by Susan Hayes
Gratitude for their friends support had helped to dial back the gut tearing worry he was experiencing every time he thought about Lexa alone with John Simons, the man who had called himself Simon Johnson. Simons was a lifelong criminal with a career body count that included two police officers, and when this was all over there was going to be a long investigation into how a man with his past could have possibly managed to clear the security checks to work and live on Sunset Point, alias or not.
Beau had explained about the GPS locator beacons and the Chief of Police had surprised them all when he immediately called up a new display, one that showed where the boats had been going over the last few months. When they’d all looked at him in amazement Luther had snorted with laughter before exclaiming, “What? My last fishfinder came with this stuff and this program lets Liz always know when I’ll be home because she can track me in real time.”
It didn’t take long for them to figure out that the missing boat had made a number of trips to the same patch of open water. With nothing else to go on, Beau and Diego had grabbed the keys to the fastest boat in the rental fleet and headed to the docks at a run, leaving the lieutenant to organize the others and follow them with the SPPD’s official marine vessel and whatever boats they needed.
Beau was manning the radio as Diego drove. He was coordinating with the others and keeping on touch with Luther, who was making sure they were all headed for the right location and staying out of each other’s way. The lieutenant had commandeered the police boat and had brought along Maxwell King and their new wife, Trinity, who had proven to be more of a badass than Jackson.
Bannock had teamed up with several on-duty officers and had taken one of the larger boats and was swinging wide around the area, prepared to cut Simons off if he tried to run. Luther reported that he’d sent a handful of off-duty officers to secure Simon’s home and seize anything left behind as evidence, while newest SPPD members Kendrick McClure and the Curtis brothers were in a boat following just a few minutes behind the police boat.
Simons didn’t know it yet, but there was a small, very angry army gunning for him now. Diego just drove and prayed that they would reach Lexa in time.
As they got within a few miles of the target area the boats fanned out, staying just within sight of each other’s lights so they had the best chance of spotting anyone out on the water. The radio squawked again and Bannock reported spotting lights headed toward them. Diego was already turning the boat toward the new coordinates when the lieutenant barked over the radio.
“Mendez and Rivers, stand down. I don’t want you two anywhere in the vicinity when this goes down, do you hear me! Stick to patrolling the outer area and make sure we’re alone out here. If I see so much as a glimmer of your running lights I will kick both your asses. Over”
“Lieutenant, he’s got Lexa! No way we are staying out of this one, sir. Over.”
“I know, and that’s why I don’t want you close. I want this guy alive, and frankly I don’t think either of you plans on letting him live. I promise we’ll get your girl back to you alive and well.”
“She’s our fiancée, Jackson. She said yes today. If we don’t see her again…”
“You will. Now stay the fuck out of this, I am going to have enough paperwork to do already. Over and out.”
The other boats veered away, leaving them alone in the dark.
Beau looked at Diego with his heart in his eyes. “What do we do?”
“He said he’d kick our ass if he saw our running lights.” Diego reached over and killed every light on the boat with a flip of a switch. “Problem solved. Now let’s go get Lexa back.”
“Rivers. You still there? This is Luther. Change over to secondary channel. Over”
“Copy that,” Beau looked at Diego who shrugged in confusion. Were they about to get a second warning from the top of the food chain?
He powered the boat down to half speed. Now he couldn’t see anything and started making his way toward their original destination and Beau switched channels.
“Luther, you there? Over.”
“I’m here. And I found your lady. Her locator beacon just popped back up on this program. She’s about five minutes away from your position, heading west northwest. Just don’t tell Stone I said anything. Over.”
“Thank you, sir. Next poker game I’m bringing the brandy. Over and out.”
Diego was already swinging the boat around to their new heading by the time Beau signed off with Luther, the need to get there in one piece warring with the need to get to Lexa as fast as possible. It felt like an eternity before they spotted lights on the water, and Diego gave the engines a kick of speed. The lights were leaping and bobbing far faster than they should be. It looked like the boat was being rocked back and forth hard by a storm or something onboard.
His racing thoughts came to a screeching halt as a scream tore through the night air and there was a heavy splash as something or someone hit the water.
“Lexa!” He bellowed her name and pushed the engine to full throttle, almost missing the second splash that came a few seconds after the first.
“Help!” Lexa screamed and Diego turned on every light on the boat, bathing the area in light.
“I’m going to fucking kill you, you bitch. Do you hear me!” Simons was in a killing rage and Diego spotted him swimming near the stern of the now unmanned boat.
“Freeze!” Beau shouted and drew his gun, aiming it at Simons. “If you move one inch toward her I will take great pleasure in blowing your head off.”
“Lexa, you need to swim over to us,” Diego called out, praying Lexa answered him.
“I’d love to, but uh, got a little problem here. That bastard cut me up pretty badly, I can’t use my arm.”
“I should have cut your fucking throat when I had the chance.” Simons yelled. “Bitch stabbed me with my own fucking knife!”
Beau growled low in his throat. “Move and you’re dead, Simons.” Diego looked at Beau in silent question and his partner nodded as Simons shrieked more angry insults at them both.
“Fuck you, pig!”
Diego didn’t bother to do more than kick off his shoes and shrug out of his shoulder holster before he stepped onto the gunwale and then arched into a clean dive into the inky water. He knew that if both Simons and Lexa were bleeding, it was only a matter of time before the sharks would arrive.
Hell, they could already be circling and they wouldn’t know until it was too late. He shoved his fear for Lexa aside and started swimming, rounding the bow of the cubby boat to find her floating on her back, one hand clamped over her other forearm. For a second he thought she’d lost consciousness, but as he swam closer she turned to face him, her ashen skin showing every mark and bruise Simon had given her.
“Hey, lover.” She smiled at him, her voice still strong despite the quaver he detected in her words. “Dane’s going to kill me. He made it very clear I wasn’t supposed to get my new tattoo wet.”
“Well then let’s get you out of the water.” Diego wrapped an arm around her and drew her in close, then paused as she hissed in pain. “Where else are you hurt, querida?” It was killing him to know Simons had hurt her and he hadn’t been there to stop him.
“My face hurts and my ribs are bruised, that’s all. I’ll live, Dig.” She went quiet for a moment and he felt her tremble slightly. “At least I will if you get us the hell out of the water before we end up on a shark’s menu.”
“No chance of that happening. Even the sharks know that no one gets to nibble on you but Beau and I,” he joked, hoping she couldn’t hear the worry in his voice. “This isn’t going to be comfortable for you,” he warned her and then started swimming, ignoring her next hiss of pain as he pulled her through the water with him. It would have been faster to get aboard the cubby boat, but that would mean getting close to Simons and there was no way that was going to happen.
The man was dangerous and Diego couldn’t fight him with Lexa in his arms, so instead he ma
de for the stern of the boat he’d arrived on. It had a swim platform on the back, which would make getting Lexa out of the water easier, too.
Beau was waiting for them, his gaze bouncing from them to Simons and back again as he kept his gun trained on their suspect. The moment they were close enough, Lexa reached for the edge of the swim platform and clung to it with her uninjured arm as Diego hauled himself out of the water. The move left her knife wounds unsealed and even those few brief seconds had been enough for the white plastic swim platform to be stained with her blood.
Lexa was trying to pull herself out of the water one-handed, but she was struggling against the pitch and yaw of the boat and her own injuries. He reached down and hauled her into his arms in one adrenaline fueled surge. “I’ve got you, it’s over.”
“Get me inside the boat, then you can tell me it’s over.” Lexa pressed her face against his chest, laughing softly.
“You got it.” He carefully maneuvered them both onto the deck of the boat and only then did he become aware that Simons was screaming a litany of demands and curses.
“Fucking pigs. Save your fuck toy and leave me bleeding in the water. I’m the victim of attempted murder. Your bitch stabbed me.”
“You drugged me and were going to kill me, you bastard!” Lexa screamed back, her entire body vibrating with rage now.
Diego growled and hugged her closer. “I’m going to hurt him for that.”
“You got your whore, now can I please—” Simons broke off midsentence amid a flurry of violent splashing.
Diego pressed a hand to the side of Lexa’s head to muffle the screams he knew would come if Simons surfaced again. There was only one thing that could have pulled a full grown man under that quickly, and he knew that Simons was already a dead man. He could only thank God that they’d gotten Lexa out of the water before the shark had arrived.
Diego didn’t move from where he stood on the deck as he watched the waves closed over the spot where Simons had been only seconds before. Somewhere beneath the inky surface, justice was being served.
Beau stood at the side of the boat, his gun still locked onto Simons’s last position. Diego understood his partner would do everything he could to rescue Simons if he could, and that was as it should be. They were sworn to protect and serve, and they couldn’t choose who to apply that vow to. When they wrote up this report, they’d be able to attest they had done everything they could to safeguard the life of their suspect, no matter what the outcome of the next few minutes.
When Simons came back up, he was more than fifteen feet away from the boats and his wordless shrieks pierced Diego’s soul. Lexa whimpered and burrowed deeper into his arms despite her injuries, trying to escape the sound of the dying man’s screams.
A fin cut through the water and Beau fired three times, but the shark was not going to be denied or deterred. Beau fired one more shot as the dorsal fin vanished back into the sea and then Simons was dragged under the waves. His blood chilling screams ended as suddenly as they had begun, and Diego knew that Simon’s would not be coming back to the surface again. He was gone.
“Now it’s over,” Beau murmured and holstered his gun before turning back to face Diego. The hard edge to his expression melted into worry as he saw the bloodstained floor beneath Lexa. “Let’s get you fixed up and then you can explain to us how you ended up out here. Wasn’t one boat cruise in a day enough for you?”
* * * *
Lexa didn’t even try to protest when they stripped her soaking clothes off and Beau gave her his shirt as a replacement. They went over every cut and bruise until they were satisfied the worst of her injuries were the cuts to her arm, which was what she’d tried to tell them from the beginning. Still, it felt good to have someone taking care of her, and the comfort of having Beau’s scent wrapped around her was more soothing than she would have believed.
Neither of them had broken contact with her since she they’d gotten her between them, and she hoped they didn’t anytime soon. She needed them. She needed their comfort and their strength while she tried to come to terms with everything that had happened. Shock and adrenaline were partially protecting her for the moment, but Lexa knew that soon she’d have to deal with the fact she had nearly died, and in the fight to protect her own life she’d caused the death of someone else. Granted, the bastard deserved it, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to hear his dying screams in her dreams for a long time to come.
Diego put the finishing touches on a field dressing for her arm and then lifted her hand carefully to press a kiss to her fingertips. “That’s the best I can do for now. When we get back you’re going to go to the hospital though, love. I’m certain you’re going to need stitches.”
She’d fended off Simons’s attack with her forearm, and when they’d cleaned up her arm she’d been able to see some of the slashes were really ugly. Defensive wounds was what they’d have called them if she was on some crime fighting television show, but Lexa knew what they really were, battle scars.
Beau stroked a hand over her wet hair and when she looked up at him he was smiling at her with pride. “You kicked his ass, cher. He picked the wrong woman to mess with.”
“Damn right he did.” She smiled back at him and nuzzled into his wrist as she reached for Diego’s hand with her one good arm. “I just got engaged today, there was no way in hell I was going to let him ruin the best day of my life.”
“Now we have you safe and sound, it’s our best day too,” Beau told her.
“Not that I want to break up this moment, but I believe you’ve ignored your boss long enough. He seems to want to know a little more than you told him the first time,” Lexa nodded to the radio just as it squawked again and the lieutenant’s voice boomed over the speaker.
“Goddamn it, Rivers. I know you’re there. If you have Lexa, where is the suspect. I repeat, do you have the suspect in custody? Over.”
Something that sounded distinctly like a gunshot crackled in the background and Beau scrambled to get to the radio.
“Lieutenant, was that gunfire? Over.”
“Yes! Goddamn it’s gunfire. Nice of you to finally answer me. Where’s the suspect, Rivers? Over.”
“Suspect is deceased, sir. Uh. Over.”
“Fuck! I knew it. Which one of you shot him?” Another gunshot sounded and then they heard Jackson yelling. “Goddamn it, Katrina, did you have to shoot another one? I need someone alive so I can question them.”
“He shot at me first!” Lexa recognized her friend Trinity’s voice and grinned, silently cheering the other woman on.
“It would appear your suspect was meeting someone out here. We have them engaged at the moment and I’ll update you when this is over. Get your asses back to the marina. Over.”
Before Beau could respond, the lieutenant came back on the air. “And when I see you again I want a full report on why I have more dead suspects than live ones. Over and out!”
Despite the stress, or maybe because of it, all three of them broke out into gales of laughter as Beau returned the mic to its cradle. When they were able to speak again, Diego leaned in to kiss her and then moved back over to the wheel while Beau took his place beside her, his hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get you home.”
“What about the other boat? That’s one of mine, you know.”
“We can tow it behind us. Even then I bet we’re back in time to stop in and say thank you to Luther before the others arrive.” Diego started the engine and Beau went to help him wrangle the other boat.
“Wait, why do we need to thank Luther? And who is Luther anyway?”
“He’s the Police Chief, sweetling. And without his help we never would have found you in time.”
“Oh.” Lexa let that sink in for a moment. “Well then, I suppose thanking him is the least I can do. Do you think he likes cupcakes?”
Both men burst out laughing again. “Oh, I think he does. His wife owns that store you’re getting to be so fond of.”
Epil
ogue
Lexa walked into the Kraken’s Cave and tried not to think about the flock of mutant butterflies swarming in her stomach. Diego had his arm around her waist and Beau was holding her hand, which was the only reason she wasn’t bolting for the door already. Drug dealers, sharks, and pissed off police lieutenants she could handle, but this was something else completely.
“Breathe, querida,” Dig was laughing at her as he cinched his arm a little tighter around her waist, carefully so he didn’t aggravate her bruised ribs. “She’s the one who gave me the ring you’re wearing, remember? You’ve already gotten the stamp of approval.”
“It’s not just your mom I’m worried about. It’s everybody. Most of my life I had a family of one, and half the time she wasn’t really there.” Now I’m going to be meeting both your families at the same time, and I don’t even have the use of one arm!” She shifted her bandaged arm in its sling for emphasis. I couldn’t even style my hair properly this morning, and I still have a black eye. Can’t we postpone this?”
“No,” Beau told her and lifted her hand to his lips for a brief kiss. “They’re all so eager to meet you and to cheer your heroism. Sam’s been bragging about you like you were his own daughter. You are just going to have to suck it up and deal with the fact that there’s a room full of people in there who want to welcome you to our families.”
Lexa sighed. “I’m no hero. I just didn’t want to die and did my best to stop that from happening. That’s not the same thing at all.”
“Well hell, I wish you’d said something earlier. We’d of told them to cancel the speeches, sweetling.”
“What speeches?” Lexa squawked and froze, refusing to take another step until they explained themselves.