Elizabeth Goddard - Thread Of Revenge

And she fought him. Dragged him under. Instinctually. Nothing she could control. Her survival instincts had taken over. The right thing to do, and what protocol demanded, was that he hit her hard enough to knock her out and save them both. But since when had he gone with protocol? He grabbed her arms and willed her to be still, to trust him, and she relaxed.

Now. It was now or they would both be lost.

He felt the tug of his tender line, and he held on to her. His pulse shot up even higher, if that were possible. They breached the surface. When he looked in her face he saw why she’d relaxed. She was unconscious. Unresponsive. Drowned already?

Oh, no! No, God, please, let her live.

Suddenly, she coughed up water, even as a wave crashed over them, but he held tight. The Kraken crew wouldn’t let him down.

“We’re going to make it. You’re going to be okay.” He stared into the familiar crystal-blue eyes, which widened with recognition, while the tender line tugged them back and the smaller Coast Guard inflatable made its way toward them in the dangerous waters. “I’ve got you and I won’t let go. You’re safe now.”

She shook her head. Her teeth chattered as she struggled to speak. “Not. Safe. Someone. Tried...to kill me.”

TWO

In the hospital room being treated for hypothermia, Sadie counted her blessings and watched Aunt Debby pace the small space. The woman had raised Sadie and her three siblings when their parents died over a decade ago.

“Jonna called to say she would come see you later today,” Aunt Debby said.

Sadie’s sister Jonna ran a lodge on the coast. It would take her an hour to get here if she could even get away.

“Why did you call her?” Sadie repositioned her pillow. “I don’t want anyone to worry about me. I’m okay. I didn’t die out there.”

Aunt Debby started wringing her hands. Sadie wished she would sit down and relax.

“No, but you came close.” Aunt Debby probably still grieved her sister and brother-in-law’s deaths, even after fifteen years. “I tried to contact Cora, but she works on that research vessel and all I could do was leave a message.”

A marine archaeologist, Sadie’s sister Cora explored shipwrecks. Admittedly, that made Sadie envious at times. And her DEA agent brother Quinn... Aunt Debby didn’t even mention him. Nobody had heard from him in far too long. He preferred it that way.

Regardless, Sadie definitely didn’t want her siblings involved because that could put them in danger, as well.

Though she hated causing her aunt more distress, the woman needed to know.

“Someone tried to kill me,” she said.

Concern rippled over Aunt Debby’s features and she slowly sat on the bed. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Because I didn’t want you to worry.” Not yet. Not until she spoke again with Gage Sessions. She still struggled to grasp he’d been the one to rescue her. Save her life.

On the Coast Guard cutter that brought her to safety and the Coldwater Bay Hospital, Gage had been more than reassuring when he’d wrapped the blanket around her. Then at the hospital, he’d suggested she rest. She might remember more about what happened so she could answer the questions when someone came to investigate.

Sadie had last seen Gage in college over seven years ago. They’d been close friends then. He’d cared about her as more than a friend, she’d known, but she hadn’t felt the same because she had been in love with someone else. Would the outcome have been different today if it had been a stranger rather than Gage risking his life to save hers?

Aunt Debby pressed her hand on Sadie’s forehead as though checking her temperature, unease still evident in her eyes. “And you’ve told the sheriff?”

“I told the Coast Guard and someone is letting the sheriff’s department know for me.”

“Good. You’ve been through a lot. Just get some rest and once your core temperature is back up, they’ll release you. I’ll take you home and take care of you. Remember, you’re not in this alone, Sadie.”

“I know.” And Sadie thanked God for her family.

She closed her eyes and rested on the pillow. She wished she could remember everything that had happened. One minute she was at Karon’s house. The next she was on that boat fighting to survive. Who did the boat belong to, anyway? With it hidden in the depths of the Pacific, would she ever find out?

If only she could remember more. Was hypothermia messing with her memories? When she’d woken up on the boat, she’d been extremely groggy with the world’s worst headache. That hadn’t been hypothermia. No—she’d been drugged.

A flash of a memory zinged back to her.

Sadie glanced down at her hospital gown. “Aunt Debby?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Where are my clothes?”

Her aunt chuckled. “It’s customary to wear a hospital gown in the hospital. Don’t you remember changing?”

Vaguely. “No, I mean, what happened to them after I changed into this?”

“Oh, I took them home to wash and dry them.”

Oh, no. “Could you do me a favor? I need you to go through the pockets of my hoodie. I found something on the boat. It could be important.” The pendant was a link, the proof she needed that Karon had been on that same boat. Possibly evidence that Karon’s killer was now after Sadie.

A chill crawled over her that had nothing to do with her recovery from hypothermia.

Aunt Debby agreed to search her pockets back at the house and left Sadie alone with her thoughts, which turned out to be a bad idea. She couldn’t exactly rest like everyone insisted when someone had gone to such trouble to attempt to kill her.

She wished Jonna was here already. Her sister had been an ICE agent while living in Miami. Sadie didn’t know what had happened in Florida to send Jonna running back to Washington. She only knew it had been something bad, and Jonna hadn’t wanted to talk about it. So maybe she wouldn’t help Sadie feel all that safe.

Fortunately, she didn’t have long to fret. In walked Gage Sessions, his presence filling her with relief and the overwhelming impression that she was safe with him. And why shouldn’t it? He’d saved her today, after all, and she could still sense the protectiveness, the heroism, pouring off him. But she didn’t want him to notice just how relieved she was to see him. More to the point...

“Gage, I remember.” She sat up in bed. “It’s starting to come back to me now.”

“You mean why you were on the boat?”

“Well, sort of. That part is still fuzzy, but what happened before.”

He moved closer to the bed, his form trim and fit, his jaw strong and his bright hazel eyes sharp. With his sun-bleached hair, he was the same guy from a few years ago, yes, but there was something different about him. He seemed more self-assured. Experienced. A thrill ran through her. Really, Sadie. Focus.

“Well, I’m listening.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall closest to her bed.

“Okay, give me a second.” She squeezed her eyes shut and dragged in a few breaths. “I’d gone to Karon’s house with her mother’s approval. Her mother had thought Karon’s death suspicious and I agreed. It’s hard to believe that Karon, a marine science major working at an environmental company, a good swimmer and certified scuba diver, had drowned. If she’d intended to swim at all for some sort of research, she would have at least had on a dry suit to keep her warm. Karon had taken time off and was staying at their vacation rental house on the coast. Her mother—who lived on the other side of Coldwater Bay in Joshua—was planning to meet her there when she could get off work. Karon never returned to the house but instead her body was found...” Sadie couldn’t even choke out the rest. She closed her eyes and tried to shove aside the deep anguish in her heart at the loss of her very dearest friend.