Chapter 17 - The Marina
Victor had been shot through the upper arm.
He rolled behind Thomas’s old desk, gripping the wound.
“Sniper?”
Ortega shouted into his radio.
“No visual!”
Rachel crouched beside Victor.
Blood ran through his fingers.
“Can you move?”
“Yes.”
“You always this annoying when shot?”
“Apparently.”
Another round shattered a lamp.
Police returned fire toward the eastern dock.
Then loudspeakers crackled outside.
Elaine’s voice filled the marina.
“Rachel. Bring the ledger.”
Ortega grabbed Rachel.
“She knows we’re here.”
Rachel looked through broken glass.
At the far dock stood a fifty-foot motor yacht.
Eleanor visible on the rear deck.
Thomas beside her.
Kellerman held a pistol.
Elaine stood behind them.
Rachel whispered, “She brought them into the open.”
Ortega said, “Because she has escape by water.”
Victor forced himself upright.
“She’ll head offshore.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Like Dad’s disappearance.”
Victor nodded.
Rachel took the original ledger.
Ortega grabbed her wrist.
“No.”
“She kills them if I don’t.”
“We have tactical options.”
“Your tactical option is shooting around my parents.”
He stared at her.
Then released her.
“Keep talking. Give us time.”
Rachel stepped onto the dock.
Wind whipped her hair across her face.
The ocean beyond the inlet was darkening under another incoming storm.
Elaine called, “Alone.”
Rachel walked.
Twenty yards.
Thirty.
The ledger felt heavy in her hand.
When she reached the midpoint, Elaine raised a pistol toward Thomas.
“Throw it.”
Rachel stopped.
“Release my mother first.”
Elaine smiled.
“You don’t set terms.”
“Then you don’t get the ledger.”
Kellerman pressed his gun into Eleanor’s back.
Rachel’s stomach tightened.
Thomas looked barely upright.
“Rachel,” he said.
Elaine shouted, “Quiet.”
Rachel lifted the ledger.
“I made copies.”
Elaine’s face changed.
“You’re lying.”
“FBI. State attorney. Three law firms. Sofia Santos.”
Kellerman looked toward Elaine.
“Elaine—”
“Shut up.”
Rachel continued.
“This book cannot save you.”
Elaine’s smile returned.
“It can tell me who else needs silencing.”
Thomas laughed weakly.
Elaine struck him.
Rachel took another step.
“Caleb Ross.”
Elaine froze.
“His death is on video.”
“I know.”
“Sofia has copies.”
“I know.”
“You can’t erase it.”
Elaine’s eyes hardened.
“I can make witnesses unreliable.”
“That trick is finished.”
“Is it?”
Elaine pointed toward Eleanor.
“Ask your mother.”
Rachel looked at Eleanor.
Her mother’s face was strangely composed.
Then Eleanor said, “Martin.”
Kellerman turned toward her.
She drove her elbow into his stomach.
At the same instant Thomas dropped.
Kellerman’s gun fired into the air.
Police opened fire from cover.
Elaine screamed and pulled Eleanor backward.
Rachel ran.
Kellerman recovered and grabbed Thomas by the collar.
Victor appeared behind Rachel despite his wound.
“Rachel!”
Kellerman aimed.
Victor tackled Rachel sideways as the shot fired.
The round struck the dock.
Ortega’s team advanced.
“Drop the weapon!”
Kellerman fired again.
Police shot him.
He collapsed near Thomas.
Elaine dragged Eleanor onto the yacht.
Rachel reached her father.
“Dad!”
Thomas grabbed her arm.
“Go!”
She looked at his bleeding shoulder.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Your mother!”
Victor crouched beside Thomas.
“I’ve got him.”
Rachel stared at Victor.
“You’re bleeding.”
“So is everyone.”
Rachel ran onto the yacht.
Elaine had reached the bridge.
Eleanor struggled with her.
The engines roared.
Lines snapped taut.
Rachel grabbed a railing as the yacht surged away from the dock.
“Mom!”
Elaine shoved Eleanor against the console.
Then pointed the pistol at Rachel.
“You.”
Rachel stopped.
Behind them, police boats launched.
Elaine laughed breathlessly.
“All of this because Thomas couldn’t let one drunk girl face consequences.”
Rachel stared at her.
“No.”
Elaine frowned.
Rachel continued.
“This happened because all of you kept deciding crimes were manageable if the right people controlled the evidence.”
Elaine’s expression twisted.
“You think you’re different?”
“I’m going to find out.”
The yacht accelerated toward the inlet.
Elaine grabbed Eleanor.
“Get downstairs.”
Eleanor refused.
Elaine struck her.
Rachel lunged.
The gun went off.
Glass shattered.
Eleanor screamed.
Rachel hit Elaine at the waist.
They crashed against the bridge wall.
The pistol slid across the floor.
Eleanor kicked it away.
Elaine grabbed Rachel’s hair.
“You self-righteous little coward.”
Rachel drove her shoulder forward.
Elaine struck her face.
Rachel tasted blood.
Then Elaine whispered, “Your father begged me once.”
Rachel froze.
Elaine smiled.
“On the boat. Three years ago.”
Rachel stared.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to kill him.”
“I tried to frighten him.”
“What happened?”
“He jumped.”
Rachel’s pulse stopped.
“He jumped overboard?”
“He’d planned another boat below the inlet.”
Elaine laughed.
“Your father always loved theater.”
So Thomas had truly staged it.
But Elaine had confronted him.
Maybe accelerated the disappearance.
The yacht rocked violently.
Police sirens approached behind them.
Elaine reached for the gun.
Eleanor stepped on her wrist.
“No.”
Elaine looked up.
Eleanor’s face was hard.
“You poisoned me.”
“You were inconvenient.”
“You made me doubt my own mind.”
“You were always sentimental.”
Eleanor leaned closer.
“And you made the mistake of believing old women are weak.”
She kicked the pistol toward Rachel.
Rachel picked it up.
Elaine laughed.
“You won’t shoot me.”
Rachel pointed it.
“No.”
She lowered the weapon.
“I won’t.”
Elaine’s smile flickered.
Then the yacht alarm screamed.
A warning light flashed.
The vessel had crossed into rough water too fast.
Elaine lunged toward the throttle.
Eleanor grabbed her.
They struggled.
The yacht struck a wave.
Elaine slammed into the console.
Rachel caught her mother before she fell.
Police boats closed in.
Ortega’s voice blasted over a loudspeaker.
“CUT YOUR ENGINES!”
Rachel pulled the throttle back.
The yacht slowed.
Elaine staggered upright.
Blood at her temple.
She looked toward the open side deck.
Freedom by water.
Rachel recognized the decision before she made it.
Elaine ran.
She leapt over the rail.
Into the dark Atlantic.
Rachel rushed to the side.
A police spotlight found her immediately.
Elaine surfaced.
Officers threw flotation gear.
She screamed that she would not be taken.
But the ocean did not care about dignity.
Two marine officers hauled her aboard.
Alive.
Handcuffed.
Rachel held Eleanor.
Her mother shook against her.
“Dad?”
“Alive.”
“You’re sure?”
Rachel nodded.
For the first time in three years, she said the words without doubt.
“He’s alive.”
Then her phone rang.
Natalie.
Rachel answered.
“We got Elaine,” she said.
Natalie did not celebrate.
“Rachel, you need to hear this.”
“What?”
“The red ledger copies are already leaking online.”
Rachel looked toward Victor on the dock in the distance.
“From whom?”
May you like
Natalie’s voice became quiet.
“Thomas.”
