Armored Attraction

by Janie Crouch

  “I agree, Liam. We need to move. Now,” Derek chimed in.

  “Julia, we’ve got to go. Make her understand.”

  “I’m sorry.” Julia looked up at Liam from where she was crouched. “She only wants to go with you.”

  “Me?” That wasn’t what he had been expecting.

  “There’s no accounting for women’s taste, man. Just do it, Liam,” Joe murmured. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Liam reached down and scooped up the little girl. She immediately stopped crying and put her arms around his neck.

  “Okay, let’s go.” He led them up the stairs. The girls followed behind him, with Joe and Derek bringing up the rear.

  Out of the bottom cabin they made it to the back of the boat. Liam immediately made his way down the ladder into the water, the little girl’s arms still trustingly wrapped around his neck. He had no idea why she trusted him, but he was glad to get her out of that hell.

  It occurred to Liam that had he and Vanessa’s child lived, he or she would’ve been just about the age of this child now. Somewhere a mother and father were distraught about their missing daughter. Liam vowed he would see their family reunited.

  He heard her gasp at the cold water, but she didn’t cry or do anything else. The water was pretty chilly and the girl wasn’t wearing much clothing.

  “Okay, sweetie, I need you around on my back,” he whispered once they were fully in the water. He knew she didn’t understand, but when he shifted her weight around to his back, she went easily. He could still feel her little arms around his neck.

  Liam glanced back to see that Derek and Joe were successfully getting the other girls into the water and began swimming when he saw that they were down. He swam fast, not waiting for the girls to keep up. He needed to get back to the boat to help Vanessa and Karine.

  The girl held tightly to his neck, giving him free range of movement. It only took a few minutes to get her to the Zodiac. He tossed her light body over the side and she giggled just the slightest bit.

  “You stay here. Okay?” He held his hand out in a stop gesture then pointed inside the Zodiac.

  The girl nodded. Liam touched her cheek softly then was gone, swimming silently back toward McBrien’s boat. He passed Joe and Derek on the way with the other girls.

  “Get them to safety,” he told Joe. The girls seemed to be doing okay, but all of them were cold.

  “Be careful, Liam.” Joe swam on, leading the way to the Zodiac.

  * * *

  VANESSA WAS HUDDLED at the side of the boat with Karine, watching McBrien have a beer with two men at the table.

  They had touched her; groped her through her clothes. Laughed as she’d kept Karine behind her and away from their disgusting hands. When she had spit at them, McBrien had hit her again. This time the blow had knocked her to the deck.

  “This one has some fire to her,” one of the grotesque buyers had said.

  “I’m sure we can find someone who will have a lot of fun finding a way to put that fire out,” the other buyer had said.

  All three men had laughed as if they’d just heard the funniest joke on the planet.

  Vanessa had just stayed down on the deck. Karine had joined her, huddling against her side. The rain began to fall.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement at the back of the boat. At first she thought it was Anderson and the big guy, Paul, bringing the girls out to be paraded in front of the buyers.

  But then she realized it was people scurrying the other way, toward the back from the hull. Someone dressed all in black caught her eye.

  Liam. Or maybe Joe or Derek. They were here on the boat.

  “Dwayne, Paul, hurry up!” McBrien yelled. “What’s taking so long?”

  Vanessa knew what was taking so long: Liam was getting those girls off the boat.

  “Karine,” Vanessa whispered directly into the girl’s ear. “It’s very important that you don’t make any sudden moves or look over there, but Liam and his team are on board. They’re getting the girls out.”

  Karine stopped crying. She nodded.

  “I’m going to try to give them more time, if I can. Keep these guys distracted.”

  “No, Vanessa. They hurt you,” Karine implored.

  Vanessa didn’t reply, just held the girl close to her. The men at the table kept drinking their beer and laughing at their own stupid jokes as if they were at a barbecue rather than in the process of destroying lives.

  “Anderson, what the hell is going on? Hurry up!” McBrien yelled again when he’d finished his beer. Then he turned to the buyers. “I’m sorry. I’ll go check on them myself.”

  Had Liam gotten the girls off the boat? Were they safe? Had he had enough time? Vanessa didn’t know.

  She stood and walked toward the sheriff. “McBrien, I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”

  “Shut up, Vanessa. Sit back down.”

  She grabbed his arm. “Really, it’s an emergency.”

  McBrien’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Vanessa then toward the stern of the boat. He pushed off her hand and began rushing toward the back.

  “What is going on?” he snarled.

  Vanessa tried to grab him again, but couldn’t. McBrien only made it a couple of steps before he fell to the deck in a flying tackle from Karine. He immediately punched the girl and she flew off him and against the side of the boat. Vanessa also tried to stop him, but he just shrugged her off.

  “McBrien, what the hell is going on?” one of the buyers asked, sitting more stiffly in his chair.

  “Yeah, why don’t you tell the man what’s going on?” The voice came from the other side of the boat.

  Liam.

  He was here and he had a gun pointed right at the sheriff.

  Thank God.

  McBrien stopped his walk toward the stern and turned around to face Liam.

  “Ah, Agent Goetz. I have to admit, I’m a little surprised to see you here. I thought you’d be out somewhere in Harper’s Cove.”

  Liam just grinned as if he had nothing better to do than talk to McBrien. “I heard the party was here. Couldn’t resist.”

  He turned his head just slightly toward the buyers, who had stood and had a panicked look in their eyes.

  “You two just keep your hands far away from your body. I have no beef with you, just with him.” Liam jerked his chin toward McBrien. “I think we can avoid any unnecessary hard feelings between us if you’ll just leave now.”

  Vanessa wanted to howl her anger at the thought of those men—those men who had groped and humiliated her, who had obviously bought children from McBrien before, given their level of comfort with him—getting away. But she forced it down. Liam had a plan, and for whatever reason, that plan involved letting these guys go.

  Maybe Webb was around nearby to pick them up. Maybe Liam just knew that the safety of the girls outweighed arresting these bastards right now. Whatever his plan, Vanessa would trust him.

  “Yeah, we don’t have any beef with you, either, man,” one of the guys said as they turned, arms far from their torsos, toward their boat.

  Liam nodded. “Glad we understand each other. Get out. Now.”

  The men walked full speed to their boat. Within a moment they had tossed the metal gangway that connected their boat to McBrien’s and were pulling away.

  “That had to have hurt, Mr. Super Agent,” McBrien mocked. “Letting them go like that.”

  Liam now had the gun trained directly at the sheriff.

  “I have no doubt you—or one of your two partners—will roll on them in an attempt to reduce your sentence. We’ll get them.”

  Vanessa got herself off the deck and helped Karine to her feet. She backed them to the side of the boat, far from the line of fire between Liam and McBrie
n. She didn’t want to take a chance on Karine getting hurt.

  And she was very, very worried that McBrien did not look the least bit concerned that Liam was pointing a gun at him. That he was about to be arrested on some pretty hefty charges.

  “McBrien, put your hands on your head. You’re under arrest.” Liam took a step closer. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law—”

  “Let me stop you right there. I have something that might change your feelings on this whole situation,” McBrien interrupted.

  Liam rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure nothing is going to change my feelings about arresting your ass.”

  Something at the stern of the boat caught Vanessa’s attention. It was Joe coming up the ladder they’d used to take the girls out. Good, now Liam had backup.

  “If you think I’m going to let you reach for anything near your body, you can think again, McBrien,” Liam continued. “I don’t care what you have to show me. If you make a sudden move, you’re dead.”

  “No, it’s right here in my hand.” McBrien’s smile was chilling. He opened his hand to show a small mechanical device in his palm.

  “Yeah, what’s that?” Liam asked.

  “It’s a detonator for the explosives I rigged to this boat.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  From the edge of his peripheral vision, Liam saw Vanessa blanch and pull Karine closer to her, but he kept his focus on McBrien. They had tried to account for as many scenarios as they could when they’d planned this rescue op.

  McBrien being willing to blow himself and everyone else on the boat straight to hell hadn’t been one of them.

  “You probably don’t want to shoot me, because it’s a pressure detonator and I just armed it. If I let pressure off this lever, everything goes boom. Your precious Vanessa. That brat. All the girls below deck...”

  “You,” Liam finished for him.

  “Me, too, that’s true.” McBrien shrugged. “It’s a chance I’m willing to take.”

  Liam saw Joe walk silently behind McBrien. He knew Joe could hear everything McBrien was saying, and would know not to take the man out. It wasn’t worth the risk if they had any other options.

  Joe began moving toward Karine and Vanessa. If he could get them off the boat, it would be completely clear.

  Thunder cracked immediately over them and rain began to fall in earnest. The noise might work to their advantage. Liam needed to keep McBrien’s attention on him while Joe got Vanessa and Karine to safety.

  “Really? What about your partners? You going to take them out as well as yourself? Seems a little overkill, if you’ll pardon the pun,” Liam said, relaxing his posture slightly and shifting a little more to the side so McBrien’s focus was away from where Joe was joining the women.

  “We both know what happens to me if I go to prison. Previous law-enforcement officers doing time in a maximum-security facility? I won’t last long and my life would be a living hell while I do.”

  That sounded just fine to Liam, but he forced himself not to say so.

  “It doesn’t have to be that way,” Liam said instead. “We can talk to a judge, make it so you aren’t put in with the general population. There are other options. Don’t do anything rash.”

  It was an empty promise and McBrien knew it.

  “No!” He took a step forward, waving his arm. “There are only two options. You let me go or everyone on board dies.”

  The older man was turning to look at the other side of the boat.

  “McBrien, what the hell do you want me to do?” Liam shouted through the rain to bring the man’s attention back to him. “Am I just going to swim with a bunch of girls? I can’t let you go. This is the only boat.”

  McBrien didn’t know the girls were gone. Let him keep thinking he had the upper hand. Liam saw Joe begin to lower Karine into the water. Good. As soon as she and Vanessa were off, he and Joe had more options.

  None of them were particularly good options, but they were options.

  “I know you have a boat out there somewhere, Goetz. Even if you were idiotic enough to think you could swim all the way here, you had to have something to take the girls back in.”

  “The plan was to take the girls in this boat. To arrest you and whoever you were working with and bring the boat back to shore.” The lie came easily from Liam’s lips.

  “You always were a pain in the ass, Goetz,” McBrien said. “Even when you were a no-good teenager just looking for trouble. No one could believe it when you scored the princess of the island.

  “I know your daddy had a fit when you first brought Goetz ho—” McBrien turned toward Vanessa as he said it, just in time to see Joe help her over the side and into the water.

  “What the—”

  Joe and Liam both immediately took action.

  Joe threw Vanessa into the water.

  Liam flew forward to tackle McBrien.

  Joe was running toward them.

  But it was too late.

  As Liam tackled him, McBrien began to laugh hysterically.

  “I’m glad to take you with me if I have to go,” McBrien whispered. Madness lingered in his eyes as he lifted his hand to show Liam the lever that was now no longer compressed.

  The boat was going to blow.

  Liam bounced to his feet knowing he wouldn’t make it off in time. But then Joe hit him in the hardest flying tackle he’d ever felt. They both flew over the side of the boat as fire and unbearable pressure suddenly surrounded them, accelerating them through the air.

  Liam felt heat burn his body, sear his lungs, before they hit the water.

  Then he felt and saw nothing but blackness.

  * * *

  VANESSA HADN’T BEEN prepared for Joe’s help over the side of the boat to turn into a sudden, painful shove, but she’d known what it meant.

  McBrien was going to blow up the boat.

  She grabbed Karine and they began to swim as hard and fast as they could.

  They were still close enough to feel the searing heat from the blast, to feel the momentum as it pushed them what seemed like a very far distance in the water.

  Vanessa grabbed for Karine again, called for her, as debris flew all around them. For one terrified moment she couldn’t find the girl in the darkness and rain, but then she broke through the surface a few yards from Vanessa, sputtering.

  Vanessa swam to Karine and got beneath her, trying to support her weight so she could catch her breath.

  “Are you okay?” Vanessa asked. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

  “No, I’m okay,” Karine murmured between breaths.

  A piece of the boat, obviously buoyant from how it bobbed merrily in the water, drifted toward them. Still supporting Karine as best she could, Vanessa kicked out her leg to try to grab it. She succeeded in getting it to float directly in front of them and deposited Karine’s weight on it. The girl grabbed and held on.

  The rain was pouring. Vanessa could hardly figure out where the boat—now in small pieces all around them—had once been. How far had the momentum pushed them? Which way should they swim? Which direction was land or the Zodiac?

  And, oh, God, had Liam gotten off the boat before it exploded? Vanessa had no idea.

  The water was rough from the storm and the explosion. Vanessa tried yelling, but received no response. She tamped down the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. Her life, Karine’s life, depended on her not panicking.

  But looking around the dark, choppy waters with no one around and no land in sight? It was tough not to panic.

  Vanessa wasn’t sure what to do. Were they better off picking a direction and swimming toward it? Was it better to wait here in case someone brought rescue vehicles?

  Karine was resting, exhausted, on t
he boat plank Vanessa had grabbed. She didn’t blame the girl. Every bone in her own body ached. And the water was cold.

  It was only October, so the cold at least wasn’t life-threatening. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t uncomfortable. And the rain certainly wasn’t helping.

  Vanessa hoisted herself up on the floating boat piece as far as she could to look around. All she needed was one glimpse of a light or one sound from a location she could pinpoint and it would give her somewhere to go.

  She couldn’t see or hear anything. She sank back down in the water.

  Karine was shivering against the plank. They would swim, or at least kick while holding the plank. That would help generate body heat. They would move in the direction of the explosion.

  Or at least what Vanessa hoped was that direction.

  “Let’s kick, Karine,” Vanessa said. “It will help us stay warm. We’ll go toward where Liam and the other girls are.”

  “O-okay.” Karine’s voice was weak. “Are they dead?”

  “No, sweetie.” Vanessa touched her shoulder with hands that weren’t very steady because of cold or fear or both. “They’re alive. Everyone is alive. Liam and Joe and Derek got the girls off the boat long before the bad man blew it up. They’re okay. They’re all okay.”

  Vanessa prayed it was true.

  They swam in silence, in the rain. Both of them held on to the plank and kicked. They swam for five minutes, ten minutes, longer. Vanessa lost track.

  They had to have passed where the boat had been; it couldn’t have been this far. Vanessa couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t hear anything. The storm was drowning everything out.

  What time was it? Was it anywhere near dawn? It had been after midnight when McBrien had taken them from the house, so maybe it was about 3:00 a.m. now. Still a couple of hours before the sun would start to rise and she could hopefully see where land was.

  She felt a sting against one of her legs, then another one. Jellyfish. The Roanoke Sound was famous for them in the late summer and early fall. They weren’t dangerous or their sting even terribly painful, just uncomfortable.