Dangerous Tides (49 page)

The wind returned, stronger than ever. The mist and fog increased, rising to curl around the rope and rush upwards to the chamber above her. Sam cursed loudly as visibility plunged to zero. Libby tuned him out, focused completely on her own body and opened the well of healing energy deep inside of her.

Peering down, Sam saw a glow in the mist below him, but couldn't make out anything in the thick fog. He didn't have time to play with his prey much longer. He was going to have to go back and face the mess.
Damn her to hell
. Ty would be dead.

He swore again and took a hold of the rope. He was going to strangle the bitch and toss her body into the sea. She deserved it, too, for making him do this. It was her fault. Ty started talking bullshit, messing everything up and forcing Sam to take action. She'd used sex to get Ty's money, to weasel her way into his life. Tyson had been so obsessed with her, coming home this time, telling Sam his big plan—how he was going to court and marry Libby Drake.

After the initial rigging of Ty's harness had been unsuccessful, Sam realized it was Libby he needed to get rid of. He could keep Ty alive if the idiot would just stay out of the way and let things happen naturally. Sam had tried to be nice about it, but
no
, Libby just wouldn't go away.

Hand over hand, he went down the rope, the mist in his eyes nearly blinding him. It didn't feel right, almost as if the vapor was alive and something moved in the minute droplets of water. Had fingers brushed his skin? He slapped the air around him. He heard voices whispering.
Whispering
. The bitch was trying to trick him. That was all.

His feet touched the rocky surface. He heard her breathing, over by the opening. Good. It was less distance for him to have to drag her skinny body and throw it in the ocean for shark bait. He wished he hadn't thrown his gun away, but after shooting Jonas Harrington, he didn't dare keep it. It was at the bottom of the sea along with the safety harness. He should have thought to bring a knife, but the truth was, he wanted to feel his hands crushing her throat, feel her gasping her last breath and look into her eyes. She'd caused him to kill his own cousin. Damn, he might not ever get over that.

Another wave crashed through the chamber, the sound, a deadly roar. Icy water saturated his clothing, penetrating all the way to his skin. He shivered, gripping the rope. The mist and fog were woven so tight it was hard to breathe in the small cave. He coughed several times, trying to clear his throat. Sam found he was reluctant to let go of the rope even as the water receded from around his ankles, washing back into the sea.

"Hi, Sam." Libby greeted him softly.

The wind carried the greeting like a melody, whirling it around the small space. It seemed to echo so that he heard his name over and over. Sam shook his head. He thought she was over by the entrance to the water, but now he didn't know. He felt surrounded, as if many pairs of eyes were watching him. Anger began to rise and that wasn't good. He liked to be in total control.

Everyone, even his mother, thought Tyson was the smart one, the genius in the family, but Sam knew better. Tyson needed him. Ty couldn't take care of himself and he was easily manipulated. Sam had been managing him for years.

Sam took a step toward the hole in the cliff face and stopped. There she was, just to the left of him. He spun around, hands up, expecting an attack. The wind blew through the cave and a woman laughed softly from directly behind him. He whirled around, his anger mounting. The thick mist bit at his skin, small stings that began to burn from the salt in the water.

The wind began to move at a ferocious speed, tugging his clothes, pulling at his hair, driving him towards the cliff face. He wondered why the fog was so thick and didn't move. If anything, it drifted
against
the wind. Swearing, he reached for the rope. Libby could drown for all he cared. He was going to leave her there to die. If by some miracle she survived, well, she was trapped and he could come back and finish her off at his leisure.

He couldn't find the rope
. He stumbled around, fighting down panic, his arms spread wide, hoping to walk into it. The chamber was not that large. There was no rope and no Libby.

Although noises seemed muffled in the fog, when he stood very still, he could sort through the various sounds. The ocean was building up its fury, the waves crashing hard, each one higher than the last. He heard soft, ragged breathing. Feminine voices. A siren's call to lure him to his doom.

Sam remained still. There was something else. Footsteps above them, heavy, running. A voice calling out.

Libby heard it, too. She had to warn him. Tyson had survived the burning house and he was looking for her. She broke away from the far side of the wall and ran for the middle of the chamber, uncaring that she put herself in danger. She would not let Sam kill Tyson. "Stay away, Ty! Stay out of here."

Sam tackled her from behind, using her voice to guide him through the stinging mist. He covered her mouth with his hand, pressing hard, holding her down. "Down here, Ty. Libby fell and I can't get her out. She's hurt and the tide is rising fast."

Libby bit his hand hard, but he held on grimly, refusing to let her warn Tyson. Sam managed to get to his knees, his hand clamped tightly on her mouth, the other pressed around her waist. She drove her elbow into his solar plexus, tried to snap a fist into his groin, but he twisted and the blow fell on his thigh.

He began to walk backward on his knees, taking her with him, dragging her through the swirling mist toward the elongated hole in the cliff. The roar of the water hit them hard, this time knee deep, slamming through the cave, reverberating throughout loudly enough to hurt their ears. Because they were so low to the ground, the force drove them both over, facedown, the water rushing over their heads and rolling them over.

Sam never once let go, his fingers digging hard into her face. He tried to let the water carry them closer to the entrance as it retreated, leaving them both shivering with cold. Libby grabbed at anything she could to slow Sam down, kicking and fighting every step. He knew the direction now, knew exactly where he could hurtle her into the roiling sea in spite of the thick fog.

"Libby?"

She renewed her efforts to fight. Tyson was close. Too close. She was certain he had found the rope. She made as much noise as she could, struggling against Sam's strength. He lifted her right off the ground so that her feet dangled in the air. She kicked out toward the wall of rock, driving them over backward so that Sam fell, still clutching her to him.

The hand came out of the mist. Fingers closed on Libby's arm and jerked hard. "Let her go, you son of a bitch. What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tyson's face emerged, skin streaked black, clothes covered in soot and smelling of smoke.

"I'm trying to save her life," Sam snapped, shoving Libby so hard she slammed into Tyson, knocking him off balance so that he staggered backward.

Tyson clamped his hands around Libby's waist and took her with him, thrusting her directly behind his larger body the moment he was stable. "I realized a couple of things when I was running through the house to get to you, Sam. Libby and I talked about being in the house I bought a couple of days ago right in front of you and you didn't say a word. You knew about the house before I told you." His voice almost broke.

Tyson still didn't want to believe the truth, not even now, when it was staring him in the face. He looked at his cousin. Sam. The one person in his life who had truly loved him. Truly cared. The one person he had grown up counting on—and yes, loving back. It wasn't just his heart hurting. Everything hurt. His throat felt raw and tears burned behind his eyes. A part of him wanted to smash everything around him, and another part wanted to cry forever. "But more importantly, I found methoxyethanol in the lab. It's a solvent, but not one I've ever used. I didn't buy it, Sam. And it smells like chloroform and also garlic, both of which I smelled in the helicopter before I went out on the rope. It would take about half an hour to eat through the fabric of the harness once you dumped it on there."

Sam held up his hand. "You wouldn't listen to me, Ty. I tried to tell you, but you're always so damned stubborn."

Ty glanced over his shoulder. "Libby, climb the rope."

"Not without you. I'm not getting separated again."

His features hardened. "Climb the damn rope now. We don't have much time and all of us have to get out of here. The next big wave is going to swamp this cave. We're waist deep in water or has anyone noticed? Your teeth are chattering and you're going to get hypothermia."

Libby still hesitated, not wanting to leave him alone with his cousin. He loved Sam. He wouldn't want to believe the things Sam was capable of, even if the evidence was staring him in the face. He loved Sam, his only living relative, the way she loved her sisters. Her heart was breaking for him.

"Do I have to throw you up to the top?" Ty's voice cut like a knife. He was somewhere between rage, resignation and anguish and wasn't certain he could hold onto his control. She looked small and broken. He felt broken. "Sam, how could you do this?"

It was that heartbreaking tone that did it for Libby. Tyson was shattered. Completely shattered and holding on by a thread. She lifted her arms to send the wind back to her sisters and with it, the thick mist. "Be right behind me, Ty," she pleaded.

Libby took the rope in her hands and began to pull her body up toward the hole in the ceiling. She'd never done anything like it in her life and realized it was going to be nearly impossible. Before she could say anything, she felt her sisters gathering strength. Energy. She felt it bursting through her muscles and stretching her reach, guiding her body straight to the rock floor. She pulled herself to safety and turned, lying on her stomach to look down at the two men.

"Tyson, get out of there. The water's filling the chamber."

Sam shook his head, stepping to his left, forcing Tyson to mirror him. "I don't understand how you could let her do this to us, Ty. Why would you do that? Why would you think it would be okay to bring her into our lives? Our world?"

"We'll discuss it later, Sam. We need to get out of here."

"She's poisoned your mind against me. That's what she's been doing all along. I saw it, but you just couldn't. You wanted me to stop taking care of the finances. You started checking credit cards. You paid attention to the cash. Why would you do that if she wasn't telling you I was taking your money? It was
our
money. We shared it, remember? I want to know why you listened to her."

"Come on, Sam. Let's get out of here." Tyson held out his hand.

Libby ground her teeth together to keep from screaming at him to just climb up the rope. Sam was stalling. He wasn't repentant. He was planning, scheming still. She felt his need to best everyone. Why couldn't Tyson feel it, too?

The sea was roaring again, water pouring in with each succeeding wave. "Please, Ty, please," she whispered.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned around to find Jackson crouching beside her. He put his finger to his lips and gestured for her to get out of his way. He stretched out prone on the cave floor, placing his gun on the rock floor in easy reach beside his hand as he watched the two men below and the rising water.

Tears burned close. Of course Elle would send Jackson. Her sisters
always
came through. She sat down on the rocks and tried to see around Jackson's larger frame to where Tyson was moving back toward the rope.

"We've got to go now, Sam," Tyson prompted, feeling a little desperate. He couldn't leave his cousin. He had to find a way to bring him back. "We'll sort all this out up top."

Water swirled around Sam's waist, prodding him forward. He smiled and it chilled Tyson to the bone. "I'm not letting her have you, Ty. It's not going to happen."

"Your choice then, Sam." Tyson caught the rope and pulled himself up out of the water, hoping abandonment would force Sam into action. "Follow me or stay and die. You'll never last in the sea. The water's too cold and rough."

Sam timed his jump for the next wave. As it crashed into the cavern, he leapt on Ty, wrapping his arms around his legs with every intention of dragging him back into the cave. The water poured in with tremendous force, knocking into them, pushing them toward the back of the chamber.

Libby cried out and leapt toward the hole, instinctively reaching for Tyson. Jackson was already there, his hand catching Ty's wrist, locking on like a vise while the icy water filled the cave to the ceiling, completely covering the two men below and bursting up through the hole, to drench Jackson's face and shoulders.

Libby could see the strain on Jackson, his muscles bulging, the veins standing out as he fought the suction of the water as it retreated, trying to take the men with it. He shifted, wedging his shoulders against the opening and reaching with his other hand to grip Tyson's forearm.

Sam struggled to hold on, choking and spitting sea water as the wave began to retreat, the suction dragging at him, trying to sweep him out of the chamber. His hold on Tyson's leg loosened and he fell into the whirling vortex caused as the water sucked back out of the cave. He rolled against the rocky floor as it took him to the long, narrow hole. Managing to grip the edges of the rock to keep from being forced out to the sea, he kicked to get to the surface. Only his head was above water now and the movement in the cave was strong enough to continually smash him against the rock wall.

Tyson felt Jackson straining to pull him up through the water. He turned to try to see Sam. Their eyes met across the small expanse of water and he knew he couldn't leave him there to drown.

Libby knew the moment Tyson made the decision to let go of Jackson and go back for his cousin. She felt the collective gasp of her sisters and her own body went rigid in denial. "No!" Libby screamed. "Jackson, don't let him go." She actually flung her body over the deputy's in an effort to catch Tyson's arm, her fingers brushing his wrist as he let go, slipping away from her.