Falling Light (Game of Shadows #2)(60)

And it did.

Slowly, very slowly, the bone began to grow back over the jagged holes left by the bullet. Tears blurred her eyes. She didn’t know if she cried from gratitude or grief. She wiped her face on the rough sleeve of the poncho.

The last thing she did was focus on the skin at his scalp, both entry and exit. She didn’t take a real breath until the wound had sealed over. Then she slumped.

Nicholas formed in front of her again. She looked up at the ghost, her eyes raw.

Yes, he said.

Chapter Twenty-one

AFTER RETRIEVING JERRY and Jamie’s blue and white cooler of water bottles and packaged snacks, Michael untied the cords that held the two boats together and pushed away from the smaller one. He shoved a water bottle at Jerry, who looked shell-shocked.

“Drink,” he said.

The older man obeyed. His hands shook.

Taking the helm again, Michael accelerated away. In the back of his mind, where he kept a tally of estimates, he guessed they probably had been stationary for around five minutes. “The simplest thing will be if you and Jamie come back to the island with us.”

“No,” said Jerry. “Thank you, but we need to get to Sara and make sure that she’s all right.”

Sara, Jamie’s mother, lived and worked in Muskegon. Michael’s jaw tightened. Jerry was right to be concerned. He thought through their options, came to a decision and turned toward Charlevoix. Jerry lived roughly twenty minutes outside of the city, traveling by car, but they could reach it a lot quicker by boat.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “We’ll get close enough to Charlevoix that I can swim the rest of the distance into the docks. You’ll pilot out to deep water. I’ll get my boat and meet up with you. Then you and Jamie can take this one. I have weapons, money and a sat phone.” He nodded to the black canvas bag that he had set in the corner. “You can go to one of our safe houses and wait there until you hear from us. You’re not his main focus. He’s too busy to spend too much time searching, if we make it difficult enough to find you. And in a week or two, we can hope that it won’t matter anymore.”

Jerry’s gaze focused on the bag. “Sara’s probably on her way home from work at the bank. I need to call and tell her not to go home.”

“Keep the call brief. Don’t explain or identify yourself by name. She’ll recognize your voice. Just set a place to meet. Make sure it’s somewhere that you are both familiar with, but don’t mention it by name or talk about directions. Then hang up.”

Jerry knelt and dug through the bag until he found the phone. Then he paused as he held it. “What about Charlevoix? Won’t they be watching the ports?”

“They are,” said Michael. “But they should be focused on watching the shore. They won’t be expecting me to swim in alone underwater. I’ll slip onto the boat and take it out before anybody notices.”

Probably. Projecting the null space would help with his chances. It was always a matter of weighing risks.

Jerry called his daughter. Michael tuned out of the brief, frantic conversation. Instead he thought about what was happening below. Mary hadn’t contacted him or surfaced, which meant that Jamie was in a bad way but hopefully salvageable. With luck, she would be done with healing him by the time they had to split up.

If he were a kind and generous man, he would give Jerry and Jamie his sleek, fast cigarette boat.

He wasn’t a kind and generous man. He had helped to rescue them from certain death, and he would give them a fighting chance. That would have to be good enough.

The late afternoon was beautiful on the lake. The silver-topped sapphire water looked limitless, as did the sky. Violence and gun battles seemed a lifetime away, whereas he knew better. They were never a lifetime away. They were always in this lifetime. He carried them with him wherever he went.

When they were about a third of a mile out from the city, he said, “This is as close as we should get. Take the wheel and head out exactly due west. Keep the speed steady, but don’t go too fast or do anything else that might call attention to you. If I don’t catch up with you in a half an hour, go straight to the island. Understand?”

Jerry nodded, his craggy face determined. “Just get back to us in a half an hour.”

“I will.” He unlaced his combat boots and toed them off. Then he took several deep, rapid breaths, held the last one and dove over the side.

The water was bitingly cold. He ignored it and swam hard, keeping the null space firmly around him. After a few minutes, his body temperature spiked from the exertion, which made the cold swim much easier to tolerate.

The psychic realm felt as unsettled as it had yesterday. Things ghosted along the periphery of his senses, and he felt creatures roaming up ahead. After swimming roughly half the distance, he eased to the surface for a fresh breath of air and a quick look around. He adjusted his course to aim straight for the docks and slipped underwater again.

He rented a slip for the boat in the Charlevoix City Marina under a fictitious name. The slip lay close to the marina exit. While he was certain that watchers had been stationed at Charlevoix, their job was made more challenging by the fact that the day was so sunny and beautiful.

Traffic was heavy on the water with all kinds of pleasure craft. The most dangerous part of the swim was making sure that he kept well below the hulls and propellers of passing boats and Jet Skis.