Love Inspired Suspense April 2015 #2 (55 page)

Josh chuckled. “Good news, Mr. Parsons. I packed my badge this morning, for a moment just like this.” Josh reached inside his shirt pocket, but that was all the distraction Parsons needed. With Josh's split focus, Parsons reached behind his back and drew a pistol, firing off a shot before Josh knew what had hit him.

Lexie watched, stunned, as the RCMP officer crumpled face-first to the ground. Almost immediately, a rivulet of blood seeped out from underneath the body, traversing the icy surface of the deck.

“That takes care of that,” said Parsons, turning his gun on Lexie. “Never liked that guy anyway. Didn't respect the ocean the way I do, you understand? I may have ulterior motives, but I love this boat. It's like a second home—well, first home, really.”

The man was delusional. Completely deranged. There could be no other explanation. Lexie could barely believe this was the same man they'd worked side-by-side with for the past two days, but then again, hadn't they had clues? Always knowing where she and Shaun would be and when, and then the tracker inside the walkie-talkie...of
course
it had been him. He'd probably tracked them on his computer—a computer in the security office that he had access to at all times. How had they not seen this coming? He'd been clever, rescuing them from the gas incident.

She glanced down at Josh. He hadn't moved. “He needs a doctor,” Lexie cried, the buzzing in her ears growing louder. “He'll die.”

Parsons shrugged. “That's the idea. But that's what I have Reed for. Cleanup duty. He should be here any minute now. I imagine Lane got the surprise of his life, eh? Or should I say, the
last
surprise of his life.”

Lexie squeezed her eyes shut and willed the tears and panic away. Now was not the time. The man in front of her so clearly viewed people as objects that he'd shot Josh in cold blood. Doubtless he'd do the same to her if she caused too much trouble. Still, he'd intentionally kept her alive this far, so she might have a fighting chance.

But this time, she'd have to face the fight alone.

She found herself longing to see Shaun, just one more time. Had she and Shaun met again after eight years, only to lose each other? Even during their kiss, she hadn't been fully sure of herself, but now she knew. If she had even one more moment with Shaun, she'd tell him exactly how she felt. Her head, though resistant to the truth he'd shared with her, could be overcome—because her heart, despite it all, had fallen hard for him.

Please, Lord. I don't know what to do, but I trust You've brought me here for a purpose. I do believe that. I trust You.

Parsons crossed the remaining stretch of deck toward her, stepping carefully across the still-icy surface. He pulled Josh's radio off the immobile man's belt and opened a channel. “Hey, Reed? You on your way?”

And then she heard it. A soft click of a latch nearby, too quiet to be Parsons's accomplice heading out onto the deck. Hastily, Lexie cleared her throat, hoping it would cover the sound. “Can't see much of anything out there today, can we?” She focused her attention out toward the foggy sea, shuffling the short distance to the railing. “How will you know when the icebreaker gets here? What if you run out of time to clean up?”

Parsons kept his gun out, but lazily waved it in the direction of the ocean. “We'll hear it. I'll get word from the captain as soon as they're in striking distance—the captain trusts me, of course.” He winked at Lexie. “I'll have plenty of time to get this place cleaned—”

Suddenly, out of the mist, Shaun swooped in like a falcon. He targeted Parsons's gun and struck the man's arm with an expertly aimed blow, knocking the weapon out of Parsons's hand. Parsons jumped for it as it flew out of his hand and over the railing, but the deck was far too icy for that kind of sudden movement. Instead of jumping upward as intended, his feet slipped on the ice, pitching him forward across the railing.

The railing's slick coating of ice proved problematic to hold on to, and though Parsons gripped the bar, his bulky frame tipped over the edge of the rail as Shaun lunged to grab any part of the man. Anything to stop him from falling over the side of the ship. Shaun caught Parsons's wrist as the man struggled to hold on to the slippery, frozen surface.

“You're not going down that easily,” Shaun bellowed, face flushed with the effort of trying to keep the big man's grasp from failing. One of Shaun's feet slipped, and he stumbled to regain his balance. Another slip like that, and he'd disappear over the side with the man he struggled to save.

Panic threatened to overwhelm Lexie, and she sank to her knees as Shaun fought to keep hold of the larger man. The ache in her calf pulsed with the sting of a fresh wound, and the buzzing in her ears nearly drowned out the sound of everything around her.

“You've ruined everything,” Parsons huffed, breaths coming short as his left hand slid, finger by finger, from the railing. “I'll kill you for this.”

“You were going to kill me anyway,” Shaun said.

They were both going to fail. Lexie's throat constricted with fear, but if she didn't act, they'd lose everything. With one final prayer for strength, she reached up to grip Shaun around his legs, giving him leverage on the slippery deck. If she could ground him with even more weight somehow, he might be able to pull Parsons back aboard—

“I'm losing him,” Shaun called. “Lexie, I can't hold on!”

Lexie released Shaun and leaped to her feet. She reached over the railing, trying to grab Parsons's left hand, but the man's loose arm flailed too much, his weight too heavy to reach back up and take the lifeline Lexie offered.

“Come on,” Shaun grunted through gritted teeth. “Reach! You can do it!”

Parsons, to Lexie's confusion, began to laugh. Shaun's sudden intake of breath brought her attention to where Shaun still gripped Parsons, and noticed the slide of skin against skin. Shaun was losing his grip, and there was nothing either of them could do about it.

“Just let go.” Parsons sneered. “You know you want to. You're no hero, Lane. It's over for me.”

“No!” Shaun leaned farther over the railing to adjust his grip, but like a scene played in slow motion, Shaun's feet slipped again on the deck surface. Lexie launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his torso to keep him solidly on the deck, even as Parsons's hand slid the final inch from Shaun's grasp.

With a shout, Parsons plummeted through the air, four stories down the side of the ferry toward the thick ice below.

Lexie stared, watching Parsons fall, until Shaun pulled her into his chest and covered her face. A thud and a crack signified the end.

And as much as Lexie wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, to scream in frustration and to cry in sadness all at once, she couldn't. They had three girls to find.

EIGHTEEN

S
haun loosened his grip on Lexie and held her at arm's length, her beautiful face in his hands. “I thought I'd lost you,” he said, pulling her back into his arms before she could protest.

“We need to find them,” she whispered. “We promised.”

His relief at seeing Lexie had been palpable, and as much as he wanted to stand there and hold her forever now that the threat of danger had passed, she was right. There were still three young women aboard who needed their help, one of whom might require medical attention.

“You can tell me how you found me later,” Lexie said, pulling away. She ran over to Josh's side and crouched, pressing two fingers against his neck. “He's alive, but his pulse is weak. Call medical.”

“Already on it.” Shaun stepped carefully and quickly across the deck to use one of the emergency phones, grateful they were still working. The medical team arrived in a matter of minutes and tended to the wounded RCMP officer with practiced speed.

“We should go,” Lexie said. “One of the nurses is going to come with us, but we still don't know where the girls are.”

Shaun tapped the side of his nose. “If I were relocating abductees on a ship, I'd keep them far, far away from other people as much as possible. What better way to do that than hiding them in a room that the people searching for them have already checked?”

“You think they're back in the engine room?” Lexie eyed him with skepticism.

“I think that's the best place to start.”

With one of the nurses in tow, Lexie led the way from the outside deck back through the darkened halls, finding the stairs with only a little guidance from the nurse. Lexie and Shaun flew down the steps to the engine room. The door had been locked.

“That's a good sign,” Shaun said as he stepped back and slammed a donkey kick into the spot above the door handle. The door swung open with a bang. “Good thing they don't pay much attention to maintenance on anything down here aside from the engines.”

Lexie rushed past him into the dimly lit room. The rumble of the engines didn't stop Lexie from calling out to the girls by name.

At first, all they heard was the continuous thrum of rumbling engine power, but then a faint, rhythmic banging joined the wall of sound.

“At the back,” Shaun said. “It's coming from the back.”

They sprinted to the back of the engine room as the bangs grew louder. Through a gray door, almost invisible against the wall's matching gray paint, came muffled shouts.

Lexie ran to the door, Shaun hot on her heels.

“It's locked,” Lexie moaned, banging her fist on a hefty lock across the handle. “Now what? Where do we get a master key?”

Shaun leaned in and kissed the top of her head. “I've got this. I'm a superspy, after all,” he whispered. The smile she gave him in return warmed him to the tips of his toes. He'd done it.
They'd
done it. And now they were going to finish it.

After an agonizing two minutes, he felt and heard the soft click of the lock's release. He stepped back as Lexie pulled open the door, revealing three young women huddled together.

The nurse dashed in to assist Jamie, who wore a makeshift bandage around her upper leg.

“Are we safe?” asked Maria, blinking away the darkness of the cramped closet. Shaun recognized her from the photograph.

“Everything's going to be all right now,” Lexie said, rushing forward to wrap the girl up in her arms. “Everything is going to be all right from now on.” She looked over the top of Maria's head at Shaun, relief and gratitude in her eyes.

It was finally over.

* * *

Back in the captain's quarters, Shaun observed Lexie from afar as she chatted with the three rescued young women. Despite Reed's initial advantage when Shaun had encountered him outside of Parsons's office, the security officer's on-the-job combat training had been no match for Shaun's Agency-trained skills. Reed's first blow had knocked the wind out of him, but within a matter of minutes, Shaun had incapacitated Reed and convinced him to admit his part in the scheme. Parsons's call through the walkie-talkie had only confirmed Shaun's findings, and the GPS tracker inside the radio—which Parsons's computer held the tracking program for—had told him exactly where to find Lexie.

Shaun returned his attention to the phone, where Jack yammered away about what protocol to follow once the Coast Guard arrived on the icebreaker.

“You said the RCMP informant is stabilized?” Jack asked, Jolly Rancher candy clacking against his teeth.

“That's right. He's not entirely out of the brambles, but there's an RCMP evacuation helicopter standing by to swoop in as soon as the fog lifts.”

“Good. Can't believe the way this played out, Agent. Incredible.”

Shaun chuckled, shaking his head. “I can barely believe it myself, Jack. God had His hand in it the whole time. Look, I should get back to Lexie and the girls. Check in with you later? The icebreaker is almost here, so we'll be back en route in a few hours.”

Shaun's finger hovered over the button to end the call, when he heard a shout from the other end of the line. He pulled the receiver back up to his ear. “What now?”

“
Hrrmph
. Think you'd be a little more grateful to the guy giving you big news.”

“Come on, spit it out.” Shaun knew that tone of voice. The case officer had information he couldn't wait to tell him.

“Looked into those names you mentioned. A file came up for one of the Reilly women.”

Shaun's stomach twinged. Was this something he wanted to know? Had he done the right thing by asking Jack to dig for information?

“The older sibling, Nikki, right?”

“Yes, that's right.” Shaun's blood ran cold.

“Full name Nicola Grace Reilly, yeah? Turns out one of our teams picked her up as part of a bust for a similar op six years ago. We had her under agency protection to testify against her captor, and kept her around as a possible asset for future trafficking cases afterward. In theory, that part was voluntary, but you know what
that
means with the Agency sometimes. Anyway, for some reason the files for her and several other witnesses were reopened not twenty minutes ago when you called in. There'll be a lot of paperwork before she and the other protected witnesses can get back to their normal lives and families, but she's alive and—according to the record in front of me—in good health.”

Shaun thanked Jack and hung up, shock ricocheting through his system. Lexie's sister was
alive.

Fighting to suppress a nervous grin, he crossed the room and tapped Lexie on the shoulder. “Can I interrupt for a moment?” Maria and the girls excused themselves, so he took a seat across from Lexie and clasped her hands between his. “I have some news, but first, how are you doing?”

Lexie shivered despite the warmth of the room, pulling her hands from his to wrap them around her middle. “I got an all clear from the nurse for now, but they'll give me a full checkup once we reach the island. Just in case.”

Shaun shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “I didn't mean your health, Lexie.”

She shrugged and smiled at him under her eyelashes. “I know. I guess I'm all right, but there are still a few things I don't understand. Like, how did you find me?”

“Parsons's GPS tracking program helped, but so did this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a delicate, silver object. He took Lexie's hand back and dropped her silver Nikki bracelet into the center. “Took a cue from the missing girls and the earring, did you?”

Lexie grinned and clasped her fingers around the bracelet. “I thought it might help you to know I didn't leave on my own.”

“You thought right.”

“But what about Reed? Parsons said he'd come after you to take care of things.”

“In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of durable. Takes a lot to keep this lumberjack down.” He winked and tugged at the corner of his plaid shirt. “Yeah, I know that's what you've been thinking.”

Lexie laughed and shifted her position to lay her head on Shaun's shoulder. “Just because you have terrible fashion sense—or just a bad ability to disguise yourself, I haven't quite figured that out—doesn't mean I like you any less.”

“Oh?” Shaun pulled away, forcing Lexie to lift her head. “Is that an admission I hear? You actually like me? To what do I owe this revelation?”

Lexie rolled her eyes, though her smile remained. “Don't count your chickens, Lane. I just can't believe this is over.”

His grin returned, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Everything except for a few loose ends, it seems.”

“Loose ends?” It was Lexie's turn to pull away from him. “Whatever on earth do you mean by that?”

He cleared his throat, trusting God for the right words to say. “Your sister. She's alive and has been under—all right, I'll just say it—CIA protection for a number of years. It would've been too risky to allow her to contact her family, but I imagine you'll hear from her soon.”

Lexie's jaw dropped and she gasped, her eyes immediately filling with tears. “You can't be serious.”

He nodded, and that was all the confirmation she needed. He drew her close again and let the waves of emotion carry her away. After a time, she lifted her head, a shy smile curving the corners of her rosy lips. “So, now what? Where does this leave us?”

Shaun frowned in confusion before recognizing the true, unspoken question behind her words. “That's the other loose end. You and me. But I'm ready to figure it out. With you, Lexie. Only you.”

Lexie's cheeks turned pink as Shaun planted a kiss on the crown of her head. She laid her head back on Shaun's shoulder, releasing a sigh of contentment that brought a wave of pure joy to Shaun's heart. “If that's the only loose end left to make sense of? I'm okay with that. I trust you.”