Page 49 of The Deadly Shallows

“Okay.” Noah lifted his chin at Logan. “You ready?”

“Sure. Let me grab my bag,” Logan said, lifting the worn brown leather satchel that housed his sketch pad and pencils.

Noah exhaled. He hated to put Brooke back in the headspace of recalling the men trying to kill her. But with Logan’s artistic skills, they’d hopefully have an accurate face to ID—at least for the man named Saul.

“Thanks, Caleb,” he said as he, Finn, and Logan headed into the hall and took the handful of steps to Brooke’s room.

“Knock, knock,” Noah said, rapping on the door.

No answer. No sound of his sister’s or Brooke’s voices. And Gabby definitely took after their mom with a volume setting stuck on ten.

His muscles grew taut.

Finn cracked the door and stuck his head in. “Hey, Gabs?”

Nothing.

Noah’s chest compressed, wresting the air from his lungs. He strode fully into the room, only to find it empty.

Dwayne finally had time to deal with Ted, though keeping him waiting all day had its perks. The kid had been nervous the entire time. Sulking about when he thought Dwayne wasn’t watching. But didn’t his men understand he was always watching? He took a sharp inhale. His men.

They were his, but under provision by the boss. And if they didn’t get this debacle taken care of ASAP, it’d be all their heads.

He looked at the clock in the space he’d claimed for his office, as poor of an excuse for one as it was. But it had four walls and served its purpose.

Ted had two minutes to be on time. The second hand clicked and clicked again. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. One minute.

A rap rattled the old door on its hinges.

“Enter.”

Ted stepped in and closed the door uneasily behind him.

So he was uneasy? Good. He’d screwed up. So much so, it could threaten their primary objective. Years of preparation nearly undone at the two fools’ hands.

Dwayne signaled the scrawny man in. Six feet and a featherweight, he’d always come through until now, and that was the only reason he was still breathing.

“You want to tell me what happened?”

Ted swallowed, his protruding Adam’s apple bobbing in his thin, pale neck.

A neck Dwayne would snap in a second if he screwed up again.

“We were headed out in the boat. I told Saul to row, but he had the girl do it. I waited for the right moment and pulled my gun on Saul. He lunged at me, and it fired in the air. He knocked me back on the girl. I got up, we struggled, then she nailed us with the oar. While we were scrambling to get up, she jumped in the water.”

“Continue,” Dwayne said, stuffing a wad of dip into his lip.

Ted rubbed his flannel-covered arm. “We looked for her, shooting into the water, but she stayed under for a long time. I started rowing, and we finally saw her scrambling up the riverbank. Saul jumped out and ran after her. By the time I pulled the boat ashore, he had already disappeared into the trees.”

Dwayne arched his brows, indicating for Ted to lay it all out on the table.

“Saul was shooting at her. I was a ways behind. When we got to the top of a hill, she’d flagged down a semi, followed by a long line of construction vehicles. Too many witnesses to do anything. Saul and I returned to the boat, and when we were far enough out of sight, I killed him with a punch to the windpipe and dumped him in the shallows. I ditched the boat and worked my way back along the far shore.”

“Did she see your face?”

“I don’t think so. I was pretty far back.”

Dwayne sat forward, the old metal desk chair creaking as he swiveled to face Ted head on. “You don’t think so? Son, this is a yes or no answer.”