a genius to figure out that they’d take refuge in one of the two boats not shrink-wrapped in plastic.
Straining to listen, she attempted to pinpoint where the guy following them might be located. For a long moment she heard nothing but the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore. She was about to whisper to Noah that they should keep going when she heard the distinct sound of a muffled thump.
Noah froze, turning toward her. She stared at him, wondering if the noise was from the guy on their tail or from the squad car falling the rest of the way into the lake.
She reached for Noah’s hand, needing his reassuring strength. As if he knew what she was thinking, he pulled her close and lowered his head so that his mouth was next to her ear. “We’re going to be okay.”
The tightness around her chest eased, enabling her to take a deep breath. Noah gently tugged on her hand, indicating they needed to keep moving. When she passed the two boats he’d been fiddling with, she realized he’d unlatched several of the cords holding the tarp, leaving a slight gaping hole.
Why on earth? Then it occurred to her that Noah had done that to make it look as if they’d chosen to hide inside the empty boat. If the attacker believed they were inside, he might waste time searching for them inside the boats.
Good thing she was on the run with a smart cop. One she trusted to keep her safe, no matter how steeply adversity was stacked against them.
Dear Lord, thank You for bringing Noah Sinclair into my life when I needed him the most. Please continue guiding us and keeping us safe in Your care. Amen.
The whispered prayer formed in her mind without conscious thought and she immediately felt a sense of peace and hope wash over her.
Noah was right; they would be okay.
When they reached the edge of the boat storage area, she tightened her grip on Noah’s hand. Now what? This area of the marina was brightly lit, without offering many places to hide.
Surprisingly there was a boat still in the water, anchored to the pier. It looked as if the motor was running. The water around the engine was swirling. There was no sign of the boat’s owner, but that didn’t mean he—or she—wasn’t nearby.
But they didn’t have time to waste searching, either.
“See that boat?” Noah asked in a hushed tone. “That’s our target.”
She resisted when he tugged her forward. “We can’t,” she hissed. “That’s stealing!”
“Borrowing,” Noah corrected. He pulled his cell phone from his breast pocket, showing it to her. “I’ll call it in as soon as we’re safe.”
She didn’t like it, but then again, allowing the guy on their heels to capture them wasn’t a good option, either. “Okay, let’s go.”
Leaving the shadows to step into the light took a tremendous amount of courage. She hunched her shoulders, trying to make herself a smaller target as they approached the dock. Walking along the pier was just as treacherous, the moisture from the lake mixing with the snow to create a slick surface. She walked as fast as she dared, following Noah as he approached the boat.
She glanced around, expecting the owner to be somewhere close by. Why else would the motor be running? Then again, the guy could be on the boat, too.
The lapping waves caused the boat to rock against the buoy in a rhythmic pattern. Noah braced his palms on the edge of the boat, really more of a small yacht, and used the flashlight on his phone to peer inside.
“Hurry,” he urged, gesturing for her to come over. Maddy swallowed a wave of apprehension, putting her trust and her faith in Noah.
“You first,” he whispered. After slipping his phone back into his shirt pocket, he held the boat steady while assisting her aboard.
The rocking motion caused her to stumble, and she accidentally yanked on Noah’s hand, tugging him forward. She widened her stance, trying to find her balance. The fact that her head still ached didn’t help, although pain was the least of her worries.
Noah leaped into the boat, then leaned over to unleash the ties. The boat immediately drifted away from the pier, so she hurried over to assist. Her arms weren’t long enough, so she could only watch helplessly as he stretched out to unhook the second tether.
Leaning over the way he was, she shouldn’t have been surprised when his phone slipped from his pocket and landed in the lake with a soft ker-plop.
She closed her eyes against a stabbing frustration but there wasn’t time to worry about the submerged device now. The boat was loose in the water, so Noah quickly disappeared inside the pilothouse to take control.
The sound of the engines revving to life seemed incredibly loud, giving away their location to anyone within a hundred yards. She stumbled inside the pilothouse mere seconds before she heard someone shouting at them to stop, followed by the sharp retort of gunfire ripping through the night.
* * *
Noah hit the throttle, sending the boat surging out from the marina into the large lake, praying for the first time in years that none of the bullets would hit the vessel.
“I can’t believe he’s shooting at us,” Maddy said, coming up to stand beside him. The enclosure of the pilothouse helped keep the stiff breeze away, but the cold December air still surrounded them.
“Don’t worry, he can’t follow us.” Noah divided his gaze between the buoys on the water and the boat’s navigation system. He hadn’t sailed on Lake Michigan in four years, but basic geography made it impossible to get lost. If he hugged the shoreline, he could head south all the way to Chicago or go due east to Michigan.
Heading north would take them toward Green Bay, but he didn’t want to go that far. He turned the boat south. His partner, Jackson Dellis, lived near the border between Milwaukee and Racine, and he was fairly certain there was a smaller marina in that area, too.
“Is there a radio on this boat?” Maddy, so cold that her teeth were chattering, asked. “We need to call for help.”
“There is, but I don’t want to alert the Coast Guard,” he said. “I’d rather find a way to contact my partner.”
“Wh-why not the C-Coast Guard?”
Noah glanced over at Maddy, knowing he should have done a better job of protecting her. Dr. Hawkins had ordered rest and relaxation, and the past few hours had been anything but. At this rate, her memory might never return.
“Because right now I don’t want the entire world to know that you’re suffering from amnesia,” he explained. “Alexander Pietro is going to be tried by a jury of his peers starting next week, but we know he still has a lot of guys working for him. We need to make sure nothing related to your situation leaks into the press.”
“Police reports are open to the public,” Maddy said, her expression thoughtful.
“Yeah. Of course, the Milwaukee Police Department can limit the information that gets out, but your name has been linked to Pietro’s case a lot already. Even the merest hint of an attack on you will have the media swarming all over it. I think it’s better for now that we keep this quiet.”
Until your memory returns, he added silently, refusing to consider the possibility that it might be lost long enough to derail the trial.
No way. He couldn’t bear the thought of Pietro getting away with his crimes.
“And your partner will stand by your decision?” Maddy asked with a frown.
“I hope so.” Jackson was his third partner in the last eighteen months, and so far he seemed okay. At least the younger guy hadn’t dropped any hints about needing a partner that would back him up, the way his previous partner had. Matt hadn’t held him responsible for the stabbing, but other cops hadn’t been shy about sharing their opinions, especially Lynda. When Jackson had replaced her as Noah’s new partner,