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“What?!” Lancelot said.
“I see Alicia.”
“Sylvia,” Oscar said. “Do you see my sister?”
“No.” There was heartbreak in Hugo’s voice, though Lancelot could tell he was trying to control his emotions.
“What’s Alicia doing?” Lancelot asked.
“Taking something, I think it is a…yes, a suitcase, out of the boot.” Hugo sucked in a breath. “She’s looking at the camera! Pull back! Pull back!”
Oscar cursed.
Lancelot spotted a break wide enough for the truck. He resisted the urge to pick up speed. He’d done his share of recon and rescue missions in locations with sandy soil. If he went too fast on sand, the tires would spin out, digging in and trapping the vehicle. Slow and steady was the only way.
“Hugo, when we get there, check the car. Make sure Sylvia’s not in it. I’ll go after Alicia.” Lancelot turned, taking his foot completely off the gas as he left the paved road. He eased between the dunes.
“Hurry!” Hugo demanded.
Lancelot ignored him, ignored the way adrenaline and emotions were making his fingers tremble. Once they were through the dunes, onto the hard-packed sand of the beach proper, he picked up speed.
Lancelot spotted Alicia’s vehicle at the same time as she spotted them.
Alicia abandoned her bag in favor of running down the short pier.
Lancelot slammed on the brakes, all three men lurching forward. He grabbed one of his guns and leapt out of the driver’s seat almost simultaneously with throwing the car in park.
Within a second after the car came to a halt, all three of them were out. Lancelot kept his eyes on Alicia, who was less than ten meters away. If this were a simple assassination mission, it would be over. She was an easy target. He lifted his gun. If he could take out her leg…
He couldn’t risk it. If he’d had a sniper rifle, and enough time to factor in the wind, the way the dock bobbed, and the fact that she was moving, he would have taken the shot, confident he would incapacitate her but not kill her. He didn’t have that kind of time or stability. Firing a hand gun at a moving target, while he himself was in motion, was a situation with too many factors he wasn’t controlling. Shooting out her knee or thigh without careful preparation could result it hitting her femoral artery. She’d die before he got any information.
Dammit, he needed her alive.
Needed her alive because she’d taken Sylvia.
Sylvia, who had given her trust and stolen his heart…
No! He needed Alicia alive because his mission was to torture information out of her.
Oh, he had plans for torturing this bitch.
Alicia was untying the boat even as she leapt aboard.
Lancelot was on the pier in a flash, Hugo following his command to check the car. He prayed his partner would find Sylvia safely inside. If she was on the boat…
He raced along the pier as the boat engine fired to life, sensing Oscar was right behind him.
The boat was a few feet from the pier by the time he reached the end. Lancelot never broke stride, not even for a second.
One moment, his feet were pounding along the rickety boards, the next he was airborne.
Reaching out when it became apparent he wasn’t going to make it, he dropped the gun into the ocean and managed to grab hold of the low bar at the very back of the boat. Mercifully, the fishing boat’s motor was under the vessel, rather than at the rear, or he’d be ground to fish food at the moment.
Even so, the boat picked up speed. Alicia was trying to shake him loose.
Lancelot’s muscles bunched as he fought to find purchase, his grip slipping on the slick railing. His lower body was flapping like a flag in a hurricane along the surface of the water, the smack of the water against his legs sending bolts of pain along his nerves.
With every ounce of strength he had, he managed to pull himself forward—the hardest pull-up of his life—and hook one arm over the railing. Then he threw the other arm over the metal bar and managed to drag more and more of his body out of the chilly water. Once he’d managed to draw his chest over the railing, it became easier to hoist himself onto the low shelf at the back of the boat where fishermen no doubt kept their coolers.
