Page 40 of Fearless
Zurkowski nods brusquely. He gestures to the area behind him, and I notice a tiny dot off in the distance that’s barely discernable to the naked eye. “I’m afraid our time has been cut short, Cavenaugh. We’ll have to catch up another time.”
“What is Finnegan’s agenda? What plan does he want to share with me?” I ask impatiently. I need answers, and I needthem now. “Why did he have schematics for a nuclear bomb hidden under the floor of the cabana?”
Ackerman’s and Zurkowski’s eyes widen in surprise. “You have the plans in your possession? If you do, we need you to hand them over immediately.”
“No can do. You know as well as I do that I have to turn them over to the FBI. Why did you want to meet me alone, Zurkowski?”
He holds up two fingers. “For two reasons. The first is that Finnegan wants you to convince Harper to leave this case alone and get her as far away from this as possible. If things don’t work out as we planned, she could get caught in the crossfire.”
“There’s no way she’s going to leave now,” I tell him adamantly. “I’ll have more luck breaking into Fort Knox than I would be convincing her to drop everything and hide. What’s the second reason?”
“To tell you the truth,” Zurkowski says as Ackerman fires up the engine. “Not everything is as…”
“Incoming!” Ackerman yells as a barrage of gunfire sounds off in the distance. All three of us duck even though the shooters are too far away to get a clean shot. When the noise dies down, we pop up our heads to see another boat closing in fast.
“We have to get out of here,” Zurkowski screams. “Go! Go! Go!”
I push the throttles to the max but don’t get far when I hear Ackerman shout, “RPG! Bail out!”
The two agents dive from the boat seconds before the rocket impacts the side in a fiery explosion. The concussive force of the blast knocks me off my feet, and I fall overboard into the ocean.I choke on the salt water as I’m peppered with shrapnel from their boat as it’s blown to smithereens.
The last thing I remember before my world turns black is a large piece of debris heading straight for me.
Chapter twenty-one
Harper
Not being able to hear the conversation between Roger and the two agents is driving me out of my mind, but Jessie and Elijah are doing their best to give me a play-by-play. While I pace around the open living space, Carter makes himself comfortable on the couch and plays a game on his phone.
“The good news is that Zurkowski and Ackerman don’t want to shoot Roger. They have their guns in the low-ready position and are chatting away like long-time friends,” Jessie informs me. She is using a monocular to monitor the situation since they are approximately half a mile away, give or take.
“Let’s try and get a little closer,” Elijah adds. “If anything were to go wrong, it would take us a full minute to provide any assistance.”
Carter adds, “Stay within comms range. Harper is wearing a path in the wood flooring as it is.”
Elijah laughs. “Duly noted.”
Several minutes pass by without any change in the situation except for a text that comes through from Ethan with an update. Agent Simms and Agent Monroe will be arriving shortly to confiscate the evidence we found.
“There’s another boat approaching, and Ackerman has started the motor,” Jessie says.
A few seconds later, Elijah yells, “Shots Fired! Shots Fired!” but it comes through my earpiece at a normal volume. The muted tones don’t stop me from panicking, though.
“What’s going on?” I shout.
Jessie and Elijah ignore me as they throttle up their engines and race to provide backup.
Carter is on his feet and now pacing right alongside me, biting his thumbnail in nervous anticipation.
“Oh my…The boat is obliterated!” Jessie exclaims.
“Roger went overboard! He’s been hit!” Elijah screams.
My legs buckle beneath me, and I fall to the floor, listening as the events unfold and not being able to do anything about it. Carter drops to his knees and pulls me into an embrace as I try to fight back the tears.
With the boat gone, the jammer ceases to function. I listen as gunfire erupts, and it sounds like a war is going on in the background. Then, there is another explosion before the battle comes to an end.
The last thing I hear before we lose communication is Jessie saying, “There’s so much blood. We need to get him out of the water.” The moment they dive into the depths of the ocean, there’s a crackle and pop as their earpieces short out.
