The House at Saltwater Point by Colleen Coble

Jason made a small sound behind him, and his eyes widened when he saw his ex. Grayson held his finger to his lips.

  Boots stepped onto the ladder at his side, and he ducked back into the shadows with Jason. Isaac moved nimbly down the steps, then turned and went back to the room they’d vacated. They would only have moments to get out of here.

  How long had Ellie been in the head? The sailor would be pounding on the door any minute.

  A heavy fist beat on the door, and the sailor shouted in Korean. She had no idea what he was saying, but she knew he was about to come barging in.

  “I’m ready!”

  He shoved open the door and glared at her before saying something else in Korean and jabbing his thumb toward the room. She nodded as though she understood and shuffled after him. There had to be a chance to make a break for the ladder and freedom.

  Another sailor hailed him, and he pointed for her to go back to the room as he stepped over to talk to the other man. This was her chance. The ladder to the deck was only five feet away. Moving as silently as she could, she moved toward it. The two men seemed deep in conversation, and she prayed she’d escape without them noticing.

  She’d put one foot on a step when her captor started to turn. He’d see her any moment and give a shout. Before she could decide what to do, Mac kicked at the door and called out in Korean behind her.

  Both sailors turned away from Ellie to stare at the door, and Ellie scurried up the ladder as fast as she could. She poked her head out under the stars and looked around. Several sailors stood talking at the bow, and she caught a few words of Korean. And Clint was with them. Her hands curled into fists, and she wished she could pummel him. Had he killed Gray? She couldn’t bear to think of what was happening to the man she loved.

  Yes, loved. She could admit it now that she feared she’d lost him.

  She didn’t have the luxury of striking Clint. To the port side, farthest from the shore, the railing was unprotected by any sailors. She darted for the side and slung one leg over the railing.

  Clint turned and spotted her, shouting after her. He rushed toward her, but she jumped over the side before he could reach her, then dove under the water. The grip of cold water squeezed the breath from her lungs. She had to get help before hypothermia took her down.

  She swam for the bow, which would be the opposite direction they would expect since it faced out into the strait. A splash came when she surfaced close to the hull, and she kept her head down. Just as she thought, the sailor was swimming toward the stern.

  She dove under the water again, then set off into the strait toward a tall ship moored in the distance. All her fears about sharks swimming under her tightened her chest, but she pushed away her terror and set off again. If she could get aboard one of the ships, the captain could call the Coast Guard. She had to get help for Mac. A large wave swamped her, and she went under, then came up with saltwater burning in her nose and throat.

  Her strokes seemed ineffective and helpless. She paused to tread water and catch her breath. The cold water stole her strength, and she wished she could stop the fight, sink under the water, and sleep, but she couldn’t fail. Mac was depending on her. And the entire region was at risk.

  She started for the ship again, and a cramp seized her left leg. Biting back a cry, she paused again and massaged it.

  “Help me, Lord.” She floated on her back a moment and looked up at the stars. She had to get to the other ship.

  Had to.

  Panic drove her on, past her own endurance, and she glanced behind once to see no one was in pursuit. Two splashes nearer to the shore were likely from sailors dispatched to find her. She gritted her teeth and moved to the ship’s side by the ladder. Pausing, she treaded water and shouted, “Help!”

  She grasped the rope ladder with numb fingers and began to climb as several sailors looked over the side of the boat. “I need help,” she gasped.

  It was all she could do to climb up to the deck. When she practically fell over the railing, a deckhand dropped a blanket around her shoulders. “Call the Coast Guard.” Her teeth chattering, she told him what was happening, and he raced to radio the Coast Guard for help.

  She prayed they arrived in time. Those madmen were likely to simply set off the bomb early.

  In moments Isaac would see he was gone. Grayson darted forward into the hold, then held his hand to his lips and slipped into the room to pull Mac to her feet.

  “I’m a friend of your sister’s,” he whispered. “I’m with the Coast Guard. We have to get you out of here.”

  He led her out the door and propelled her toward the starboard side of the hold. There was a small space between stacks of crates, and he wedged in there with Mackenzie and Jason. Running footsteps came back their way, and they all froze, ducking down even farther.

  Isaac shouted, and his footsteps pounded back up the steps.

  The search would be on. “I have to stop the bomb,” he whispered in her ear. “Jason, you get her out of here.”

  Her lips flattened, and she started to shake her head. “You might need us.”

  “You need to get out of here.” From his training he knew there were small nuclear weapons, but to set one off as an EMP, it would have to be able to be launched into the atmosphere. He walked around the hold looking at the contraption he’d seen when he first came down.

  It looked like a small, narrow cannon, but if this was it, the nuclear rocket wasn’t loaded yet. Where could it be? He eyed the crates and found one with the lid partially pried off. He wrenched it off the rest of the way and looked inside. Then gulped at the sight of what was clearly a bomb.

  Mackenzie’s shoulder pressed against his. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it has to be.” There was a control panel where the codes would be input. Was it armed even now? He looked closer and saw the clock wasn’t ticking down. “I don’t think it’s armed yet.”

  A bullet whizzed by his head, and Jason fell hard against a crate, then landed on the floor. He didn’t move. “Get down!” Grayson jerked Mackenzie down with him, then peered over the top of the crate to see Isaac advancing toward them with a gun. Two armed men were behind him. Grayson curled his hands into fists and wished he had his firearm. He spared a glance at Jason, but the man wasn’t moving. Blood poured from a wound on his arm and another on his head.

  Grayson motioned to Mackenzie to crawl through the tunnels created by the stacks of crates. “Make a little noise,” he whispered. When she started to the starboard side, he moved port side and peered past the edge of a crate to see Isaac and his henchmen moving toward the other two.

  Lord, help me. Grayson barreled out of the cramped space and leaped on top of Isaac’s back before the man could swing his gun around. He wrestled Isaac around toward the other two men so he was facing them, then grabbed at Isaac’s gun. It wavered close to Grayson’s head, and Isaac’s mouth was stretched in a snarl as he struggled to pull the trigger.

  “Shoot him,” Isaac yelled.

  The other two men tried to circle around him with their guns, but Grayson kept Isaac in front of him. He managed to squeeze Isaac’s wrist in a tight grip, then shook his arm until the gun went skittering across the floor. Grayson kept Isaac’s arms pinned behind his back and used him as a shield.

  He spun him around closer to the other men. “Throw down your weapons or I’ll break his neck.” Isaac struggled to free himself, but Grayson easily kept him under control. “Tell them to throw down their weapons.”

  “Shoot him!” Isaac shouted again.

  Footsteps thundered above them, and a man called out, “Coast Guard, drop your weapons.”

  Isaac fought with renewed strength, but Grayson kept him locked down. The men looked at each other, then tossed their guns to the floor.

  Grayson thought it was all over until he heard a war cry behind him and turned to see Nasser barreling down the ladder toward him with a saber in his hand.

  Chapter 40

  Master the hammer and
you master renovation.

  —HAMMER GIRL BLOG

  Heavy rain began to fall and thunder rumbled over the waves, but from the Coast Guard boat, Ellie watched men grappling on the deck. Had someone saved her sister? She shivered as the cold rain penetrated her clothing. She heard a cry that sounded like her sister and sprang to her feet. Before any of the personnel could stop her, she scrambled from the boat to the ship, their yells for her to stop ringing behind her.

  A wooden locker stood open next to the ladder that led to the hold, and she spotted a hammer and snatched it up. It would have to do. She advanced down the ladder with the hammer ready. The scene below seized her gut. A swarthy man was cutting at the air with a very sharp-looking saber. His cruel laughter rang out, and Gray backed up as the man advanced.

  Nasser?

  Without thinking she threw the hammer like a hatchet. It flew end over end in a perfect arc to strike Nasser on the back of the head. He fell face-forward without a sound.

  Ellie’s heart kicked in her chest. Her mountain of a man was still standing head and shoulders above lesser mortals. Their gazes met, and he raced toward her. “I always knew you could wield a hammer like no one else.” His big arms pulled her into a fierce embrace. “Thank God, Ellie. Mackenzie told me you’d gone for help, but I was so afraid you’d been captured.”

  She lifted her head. “Mac’s okay? Everyone’s fine?”

  He hesitated. “She’s fine, but Jason was shot. He’s over there. Mac is with him.”

  She pulled away. “I’d better see.”

  She found Mac kneeling beside Jason, and her face was streaked with tears when she looked up. “Ellie, he’s not waking up.” She was holding a blood-soaked T-shirt to the side of his head.

  The hard wood bit into her bare knees as she knelt on Jason’s other side. She touched his cheek. “Jason, wake up.” He didn’t stir. She shook his shoulder. “Jason, wake up.” She pressed her fingers against his neck and felt his pulse, weak and thready.

  His eyes didn’t flutter, and he made no sound. Did he have brain damage? “Is a doctor coming?”

  Mac wiped her cheeks. “I think so. He can’t die, Ellie. I was so mean to him. I discovered pretty early on that I didn’t really love him. I just wanted someone of my own, I think. But I didn’t have to be so cruel.”

  Ellie touched her hand. “I think he knew you didn’t mean it.”

  Mac removed the T-shirt to look at the wound. “D-Does that mean you think he’s going to die? He’s not bleeding as much.”

  Ellie didn’t answer because she didn’t like Jason’s labored breathing or his pasty color. She wasn’t a doctor, but he looked bad.

  Jason groaned, and she touched his cold cheek. “Jason?”

  He muttered something she couldn’t understand, then his eyelids fluttered and opened. He blinked and stared, then blinked again. “Is it night?”

  “Yes, it is.” She glanced around. The hold was lit with several lights. “Want to sit up?”

  He nodded, and she helped him up and into a chair. He ran his hand over his face. “Man, it’s dark here. Where are we? I can’t see a thing.”

  Her gut clenched, and she moved to kneel in front of him. “Can you see me, Jason? I’m right here.”

  He shook his head. “It’s as black as a cave, Ellie.” His eyes were bloodshot and unfocused.

  She touched his face. “Do you see anything, Jason? Any light at all?”

  “I told you—it’s like a cave in here! Why do you keep asking about it? Can’t you see how dark it is?” He whipped his head around. “There’s just nothing here.”

  She tried to tell herself it was just trauma from his head injury, but what if he was permanently blind? She couldn’t bear to think about it.

  She moved aside when the paramedics arrived and prayed. Jason had always been her rock. He never should have been here in the first place. She couldn’t bear for him to be blinded while trying to help her.

  She heard voices behind her and turned to see Coasties taking Nasser up to the top deck on a stretcher.

  She rose and hurried up the ladder and found that Clint and Isaac were in custody too. Isaac glared at her, but she held his gaze defiantly, and he looked away. A beautiful Asian woman in cuffs stood close to him.

  Rain began coming down in sheets. It soaked her hair and dripped down her face as it made its way to her skin. She hadn’t fully warmed up from her swim across the strait, and shivers radiated up her spine. She moved a few feet closer to Gray and waited for him to see her. She didn’t want to interrupt if he was telling the Coasties what he’d done with the bomb. What she really wanted to do was throw her arms around his neck, but that might embarrass him, and she’d die a thousand deaths if he pulled away from her.

  He glanced over the head of the closest Coastie, and his blue eyes warmed. “You should have seen her throw that hammer.”

  One of the Coasties turned to look at her. “She swam the strait to the ship and called us here. That one’s a keeper, Grayson.”

  “I never doubted it for a minute.” He opened his arms, and she ran into them.

  After the horrendous events of Saturday, no one wanted to be alone. Ellie and Gray crashed at Shauna and Zach’s house. Ellie got the spare room, and Gray slept on the sofa. Mac and Jason were both in the hospital. Zach fixed his Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast, and the sweet aroma mixed with the bacon cooking in the oven. The sound of cartoons played softly in the living room where Alex sat playing with his Legos, the dogs curled on either side of him. The cat was in hiding.

  “I could eat a horse.” Ellie poured herself a mug of coffee and joined Gray at the table where he sat nursing his dark brew.

  There were circles under his eyes, and his hair was still wet from his shower. His limp was obvious this morning too. He’d probably need to see his physical therapist again. She felt just as ragged as he looked, though she’d barely moved all night long.

  He eyed her over the rim of his cup. “You ready to face the onslaught of media and questions from the FBI today?”

  “I think so. As ready as I’ll ever be. I want to go see Mac and Jason today too.”

  Shauna, her black hair up in a messy bun, turned toward the living room. “Alex, breakfast.”

  “Okay, Mom.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Gray said. “That is, if you’d like me to.”

  “That would be great.”

  How soon before he left Lavender Tides? The thought of him leaving was like looking down into a dark abyss. He’d said some sweet things when they were kayaking, but in the cold light of day, she wasn’t sure if he’d meant all he said. Seattle was over two hours away, which wasn’t that far, but life had a way of turning frantic.

  Still dressed in his pajamas, Alex ran into the room and scooted up to the breakfast bar where Zach had placed his pancakes.

  The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” Shauna wiped her hands on the large red apron she wore, then hurried out of the kitchen.

  Ellie recognized the sheriff’s deep voice and wrinkled her nose at Gray. “The interrogation is about to start.”

  “We might find out more background information too.” Gray’s gaze flickered to Alex. “We might want to go outside to the deck to talk to him.”

  Zach turned off the stove and went to put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Hey, buddy, how about you and I take the dogs outside? It’s a nice day, and we can eat on the deck.”

  “Cool!” Alex grabbed his plate and followed Zach out the back door with the two rottweilers on their heels.

  The sheriff’s heavy tread came their way, and his expression was somber as he joined them in the kitchen.

  “Coffee, Sheriff?” Shauna asked. “We have pancakes and bacon too.”

  “I’ll take the coffee, but I’ve already had breakfast, thanks.” Everett pulled out a chair and sat at the head of the table. “You both look a little worse for the wear. How’re you feeling, Gray?”

  “I’ll live. Did any of them do any
singing in the jail last night?”

  “Clint talked a lot. He says Isaac shot the Robbs, then set the house on fire.” He took a sip of the coffee Shauna handed him, then set it on the table. “Terrance had been on Isaac’s resource list for several years, and he didn’t want a loose end around waiting to spill the beans on him. He mostly didn’t trust Candace. Her constant purchases were what fueled Terrance’s never-ending need for money, and Isaac thought she was a loose cannon.”

  Ellie shuddered. So much death. “What about the body in my basement at the Saltwater Point house?”

  “Gun Moon was one of Isaac’s moles, and he was getting cold feet. He went to the house to warn Ellie that she was in danger, and Isaac sent his henchman to kill him there.”

  Ellie hugged herself. “What a terrible, ruthless man. What about the bomb?”

  “Stopped from being armed, pretty much in the nick of time.” He stared at Gray. “Thanks to both of you.”

  “It was Gray,” she said at the same time he said, “It was Ellie.” Her cheeks burned at the tenderness in Gray’s eyes when she looked his way.

  Gray’s gaze never left her. “If she hadn’t gotten the Coast Guard to us in time, I don’t know that I would have won the standoff with Isaac’s men. What about Nasser?”

  “He’s not saying much, as we expected. But at least you got him.”

  Gray grinned at her. “Hammer Girl took him out. I’m going to enjoy calling William’s parents to let them know he’s finally going to pay for their son’s death.”

  “What’s next?” Ellie asked.

  “The FBI are on their way, so I’m sure you’ll have to go over what happened several times. Isaac, Hyun, and Nasser are all in custody with their men. I’d guess you’ll have to testify whenever the trial comes up.” The sheriff swallowed down the last of his coffee and rose. “I’ll let you have a little peace before the craziness starts.”

  He tipped his hat and headed for the door. Gray leaned over and took Ellie’s hand. “Let’s go see Mac and Jason before the suits get here. I think we both need a breather.”