Page 5 of Storm Surge

There didn’t appear to be any lights on inside, but someone had been watching their approach.

“I know you’re in there. Open the door and come out with your hands up.”

The order was met with silence. He knocked harder. “You have till the count of three, then I’m breaking the door down.”

Hushed conversation could be heard inside, then the door opened. A woman who appeared to be in her sixties stepped out on the porch and closed the door quickly.

Will kept his weapon trained on her. Though she presented innocent enough, this was Collins’s lair. “What’s your name? Who else is inside the cabin?” He had no doubt she wasn’t alone.

The woman’s frightened eyes held his. “My name is Elizabeth Franklin, and there’s no one else inside. Only me.”

Not the truth, but for now, Will was more surprised that this sweet lady was the sister of Martin Collins. “I heard you speaking to someone seconds earlier.” When she didn’t answer, Will addressed the person still hiding inside. “I know you’re in there. Come out with your hands in the air.”

“Please, it’s my niece, but she doesn’t know anything. Leave her alone.” While Will tried to take in the news that Collins had a daughter, the door slowly opened. A woman much younger than Elizabeth stepped outside, her face tucked low.

But. . .

She slowly raised her eyes to him. And the world around him went into a tailspin. Threatened to collapse. His legs grew weak. He couldn’t breathe normally.

Couldn’t grasp what was standing in front of him.

Impossible. She was supposed to be dead.

“Lizzy?” His wife’s name slipped out before he could stop it. The last time he’d seen her flashed before his eyes. Smiling. Happy. The future had stretched out before them with nothing but promise. And then a serial killer took her. For five years, he’d believed she was dead, and yet here she stood. His wife. In a cabin that belonged to Martin Collins. “Lizzy?” He repeated her name, his thoughts evaporating before he could speak them. His mind went blank. He couldn’t pull himself out of the past. “Where? How?” He sucked in a couple of breaths. “Your father is Martin Collins?”

The look on her face broke his heart. A confused frown bunched her brows together. Almost as if she were searching for how she knew him, but the answer wouldn’t come.

“There must be some mistake. My name is Jamie and my father is Alfred. I don’t know who this Martin Collins person is.”

Her voice was still the same, yet she was not. The woman standing before him now was not the same as he remembered. Like looking at a ghost. His eyes skimmed along her slim figure. Too thin. Almost as if she’d been suffering from an illness. Her pale complexion was the opposite of the tanned woman he’d fallen in love with.

“Lizzy, don’t you remember me? You’re my wife. We met in Afghanistan. You were there on vacation. We spent a week together there and then—”

The blank expression on her face confirmed she had no recollection of him, her trip to Afghanistan, their marriage, their brief life together.

“I’m afraid you’ve mistaken me for someone else.” But she wasn’t sure. He could tell from the doubt in her voice. “I’ve never been to Afghanistan.”

It was as if the floor dropped out of his world and he was free-falling. Will knew little about Lizzy’s family. Every time he brought up her parents, she didn’t want to talk about them. He’d sensed there was something in her family dynamic that was difficult to discuss.

Will noticed Henry out of the corner of his eye, watching their exchange. Most of Strike Force knew the bare-bones details of what had happened to his wife. He couldn’t imagine what was going through Henry’s mind.

Jamie stepped to within a few feet of him. The compassion on her face resurrected hope. His Lizzy was a kind and gentle person who couldn’t bear to hurt even a bug.

“You love her very much. Your Lizzy.” The name rolled off her tongue as if she were trying it out.

Will couldn’t get words out. Couldn’t think clearly. After growing up in a dysfunctional family, he’d escaped a troubled home life for the Marines. Served two tours of duty in Afghanistan. He’d seen the ugly side of human nature up close. Lost all hope of ever having anything good for himself. Until he met Lizzy.

She made him see the possibility of a future filled with happiness. She saw the good in people although he suspected, she, too, had scars. Lizzy had been the most important person in the world to him. And then she’d been stolen from him.

Will couldn’t find the words for an answer. He swung toward the woman who watched their interaction with a horrified look on her face.

“Who are you?” she demanded in a whisper. “Why are you bothering my niece? What have you done with my brother?” The angry questions poured out.

Will couldn’t imagine the things Collins had told his sister about them. “Your brother is Martin Collins.”

The woman grew cautious. “You heard my niece. My brother’s name is Alfred.” Was she lying to protect Collins? How deep was she involved in her brother’s schemes?

“Is there someplace we can talk alone?” Will glanced toward the woman who reminded him of a ghost whose smile haunted him every night.

---