’t know what vehicle he was driving.

  To his everlasting relief, the car whizzed by. He kept going down the highway, then turned off into a residential neighborhood, making several turns through the development until he came to what had been a pine forest.

  A construction company had begun clearing the sandy soil, bulldozing trees and brush and leaving the mess in huge piles. But nobody was on the scene. He pulled off into one of the cleared areas, then got out to retrieve the bag of clothes he’d left in the trunk.

  He gave Lily a dry T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. While she wiggled into them, he pulled on clothes and tennis shoes.

  “Sorry, I didn’t bring any shoes that will fit you,” he said as they both climbed back into the car.

  “You didn’t know I was coming,” she answered, then swung her head toward him. “Thanks for getting us out of there.”

  “You still have the option of turning yourself in. If you show up at the Maryland State Police barracks, you can get inside before anybody knows who you are.”

  “No.”

  Digging under the clothing still in the bag, he took out a wad of cash and shoved it into his pocket.

  He was still marveling that they’d escaped from Oak Lawn. He wanted to fold his arms over the steering wheel, pillow his head against them and just rest for a few minutes. But Lily was sitting beside him, and he didn’t want her to think he’d just about reached the end of his rope.

  So he sat staring at the woods.

  When he felt her hand on his shoulder, he turned, and she held out her arms.

  He heard a strangled sound rise in his throat as he hauled her against himself and clung.

  She held on just as tightly, stroking his back, then turning her face for a quick, hard kiss.

  “I wouldn’t have gotten out of there without you,” she whispered.

  “You wouldn’t have been in trouble without me,” he answered.

  She clenched her hands on his arms. “Don’t.”

  He swallowed and sat up straighter. “We can’t stay here.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Where, indeed? Not across
the Bay Bridge. There would be cops watching the road to the mainland. But there would also be cops scouring the local area.

  Still, maybe it made sense to head toward the bridge. There were a lot of shopping centers up that way where they could lose themselves in the crowd.

  “With them looking for us, you need to change your appearance,” he said to Lily. “Is there some kind of temporary coloring you can spray on your hair?”

  “I think so.”

  “By now, they know we’re together, so lie down in the backseat, and it’ll look like I’m alone.”

  She climbed into the back while he drove toward Kent Narrows.

  After passing several shopping centers, he stopped at one with a drugstore open early and pulled up near the entrance.

  “I’d go in,” he told her, “but I don’t know what kind of dye to get. Or shoes.”

  “I’d better do it.”

  He handed her some of his cash. “You want to be in and out of there as fast as you can. But don’t draw attention to yourself.”

  Her face looked pale, but her mouth was firm as she climbed quickly out of the car and hurried toward the store.

  When she disappeared from sight, he turned on the radio to a music station, hoping to distract himself. To his relief, she was back in six minutes.

  “Lightning speed.”

  She grinned. “Yeah. It’s not busy at this hour of the morning.”

  As he drove away, she pulled out the cheap tennis shoes and socks she’d bought.

  “Can you cut your hair?” he asked.

  “Maybe you should do it.”

  He looked at the tangles she’d acquired during the swim. “I should have told you to get a hairbrush.”

  “I did.” As they drove, she sat low behind him, smoothing the tangles out of her shoulder-length hair and staring straight ahead.

  Along the highway, he parked around the back of a seafood restaurant that had gone out of business. They both climbed out.

  He came around to her side, lifting a lock of her still-damp hair and running his fingers regretfully along the length. Before she could change her mind, he chopped off three inches, cringing inside as he watched her beautiful blond hair fall to the blacktop.