Spy Games (Tarnished Heroes #1)(92)

“Geronimo!” Noah whooped.

Rand covered his head not a moment too soon. Noah landed with a bang on the floor of the small craft, his arm smacking Rand across the shoulders.

“Got him,” Matt said.

“Go! Go!” Noah chanted.

Rand leaned over the side of the boat and grabbed the fallen man with Matt, hauling him up into the boat as the engine shot them forward. The man sputtered, water and blood pooling in the bottom of the boat.

“What the…I know you.” Rand stared down into the face of a man who was supposed to already be dead.

“Who is he?” Matt asked.

“Charlie. He’s one of us. He…”

The pieces clicked together.

Sarah’s injury. Charlie would have been close. Plus, they’d been more than coworkers at once. And he’d used her. Sold her out. Burned her. And for what?

Charlie’s eyes rolled around. He gasped for breath.

“Where are they taking her, you son of a bitch?” Rand grabbed Charlie by the front of his shirt and shook him.

Charlie choked up water and sputtered.

“He’s probably in shock from the fall. It’s just a shoulder shot,” Matt yelled over the roar of the engine. “Here.”

Matt looped a set of plastic restraints over Charlie’s wrists, binding them together, then another pair secured him to the bench support of the boat. This dead man wasn’t going anywhere in this lifetime.

“I’m going to do something stupid,” Noah called back.

“Oh, shit.” Matt gripped the rail with his one hand.

“Hold on,” Andy yelled.

Rand glanced up. They were closing in on the bigger ship with at least twice the speed. “Fuck.” He gripped the bench and the back of the captain’s chair. Noah wouldn’t…

“Prepare to board,” Noah yelled over his shoulder.

Rand’s stomach dropped moments before Noah swerved, crashing into the other boat.

The impact sent Rand and Matt flying across to the other bench. Charlie rolled to his side.

Andy recovered first, leaping from the passenger seat to the prow of the speedboat and up onto the cruising ship. Rand and Noah scrambled after him, while Matt brought up the rear. They made it up and over the railing before their prey realized what was happening.

Sarah clung to the rail, staring at him with wide eyes. Rand didn’t dare fire off a shot, not with her right there.

Andy moved in first, zeroing in on the injured Wei. Rand lunged forward, Noah keeping pace with him. The first man in his path wasn’t even armed. He grappled with Rand with one hand, the other hanging uselessly at his side. Rand used his greater size and muscle to hurl the smaller man off the boat.

The fewer people on board, the less threat to Sarah.

He turned, sensing danger at his back, and came face to face with Wang Ping. The man fired off the six-shooter in his hand. The bullet knocked the air out of Rand. He staggered back a step, but the Kevlar did its job.

Rand lunged forward, grasping the son of a bitch by the lapels. A thin, high-pitched scream pierced the din of noise, then a splash.

Sarah!

Rand decked the suit-wearing piece of shit in the face and kicked his legs out from under him.

A siren blared not too far away. The Coast Guard’s larger vessel came into view.

Andy and Wei were locked, hand-to-hand at the stern of the ship. The party boat lurched, a larger wave rolling under them. They went over the side of the rail.

Rand reached the last spot he’d seen Sarah, but she wasn’t there anymore.

The Coast Guard ship’s speaker blared a “prepare for boarding” warning, but all Rand heard was the lack of a scream or a call for help. No sign of Sarah.

“Hands up!”

That order pierced the fog swirling around Rand’s head.

He glanced over his shoulder at the Coast Guard’s gunner mate stationed in the aft of the inflatable boat alongside the Chinese escape ship.

Sorry, buddy.

Rand jumped overboard, diving into the choppy water with one thing on his mind: finding Sarah alive.

He peered through the murky waters of the Potomac, made worse by the rain and three boats overhead. The dappled light cast strange shadows on the depths below.

Rand twisted, turning left and right, seeking any sort of movement. A bit of light glinted off something metallic in the corner of his eye. He cupped the water, turning himself.

There.

The briefcase. That damn, stupid thing.

Sarah had both arms wrapped around it and kicked toward the surface, but didn’t make it far.

He propelled himself toward her, swimming through the current pushing them apart until he reached her struggling form.

Rand wrapped an arm around her and kicked. She held onto the case, and he pulled them toward the surface.

Damn, but it shouldn’t be this hard.

His lungs burned, and Sarah squirmed. She’d been under longer than him. He focused on the light ahead, the space between two boats, and kicked for all he was worth.

They broke the surface to a cacophony of yelling, sirens, and the chugging engine of the speedboat now permanently lodged in the prow of the party vessel.

Sarah clung to him, coughing water. Their legs bumped together as they treaded water.

She was alive.

They’d made it.

…

Sarah wasn’t sure she’d ever be warm again, despite dry clothes and the blanket wrapped around her.