Chapter 5 - Fire on the Water
The flare missed the fuel tender by inches.
It struck the wet deck and skidded beneath a bench.
Daniel ran toward it.
Marcus raised his weapon.
Captain Hale tackled him.
The gun fired.
Glass shattered.
I dragged Fiona behind the doorway as Aidan collapsed beside us.
Flynn ran.
Of course he did.
When his plan failed, he abandoned everyone.
Even his parents.
Daniel kicked the flare into the ocean.
Hale wrestled the gun away from Marcus.
Within seconds, Marcus was restrained.
“Where's Flynn?” I shouted.
No one knew.
Then I heard an engine.
The yacht's tender.
I ran to the rail.
Flynn was lowering the small motorboat.
“He's leaving!”
Daniel reached the controls, but Flynn cut the final rope.
The tender dropped into the waves.
Its engine roared.
Flynn disappeared into the storm.
I should have felt relieved.
Instead, terror hit me.
“He's going after my parents.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not from here.”
“He has contacts. Money. Phones. People.”
The distant vessel drew closer.
Coast Guard.
My father had succeeded.
By 10:03 p.m., armed officers boarded the yacht.
Marcus was arrested.
Aidan and Captain Hale received medical treatment.
Fiona surrendered without resistance.
Daniel handed investigators the pills.
I gave them the recording from my watch.
And for the first time all night, someone told me I was safe.
I didn't believe them.
Because Flynn was gone.
And my parents were still alive.
Which meant he still had something to lose.
I borrowed a satellite phone.
My father answered immediately.
“Claire.”
Hearing his voice broke something inside me.
“Dad.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
That was technically true.
“Where's Mom?”
“Beside me.”
“Don't go anywhere. Cancel the mountain trip. Don't drive your cars.”
“We already have security.”
“Double it.”
My mother took the phone.
“Claire, sweetheart—”
“Mom, please.”
My voice cracked.
“Just listen to me.”
“We will.”
I closed my eyes.
The Coast Guard commander approached.
“We found the tender.”
My eyes opened.
“And Flynn?”
“No.”
The boat had been abandoned.
There was blood on the seat.
No body.
Flynn had either drowned—
or transferred to another vessel.
I knew which possibility frightened me more.
At dawn, we reached port.
Police waited.
So did my father.
He crossed the dock before anyone could stop him.
I fell into his arms.
For several seconds, I was five years old again.
Then my mother joined us.
No cameras.
No reporters.
No money.
Just three people holding each other because we were still alive.
My father looked over my shoulder.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
His jaw tightened.
“He won't stay gone.”
Neither would I.
For the next forty-eight hours, investigators dismantled Flynn's story.
The pills contained a powerful sedative.
The power of attorney had been prepared by a lawyer linked to Aidan.
Marcus admitted Flynn paid him.
Fiona requested immunity.
Aidan remained silent.
But the biggest discovery came from Flynn's abandoned luggage.
A second passport.
Cash.
A satellite phone.
And photographs of my parents' mountain house.
On the back of one photograph was a date.
Next Tuesday.
Four days away.
Below it were two words.
PHASE TWO.
I showed the photograph to Detective Elena Ruiz.
“What does phase two mean?”
“We're trying to determine that.”
I already knew.
My death had only been phase one.
And Flynn had spent too much time preparing to walk away because one part of his plan failed.
That evening, I returned to my parents' home.
Security surrounded the property.
At 11:43 p.m., my new phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Silence.
Then Flynn spoke.
“You should have taken the pills, Claire.”
My father reached for the phone.
I stopped him.
“Where are you?”
Flynn laughed.
“Close enough.”
“You lost.”
“No.”
A pause.
“You survived.”
His voice became colder.
“Those aren't the same thing.”
The call ended.
May you like
Thirty seconds later, every light in my parents' house went out.
And somewhere beyond the windows, a car engine started in the darkness.
