14. Diego

The captain heard me coming and aimed his shotgun at me as I came up the stairs. My adrenaline kicked in, but I didn't panic. I'd need a whole soccer team to count with their fingers and toes the number of times I'd been at the wrong end of the barrel. I did what I always did in this situation: remained calm and watched the captain's face and his trigger finger. Both would tell me when I needed to move.

"I can't let you take the president's daughter. It's a good thing I heard that there is a rescue group looking for her. Says they've partnered with the Secret Service to bring the First Daughter home." His Southern accent came through strongly, as if he were too nervous to hide it.

"That's not the Secret Service, and she wasn't kidnapped, you fucking idiot. They are hunting her down, determined to kidnap her and use her for ransom or straight up kill her."

He shook his head in disbelief. "No. That's not what they said."

I looked past the man to the computer screen that showed our location in the Cook Inlet. We were literally less than two hours from Anchorage by boat.

"Honestly, Captain. If I kidnapped her, I'd make sure absolutely no one saw her. I'm trying to get her to safety, and you just fucked that up."

He began to stammer, and the gun trembled in his hands. "I don't believe you!" His voice shook just like his hands.

"You don't have to!" I launched myself low and knocked him off his feet. The gun hit the floor and skidded out of his reach. I got in two good blows to his face, knocking him lights out. I got to the wheelhouse and fired up the engine. I tried to get the boat moving, but the damned engine was too slow. The captain must have tampered with it somehow to make sure I wouldn't be able to drive the boat away.

Stupid idiot was going to get us all killed. Geneva's hired goons surely weren't going to leave any witnesses alive. We could survive a swim west and follow the shore northwest to Anchorage. It would be hell of a walk, but we could do it.

The revving of another engine was the last sound I heard before I was launched by the impact of the boats colliding. I caught myself before my head could slam against the ground. I hauled myself up and quickly left the wheelhouse. It would be too easy for them to corner me there.

As I stepped out on the deck, I ran into the first goon. He came at me fist flying. I ducked and spun around, kicking my foot out and tripping him. He went stumbling and landed on the ground in a thud. I didn't have time to worry about disabling him further before another asshole was upon me.

Before I knew it, I was surrounded by three Geneva goons, and several more went rushing around us, headed down the stairs to where Roni was holed up.

Fuck!

I scooted back a few steps, and my foot bounced off something that echoed. The faint smell of gasoline wafted to my nose, and I couldn't believe my luck. I had an exit strategy, but it didn't leave one for Roni.

I reached behind me, quickly grabbing the red can of gasoline and beginning to empty it as the aggressors started barking orders at me. I threw the gasoline all around me, making sure I covered as much of the deck as possible. There'd be no way to contain a deck fire now.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" one shouted as he whipped out his pistol from his waistband. His friends did the same. I could bring my gun to the fight, but I'd be lucky to get it free from behind my back and dispose of two of them before I was dropped by another. Instead, I grabbed the lighter out of my jacket pocket. As soon as they saw it, more guns were pointed at me. It was too late; I'd already flipped open the top, and a small flame danced for us all to see.

"Stop that right now and get on the ground before I fill you with more metal than this fucking hunk of metal!" another idiot shouted as he referred to the boat.

Fat chance of that.If they did that, they'd never stop the lighter from hitting the gasoline and burning this whole thing to ashes. They might make it back to their boat, but not without sustaining serious burns. I made sure I threw gasoline in their direction, and it soaked the bottom of their pants.

How the fuck was I going to get to Roni? The goons who went after her would eventually drag her up the stairs, right? I just needed to stall until they got to her. Then I'd somehow grab her and we'd plunge to safety.

I'd have to time it just right. Reach for her as they dragged her behind me toward the path for their boat. It was a waiting game, one that could escalate dangerously out of control. Especially if they decided they wanted to take Roni dead as opposed to alive.

I nearly choked at the thought of them carrying her lifeless body off the boat.

I looked down behind me, trying to hear past the noise on the deck to see if I could hear signs of a struggle below.

"Diego!"

It was Roni! Her voice was distorted, and it didn't come from below. I snapped my head to the right and barely made out her floating in the water. Her life vest kept her afloat, and if I wasn't mistaken, she had our bags floating with her.

I'll be damned.

She was hell of a lot smarter than I ever gave her credit for. I couldn't help but smile as I released my hold on the lighter. Gravity did its thing as I sprinted to the side of the boat. The smell of burning gasoline and smoke was nearly instant as I felt a burst of warmth against the back of my neck. The flames had sprung to life, and with any luck the boat would explode to smithereens, leaving no survivors but Roni and me.

I held my breath as I met the water. My fingers hit first, breaking the surface tension as I completed my swan dive. The water was ice cold, although this wasn't my first time in chilly water. I was expecting the shock, so it didn't steal my breath. I continued to swim under the water, choosing to keep the surface as a barrier between me and the flaming ship. If there was an explosion, the water would protect me. I kept swimming while I tried to slow my heart rate and conserve the oxygen I had left.

It felt like it took forever, but I brushed up against something hard, and it jerked under my touch.

Roni. The word was like a mental sigh of relief. We were together, and for now we had the advantage.

I popped my head out of the water and heard the tail end of her shriek.

"Dear God, you scared the shit out of me. I thought you were dead," she nearly cried.

"Shhhh!" I told her, my voice low. "We don't want them to know where we are." I looked back at the flaming boat. "That smoke is going to give us some cover for now. We need to put as much distance between us and them as possible before they get to their boat to look for us."

Roni merely smirked. "About that…" There was no hiding her full-on grin, even though her lips were blue and her teeth were chattering. "I cut the wires to their motor and bent the prop. They aren't going anywhere."

I gave her a low whistle, meant only for her to hear. "Okay, I'm fucking impressed. Is this all of our gear?" I asked as I looked over the bags that were floated by my spare life vests.

She nodded. "Here's the last one." She handed me the last of the four life vests, and I quickly slipped it on over my head and pulled the string to inflate it. Instantly, I felt relief as I let the float support my weight.

"Now what?" Roni asked as we stared at the smoking remains of the boat.

"Now we turn away from it and swim west." He looked up at the sky and then the sunset. "This way."

"I thought I should go east?" she questioned.

"That was until I found out where we are. If we go west, we will eventually find national park land. We can follow the shore north to Anchorage."

I began swimming further away from the boat, and Roni quickly followed me. "We need to get to shore as quickly as we can before we become too hyperthermic to survive."

"Do you know how far we are from shore?" she asked breathlessly. Her teeth chattered over the sounds of the water, and I felt terrible for her. This was likely her first polar plunge, and she'd been in the water longer than I had.

We were a couple of miles from the shore. We'd have to swim for hours to make it to make it there. With the darkness of night only minutes away, we weren't going to see land for a long time. Especially since it was wilderness and not some bustling city that would be all lit up.

"Maybe a two-mile swim. Land would be just out of our sightline, even in full sun."

"We're never going to survive the swim. I'll freeze to death before then."

I shook my head and reached behind me to grab her life vest and bring her closer. "Hey, don't talk like that. I know people who have survived longer in worse conditions. We're going to be fine. Look at everything we've got to help us survive when we make it to shore. That's thanks to you."

"If," she chattered.

I rolled my eyes and kept swimming, tugging her along behind me. She kicked her legs to help propel herself forward. I focused on mapping out a plan of action for when our feet touched sand. It was better than focusing on the possibility of our frozen bodies becoming popsicles for the sharks. They tended to head to warmer weather this time of year, but you never knew if you were going to get unlucky and see one in colder waters.

First thing first, we're going to have to get warm, and with all of our gear soaking wet in our bags, there was only one way to do that. I could hear Roni's strong protests in my head now. It was going to be a long, miserable night.