The Stronger Chase
Page 24
My ears were ringing from the sound of the outboard engines of the RHIB, but I could hear a commotion coming from the area of the campfire. The muffled cries sounded like Skipper. I thought I caught a glimpse of something, or someone, moving through the brush to my right, but I wasn’t concerned with anyone or anything running away from the fire.
I heard Clark making his way through the wet sand and marsh to my left, and I advanced toward the fire. The muffled cries grew louder as I drew ever nearer. They were definitely Skipper’s.
Clark stopped moving on my left. He must’ve found an ambush site and taken position. I raised my pistol in front of my chest and stepped silently forward, remembering the importance of balance that Clark had drilled into my head. As I came within twenty-five feet of the fire, I saw a scene I didn’t understand. Skipper was sitting on the sand, leaning back against a scrub tree, her hands bound above her head and a gag tied across her mouth. She was struggling against her restraints and screaming through the gag.
Beside the fire in front of her was a man lying motionless. I discontinued my cautious approach and stormed into the camp with my gun trained on the man and one eye on Skipper. Through the fire and smoke in front of her, there was no way she could tell it was me rushing toward her, and fear blazed in her eyes.
When I reached the fire, I froze in my tracks and stared down at the man. I yelled, “Clark, come up here. It’s okay.”
The man lying at my feet was Michael Anderson, but he was no longer a threat to me or anyone else. Protruding from his back was the handle of a fighting knife I knew all too well.
Clark appeared and cut Skipper free. We helped her to her feet, and she fell into our arms, trembling and gasping.
I held her until her breathing calmed and she could stand on her own. “Skipper, are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so,” she breathed.
“How long has he been dead?”
Her chin trembled as she stared at Michael Anderson’s corpse. “I don’t know. Maybe half an hour . . . not long.”
“Who was it, Skipper? Who killed him?”
Her eyes locked on mine and her trembling ceased. “It was her, Chase. It was Anya.”
About the Author
Cap Daniels
Cap Daniels is a sailing charter captain, scuba and sailing instructor, pilot, Air Force veteran, and civil servant of the U.S. Department of Defense. Raised far from the ocean in rural East Tennessee, his early infatuation with salt water was sparked by the fascinating, and sometimes true, sea stories told by his father, a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer. Those stories of adventure on the high seas sent Cap in search of adventure of his own which eventually landed him on Florida’s Gulf Coast where he owns and operates a sailing charter service and spends as much time as possible on, in, and under the waters of the Emerald Coast.
With a head full of larger-than-life characters and their thrilling exploits, Cap pours his love of adventure and passion for the ocean onto the pages of his new Action Adventure Series, the Chase Fulton Novels.
Books in this series:
Book #1: The Opening Chase
Book #2: The Broken Chase
Book #3: The Stronger Chase
Book #4: The Unending Chase (scheduled release – winter 2018/2019)
Visit www.CapDaniels.com to sign up for the mailing list and to receive updates on upcoming novels, future release dates, and a newsletter by the author.
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