Page 79 of Secrets in Calusa Cove

“As if I’m going to tell you,” James said.

Dawson shoved his gun into James’s gut.

James groaned. Coughed. And groaned again.

“Start talking,” Dawson shifted his weapon, aiming it at James’s knee. “Or I blow off your kneecap. It’s painful. Excruciating, actually. You won’t bleed to death right away. It might take days. The gators will sniff out that blood first.” He leaned closer. “That is if a big old fifteen- or twenty-foot python doesn’t slither in here first—because we’ll leave the door open—and circle your body, crushing all your bones, causing a different kind of pain. Then it will?—”

“He’s at the north side of the island,” James burst out, “loading product into the boats.”

“He’ll be taking them out through Mangrove Bay, along the Intracoastal Waterway, and then maybe meet up with a ship or something,” Audra said. “Or offload onto a different local boat before bringing them inland and up the interstate.”

“Agreed.” Dawson nodded, his lips curving into a smile. “Are you after my job?”

“Hell, no.” She shook her head. “But I might need a job when all this is over,” she mumbled.

Dawson cocked a brow. “That’s a conversation I’d like to continue. But for now, we need to move through that door. Find something to secure James and Eliot to. We’re taking this dipshit with us for security.”

“He’s nothing. A peon. We’d be more of a bargaining chip,” Eliot said.

“You both can burn in hell for all I care,” Dawson said as he peered out the door.

Lightning flashed. Thunder clapped.

Audra used to live for nights like this. As a child, she’d sit on the dock and watch storms roll toward her. Now, she wanted to watch this one disappear. Adrenaline surged through her body as she tied Frick and Frack to a pole near the back corner.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Audra hit the deck, covering her head. Her heart pounded in her ears in unison with the rapid fire.

This was it.

Her life was over.

* * *

Bang!Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Hit the deck.” Dawson shoved Mo to the floor and then covered his body with his own. It was his job to protect and serve. That meant it was his job to take a bullet for a citizen of Calusa Cove. Carefully, between gunshots, he lifted his head and checked on Audra.

She gave him the thumbs-up.

The gunfire continued for another two minutes in rapid succession before total silence.

Outside, lightning lit up the night and thunder boomed, shaking the ground beneath Dawson’s feet.

He held his breath, motioning to Audra to stay down.

Thankfully, his wild redhead did what he requested.

The door flew open.

Dawson rolled to the prone position, the semi-automatic aimed at the door, his finger on the trigger, poised and ready to fire at whoever came through it.

A man eased around the doorframe, a rifle pressed to his shoulder. “Dawson?”

Dawson let go of the breath he’d held. “Fletcher?”

“Expecting someone else?” Fletcher quipped.

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