Page 95 of Shallow Remains

She got back to work, shoving down the terror crowding the back of her brain. Turning all her focus to breaking through the firewall.

Precious minutes passed before the program opened. “I’m in,” she blurted, relief flooding her rigid body.

Eve moved in closer to access a file named “Backup” and opened it. A line of symbols and code Maddy had never seen before came up. “Enter the third line from the top into the program and decrypt it.”

Maddy did as she was told. The lines condensed into one and became a row of numbers with the preface CH. She recognized it instantly as an IBAN.

A numbered bank account.

“Finally.” Eve smirked as she entered the account number into an app on her phone.

Maddy couldn’t see what she was doing, but she wasn’t stupid. She and Blaine worked with this kind of security all the time. Eve must have had all the security information for the account and was transferring money. Maddy didn’t know where the money had come from, but she was betting it wasn’t a small amount.

Of course, this was about money. This lunatic claimed it was about the man she’d loved, but in reality she was just a greedy asshole.

She stared at the account number, memorizing it. Even though she was probably down to her final few minutes on this earth. As soon as the transfer went through there was no reason for Eve to keep her alive. Eve would want to get rid of her and run before anyone found them.

She glanced at the pistol in Eve’s other hand, her jaw trembling. Praying for a clean shot through the back of the skull rather than a hole somewhere else to bleed out from.

She thought of Lachlan, that he might be racing toward her. She’d done everything she could to save him. But his fate was out of her control now too.

Eve reached out and slammed the laptop shut. “Let’s go. Your boyfriend’s gonna be here soon.” She grabbed Maddy by the back of the shirt and hauled her out of the chair, jamming the pistol against her ribs.

Cold rain soaked them on the trek back to the boat. Numbness closed in, her body moving on autopilot. Her brain felt sluggish. Out of ideas and unable to accept that she was about to die.

The entire way down the wooden steps, Maddy kept trying to come up with a way she could warn Lachlan before Eve killed her. The truck bomb would have been reported immediately.

Blaine knew Elliot had been adept with explosives. If he’d received her message and found out about the bomb, he would put the pieces together about Eve and hopefully know there could be another device.

But if he hadn’t received the message, it was possible no one knew she was missing yet. Maybe Lachlan didn’t know. Maybe Eve was wrong and he wasn’t coming this way.

She didn’t know what to think or believe anymore.

The tide was moving in, filling the gaps between the boulders at the foot of the stairs and turning them into large tidal pools. They splashed through them, weaving their way back to the boat.

Eve shoved her into it. Maddy threw out her hands to break her fall, scraping her palms on the textured surface of the deck. She quickly got to her feet, faced Eve warily as she got in and took control of the helm, still aiming the pistol at her.

Maddy glared back, anger burning through the shock. Eve had the money. Why not just kill her now? “Where are we going?” she finally blurted when she couldn’t stand it a moment longer.

“To see your boyfriend.”

What was she planning? She wanted to kill her in front of him? “Leave him alone. You got what you wanted.”

“Shut up.”

“I did what you asked. Do what you want with me, but leave him alone.”

“How sweet,” Eve sneered, and started the engine. “But the money is only part of what I’m after.”

A terrible foreboding slid through her. She started breathing faster. “What else do you want?”

Eve looked back at her with a satisfied smile and ice in her eyes. “For you to watch him die before I kill you.”

Grey grabbed his duffel from the back of his truck and ran to the empty soccer field at the edge of town that Rafe and his deputies had cleared. As soon as his crew had put the fire out at the marina, he’d raced home to get his gear and come up here as fast as he could.

“Ready?” Rafe was dressed in tactical gear and holding a rifle across his body, his sidearm holstered on his right thigh.

“More than.” They were Maddy’s best chance—and Lachlan’s only backup.