The Unrelenting Tide (Islands of Intrigue: San Juans - Christian Romantic Suspense) (25 page)

The truth of Randy’s words registered. The shot
had
come from the north and from where Randy had been the house would have totally blocked his view of the two officers who were up near Honey’s.

Donny blinked and something hardened in his features.

Her face blanched.

“Devynne!” Panic laced Carcen’s call as he obviously made the connection she’d just made.

Sanchez swore. “This ends now!” He bolted back toward the sliding doors, his gun raising.

“Carcen!” Devynne screamed.

Marissa started to cry and shoved her face into the crook of Devynne’s neck.

Randy dove to his right. His hand snatched for the pistol he’d laid down moments earlier.

Donny’s gun belched red flame as he burst out the door.

Randy’s body jerked backward. Tumbled off the first tier of her back yard. Landed next to the fire pit, still and unmoving.

“No!”Carcen dropped to one knee, swinging his Glock toward Donny as he barked, “Donny! Drop your weapo—”

“Not a chance!” His expression glacial, the young officer kicked out. The sole of his boot connected with Carcen’s wrist. Carcen grunted in pain even as his gun careened into the darkness.

Carcen’s hand immediately dropped toward his ankle.

“Ah, ah, ah!” Donny waved the gun in Carcen’s face and he stilled. “You take that back-up piece you carry out nice and slow using two fingers. So much as a twitch and you’re a goner.”

“Mommy, what’s happening?”

“Shhhh.” Devynne put Marissa back in the closet. “Stay here, okay?”

“Mommy—!”

“—I’ll be back I promise.” She had to help Carcen. Devynne flicked on the closet light but pulled the door closed.

She could almost see defeat settle over Carcen’s shoulders as he gingerly pulled the pistol from his ankle holster and tossed it over the deck’s edge.

Gun leveled at Carcen’s head, Donny clearly held all the power now. And there wasn’t even a hint of panic in his eyes. Just cold calculation.

Carcen slowly lifted his hands to shoulder height, palms out, his focus zipping from Donny’s gun, to Randy’s body, to the open doorway, and back.

He was unprotected!

The red splash of her laser cut through the night and danced on Donny’s chest before she even realized she’d pulled out the .38 and stepped into the doorway.

“There you are. I was afraid you might have run off.” Some of the tension seemed to ease from Donny’s shoulders. “Shania, darling, I suggest you put that little ol’ Smith and Wesson down before your
friend
here gets hurt because of it.”

Devynne’s mouth had about as much moisture as the cotton batting on her sewing table. One shot and she could take him out. The man she loved might be killed if she didn’t do something.

She swallowed.
Loved
? Yes. Try as she had to fight it, she loved Carcen.

God what do I do
? A verse from the book of John flashed through her mind.

Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends
…

Suddenly she knew a little of what Kent must have felt that day at Island Grocers. She would do anything to keep Carcen and Marissa safe.
Anything
. Even if it meant giving her life. Or taking one… Her finger tightened on the trigger.

But killing him in cold blood from the shadows wasn’t right either. She’d almost shot an innocent man only moments ago. She eased off on the pressure.

How did she reconcile putting her life on the line for those she loved with other verses about not killing or paying back wrong for wrong when one seemed diabolically opposite the other in this situation? How did she do the one without doing the other when a madman was holding a gun to her loved one’s head? If she could take him out, wasn’t that the better choice to make? Yes. But not like this. Not without giving him a chance to rely on the justice system first.

She didn’t move, but kept her aim centered and steady on his chest. “Whatever your beef is, Donny, it’s with me, not with Carcen. Let him come in the house and you and I can go wherever you want to.”

Carcen darted her a glance. “Devynne…” There was a low note of incredulity and anger in his tone.

Donny barked a laugh. “Wish I could believe you. I really do. But you’ve spent a lot of years ignoring me. After awhile a fellow kind of gets the message, you know?”

“Ignoring you? I never met you before Dawson attacked me.”

Donny sighed. “You’re making my point for me, darlin’.”

She shrugged away the shiver his endearment elicited. “I don’t understand?”

Donny’s gaze skittered toward her before he snapped it back to Carcen. “I knew the first time we flew to South America together you were my destiny.”

“South Amer—” She felt her jaw go slack. “You worked on
Genesis Expedition
?”

“You really don’t remember me?” Hurt slithered through his words. “I was your body guard, a job I’ve maintained despite getting no pay for the past several years, you should know.” Donny’s attention remained fixed on Carcen, even though he was talking to her. “I’m afraid we aren’t going to be able to keep your lover-boy around. Nothing should be allowed to come between us. Not after all I’ve done for you.”

Devynne’s heart thrashed as though trying to escape her chest. “Don’t shoot him, Donny. I don’t want to shoot you. Let’s just leave and get away together, you and me.”

Carcen’s feet shifted and his eyes narrowed.

Sanchez kept his gun trained on Carcen, but turned a soulful look toward her. “Maybe you could change. Do you think you could learn to love me?”

Devynne forced every acting lesson she’d ever taken to the fore. “I don’t know, Donny. To be honest you haven’t given me a lot of chances to get to know you. But I’m willing to give it a shot. What do you say we get out of here?”

“Devynne!”

She ignored Carcen’s aggravated snap and stepped out onto the lighted deck being sure to stay back out of Donny’s reach. The last thing they needed was for him to get his hands on their only remaining means of protection.

She just needed to distract him long enough to keep Carcen and Marissa safe.
Think
! She eased a little further out. “What do you say? Where should we go?”

“Dev, don’t—”

“Stop it! Step back right now or I will shoot him, I swear!”

With a quick hop, she placed herself directly between Carcen and Donny’s gun. “I can’t let you do that. You are going to hav—”

“Mommy I’m scarwed.” Marissa shuffled out the door rubbing red puffy eyes, her blanket clutched haphazardly under one arm.

No
! “Marissa go back!”

But she was too late. Donny snatched up the little girl and clutched her to his chest with one arm, using her as a shield even as his other hand pressed the muzzle of his pistol into her tiny ribcage.

Terror bowled over Devynne with the force of a tsunami. She took a stumbling step back, and only the fact that Carcen caught her by the elbows saved her from falling.

“Don’t shoot, Sanchez!” Carcen thrust her to one side and stepped forward. “You can take me. Do whatever you like. Just don’t hurt her.”

“Mommy?!” Tears magnified Marissa’s eyes and she squirmed for freedom. “I want down! I want my mommy!”

“It’s going to be okay! Just hold still, baby!”

Donny’s cold gaze swung her way. “Put the gun down, Shania!”

Marissa was screaming in terror now.

Devynne complied, lifting her hands in a soothing gesture. “Alright. I’m putting it down.” She bent and tossed the weapon onto the deck between them. “See. Everything’s fine now. Just let her go! Please!”

Using his foot, Donny scooted her .38 behind himself.

Carcen took another step toward him. “Donny just let the little girl go.”

“You stay back!” He shook Marissa so hard her head whip-lashed back and forth. “Shut up! Quit your screaming!”

Marissa only screamed all the harder and kicked her feet as a real tantrum of terror set in. The heel of one foot connected solidly with Donny’s groin.

Donny swore and bent forward slightly, the gun jerking away from Marissa for a moment.

Seizing on the moment Carcen dove at the monster from where he stood.

“I said stay back!” He extended the gun toward Carcen and pulled the trigger.

Carcen’s body seemed to hover mid-air for a moment, and then he crashed onto the deck.

“No!”
Not again
. Devynne dropped to her knees by his side trying to see where he’d been hit. She couldn’t see any abrasion.
Maybe
… and that’s when she saw the puddle of blood seeping out from under his head.

Marissa’s screaming stopped just as suddenly as it had begun and Devynne’s heart nearly seized in her chest. She tore her gaze from Carcen to see what had silenced her daughter. Marissa, little face ashen, slumped dead weight in Sanchez’s arms, her head lolling forward like a rag doll.

Chapter 21

Dear Jesus
! A sob escaped. “Did you—?”

Donny gave a perturbed grimace. “Get over here and get her.”

Devynne scuttled toward him, arms stretched toward the child she’d failed to protect.

Everything seemed to slow as she took Marissa’s limp little body from his arms. She sent a prayer heavenward.
God, do you even care about me here? Living with all this pain, misery and loss? I swore I’d never let myself care for someone again and now…
Her gaze skittered toward Carcen who still hadn’t moved. Another sob escaped even as she sank to her knees and jostled Marissa, trying to wake her. Every thought had to be pulled from a thick sludge that refused to let them go.

Devynne patted Marissa’s cheek. “Marissa honey, come on p-please w-wake up for Mommy.” What had happened to her?

No response.

Had he snapped her neck?

Donny strode to Carcen’s side and prodded him with the toe of his boot.

No response.

And then Marissa moaned.

Oh! Thank you God
! Devynne clasped the little girl to her chest and rocked her. She must have fainted. “Mommy’s here. Everything is going to be alright. I’ve got you.” She rested her chin on top of Marissa’s curls and that’s when she saw Donny point his gun down at Carcen’s prone form.

“Don’t shoot!” Another sob escaped. “Please Donny, don’t shoot him. Let’s just leave him and go. You don’t want to shoot him, Donny.”

Feral malevolence stretched his lips. “Oh, but I do. I really do. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Shania. Kent used to look at you like that.”

Everything in her vision melded into a blur. “Before you shot him?”

He nodded. “I did you a favor. He wasn’t worthy of you.”

“And my sister? Did you do me a favor by getting rid of her too?”

He angled her a look. “She was holding you back. You weren’t going to take that part in
Surf Justice
and you deserved it.”

She gave up trying to stop the tears. “The job required a lot of hours away. My sister needed me.”

He shrugged. “And then she didn’t. I took care of you. And you took the job.”

Her eyes felt gritty and painful when they dropped closed. She didn’t want to watch if he was going to shoot Carcen. “Well, you’ve already taken care of Carcen too. Shooting him again isn’t going to make him any more dead.”

Silence stretched so long she pried her eyes open.

He sniffed and squatted down onto his haunches looking over at her. “What do you say we get out of here? You and I, and the girl if you want… we can go back to California and you can go back to doing what you love, what you were born to do. And…” he shrugged. “I’ll do what I was born to do. Keep you safe.”

A chill ran down her back. No way on earth was she going to let this maniac take care of her and Marissa. But she felt so helpless. Marissa seemed to be breathing easier now that she rested in her arms. But how was she going to get them out of this? How could she get away from him when every law enforcement officer on the island – everyone who could help her – had already been taken out by this madman?

Despair settled over her.
God, what am I going to do
?

Out in the darkness waves sloshed against the dock. And somewhere farther out a fish – probably a porpoise – swam by, because she heard it blow as it crested. Such a beautiful sound. A sound full of life, and expectation. So in contrast to her current situation.

Here on land life bled out, dying, decaying all around her.

Donny’s feral gaze raked her from head to toe in a sick way that made her stomach churn. She clutched Marissa a little closer.
…and the girl if you want…
He didn’t care one bit about Marissa.

But her only solution was to go with the man and then escape him later when she could get them away. She started to stand and that’s when she saw Carcen’s foot move.

He was alive!

She nodded at Donny, suddenly desperate to get him away from here. “Fine, Donny. Let’s go back to California.” She reached her hand out to him, praying he wouldn’t look back because Carcen’s head rolled from one side to the other now. He was waking up. Maybe he could get himself to a hospital and get help. But if he had any hope of living she needed to get Donny away from him now!

Donny had his full attention fixed on her when Carcen’s eyes fluttered open and he moaned.

“What the—” Donny spun around, his gun coming up to bear.

Carcen kicked out with all his might, his boot connecting with Donny’s wrist as it swung around. The gun tumbled across the deck and slid to a stop in front of Devynne.

With a roar, Donny dove toward Carcen, who rolled and smashed an elbow into Donny’s side as the man crashed onto the deck beside him.

“Marissa honey,” she stood the little girl on her feet and gave her an urgent shake, “Mommy needs you to run upstairs to your room and wait for me.”

“Mommy, I’m scawed.”

“I know. But you’ll be safe up there. I have to help Uncle Carcen! Now go!”

With a guttural grunt Donny sprawled onto the deck.

Devynne snatched up the gun as her mind registered Marissa scooting through the doorway into the house.