Chapter 17

SEVENTEEN

FRIDAY, 6:30 P.M.

The dock dissolved into the churning water, and Caleb was gone.

And so was Ivy.

Juliette clung to the rail and steadied herself on the rocking remnants of the pier. Alana and Noelle rushed in behind her, flanking her on either side to hold her up. They half dragged, half carried her to the concrete sidewalk, otherwise she might have dived in after Caleb.

They let her go when her feet hit the solid ground, and Juliette paced, searching the waters for any signs of life. "No! I don't see Caleb. And I heard Ivy call out. She was on the boat. She's gone. It's all my fault. I should never have let him come. I knew it was a trap."

Sirens wailed in the distance. Why hadn't she insisted on calling the police sooner? Maybe they would have arrived in time.

Juliette stared at the burning hull of the yacht. There were six other boats between them and the explosion, but Juliette could feel the heat searing her skin. The fire spread, and black smoke poured into the sky.

"He's out there." Juliette grabbed a flashlight from Alana and searched the murky water. "Caleb's an excellent swimmer. We've got to find him."

Alana, Noelle, and Juliette took different sides of the dock, checking the debris in the water in hopes of spotting Caleb. The boat had been obliterated. Pieces of fiberglass and contents from not only The Rushmore but the other two parked boats on either side of it were floating through the marina.

Noelle passed Juliette a pair of binoculars so she could scan the area. "Please, Caleb. Be alive."

How could she claim to be a bodyguard? She'd just watched both of her clients blow up in front of her eyes.

"I can't believe I failed so spectacularly," she muttered as she scanned the area. "I've lost them both." Tears pricked her eyes, and she sucked in a breath. Until they pulled Caleb's body from the depths of the ocean, he was alive.

Alana nudged her. "Check that buoy out about a hundred feet. The one to the west." She pointed and Juliette focused the binoculars on the floating orange beacon that marked the edge of the marina.

She saw movement. Just the slightest blur of bright blue.

Juliette exhaled. "It's Caleb. He's on the buoy. I can see his shirt. He just pulled himself to safety."

She watched to make sure he was breathing. Caleb had hoisted himself onto the buoy and collapsed. The device barely held him, and with his added weight, the beacon listed to one side. Juliette watched his chest rise and fall, making sure he wasn't injured. Through the binoculars, he appeared to be in one piece.

But she knew his heart had been ripped to shreds.

"He's okay," she told Alana and Noelle. "He's going to lose his mind over Ivy."

She was thinking about searching the waters with the binoculars for any other signs of life when Noelle put a hand on Juliette's shoulder. "If this was a trap, maybe they had a recording of Ivy so that we'd think she's dead. After all, it looks like they want to keep her alive to complete their program. They've tried to take out Caleb numerous times."

Noelle's words lingered in Juliette's mind, and she chose to have faith that they were true. These men were cowards and most likely ran at the first sign of trouble.

Which meant they still had a fighting chance to save Ivy.

Noelle called the Coast Guard to report Caleb's position and to have them put out a BOLO for Ivy. With revived energy, Juliette now had a mission.

Ivy hadn't been on the boat. This had to be a ruse. They could still save her.

A few minutes later, a US Coast Guard cutter dashed across the horizon, zeroing in on the red beacon. Juliette refused to put down the binoculars until Caleb was safe on board the vessel.

Once Caleb stepped onto the Coast Guard ship, the three headed back to the parking lot to wait. Matt and Decia raced up to Juliette, extreme displeasure carved all over Matt's red face. Agent McGregor was ten seconds behind the officers, and Juliette could almost see steam rising from the man.

"What were you two thinking?" Matt asked, jumping in before McGregor had a chance to yell at her. "Why would you come here without backup? Both of you have military training, and you didn't wait for us? They could have killed you both."

"I know." Juliette closed her eyes and took a deep breath to ground herself. She should have stood up to Caleb, but she'd never seen him so determined. Part of her knew that if she hadn't tried to find Ivy at the marina and something bad had happened, Caleb would have blamed her.

But now her worst nightmare had become a reality. She heaped more blame on herself. Because what if Ivy had been on the boat?

She refused to let her mind go there. She had to be somewhere else.

How was Caleb going to forgive her? He'd told her repeatedly that Ivy came first, and she'd let him down. Let herself down. She always protected those she loved, and she now might lose both Ivy and Caleb.

Because if Ivy were truly dead, Caleb wouldn't open up his heart to anyone ever again.

The Coast Guard vessel docked, and Caleb was met by paramedics. She watched them cater to a listless and soaking-wet Caleb. The man shook from the cold and the sorrow. She wanted to rush to his side, but what was the use?

She'd failed to protect the one person that mattered most to Caleb.

A drop of rain ran down the side of her cheek, mimicking a tear. Storm clouds rumbled over the ocean and matched the war of emotions brewing inside Juliette. She superglued her heart shut and headed toward Caleb.

He sat on the back of the ambulance bay, a tangible heaviness seeping from every inch of his body. His T-shirt clung to his frame, his hair dark and spiky from the water. But his eyes told Juliette that he'd checked out mentally and withdrawn into himself, a place she wasn't welcome.

He caught her staring at him. She walked over and sat next to him. She covered his icy hand with hers and he didn't move.

"I'm so sorry, Caleb."

"Don't" was all he said, and he moved his hand away from hers. He sucked in a breath. "I can't. You were supposed to protect Ivy. And now she's gone."

"We don't know that she was on that boat, Caleb."

He turned and stared at her with glassy eyes. "I know. And I'm holding out hope that she wasn't. Maybe it's all some elaborate trick. But it sounded real. This is why it won't work between us, Jules. Love hurts. What if I lose you too? I can't lose everyone I love."

He loved her.

And she'd let him down. Just like she had the last time she'd walked away.

Yet here she was, standing and walking away again when he needed her most. Because this time, it wasn't rain streaking her cheeks.

The tears were real.

* * *

FRIDAY, 10:15 P.M.

Oh, Jules.

He watched her walk away. Why had he said those hateful words? Logic dictated that it wasn't her fault, but the pain scorching his heart scrambled his mind, and he was finding it hard to pull his thoughts together.

His brain had created multiple rational reasons why he and Juliette weren't meant to be together, but he never should have lashed out like that. She'd come to her senses and realize that they were destined to be friends. Nothing else.

Her pale face and the dark circles under her eyes showed that grief had wrapped its clutches around her, too.

More fire engines rushed to the scene, and fluorescent lights were set up around the area so the police could comb for evidence. He sat on the back of the ambulance bay, wrapped in towels. Even though temperatures weren't freezing, his plunge into the water had chilled him to the bone. At least his toes and fingers were tingling, a good sign that he didn't have frostbite.

Alana walked up to the ambulance and slid down next to him on the edge of the bay. Several firefighters raced by with hoses. The shell of The Rushmore still smoldered, sending black smoke into the air.

"The FBI wants to question you, but I told them I wanted to take a stab first."

"I just lost my niece in a fireball. Can you grill me later?"

"No."

Okay then.

Alana continued. "I don't think Ivy was on that boat. You think you're in these hackers' heads, but they're in yours. You walked right into their trap. They see the value in Ivy. Have hope that she's still alive."

Her words softened the calloused edges of his heart. "Thanks, Alana."

"Don't thank me yet. I've watched you and Juliette dance around each other, pretending not to be madly in love with each other like a couple of middle-school kids. You need to think with your heart, not your head. And she needs to stop letting her emotions get the best of her. You two are made for each other, but you're both stubborn. And you have to take a chance on love. It's worth a thousand risks if you're with the right person."

Caleb gaped at Alana. The woman was a formidable force, but somehow her words made sense in the midst of the chaos all around. Between sirens blaring, officers yelling orders, and the media crews scrambling for the best vantage point, Alana spoke directly to his heart.

He loved Juliette. She was worth the risk.

He gave Alana a sad laugh. "Anything else?"

Alana sprang to her feet as a man in an FBI blazer approached, then she tossed Caleb a wink over her shoulder. "Yeah. Don't hurt my friend, or I'll kill you and make it look like an accident."

He had no doubt Alana meant that.

Caleb answered all of the FBI's questions. His fingers itched, wanting to be at a keyboard, searching for clues to Ivy's whereabouts.

Because until he saw Ivy's body, he would not give up hope. She could be out there. And he was wasting time at the marina when he could be online tracking these hackers and flushing them out into the light of day. He would bring them to justice.

Once the interrogation ended, Caleb found Juliette sitting in her grandmother's car. He slid in the passenger's seat, unable to face her. If he did, he'd melt into a puddle of shame over the way he'd treated her.

"Please don't shut me out," she whispered as she started the car. "That's all I'm asking. I'm all-in on your hunt to bring these men down, and then we can go our separate ways. I can't let these men win. And I believe Ivy's alive."

He sank back in the seat. "I'm not in my right mind. I can't process things correctly right now."

"I understand that. But just know this isn't a no-win situation. There's always a way out." She put the car in gear and drove out of the lot.

He stared out the window as the world whipped by and wished the wind would carry away his grief. He wanted to apologize to Juliette, tell her that he loved her and that everything was going to be okay between them. But silence remained his only response.

At the Elite Guardians office, he sealed himself back in the room he'd been in, searching online for any sign of the hackers. These guys wouldn't give up. They'd be desperate for ways to launch their malware against his security system at the bank.

If they were successful, they could access the bank's systems. Consumers would panic, and the bank could potentially go under. If people couldn't access their accounts, it would be pandemonium. Sure, the FBI was monitoring the situation and would work to prevent any kind of cyberattack.

But this was personal. He'd never been a fan of vigilante justice—until they'd destroyed his life. Now all bets were off.

A new idea worked its way through his mind. What if the way to beat these guys wasn't to think like a hacker but to think like a hacker's enemy? These guys had factions all over the United States. There had to be some people out there that wouldn't mind spilling the dirt on Rushmore.

He got to work, checking the dark web for any evidence these hackers had left behind. If he got lucky, he might find someone with a vengeance against Rushmore that would testify against them. He left a trail of breadcrumbs everywhere he went with a message that he wanted to talk.

Why, God, why?

Why would God allow him to lose Ivy, too? After losing his father and sister. Not to mention his mother abandoning him.

Alana's words echoed across his soul. "Love is worth a thousand risks if you're with the right person."

Juliette was his person. She'd always been his soulmate. They were complete opposites that made each other whole.

A ding rang from his laptop. He'd been running a program through his work server to make sure his security software was doing its job. He clicked a few windows open and blinked.

His security program had flagged some suspicious activity in the bank's system.

A knock at the door sent him jumping a foot off his chair.

"Can we talk?" Juliette said as she entered the office.

Caleb shook his head. "I'm working on something. Can we chat later?"

She shot him a look that said she wasn't going to leave. "You still don't get to do this alone. If you've found the hackers, I want in. This time we call the authorities; we do things right. But whatever it is, I'm right by your side, whether you like it or not. Once we find Ivy, if you want to leave, I won't stop you. But know that this time, I'm not walking away from you."

Hands on hips, fire blazed in Juliette's eyes. He matched her stare, and her lips quirked up in a smile at his tenacity. He loved that fire. "I shouldn't have lashed out at you. You've done everything you can to protect both of us. How about neither of us walk away? We'll find her, Jules. Together."

She blinked, taken aback by his confession. But he didn't give her a second to respond as his computer dinged again and he broke eye contact with Juliette. Good thing, because her eyes drew him, and he needed to get his head in the game.

"What in the world…" He gasped. "They're trying to launch the ransomware. The hackers are in the bank's system. Blake is shutting down the system."

Juliette moved to stand behind him and peered over his shoulder. "Ivy finished the program?"

"Someone did. And managed to get it on one of the bank computers before the bank shut their servers down."

He needed proof. Something tangible that pointed to his niece being alive. He poked around in the program and froze. There were some strange strings of text and numbers in the comments of the code.

One of Ivy's breadcrumbs? Had the hackers been in such a hurry to launch the program that they'd missed this? If so, they were getting desperate and sloppy.

He closed his eyes and studied the code, rearranging each of the numbers to unravel the sequence.

He jumped up and threw his arms around Juliette. "She's alive. Ivy is alive."

"How? What?"

He let her go and showed her the screen.

"In the comments, she left a code. I thought back to some of the ciphers she and I used when she was younger and pieced together the words trap , alive, and warehouse ."

His adrenaline flowed to the point he was dizzy. "You were right all along, Jules. The explosion was a hoax. Now we just need another miracle to bring her back home. Because Ivy is still alive."