Chase was suddenly grateful that Frank had abit of a boat obsession. He’d upgraded since Chase had last been onone of his boats. The engine was powerful and a lot quieter, theride smooth. They were catching up.
“We need a plan,” he nudged Aiden. “He’sgoing to see and hear us coming; might put Maddy at risk.”
Aiden nodded, his eyes focused on the darkocean, lit only by the glow of the moon and stars. Hard to see atnight in the best of circumstances, but running dark was downrightreckless. “I agree. We can’t wait for him to dock, if he evendecides to dock, which could be days, or even weeks from now. And,I don’t want him to have enough time to hurt her. I don’t think hehas any intention of returning her, no matter what ransom we giveup.”
“Agreed. I think this is our best chance. Ifwe can get close enough without him seeing, somehow slow him down,I can swim over and board the boat. You can distract him.”
Aiden looked at Chase as if he had totallylost it. “Are you nuts? That water is way too cold for you to swimvery far. And with the currents, waves; there’s a hell of a windand this rain is picking up – you’ll drown yourself trying.”
Chase shook his head, “Are you forgettingwhat I did for a living for the past decade? I’ve been in colderwater with stronger currents and bigger waves.”
Aiden laughed out loud and shook his head.“You’re fucking nuts. If you say so.”
In a lightbulb moment, Chase asked, “Doesyour dad keep a flare gun on board?”
“Of course. What’s your plan?” Chase grabbedthe wheel as Aiden ducked down beneath to grab the flare gun. Here-surfaced carrying a big case. “You ever shoot one of these?”
“I can handle it.” Aiden took over the wheelwhile Chase checked and armed the flare gun. With every moment,they got closer to what they hoped was Dylan’s boat. Fuck. If itwasn’t Dylan, she was gone. He ignored the shred of uncertainty. Noone else would be desperate enough to be out with the approachingstorm.
As if on cue, a crack of lightning lit up thesky in the distance. Yep, summer storms were in full force. Theraindrops against the windshield grew fatter and fell faster. Thestorm seemed to be moving closer, picking up more steam. The rainwas just enough to reduce visibility, which might just work intheir favor.
Chase pulled off his button up shirt he’dworn specially for the meeting in his attempt to lookbusiness-like. He pulled off his shoes and socks. His jeansfollowed. He kept on his briefs and undershirt; considering atotally nude rescue… he’d swim faster without the extra layers. Thehumorous visual brought him at least a brief respite from worrythat engulfed him.
They were getting closer. If Dylan lookedback, he would easily see them now. “Slow down a bit, I don’t wanthim to hear our engine. I’m going to fire a flare at the engine. IfI get lucky, I’ll disable them enough to slow theirtrajectory.”
Aiden couldn’t hide the worry as he slowedthe engine to a dull roar. “No way. We could blow up the fuel tankand risk Maddy. I’m willing to bet he’s got lots of fuel on board;he’s trying to get away far and fast.”
“Fuck, you’re right. Dammit.” Chase shook hishead, brainstorming a new plan. “Swing wide so we stay out ofsight. When we’re ahead of him, I’ll jump and swim. As he passes,I’ll board the sailboat. Then, you can come around from the otherside as a distraction.”
“Don’t fuck up. I’m not losing my sister andmy best friend on the same night.”
“Trust me. This is not even close to thecraziest thing I’ve ever done. Remember when I jumped off ofHopeless Bluff north of town, in the middle of October, just to seeif I could? I made it to the water but didn’t think about how I wasgoing to get to shore. I must have swum in the frigid water forhalf an hour before I found a scrap of beach. Then I had to climb50 feet of rocks to get back up.”
Aiden shook his head and laughed desperately.“My sister is clearly drawn to crazy men.”
Chase smiled. Thinking of Maddy bolstered hisadrenaline. The plan sucked. He had little chance of success, buthe couldn’t come up with anything better and was out of time. If hefailed, Aiden would be there with the flare gun and a fasterboat.
He just hoped they weren’t too late. Hedidn’t think Dylan would go to all this trouble to kill her, but ifhe laid one hand on her… Dylan could be just crazy enough to takeher out if to prevent Chase from getting her.
It took too damn long, but finally they werewell ahead of the sailboat and it was nearly out of sight. Fuck, hehoped they weren’t seen. If they were, he at least wouldn’t be ableto see Chase in the water in this storm. “I’m going in. Give metime to get to the boat. Swing wide around and make it look likeyou’re approaching him from the right. That’ll give me time to makea move, and you won’t run over me. Hang back until the last minutebut don’t get too close; we know he’s armed.”
“I’m on it.”
Catching one last sight of the sailboat inthe far distance, Chase calculated his trajectory carefully,knowing he wouldn’t see shit in the rough waves. Withouthesitating, he dove in and was off, swimming all-out towards Maddy.He knew he was fast; could have competed if he’d cared enough, buthe’d hated organized sports when he was younger. And the glory; hepreferred to fly under the radar. The water was freezing, but heignored the sharp prickling pain covering his body.
Exhausted, muscles on fire from the exertionand the frigid water, Chase saw the sailboat coming right at him.With everything he had, he threw his arm out to grasp the side ofthe sailboat as it whizzed past him. Like catching a freaking trainleaving the station. The force nearly pulled his arm out of itssocket, but he pulled with all his might to keep his grip, and hisshoulder in place. Probably couldn’t have done it without the rushof adrenaline pulsing through his veins.
Aiden had slowed to allow Chase time to reachthe boat first, but now he fired up his engine and was nearing thesailboat.Dammit, Aiden, he was supposed to wait. Chasedidn’t want Aiden in the line of fire.
Dylan jerked as he heard Aiden approaching.He reached for the gun and took aim.
Chase took advantage of the distraction andhurled himself at Dylan, fists flying, knocking the gun out ofDylan’s grip.
With a solid blow to the side of the head, heknocked Dylan to the ground. Dylan crashed against the wheel as hewent down. With a pause, he feigned disorientation, coming upslowly grabbing at his head, his body rocking from the blow.
As he rose, he grabbed a nearby fireextinguisher and swung at Chase’s head.
Seeing the move coming, Chase ducked and hadto rotate away from the cylinder.
