All Dressed in White (32 page)

She couldn’t even control her eye movements, or she would look at Nick. She could barely see him in her peripheral vision. She could hear his voice and understand what he was saying, but wasn’t sure if his words were real, or if she was hallucinating. Maybe she’d wake up any second in her bed at the Grand Victoria. But until then, she had to assume all of this was actually happening.

I have to save my baby, but how? she wondered frantically.

Nick sounded confident, as if he had plenty of time to enjoy his stupid boat and drone on about his evil deeds. That, she thought, will be your undoing, Nick Young. She remembered the email she got from her doctor yesterday. My baby is going to live, she vowed.

She just had to focus. Wake up, Meghan, wake up. Save yourself. Save your baby.

With every second, Nick’s voice seemed clearer. She felt more focused. “I’ve thought about doing this so many times in New York, but I couldn’t figure out a way to get you alone and unseen in the city. The email from Kate was easy. All I did was open one of those free accounts and write ‘from Kate’ in the subject line. And this boat is perfect. With Amanda, I had to jog the five miles back to the hotel after ditching the rental car so I didn’t risk being seen. This time, I won’t even break a sweat.”

He looked at Meghan with a satisfied smile. He had no idea what she was thinking. Ten years ago, she had taken painkillers after having her wisdom teeth removed. She’d take one, feel better for half an hour, and then be in throbbing pain again. It turned out that the drug didn’t work on her the way it was supposed to. Her doctor explained she had a gene variant that increased the liver enzymes that process certain drugs. She was what they called an ultra-rapid metabolizer.

Let that be the way it is now, she prayed. Please, please.

She wiggled her fingers against the cushions and was able to clasp them into a fist. She curled her toes and felt the muscles in her legs activate. And then she sensed that the engine of the boat was slowing down.

“Almost there,” Nick said matter-of-factly.

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lorida Fish and Wildlife Officer James Jackson had been eager to respond to the call about someone ghost surfing off Delray Beach. After eight years patrolling the beaches, he knew that speed on the water brought out the crazy in people, but he’d never actually seen ghost surfing in progress. According to rumors, some idiots out there thought it was a good idea to set a boat on throttle, then jump on a surfboard to ride the wake without a driver at the helm. Jackson was convinced the whole thing was a myth, but tonight there’d been a 911 call.

But when he arrived, there were no ghost surfers to be found, only a kid wakeboarding with his dad at the steering wheel and the extremely night-blind tourist who had called in the report.

Oh well, Jackson thought, just another night on the water. This job sure beat his old one with the Miami Police Department. Now the roughest criminals he dealt with were vacationers who underestimated the interactive effects of rum and sun. He warned the father and son about the dangers of water sports at night and suggested that they lower their speed and enjoy the stars.

Up ahead, he saw a good-sized yacht heading his way.

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t had started with the wiggle of her fingers and then her toes, but Meghan could feel her entire body awakening. Her mind was clear. Her vision was absorbing every detail. She didn’t dare move, but she was clenching and releasing her muscles to make sure she was ready.

Nick had stopped talking and was humming to himself. Meghan felt sick, and it wasn’t because of the drug he’d given her; it was because of how happy he seemed. A wave of panic moved through her as she remembered the needle injecting her neck. Would it hurt the baby? She forced herself to push aside the question. She had to focus. Neither one of them stood a chance if she didn’t get off this boat.

She felt Nick’s eyes on her and continued to stare up into the stars, as though dazed.

Nick leaned back in his captain’s chair, then shifted his weight. Still uncomfortable, he moved again. Then he reached into the back of his waistband, removed the gun, and set it next to the steering wheel.

As Nick turned his attention back to steering the boat, Meghan turned her head, her thoughts now totally clear, and took in her immediate surroundings. She saw the gun on the console to the right of the steering wheel but knew she could never reach it first. There was a hammer-like object in a slat on the railing just ahead of her.
A “priest,” if she recalled correctly. On her fishing trip with Jeff last year, it was the object they would use to stun fish that were caught, brought aboard, and were wriggling on the deck. If she could use it to hit Nick, she might have a chance to grab the pistol. I’ll shoot him if I have to, she vowed.

Seconds later, she saw what she believed would be her opportunity. Nick had his cell phone in his right hand and appeared to be trying to read a message while he steered the boat with his left hand.

She began to swing her legs up over the side of the deep leather chair. Stumbling, she took a few quiet steps to where the mallet was, bent over, and picked it up.

Her legs and arms struggled to obey her mental commands. She had only experienced this feeling once before. She had joined a group of students who were drinking tequila shots. Amanda and Kate half-carried her home as she had tried to will her legs to move forward.

Now, she needed that will again.

•  •  •

Nick cut the engine and slipped the phone into his pocket. This was as good a place as any. All he had to do was get the hand weights stored in the stateroom. He had slipped them into his duffel bag in the hotel gym, one more clue to lead police to Jeff.

As he got up to go to the cabin, he felt a glancing blow to his right temple. He stumbled to one side and fell back against his seat. Dazed, he looked up to see Meghan holding an object over her head, ready to hit him again.

•  •  •

Officer Jackson was admiring the yacht as it grew closer. It put the capital L in Luxury. He thought he recognized it as one of the higher-end charters available in the area.

The night silence was broken by the crackle of his radio, followed by an alert. A tracking device on a chartered luxury yacht placed the boat right in this area. The Coast Guard was on its way. The captain of the yacht was a man named Nick Young, presumed to be armed and dangerous, and believed to have a kidnap victim onboard.

Jackson cut the lights on his speedboat and accelerated toward the approaching yacht.

•  •  •

The second blow caught Nick on the side of his face, knocking him off the captain’s chair. But as he fell, his hand grazed the gun, sending it to the deck beneath him. Horrified, Meghan watched him begin to recover and reach for the weapon.

She heard the engine of an approaching boat in the distance. Was it coming to help? But she couldn’t wait. Nick would have the gun within seconds. He would shoot her instantly.

Nick’s first shot came within inches of her neck. With one last desperate effort to save her baby’s life, she hoisted herself onto the railing, held her arms protectively over her belly, and threw herself into the dark water below.

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fficer Jackson saw the lights of the Coast Guard boats approaching. Just as he heard the sound of a gunshot, a figure jumped from the side of the yacht. He immediately turned on the handheld spotlight he had ready and pointed it into the water.

He saw someone leaning over the side and firing into the water.

•  •  •

Nick spotted the glare of a light from a nearby boat, and heard the sound of a voice through a megaphone, but all he could think about was killing Meghan.

He saw ripples in the dark waves. He fired a shot, then another, then another.

•  •  •

Meghan felt the dark, cold water wash over her, as she tried to stay submerged as long as her breath would allow. Everything now felt absolutely surreal. She hoped she would have enough strength in her arms and legs to paddle back to the surface. She could hear the dull echo of muffled bangs above her. Gunshots.

Nick was ready to fire again when a blinding light washed over the yacht’s deck.

“Nick Young, you’re under arrest. Drop the gun and put your hands over your head or you’re a dead man.”

Fearing her lungs would explode, Meghan flailed her arms and legs until her head was able to break the surface of the water. She gulped in a breath and saw Nick bathed in light with his head bowed and his hands raised. Another bright glare then covered her. She heard a voice yell, “Stay where you are. We’re coming for you.” I did it, she thought, placing a hand on her stomach in the water. We’re okay. Me, you, and Jeff, we’re all going to be okay.

Epilogue

One Month Later

L
aurie looked out at the lights shimmering on the East River, thinking that she was going to miss this view. She was going to miss a lot of things.

“There you are,” Alex said, appearing next to her. “Come into the den. The show’s about to start.”

“You know I’ve already seen it, right?” she said with a smile.

Alex had happily offered to host the viewing party at his apartment to accommodate the size of the audience. In addition to the production team and Laurie’s family, Sandra and Walter Pierce were both in New York, visiting Charlotte, and had accepted the show’s invitation to watch the episode with them. Alex’s brother, Andrew, had also joined them. It seemed like the right time for Laurie to finally meet him.

After Ramon served cocktails, he came around with an impressive array of hors d’oeuvres.

Laurie followed Alex to the den, where Timmy and her father had saved a seat between them on the sofa. It had been exactly one month since the news of Nick Young’s dramatic arrest shot across newspapers, televisions, and the Internet like a rocket. Brett was initially disappointed, convinced that traditional media had beat Laurie to the punch.

But thanks to Laurie’s exclusive agreements with the show’s participants, no other media outlet had the human stories behind the news. Jeff and Austin went back on camera to describe all those times they’d thought Nick was behaving more confidently than he really was. Laurie even managed to persuade Detective Henson to sit down for an interview.