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There was another sound. A buzzing. Mac turned and searched the horizon. There. It was a boat coming straight at them. Did she raise her arms and wave for help? If she did, Ainsley could still shoot her.
Ainsley turned and saw the boat coming. He gunned the engines and took off.
The boat continued coming. Mac raised her arms in the air and started waving them frantically.
The boat, an RHIB, had a spotlight that was dancing over the waves. It hit her square in the face. She waved frantically and the boat swerved in her direction. She was going to be saved. She couldn’t believe it. Suddenly, a new sound hit her ear. She turned. Ainsley had turned and was coming back. He was aiming directly at her.Shit! She couldn’t outswim the boat.
Her life depended on who reached her first.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
“Shoot him!” Dane demanded.
“You can’t,” Sinclair yelled. “He doesn’t have Mac on the boat. If you shoot him, he’ll claim he was just coming out here to help Mac and you shot an unarmed man.”
“But she can testify that he kidnapped her.”
Sinclair said, “Only if she survives.” He turned to Cass. “Do not shoot Ainsley unless you see a gun in his hand. We need to get Mac before he does.”
They were getting closer, but it was going to be tight. Dane’s heart was in his throat. This could not go wrong. They were this close to saving Mac.
Dane watched helplessly as they both zoomed toward the target. Mac tried to swim toward them, but Ainsley adjusted. “He’s not going to shoot her. He’s going to hit her!”
Cain stared at Dane and then back at Ainsley. “Fuck. You’re right. And without her to testify against him, he gets off. He’ll tell them he was trying to help her and accidentally hit her with the boat. It’s dark and very hard to see out here.”
He turned to Cass. “Wait until the last possible moment and then take him out.”
“No. Sinclair is right. Scuttle the boat,” Dane demanded.
“What?” Cass looked at him as if he were crazy.
Dane moved on deck to brace himself and raised his weapon. “If we all shoot at the hull below the water line it will slow him down. We’ll figure the rest out later.”
Cain nodded, and the entire team lined up on the RHIB and took aim.
“Mac, please keep your head down,” Dane murmured before they opened fire, peppering the hull of Casper’s boat. Chunks of fiberglass flew, and the boat started to slow. They were coming up fast on Mac. Ainsley had ducked at first but now realized what they were doing. He gunned the engines, but with the water pouring in, the boat was seriously slowing down.
Dane stopped shooting and picked up the bullhorn. “It’s over, Ainsley,” he hollered. They started slowing down. Mac was just off their port side. The driver brought the RHIB down to a crawl so they could reach out and grab Mac.
Dane handed the bullhorn off to Cain. He leaned over and reached for Mac.
“Thank God!” she said as she reached for his hands. Bullets sprayed the water, and she disappeared. Dane fell back. Dropping his weapon, he dove in the water while his teammates fired on Ainsley. Ainsley took more rounds than could be counted full-on in the chest. He fell into the water.
Where the hell was Mac? Dane looked around, but the water was dark. He couldn’t see anything. He surfaced. “Mac!” He yelled again. “Mac!” Nothing. He dove under again, searching frantically. Where the hell was she?
Then he saw her. She was floating about four feet under the surface. He dove, wrapped an arm over her chest and gripped under her armpit, then kicked like hell toward the moonlight shining above. Jace and Cass helped get her into the boat. Cass immediately started working on Mac as Jace and Sinclair helped Dane into the boat.
“C’mon, Mac. Breathe,” Cass begged and then went back to mouth-to-mouth. She was doing chest compressions when Mac suddenly started choking. They rolled her over, and she spewed water.
“Mac, open your eyes,” Dane demanded.
Mac’s eyelids fluttered, and then she looked up at him.
He’d never been so happy to see those hazel eyes in all his life. “Are you okay? Where did he get you?”
She stared at him. “Ainsley,” she mumbled.
“He’s dead. We’ve called for backup.”
