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He held up a finger and nodded, which she took to mean they should stay quiet because the other guy was approaching. She dared a quick glance around the cart and saw him five feet away. She could easily take him out at this distance, but she hoped the leader might call him back.
The wail of a siren came faintly to her ears. There must have been a Coast Guard boat in the area. The approaching man’s head snapped toward the sound, and he squinted in the dark toward the boat lights heading their way.
“We’d better get out of here!” he called to the leader. “I think it’s a police boat. Or the Coast Guard.”
The leader put down his phone and gestured to him. “Go, go!”
They both dashed for the ladder and disappeared over the boat’s railing. Annie leaped to her feet and rushed for the ladder as well. She needed some way to identify the men, but she saw no registration numbers on the boat’s port side.
As it sped off into the night, she slammed her palm against the railing. Who were they, and what did they want with her?
Fourteen
Their evening had come to an unexpected end. Jon noticed Annie’s hands trembled a little as she paced the lot in the marina. At least they were all in one piece with no one injured or worse. It felt appropriate that clouds had blotted out the moonlight just as the night’s events had overlaid their fun time together with the threat of violence.
Mason ended a call on his phone and took Annie’s arm, forcing her to stay in one place. “Let’s have a seat on the benches. Do you need some coffee or something stronger?”
She waved off his concern and sank onto a bench overlooking the lapping waves. The scent of fuel overpowered that of the lake. “I’m fine.”
Jon stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. The tension radiating through her muscles to his fingers was palpable, and he rubbed his thumbs over the tightness. “It’s all over.”
Mason took out his pen and notebook. “Okay, go over everything you heard. Let’s start with you, Jon.”
Jon recounted the initial boarding and how the guns and masks had clued them in to hide right away. “Annie was getting out her gun and didn’t hear the leader demand to know whereto find the female ranger. It had to have been Annie they were looking for.”
“Huh,” Mason said. “Why would gunmen be searching for you, Annie?”
“Could it have to do with Glenn’s escape? Maybe his men are trying to make sure I don’t testify. And I received that weird voice-distorting call that warned me to stop digging.”
Mason tapped his pen on the page. “Your main area of focus has been investigating Glenn’s friends and acquaintances. Maybe someone wants to stop that.”
“They came prepared with big assault rifles,” Jon said. “They knew their stuff and were quick to run when they heard your siren.”
“Were there any identifiers you could give me on them?”
Annie moved restlessly under Jon’s hands. “One was six-two or so. He wore a hoodie and a ski mask so I can’t even tell you the hair color, but he was thin, not bulky at all. Big feet. The other guy was about six foot and more slender. Same ski mask though. It had to be hot wearing that stuff. And he wore some kind of hat, but I couldn’t tell if it was the one Shainya mentioned. Let me see that picture you took, Jon.”
He handed her his phone and she enlarged the photo. “I think that might be the hat. Can we have Shainya take a look?”
Mason nodded as she talked. “I’ll shoot it over to her phone. How about as their boat approached? Any details?”
“It was too dark, and their lights were blinding,” Jon said. “They threw on floodlights as they reached the catamaran. The captain handled things well. He tried to calm the men while we prepared to take on the attackers. They had heavy firepower with their guns though. It might not have turned out so well if you hadn’t come so quickly.”
“Good thing you had a chance to let me know.” He put his pen and pad away. “This isn’t your investigation, Annie, not really. You have a daughter to raise, so I’m letting you take a step back.”
Jon knew how that offer would end. The woman he loved didn’t seem to know the meaning of retreat. When her shoulders tensed, he gave a gentle squeeze.
Annie shook her head. “I want to see this thing through to the end. You need my help, Mason. This is a big web of crime. We don’t know where it’s going to lead, and you need as many of us poking around as possible.”
“I’m not saying you haven’t been an asset, but in the end, it’s my job—not yours.”
Her chin came up. “I’m not quitting. I’ll continue poking around on my own if you lock me out of the investigation.”
“I’m not doing that, but I want you to think about Kylie and all you have to lose here.”
“I’m not living my life in fear. When it’s my time, nothing I do will change what God has set in his Book of Life. How many times does the Bible say ‘Fear not’? Enough times that we know God doesn’t want us to cower in our homes. And I’m not going to do it. What kind of example would that be for Kylie? I want to model courage, not cowardice.”
Her impassioned speech softened Mason’s granite expression. “Just know I won’t think less of you if you decide to back away.” He put his pen and notepad back in his pocket. “The captain didn’t recognize the men or the boat either. All we can do is keep on with our investigation and follow through on finding Hussert. Maybe once we trace this all the way back, we’ll know why tonight happened.”
