“It’s all because of you, Delaney. You’re the root of all my problems. Thanks to you I’ve got the cops looking for me, because every time I turn around, there you are. And now you’ve found me out here where nobody else would look.” Vic’s tone got gruffer. “Now how the hell did you do that?”
Shad could feel Charissa’s hands clenching his shirt at the small of his back. From his grip on her shoulder, Shad knew she was trembling.
“It’s a long story.” Shad hoped a little conversation would gain him some time so he could figure out how to get off the boat with both of them alive. “But I’ve got a few questions of my own. How involved is Drake Anderson in all this? Is he the one who took on the hit job?”
“Drake’s not even in town,” Vic growled. “So he had nothing to do with that bitch wife of yours who showed up shooting everything in sight.”
The derogatory term sparked anger in Shad, but he wasn’t sure if that was the most useful emotion right now. “So you’re borrowing the houseboat until he gets back?”
“I was gonna shove off tonight and make our way down the rivers until I could ditch the boat outside the state.”
Shad hated to admit he was impressed. “Clever. While everybody’s on the lookout for your pickup, which I presume is parked in Drake’s garage, you escape by a method they won’t immediately think of.”
“And you won’t be able to tell anybody about it,” Vic snarled as he raised the pistol a little higher so it pointed at Shad’s upper chest. “Since you’re finally gonna be dead!”
Charissa jumped and Shad started. He tightened his grip on her shoulder.
“Killing me won’t help you one bit.” Shad still looked for any other exit besides trying to crash through the small windows. “I can even help you. If you’ll surrender, if you won’t shoot me, I’ll help keep the charges to a minimum and I’ll even recommend a good lawyer for your defense.”
“What do you take me for?” Vic snarled. “I don’t need your charity and you’ll say anything right now to save your skin!”
“You can’t argue that keeping me alive means you won’t have a murder charge. You can turn back right now. You can keep this from becoming worse.”
“Shut up!” Vic straightened to a true aiming stance and the pistol was pointed at Shad’s sternum. “Let Charissa go!”
“What?”
“Let her go! Send her over here!” Vic actually smiled. “You don’t want her to be in the line of fire, do you?”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Shad noticed again the bowl on the table and remembered his suspicion about Wally’s coffee that morning.
“I’ll bet you do!”
“You don’t wanna mess up your friend’s nice boat. Let me step outside.”
“Nice try,” Vic growled. “But your time is up!”
Shad released Charissa as he dove forward but he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. The table was only one step away, and in one motion Shad grabbed the bowl and hurled it at Vic.
In that same second he heard the crack of the pistol and Charissa’s scream. Shad’s lunge was already in progress, however, and he tackled Vic in the stomach. The two men tumbled to the deck outside.
If Shad had been shot, he didn’t know it yet. He scrambled to pin down Vic’s arms. But Vic’s right hand, still grasping the pistol, struck Shad in the left temple. The force of the blow knocked Shad back as pain flashed through his head. Vic lurched to his knees.
Shad lunged forward and tackled Vic again. Although Shad had the more athletic form, the bulk Vic had was a force to be reckoned with. Shad wrapped his right arm around Vic’s neck and with his left hand grasped the man’s right wrist, just below the pistol. For a few seconds they struggled over the gun. Then Vic boxed Shad in the right ear.
New pain coursed through his head, but Shad pressed that side of his face into Vic’s chest and focused on trying to force the man’s right hand lower and closer to them so Shad could grab the pistol.
Vic punched him in the ribs. Shad realized he’d forgotten how excruciating beatings could be.
Vic grabbed for the pistol himself. As Vic yanked it from his right hand, Shad reached up with his other arm and grasped Vic’s left wrist. For a few seconds the two men strained against each other.
Vic pummeled Shad in the face with the top of his head.
Most of the blow centered on the right side of his mouth, adding another dimension of misery to Shad’s experience. But it was the shift in weight that caused Shad to fall backwards as Vic fell on top of him. Even as he gasped for breath Shad kept a tight grip on Vic’s wrists.
Realizing only his left leg was pinned under Vic, Shad drove his right knee into Vic’s tailbone. The man grunted and recoiled enough for Shad to release his wrists. With a quick roll to one side, Shad tried to spring on top of the man. In the same instant he spied Charissa standing in the doorway to the cabin, grasping the side frame as though she needed it to hold her up.
“RUN!” Shad bellowed as he dove for Vic.
Charissa darted to his right, but that was all Shad saw. Vic lurched to his knees and slugged Shad in the ribs again. The blow knocked Shad back, and Vic scrambled to his feet.
But Vic didn’t have the pistol.
Still on his own knees and short of breath as spasms of pain pulsed through his head and body, Shad fully expected Vic to start laying into him. But the man dove to one side, snatched up the pistol that had fallen near the cabin, and darted in the same direction Charissa had gone.
Shad spun to see where that was as he clambered to his feet. He spied Charissa near the stern of the boat. She screamed again as Vic overtook her and grabbed the back of her shirt with his free hand.
Shad lunged forward. Vic roughly yanked the girl back and raised his pistol hand to strike her.
The rage inside Shad snapped free.
He sprang at Vic and drove his right elbow into the left side of the man’s face. The blow nearly toppled Vic over the side railing and the pistol clattered back to the floor. He released Charissa, who scrambled to the back corner and slid along the side railing.
Shad grabbed Vic by the shirt and slammed him against the side of the cabin. Just as he drew his arm back to deliver another blow to Vic’s face Shad heard Charissa scream.
He spun his head toward her just in time to see Charissa’s outstretched hand disappear behind the boat. The girl hadn’t noticed that the railing ended. Shad heard her hit the water just before Vic boxed him in the jaw.
Shad staggered back. He could hear Charissa sputtering and shrieking. Vic charged him, but Shad ducked to one side and sprang to the back of the boat. The current had already pulled Charissa a few yards downstream, and her struggles to stay afloat were drifting her toward the center of the river. She was sputtering much more than shrieking now.
Shad leaped feet first into the river. The water was just deep enough to be over his head this close to the bank. He kicked off the deck shoes and Shad buoyed back to the surface of the river to gasp a lungful of air and start swimming toward Charissa.
The simultaneous crack of the pistol and a high-pitched whine near his left ear reminded Shad that Vic was still out there.
He had his lungful of air. Shad submerged. He dove toward the bottom of the river and took a few strokes toward its center. There was less than two feet of visibility in the water, which would help conceal Shad from Vic but would also conceal Charissa from Shad. Shad normally didn’t like to open his eyes much in the Osage River, but he had to try to get some bearing where Charissa was. Partially blind, with only the gurgling roar of the moving water for him to hear, Shad swam in the direction he prayed Charissa would be.
He surfaced in order to gulp more air and get his bearings. Shad immediately spied Charissa, who was only a few yards downstream from him, but frantic splashing was the only noise she could make. Shad heard the simultaneous crack and whine again as Charissa sank into the river.