Page 84 of Guarding Bristol

She was glad they’d been assigned together for this.

“Anything else from CPS before we do this?”she asked, looking out to sea.She didn’t see any boats out there.

“A handful of people arrived at the marina in the past ten minutes.”

Well, that was helpful.“Probably boat owners wanting to secure their vessels in this storm.”

She turned into the parking lot, did a quick visual sweep before driving to a spot near the gates.“Ready?”she asked, killing the engine.

“Yep.”

They got out together, each of them automatically taking their own half of the field of view.She spotted one person at a berth close to the entrance, securing the lines on his boat.In the distance, two men were walking away from them along the wooden planking.One other stood on the deck of a boat berthed two rows over from them.

Stepping onto the closest dock, she raised her high-powered binos to scan beyond the breakwaters.A pleasure craft was powering back toward the harbor mouth.And beyond it in the distance, a small cabin cruiser rocked with the waves.“Vessel inbound, and one heading out to sea.”The name on the stern was fuzzy.She squinted, tightened the focus.“It’s them.”

“I’ll alert CPS.”

She didn’t answer because her throat was suddenly too tight to speak.She stared at the distant boat, thinking of Bristol bound and terrified inside it.“There’s no way we’ll catch up to them in this storm.”Even if they’d had a boat ready.

“CPS is updating the Coast Guard.”

As sick as she felt to admit it, that was probably Bristol’s only chance.

She lowered the binos, adrenaline pumping through her, with no available outlet.There wasn’t a damned other thing she could do to help Bristol at the moment.“Now what?”She wanted to scream.Held it back, buried it deep down.

“Keep tabs on the boat and give updates until we hear more.That’s all we can do.”

Yeah, and it fucking sucked.She swallowed, fear twisting her stomach.“Do you know she doesn’t even swear?”

Tristan glanced at her.“Who?Bristol?”

She nodded.“I can count on one hand how many times I’ve heard her curse in all the years I’ve known her.And never the F word.”She shook her head, telling herself her eyes were watering because of the wind.She was too professional to ever break down while she was on the clock.“She didn’t deserve any of this.”

“No.But we’re going to do everything we can to help get her back safely.”

Cassie raised the binoculars again.TheSea Sirenwas still heading slowly out to sea, her silhouette bobbing up and down between the wild waves.Meanwhile, the pleasure craft was now at the harbor mouth.It cruised toward the end of the farthest dock.

The occupant jumped off to tie up the boat.A man.He straightened, turned to face the parking lot.A shot cracked out.The man crumpled to his knees, clutching the bright red stain blooming on his chest.

She and Tristan both darted for cover, weapons up.

Pop, pop.

A boat motor roared to life.She and Tristan both peered around the edge of the boat they were crouched behind.“Shit,” Cassie breathed.The two men she’d seen on the dock earlier were driving the boat back toward the mouth of the harbor.

The wounded man was lying on his back beside the berth, his legs moving slowly.

She called it in, racing with Tristan toward the downed man with weapons in hand, their feet thudding over the slick wooden planks.The guy was still alive, clutching the wound in his chest.

Tristan got there first and crouched beside him.Leaving him to try and stop the bleeding, she turned her back on them, guarding their six while she quickly relayed everything to Ryder.Beyond the end of the harbormaster’s office, she saw a CPS vehicle pull into the parking lot and stop next to hers.Gavin and Decker stepped out.

She tapped her earpiece.“Suspect down.Bring a first aid kit.”

“Copy,” Gavin answered.She raised an arm and waved at them to get their attention.They spotted her and broke into a run, a bright red first aid kit in Gavin’s hand.

“Did you get a good look at the shooters?”Ryder asked her.

“Negative.I didn’t see their faces close up.”

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