Page 65 of Trick's Trap

Trick swam toward, his strokes strong and sure. He pulled on Alfonse’s shoulders, relieved to see the man grimace.

Cloudy pain-filled eyes blinked at him.

“I think I dislocated my shoulder,” Alfonse said, a trickle of blood running down from his hairline. Little red droplets sprinkled his face, which was peppered with shards of glass from the windshield.

Trick swore, yelling for Tahlia. She paddled around the boat and he panicked, immediately second-guessing himself. “No! Let’s get as far from it as we can.”

If this was sabotage, there might be a second explosion.

“We have to try to swim to shore.”

Tahlia’s face fell as she turned to the shore, rapidly calculating the distance. “I don’t know if I can make it. I failed the Harvard swim test. I don’t know how to swim real strokes.”

Trick slung an arm under Alfonse, towing him along as he swam toward Tahlia. “It’s going to be okay,” he lied, wondering how the hell he was going to get them to the marina.

“Alfonse, can you manage on your own?” Maybe the man could float on his back, and Tahlia could hold on to him while he towed them back to shore.

Alfonse nodded, making a valiant effort to swim a one-armed sidestroke. He’d gone less than four feet before Trick changed his mind.

“Hold up,” he said, positioning Tahlia so she was treading water closer to Alfonse. He spun round to face the boat. Was he fast enough?

I don’t have a choice.He needed to get to the lifejackets.

He was kicking himself for not putting one on Tahlia to begin with, but he’d been too wrapped up in his plans for the perfect sunset cruise so he could ask for her hand in marriage again.

“Wait here. I’m going for the life jackets. We’re going to need them.”

He didn’t wait for an answer, diving back into the water with a rapid freestyle. He reached the boat in seconds, climbing on the stern.

“Patrick, don’t you dare get back on that burning boat!” Tahlia’s voice was shrill with panic.

He didn’t waste time answering. Instead, he threw up the cushion to reveal the storage spaces built into the seats in the back. The lifesavers were in the third one he checked. He grabbed two and jumped back into the water in one clean dive. He made it back to the others in less than a minute.

“Put this on,” he ordered, anxiety making his voice curt.

Tahlia grabbed his arm with a death grip. “Don’t you ever do that again,” she sobbed.

“I had to.Now please, put this on!”

Tahlia hurried to obey, insisting on putting a jacket on Alfonse first. They could only manage to get the uninjured arm threaded through one armhole. The bodyguard managed to hug the jacket to his chest, helping him float. Once Tahlia put her jacket on, their battered trio began to paddle to the shore.

They beat at the water, limping along at a slow crawl for what felt like hours. Slowly, the land came closer and closer as the sun began to dip in the spy.

Damn, I don’t want her out here in the dark.His thigh and calf muscles were burning, but he didn’t give up. He needed to get Tahlia to safety.

The cold water began to sap his strength, but he ignored it. Then Tahlia’s teeth began to chatter, and he swore aloud.

“Hang on, baby!” He started kicking harder, fighting to speed them up.

The arduous journey was cut short by a rescue a few minutes later. Nolan had spotted the smoke from the harbor and drafted a local with a small motorboat to come pick them up. Together, Nolan and the stranger managed to fish them out of the water. They were in the local hospital less than twenty minutes later.

Trick closely supervised the doctors as they treated Tahlia for possible shock, wrapping her in those foil blankets to keep her warm. He reluctantly left her under Nolan’s care while he checked on the injured bodyguard. Alfonse got lucky, though. He was going to recover.

Interviews with the local police followed. The coast guard was able to recover the boat before it sank. They were taking it in to examine it for evidence of explosives.

Hours later, Nolan was finally able to drive them back to the hotel. Trick had an arm tightly wrapped around Tahlia. She was quiet, curled against his chest.

“We have to change rooms,” Nolan said as he pulled up to the front entrance of the Hotel de Paris. “In fact, we should change hotels entirely.”

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