Risky Desires (Wolf Security Book 2), page 17
CHAPTER 16
Tyler
The persistent beep of the hard drive gnawed at my sanity, adding to the urgency for us to get moving. We were sitting ducks out here in the middle of the ocean. I had no signal to contact the mainland, and if anyone came at us in a high-powered boat, we were fucked.
Indiana toyed with a stray thread on her bikini top. The boat’s covered area sheltered us from the setting sun, but there was still enough light to see the worry lines on her beautiful features.
My computer sat open on the table between us, and the screen had just one rectangular white square asking for the encryption key. I snapped the lid shut.
“What do we do?” Her voice had a sharp edge to it, maybe sensing the dread scraping through me.
I met her gaze. “We need to get going ASAP.”
She stopped fidgeting. “You know Rhino doesn’t do ASAP, right?”
I plucked the power cable from my computer and as I shoved it into my backpack, my fingers brushed against my gun. I resisted pulling it out of my pack, deciding it was best to remain calm. Old Smithy was doing enough craziness for everyone. His cheer reached us from the back of the boat as if emphasizing my thoughts.
“Are you going to let Dad keep the money?” Her eyes pinned me like this was some kind of test.
I matched her gaze. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
She darted her eyes away.
Test failed.
Good, she needed to be reminded that I was a cop.
Indiana leaned back, rubbing the scar on her forehead. She squinted, not from the sunlight bouncing off the ocean beyond the deck, but from the mistrust lacing her thoughts.
Nodding once, like my decision put a definite line between us, she pressed her lips into a determined pout.
Indiana wasn’t going to give up that cash without a fight. Neither was I. Those banknotes could hold the clues we needed to crack this case wide open.
Rhino groaned beneath us as if throwing its support behind its sexy captain.
“I’ll pull up anchors.” Her amber eyes glinted as she glared at the hard drive on the table like it was an enemy.
I nodded. “I’ll go help Old Smithy with--”
Something slammed into the fridge beside Indiana with a hollow thud, punching a dent into the rusty surface.
A whistle pierced the air and Old Smithy’s favorite cup exploded.
“Fuck!” I dove for Indiana, wrapped her in a bear hug, and tackled her to the ground between the sofa and coffee table.
A spray of bullets punched holes into the leather sofa I’d just been sitting on, shredding a cushion into a pile of yellow stuffing.
Indiana scrambled beneath me.
“Stay down,” I hissed in her ear.
Six bullets carved through the coffee table and decimated my computer.
Fuck! They’re going after the hard drive.
I grabbed the cable and swung the beeping drive off the table as a row of bullets pockmarked the timber.
“Tyler!” Indiana’s scream pierced the thundering chaos, raw with terror. “What about Dad!”
She writhed beneath me.
“Stay down,” I yelled as I shoved the drive into my backpack.
Bullets carved into the kitchen cabinets. Chunks of my coffee machine sprayed up the wall.
Where the hell is this coming from?
Inching up, I peered over the top of the shredded sofa, searching for a boat beyond the portside railing.
There was nothing but ocean.
Indiana’s rubber raft exploded in a hiss of air. Bullets shattered glass and punctured the metal roof above us. Sunlight speared through the holes, adding crisscrossing light beams to the dim space.
“Where the fuck are they shooting from?” Indiana’s breaths were panicked gasps, a stark contrast to her usual confidence.
“I don’t know. I can’t see a boat.”
Another wave of bullets attacked the hut. Indiana’s Blend 43 jar exploded, adding freeze-dried coffee granules to the mess all over the floor.
“I need to help Dad!” she yelled.
Bullets whizzed through the air, splintering kitchen drawers, shattering crockery, destroying the furniture, and decimating her record player. Their gun was automatic, which was illegal in Australia, and their ammunition seemed endless. Whoever was in control of that weapon was either a terrible shot or the fucking bastard was getting a kick out of destroying Indiana’s boat.
Fury carved through me, fierce and hot.
“Stay here!” I yelled over the thundering destruction.
Keeping my head down, I crawled to my backpack, my damn wetsuit restricting my movements. I pulled out my gun and checked the magazine clip.
Indiana’s eyes flared. “I have weapons in my safe. I can—”
“No! You stay here.” I clutched my arm around her neck and kissed her forehead. “Don’t move until I return.”
A hailstorm of destruction rained around us as I got onto my haunches. Clutching my gun, I peered over the sofa. A bullet skimmed past my ear.
“Fuck!”
That was too close.
The barrage stopped and I eyeballed Indiana.
“They’re destroying Rhino!” She gripped my wrist.
“I know.” I peered over the sofa, searching the opposite side.
Again, I couldn’t see a boat.
Where the fuck are they?
I strained to hear a chopper beat, but there wasn’t one.
“I have to go to Dad.” She scrambled to her hands and knees.
“Stay down. I don’t know where they are!”
A shriek of pure agony pierced the air.
“Dad!” Indiana cried as she jumped to her feet.
I grabbed her arm.
“Indiana. No!” My heart raced as I yanked her down. “I’ll get him.”
“If anything happens to him—” She yanked free, desperation powering her strength.
“Stop.” I clutched her wrist, but she was like wildfire in my bare hands.
I wouldn’t be able to hold her for long. I had to protect her instead.
Old Smithy cried out again. His agony scraped through my sanity.
“Oh fuck!” Her eyes filled with terror. “He’s been shot.”
I gripped her shoulders. “Follow right behind me and stay down. Got it?”
Using a pause in the attack, I crouched down and ran to the side wall of the hut. I peered around the corner.
A metallic flash raced across the sky.
“What the fuck! It’s a drone!”
Indiana pressed into my back to look over my shoulder.
“Stay down,” I hissed.
The drone dipped and swayed with the precision of a predator, firing a stream of bullets onto the bridge, shattering glass and metal. Each bullet bit into the cabin like a swarm of steel locusts.
“Go!” I grabbed Indy’s arm and yanked her in front of me, shielding her from the drone behind me.
As she sprinted toward the rear, Rhino shuddered as if the bullets hurt the powerful beast.
“Indy, stay down!” I shouted over the cacophony of destruction, but she ran like a demon, fueled by the desperate cries of her father.
The thundering roar stopped, and I spun around. The drone darted toward us like a wasp, thumping bullets into Rhino’s deck behind us.
“Take cover!” I yelled.
She darted into the tiny alcove beneath the crane. Shielding her with my body, I gritted my teeth, took aim, and forced myself to wait. When the silent killer was forty feet away, I squeezed the trigger. Sparks showered the air.
The drone dodged the bullets like a metallic insect that was impossible to swat from the sky. Every single bullet missed. The fucking thing must have evasion technology.
Bullets pinged off the crane, and the metal cable released a shuddering twang.
Fuck. We’re marked. It’s about to deliver its deadly message without remorse.
The staccato rhythm of gunfire pounded our little metal alcove.
“Indy!” Old Smithy’s scream tore through the gunfire, followed by a guttural sound of pure agony.
“Let me out!” Indy thumped my shoulders.
“No!” My voice was swallowed by roaring gunfire.
“Move, you bastard!” Her wide eyes were full of fear and fury.
The drone darted into my peripheral vision, and rage gripped me as I spun toward it and pulled the trigger.
Indiana darted out behind me and raced along the bullet-ravaged deck.
“Indiana!” Yelling her name as a curse and a prayer, I stepped out from cover and pumped bullets at the darting drone, swinging my aim and attempting to pre-empt its defensive moves. The technology was a deadly blur, a ruthless enemy that felt no pain or fear.
A spray of sparks pinged off the drone.
“Yes! I hit it.”
The drone swooped left, plunging toward the bridge. Just before the drone hit the roof, it pitched toward the deck, skirted over the bullet-ravaged timber, darted between the side railings, and disappeared from my view.
Rhino groaned beneath me as if protesting the fierce attack, and I chased after Indy, praying the drone didn’t pop up ahead of her.
Old Smithy’s cries sounded brutal.
Following the blood trail through a field of banknotes from the rear deck to the equipment cupboard, I found Indiana and her dad inside. Smithy was sprawled on his back on the ground amongst the equipment. Blood pooled beneath him like a gruesome crimson river.
“Oh, Jesus.” I squatted at his side.
With trembling hands, Indiana tried to stem the blood oozing from his stomach.
Her eyes bore into me, pleading with me to do something, and her terror tore my heart out.
Gripped by a sense of helplessness, I forced my brain to focus.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said, but my words were futile. Smithy had already lost too much blood. He was barely clinging to life.
We were a fucking long way from help.
I gripped his shoulder. “You hang in there, old man. Do not give up. We need you.”
My words were barely audible over the chaos crashing through my mind.
He reached for my arm and clung with a strength that only a dying man could summon. “Look after my Indy.”
“Hey, you cut that out—"
“Tyler! Look out!” Indiana’s gaze darted over my shoulder.
Jumping to my feet, I spun around. The drone hovered off the deck.
I aimed my weapon.
Wild bullets arced from the drone, punched into the dive deck, and ricocheted off the hull, missing their mark. The drone darted left, then right as if out of control, then it pumped bullets into Rhino’s engine.
Icy dread raced down my spine.
“No!” Indiana yelled.
Running down to the lower deck, I took aim and squeezed the trigger. The robotic wasp buzzed as it fell like a cannonball, shooting bullets like wildfire.
Rhino’s engine exploded in a massive fireball.
CHAPTER 17
Indiana
Rhino rocked violently as the deafening explosion ripped her engine apart. As the detonation rang in my ears, charred chunks of my boat rained across the deck. I leaned over Dad, desperate to protect him.
“Tyler,” I cried, glaring at the black smoke smothering the area where he’d stood.
Acrid fumes burned my tongue.
Dad groaned.
“It’s okay, Dad.”
“It’s not fucking okay.”
“Just keep still.” Adjusting my bloody hands over his wound, I searched the smoky chaos.
Come on Tyler, where are you?
“Answer me, Kingsley!” I forced his name past the knot in my throat. Tears welled in my eyes.
I have to find him, but I can’t leave Dad.
My heart hammered a thundering rhythm as flames leaped to the sky.
Oh God. Did he go overboard?
I reached for Dad’s hand. “Dad, I need to find Tyler.”
I removed my hand from the bullet wound, and Dad gasped.
“Sorry. Just keep the pressure on.” I placed his other hand over the first. I kissed his forehead. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Indy. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, you stop that, Dad. I need you, so don’t do anything stupid. You hear me?”
His cloudy eyes blinked in slow motion.
“I love you, Dad. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back—"
Thick black smoke caught in the ocean breeze and drifted into the equipment cupboard, threatening to smother us.
Shit, we need to get out of here before we suffocate.
Tears streamed from my eyes as I pushed open the other door, desperate for clean air.
“Tyler! Where are you?” Holding my breath, I crossed the upper deck to the railing.
The engine sizzled, and sparks flicked along the rusted frame.
I scanned the dive deck and my heart launched to my throat. “Tyler!”
Directly below me, his limp body emerged from the smoke.
Gripping the railing, I raced along the deck to the stairs.
No. No. No.
I jumped down to the dive deck and sprinted over twisted debris.
“Tyler!” I fell to my knees.
He groaned.
“Oh, thank God.” I yanked bits of charred metal off his wetsuit that had burned into the rubber. I gripped his arm. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”
Soot painted my palms like warpaint as I rolled him onto his back and helped him sit. “Tyler, come on, you bastard. Help me.”
A mild explosion erupted from the engine, and flaming metal flew into the air. It landed on the dive deck next to a chunk of glass.
Oh fuck! Dad’s broken whiskey bottle.
“Tyler.” I slapped his cheek. “We gotta move!”
Blinking, he shook his head. I hugged him to my side.
A spark landed on the wet patch on the deck.
I hauled him to his feet.
A blue flame raced across the timber.
His legs were like rubber as I forced him to the stairs.
A tremendous roar erupted behind me.
Clutching the railing, I screamed as I forced Tyler’s unruly legs up the stairs.
Another explosion ripped through the air. As we crashed in a tangle of arms and legs on the upper deck, I hugged Tyler to my body.
He jerked back, his piercing blue eyes were wide . . . and awake.
“Are you okay?” We both said at the same time.
His concern was a balm to my chaos.
“Yes,” I cried as we scrambled to our feet, “but Dad’s not.”
I ran to the equipment room and fell on my knees beside Dad. “Dad!” His hands had fallen to his sides, and foaming blood oozed from his wound. “Dad, talk to me!”
He groaned. “Will ya stop yelling at me?”
A strained chuckle burst from my lips as I pressed my hand over the wound.
Tyler ran into the room on unsteady legs. Soot covered his cheek, and his hair was a matted mess on his forehead. “Where’s your fire extinguisher?”
“On the wall in the hut.”
He squatted at my side. “You still with us, Old Man?”
“Don’t worry about me. Save our fucking boat,” Dad said.
“Copy that.” Tyler sprinted away.
The inferno devoured the lower deck, reducing the stacks of money to ash, and flames leaped three feet into the air, licking the rusty railing that overlooked the dive deck below.
Dad groaned. “Indy, forget about me. You need—”
“Hey. Cut that out.” I pressed harder on his wound.
He winced.
“You’re going to be fine, Dad.”
He turned his fierce glare on me. His warm blood seeped through my fingers.
“Indy.” Dad’s soothing tone scared the crap out of me. “I need to tell you something.” His once strong fingers trembled, and he placed his hand over mine. His skin seemed paper thin, like too much blood had left his extremities.
Clutching the fire extinguisher, Tyler ran headfirst into the thick smoke. He blasted the deck with a stream of foam. Rhino groaned like a monstrous beast was trying to claw out of our cabins below.
“Tyler’s putting out the fire, Dad. We’ll be okay.”
“He’s a good man. You need to trust him.”
I blinked at my father, and his teary eyes mirrored the flaming chaos.
“Wow,” I said. “He’s really done a number on you.”
He attempted to laugh but gasped as pain etched the lines of his face deeper.
A burst of sparks erupted from the air compressor as Tyler doused the fire with thick foam. Flames crawled up from the deck and curled over the edge like the devil’s fingers reaching for Dad and me.
I should have helped Tyler, but it was already too late. The fire was out of control.
“Indiana, listen to me.” Dad’s grip on my hand tightened.
“Okay, I hear you, Dad. You want me to trust Tyler.”
“It’s not that.” He growled, and the fear in his eyes ripped into me.
He’s dying. He knows it, and I know it.
“I’m sorry you wasted so much time searching for the bastards who killed your mom.” His voice was gravelly, like his throat was scorched.
“I’m not. I’m going to get those fuckers, Dad. I promise you.” I squeezed his hand.
“I killed them.” He sucked in a huge mouthful of air.
“What are you talking about?”
“While you were in hospital . . .” Dad smacked his lips together.
Frowning, I leaned closer, trying to follow his train of thought. “Hospital?”
“Yeah, to get those stitches in your leg.”
I blinked at him. That was twenty-two years ago. The day mom died.
“What are you talking about?”
“I tracked those fuckers down, and I killed them. I shot both of them with that ancient gun.”
My jaw dropped. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to. A million times, I wanted to. But I didn’t want you hating me.”
“What? Why would I hate you?”
