Alaskan Mountain Pursuit Elizabeth Goddard (best short novels .TXT) 📖

why are you here?” She wanted to hear all those things from him.

“I wanted to protect you. I was scared for you when you left, so I followed. I would think that was obvious, after everything we’ve been through. After I already told you that we’re in this together. And after...” Will’s attention snagged on something behind her. “Looks like someone besides me followed you, and he’s coming this way.”

ELEVEN

Will shoved Sylvie behind him and faced the man who strode toward them. This part of the deck was empty of others who might interfere at the moment. Could be the man had nothing to do with Sylvie, and Will was acting the fool—but he wasn’t going to take that chance.

The man, wearing a dark navy jacket, had the broad chest and thick neck of a marine. The stride of someone who never lost a battle. He watched the mountains beyond them as though interested in the scenery, except his eyes flicked to Sylvie. One time. That was all it took to telegraph his intentions. A tall, skinny woman strolled along the railing with a video camera, heading their way. If the man was going to strike, it would be now, before anyone else approached and got in the way.

Sylvie tugged at him, tried coming around from behind him. He knew she didn’t want him to get hurt, but Will stood his ground, protecting her if the man was bent on harm. As he closed in on them, strolling along as if he was simply riding the ferry back to Washington, Will braced himself for what was to come. The truth was always there in the eyes, just like it was in this man’s eyes now. This wasn’t the guy from the hospital, but he read the man’s intentions all the same—his sheer determination to kill Sylvie.

This scene had become all too familiar.

“Will.” Sylvie fought him now, making his task more difficult. “This is why I wanted to leave you!”

The man approached quickly, lifting his arm from beneath his jacket, leaving Will only a millisecond to respond. He lunged, forcing the man’s weapon-wielding hand down. A bullet fired off, hitting the water to the left. Screams erupted from elsewhere on the ferry. The woman with the camera began shouting for others to come and assist, while she filmed the whole thing.

Who was Sylvie that someone would risk killing her on a ferry in the middle of the water, leaving the attacker no escape, nowhere to run? Her killers were becoming more desperate.

Will’s muscles strained as he held the man off. He grunted with the effort. “Who. Are. You? What do you want?”

If Will could hold the man in this position long enough, the ferry security guard would arrive and detain him. They could get to the bottom of this, but the man broke free. Will landed a punch square to his jaw. The weapon dropped to the water.

To Will’s astonishment, the attacker climbed over the rail and jumped into the cold waters of the channel, a good drop from the deck of the ferry.

Will wanted to follow him. Sylvie grabbed him. “Will, no! Are you crazy?”

Adrenaline coursed through him as he started over, determined to swim after the man and beat the truth from him. End this for Sylvie. Men flanked him and pulled him back. One of them was a security guard.

They all watched in silence as the guilty party swam away. In the distance, a boat appeared. Was that the same boat that had been waiting where Sylvie had been attacked beneath the water?

“Aren’t you going to do something?” Will asked the guard. “Follow him?” Will leaned over his thighs to catch his breath, his ribs throbbing. He hadn’t remembered being jabbed there.

“We’ll call the Coast Guard.”

“I taped the whole thing,” the woman with the camera said. “You can see if you can identify him.”

The security guard thanked her.

Will pushed himself upright and looked into Sylvie’s tormented eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Me? I’m fine. You’re the one who’s hurt. Why do you keep doing this? Showing up and standing between me and the bad guys?”

He would have expected gratitude, but all he saw in her eyes was anger. “And what if I hadn’t been here? What if I hadn’t come this time? Where would you be? Could you have fought that guy?”

“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me, but you’re right, Will. I can’t do this alone.”

The security guard escorted Will and Sylvie to a room where a nurse saw to Will’s injuries—a bruised rib, she determined—and the security officer, a retired police officer out of Sitka, questioned them. Sylvie explained that the Alaska State Troopers were investigating, and would need to be informed of the latest incident. At least the woman had documented what happened for them.

When they were left alone in the sparse and economical office, Will watched Sylvie stare out the window and hug herself. Her hazel eyes had lost their shimmer. That cut him to the bone.

“Did you recognize that guy?” he asked.

“No. Like I told the police, and you and Chief Winters, the guy in the hospital, he was the diver who came at me. I only saw his eyes behind his mask, but I could never forget them. But this guy, nope. If I had recognized him, I would have gone for help immediately once I saw him.”

“So Diverman was at the hospital, and maybe this guy was Rifleman, the man who was on the island and shot at you and my plane. We need to see if the police will put you in a safe house until they resolve this.”

She gave a scoffing laugh. “Which police, Will? The jurisdiction is all over the place. Besides, I think this originated outside Alaska, and I’m heading back to Seattle. I can talk to someone there.”

“I’ve always had the feeling you knew more than you were saying, Sylvie. Now would be a good time to tell me what you do know.