Lone Rider (43 page)

             
Tess looked out the car window. At first glance she thought the place looked deserted due to off-season. A second glance told her the marina was abandoned.

Barry helped her out of the car. “You promised if I cooperated I could call for help, for Grey,” she reminded him.

She’d kept her
part of their deal.

             
“In a minute,” he stalled.

             
“Where are we going?”  She couldn’t keep the catch from her voice.

             
“You’ll see.”

             
They walked past a boarded
-
up shack advertising live bait. Empty beer bottles litt
ered the ground. A single light
bulb burned dimly on one side of the building, attracting moths. The cool air was tangy with the brackish scent of salt
water.

             
Involuntarily she pulled back as Barry headed toward the deserted pier.

Water.

She recalled the night Liz had shoved her into the lake. How
Dallas
...
Grey
had rescued her.

             
Tonight there’d be no rescue. Grey was
over
a hundred miles away. He could even be dead. Her knees buckled.

             
“Come on.”  Barry tugged her arm.

             
“I...I can’t.”

             
Barry looked nervously at the end of the pier. “Then we’ll wait here.”

             
“Wait?”  At that moment a faint sound caught her ear. A boat engine. Heading this way.

The sound grew louder. A few seconds later Tess saw the small green starboard light as a craft headed directly for them.

Sweat beaded on her forehead. “Damn you, Barry! Tell me what’s going on!”

He ignored her. The boat slowed, waves breaking against the dock and seawall as it pulled up at the very end.

Tess strained to see who was in the boat. She heard muffled sounds, felt the dock rock slightly as the boat bounced against it. Heavy footsteps approached, boards creaking.

“Stop right there,” Barry said, his gun drawn. “I’ve kept my end of the bargain? What about you?”

A man stepped forward into the small pool of light. Dressed in an Armani suit with a flower in his lapel
,
he looked out of place in the shabby setting. Foreign. Behind him, tucked in the shadows, were three or four other people. How many she couldn’t be certain.

“Greetings, Ms. Marsh.”  The man spoke with a pronounced Hispanic accent. “We haven’t met formally, but I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Barry held his ground. “Our deal
,
Sanchez.”

             
Sanchez
.

Tess’ stomach sank as she realized who it was. Hector Sanchez. The cartel’s number one henchman.
Free on a technicality to commit more crimes at will.

             
Sanchez made an annoyed sound, then snapped his fingers.

             
Two figures from behind him started moving. When they got a little closer, Tess noticed that one was a female in her mid twenties.

             
“Daddy!” the woman cried.

             
Barry lurched, visibly shaken. Now Tess knew why Barry had double-crossed them. Sanchez had his daughter.

Barry’s next words confirmed her worst fear. “I’ve brought the Marsh woman.”

             
“She doesn’t look pregnant.”  Sanchez stepped closer. He
was tall and surprisingly good -
ooking, proving evil came in all shapes and sizes. His dark hair was slicked back and clubbed in a short ponytail. He had a thin, black mustache.

             
Tess glanced at Barry. “Please don’t--” 

She choked on her remaining words, knowing that he wouldn’t betray his own daughter for her. Tess was a bargaining chip. His daughter’s ticket to freedom.

             
Barry pointed his gun directly at Sanchez. “Release my daughter. Now.”

             
Sanchez started laughing, an oddly melodic sound that echoed across the water.

             
“You are a fool,” Sanchez said.

             
A gun fired.

Tess flinched. The sound came from behind them. Her first instinct was to run except Barry still held her by the arm. For a moment his grip tightened, then it relaxed.

             
“No!”  From the shadows Barry’s daughter started crying hysterically.

Barry fell to his knees. With an awful horror, Tess realized he’d been shot. As if confirming her thought
,
a man strolled out from the shadows behind them, his gun still drawn.

             
“You double-crossing bastard.”  Barry was breathing heavy.

             
Tess dropped beside him, but could do little with her hands cuffed together. A dark stain spread across the front and back of Barry’s shirt. The bullet had passed all the way through his body, at his shoulder.

Barry still clenched his gun, but the shooter was right beside him now. “Drop it,” the man ordered.

             
When Barry hesitated, the man kicked his hand, sending the gun sailing into the water and snapping Barry’s wrist in the process. Tess cringed at the awful sound of bone shattering.

             
Barry moaned, the pain obviously intense. “My daughter, Sanchez! Don’t kill me in front of her.”

             
Barry’s daughter was beyond hysteria now, sobbing uncontrollably.

             
Sanchez laughed. “We’re not going to kill you, my friend. I need you alive to deliver a message to
Special A
gent Grey Thomas.”

             
“I could have brought you Thomas!” Barry rasped.

             
“No need. He’ll come. And she’s the insurance that he’ll come alone.”

“Grey won’t fall for it.”

“Sure he will. You did. Love makes monkeys of us all.”

             
The man who shot Barry moved closer and yanked Tess to her feet, tugging her away.

             
“No,” she resisted. “He needs a doctor!”

             
Sanchez interrupted. “You’re a smart woman, Ms. Marsh. Don’t make us use force. Think of your child.”

             
Her child.
Tears blinded her as she was dragged forward.

When they reached Sanchez, the gunman released her. From behind them, in the shadows, she heard Barry’s daughter weeping.

             
Sanchez nodded to the gunman. “Finish up. Just remember he needs to live long enough to make a phone call.”

             
Tess flinched when Sanchez ran his hand down her cheek. “You are a beautiful woman. And strong. This will be ...interesting.” 

Turning away Sanchez gave an order to one of the other men
still waiting
behind him. “Bring the Marsh woman.”

             
The man nodded and stepped forward. “Hello, darlin’. Long time, no see.”

             
Tess’ knees buckled as Snake stepped up and grabbed her.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

             
Grey’s head felt like someone had tried to dynamite it off his shoulders. His heart hurt even worse.

             
“If you won’t go to the hospital
,
at least let me take you back to
Chapel Hill
,
where Elise can check you.”  Kevin Barnes, Elise’s husband, squatted in front of Grey. “I’m no doctor, but I’m sure you have a concussion--”

             
“Tell me again what Barry said.”

             
Kevin sighed. “Sanchez has Tess and Barry’s daughter. He claims he’ll release both women in exchange for you. Unarmed and alone.”

             
“When and where?”

             
“Tonight. 9
p.m.
. Off the coast. The GPS coordinates Sanchez gave Barry are about twelve miles offshore from
Wrightsville
Beach
.”

             
“In international water
s
.”  Grey grimaced, attempting to stand. “Then I better get moving. That’s twelve hours from now. And I’ve got to procure a boat.”

             
Kevin straightened, reaching out to help his friend. “You’re not really going through with thi
s, are you? Sanchez will double-
cross you, like he did Barry. Let the
B
ureau
handle it.”

             
“I can’t risk Tess and the baby. I know Sanchez plans to kill me. But if I can just live long enough to get close to her, I have a chance at helping her
,
”
Grey said.

             
“You can help her more going through proper channels.”

             
“I can’t.”

“You have to.”

“I doubt Barry is the only inside contact Sanchez has. I
f word of a rescue is leaked--”
Grey cut the thought short. “I thought you of all people would understand.”

“Damn it! I do understand. And right now I’m thinking more clearly than you.”

Grey hated that his friend was right. The thought of Tess in Sanchez’s hands made him crazy. Knowing Snake and Bogen were with Sanchez was worse. “I have to go
,
Kevin. I’m her only hope. It’s my fault they’ve got her to begin with.”

Grey had committed the unpardonable sin of heading to familiar ground. That was the first place cops checked. It made Barry’s job of finding them that much easier.
Grey
had failed Tess and their child once. He wouldn’t fail them again.

             
“I’m going with you. We’ll figure out some way to hide
m
e
,
”
Kevin said.

             
While Grey knew that Kevin was sincere in his offer, he also knew Kevin felt guilty. Kevin had disclosed the cabin’s location to Barry after Barry told him the fictitious story about Snake and Bogen begin recaptured.

Grey didn’t blame Kevin in the least. Barry’s defection stunned them all.

             
Barry had been able to reach Kevin by phone again, explaining the situation and delivering Sanchez’s message before lapsing into unconsciousness. Besides suffering a gunshot, Barry had been badly beaten and was currently undergoing surgery. From what Kevin said his chances at recovery weren’t all that great.

             
“Sanchez will have spies posted all over
Wrightsville
Beach
,” Grey said.  “
He’ll know if I arrive in town with someone.”

             
“Who says you gotta go out of Wrightsville? Your only stipulation is to be at the GPS coordinates at nine.”

“Alone.”

Kevin
ignored the word. “We can go fa
rther south, to
Long Beach
. I know a guy who owns a marina near there.” 

Grey’s head throbbed. “I don’t like it. I need to go by myself.”

             
Kevin shrugged. “You’re walking into a trap.”

             
“That doesn’t change a thing.”

             
“Then at least let me help. You’re in no shape to drive right now. And you need someone on the outside to know what’s going on -– in case you don’t return.”

             
Both men knew he really meant
when you don’t return
.

             
Grey closed his eyes. Kevin did have one valid point. Grey couldn’t drive right now. He had double vision, a sure sign of a concussion.

             
“Then let’s get going. We don’t have much time
,
and I want to make a few stops on the way.”

*     *     *

             
The skiff ride to Sanchez’s yacht was blessedly short. Tess tried to comfort Barry’s daughter, Nancy, which helped keep her own mind off the fact they were on water.