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“Zeke tried to kill me.”
Simon nodded. “I thought he just might. He hated dirty cops.” He held out his hand. “I’ll take the disk now.”
“Without the disk, I will always be a hunted man,” Landry said.
“But you’ll be alive.”
“Will I?” Landry said with a laugh. “You can’t let me live. You know I’ll go to the cops, the feds, I’ll tell them about you faking your death. How did you do that anyway?”
“It’s all about money. You pay the right guys the right amount and they will find a homeless guy your size, even get him a tattoo just like yours,” Simon said with a grin as he lifted his shirt, exposing a dragon tattoo that curled around his side. “All you need is two not real bright goons to help you fake your death and tell their boss they killed you.”
“T and Worm. So why didn’t you go back and get the painting and the disk that night then?”
Simon sighed. “It took a while to convince them they would be better off playing on my team. By then it was morning and I needed to lay low. After all, I was dead. But I knew if I sent the info to Freddy D. he’d send you to get the disk. And if I could depend on anyone to get it, it would be you.” He wiggled the fingers of his outstretched hand. “Come on, Landry. The disk for your life and your girlfriend’s here.”
“You’re the one who hired Blossom—or whatever her name was.”
Simon smiled. “What happened to her anyway? I really thought I’d be hearing from her and not have to take things into my own hands, so to speak. Doesn’t matter. You can give me the disk or I can take it off your body. Which is it going to be?”
The gunshot startled Willa, bringing her out of her lethargy as she saw the bullet punch the water’s surface next to the boat.
“Landry!” she cried, afraid he’d been hit.
“It’s okay, darlin’,” he said, not looking at her. “You want the disk, Simon. Fine. But let her go. I’ll start the boat. You let her get in and leave. Then I will give you the disk.”
Simon smiled. “So it’s like that, is it?”
Landry reached back and pulled the cord on the motor. The air filled with the throb of the engine. Holding up his hands, Landry stepped from the boat and reached for Willa’s hand, his gaze meeting hers.
She saw the warning, felt it in his body as he drew her to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly for a moment before helping her into the boat. She stood in the boat, numb from the cold, the terror, the exhaustion.
“You can drive a boat, can’t you? Keep land in sight until you reach a town,” he said. “Keep going.” He shoved the boat out.
She swayed and almost fell as the boat drifted slowly away from the dock. She steadied herself as she saw Landry reach in his pocket for the disk. No.
She reached into her pocket for the gun.
It was gone.
Landry. He’d taken it. He’d known she would try to kill Simon. And probably fail.
She was floating away, the motor on the boat idling. Did Landry really believe that Simon would let him go? Let her go, as well? Simon would come after her. She and Landry knew he was alive. He couldn’t let either of them live.
Landry started to hand Simon the disk.
She grabbed the handle on the motor, spinning it around as she’d seen Gator do, and hit the throttle. The bow of the boat shot up. She couldn’t see the pier but she heard a startled sound come from it as the boat roared toward the two men.
The bow hit the pier and sent a shockwave through her as it glanced off throwing her to the side. As she fell she heard the pop of a gun going off. It was the last thing she remembered before waking up in Landry’s arms.
EPILOGUE
Landry walked out of the police station, stopping on the steps to breathe in the warm Florida morning. He was free. Free of false charges. Free of being an undercover cop.
He wasn’t sure how he felt yet. Everything that had happened had taken its toll on him. He wasn’t sure he would ever get over Zeke’s death. Or Simon’s for that matter. Landry had ended up killing them both. They’d been his partners. He’d trusted them.
It had taken days to make his statement. Thank God for the disk that proved that Simon was the cop who’d gone bad—not Landry. Not Zeke. It was little consolation. A lot of people had died unnecessarily, Zeke among them.
The body of Blossom—real name Angela Warren—was brought up from the bottom of the pool on Cape Diablo. The police found that part of the baggy black garb she’d been wearing as her Blossom disguise had gotten caught on a large limb that had fallen into the pool.
