P.J. Alderman - Ghost Ship

“On that we agree,” Frank replied. “The current living arrangements are adequate; I don’t want them disrupted.”

“This is not the time for an argument over the best strategy,” Hattie pointed out.

Charlotte hissed, her zipping motions becoming ever more erratic.

“Would someone please just do something?” Jordan pleaded.

Bob’s laugh sounded ugly. “No one can save you, not your imagined ghosts, not even your cop buddy here. We’re getting on that boat.”

“ Imagined ?” Hattie asked, her expression turning irritated. “He believes we don’t exist?”

“The nerve!” Charlotte hissed.

“Can we focus on what’s important here?” Jordan croaked as Bob’s arm tightened.

“Yes, why don’t we?” Darcy said calmly, her gun never wavering, her expression coldly professional. “This is a death-penalty state, Bob. It’s iffy whether the DA will ask for it in Holt’s case, but if you kill Jordan, that’s seriously premeditated murder and kidnapping. Virtually guarantees a lethal injection.”

“You’ve got three seconds to drop your gun, Chief.” Bob didn’t sound the least concerned, which really, really terrified Jordan. “If you don’t, your girlfriend dies. And I know how much you like her.”

“I can take her or leave her, to tell the truth,” Darcy replied mildly. “She’s a bit of a hassle.”

“Hey,” Jordan croaked.

“Well, you are,” Darcy replied. “Every time I turn around, I’m getting you out of trouble. Frankly, I’m tired of it.” She locked gazes with Jordan for a second and cocked her head slightly to her right, as if she were considering whether she really was worth saving.

Jordan slid her eyes to her left and spied Jase and Tom moving in silently from a dock that intersected theirs, keeping low to the ground. She pushed, trying to angle Bob more to her right, to keep them out of sight.

He tightened his arm, cutting off her air. Stars sparked in her peripheral vision. “Quit it.” He jammed the barrel harder against her temple, splitting the skin. She felt blood trickle down the side of her face.

“He’s hurting her!” Charlotte cried out and zipped around. “Do something, Michael!”

Jordan felt Bob stiffen and closed her eyes, realizing she’d just made the possibly fatal mistake of alerting him.

“Join the party, boys,” Bob called. “Come on over here, hands raised, unless you want to watch your girlfriend get it.”

Jase and Tom straightened, their expressions resigned. Jase sent her a look filled with chagrin, then settled his gaze on Bob with cold determination.

“Real smooth,” Darcy told her. “Remind me never to bring you to a shoot-out again.”

“Sorry,” Jordan croaked.

Bob motioned for the men to join Darcy. “Over there, where I can see you.”

“I always knew you were a prick, Bob,” Jase said mildly.

“And you’re a self-righteous asshole,” Bob told him.

“Boys, boys,” Darcy scolded, sounding bored, her eyes anything but. “No need to trade insults.”

“Really, Jordan,” Seavey reproved. “Are any of these humans of use to you at the moment?”

“They might be if you cause enough of a commotion,” Jordan retorted. “What good is it to have ghosts around if all you’re going to do is comment on the proceedings?”

Jase exchanged looks with Bob and Darcy, it dawning on them that they weren’t alone.

“So I’m going to count to three, Chief.” Bob sounded surprisingly genial. “And you’re going to drop your weapon. One … two—”

“Okay, okay, fine.” Darcy held her gun up, then lowered it slowly to the dock, never taking her eyes off him.

“Oh, great,” Frank said, disgusted. “Law enforcement today must receive little or no training.”

“Excellent,” Bob told Darcy. “Now, your backup. The one in your left ankle holster?”

“Sure, no problem.” Darcy kept both hands outstretched, then reached down with one and hitched up the leg of her jeans. She pulled a small gun out of a hidden holster and placed it next to the other one.

“Kick them into the water,” he ordered.

“Good Christ!” Seavey exclaimed “Order her not to comply, Jordan!”

Darcy hesitated, then sighed. “Those guns cost good money, Bob. I don’t exactly have the department budget to replace them.”

“Shut up. I’m not going to ask you again.”

Darcy gave him another quiet look for a couple of beats, then did as she was told.

Jordan closed her eyes. Think, dammit . She had to do something that would distract him, that would give the others the opening they needed. But what?

“The marine charts,” she said suddenly, opening her eyes.

Everyone looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“Who gives a shit about the marine charts?” Bob asked.

“I do,” Jordan insisted. “You didn’t go out to Holt’s to retrieve marine charts—you went out there to try to find the documents Holt had discovered at the hotel. Right?”

“Who the fuck cares?” Bob started dragging her backward down the docks, his gun trained on the others.

“ I care, dammit,” she gasped, bringing both her hands up to claw his arm where it pressed against her windpipe. “If I’m going to die, I want my friends to make certain Hattie and Michael Seavey know the truth about the shipwreck.”

“You found out something important?” Hattie asked.

“Not now, my dear,” Seavey said.

Charlotte hissed and flew over Bob’s head, missing by mere inches.

Jase’s expression had turned more frantic. Tom was looking from Jordan to Darcy, waiting for some kind of signal.

“No one cares about your lies, got it, Jordan?” Bob grunted. “Christ. If I didn’t need you to get me off this dock right now, I’d shoot you and dump you into the water. Normal people freeze in terror and behave. But no, you can’t quit mouthing off—”

Jordan took as deep a breath as she dared, then closing her eyes and praying, she let her knees fall out from under her, throwing her weight to the side.

Bob started swearing. Charlotte swooped down, knocking the gun partially out of his hand.

A loud boom echoed right next to Jordan’s ear, and Darcy started to fall. Seavey closed in, grasping the gun and struggling with Bob, who started screaming, not understanding what was happening.

Darcy fired as she went down. The bullet went through Seavey, hitting Bob, who fell on Jordan, pancaking her against the wooden timbers, his weight squashing the air out of her lungs. She wheezed, her vision blurring, her fingernails scrabbling for purchase on the wood as she struggled to crawl out from under him.

Bob’s weight was suddenly gone and Jase was holding her tight, his arms banded in a vise around her. “Don’t you know any self-defense moves?” he growled into her hair.

“No,” she said, holding onto him just as tightly, “but I’ll let you teach me some.”

“A little warning would have been nice,” Darcy groused, holding her arm, blood flowing freely between her fingers.

Tom dropped to the dock beside her. “How bad is it?” he asked urgently, pulling her fingers away from her arm. “Let me see.”

“I don’t fucking believe it!” Darcy snarled, ignoring Tom and keeping the gun pointed at Bob, who was lying facedown on the dock, moaning and gurgling oddly. “You got me shot two times in one month ?”

“I think that was Charlotte,” Jordan sniffed, reluctant to leave Jase’s arms.

Charlotte huffed. “I saved you!”

“You certainly did,” Jordan agreed, giving her a weak smile over his shoulder.

“Well done, Seavey,” Frank said grudgingly, having pulled Hattie to safety.