Chapter 2

"Honey!"

Marie fumbled to press both hands over Gerald's wound.

I looked up at the drone fleet.

"Carter, you think you've already won?"

"You’re all on your deathbeds, so shut the hell up." he scoffed.

I shook my head. "Someone's been playing you. And you're so sure you're the one holding the cards."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're going to regret this. Soon."

Chloe cut in before he could respond.

"Don't listen to her. She's buying time. Finish it, Carter."

That did it.

"Fine. You want to do this the hard way."

All at once, the drones extended their metal prongs and drove toward us. One hit and they'd punch clean through the hull.

I reached into the emergency kit and pulled out the flare gun.

Bang—the flare gun fired!

Carter burst out laughing.

"A flare gun. Seriously?"

"Riley, I've got the emergency frequencies jammed. Nobody's picking up distress signals in this zone. You could set the whole sky on fire and it wouldn't matter."

The wind picked up. The waves got worse.

Gerald and Marie had their eyes shut. They'd stopped fighting it.

I watched the flare climb. Hit its peak. Burst open.

"Carter. You know what's loaded into this flare gun besides the flare?"

He went quiet.

One second.

Then every drone in the fleet twitched, spun out, and dropped straight into the river.

Gone. All of them.

"What just happened? Carter, what happened to your drones?"

I unhooked the grappling line and pushed us toward the bank.

Then Carter lost it completely. The helicopter dropped toward us.

"You think that changes anything?"

The grappling hook came down again.

"Off the boat! Now!"

If those rotors caught us we were done.

Gerald shoved Marie toward me. "Take her and go! Move!"

"Gerald —" Marie's voice broke.

Too late.

The hook drove through Gerald's injured arm and hauled him into the air.

He screamed. Blood ran down his side and dripped into the water below.

"Tough guy, right? Let's see exactly how tough."

Carter worked the winch, swinging Gerald back and forth in the air like he was nothing.

Marie fainted. Collapsed into my arms.

Gerald had come out here himself — insisted on it. The construction project that triggered this disaster was his company's mess to fix. He wouldn't send lawyers. He never did. He'd shown up in person to handle the compensation, face the families directly.

That's who he was.

That's how he ended up here.

That's how Carter got him.

"Carter!" My voice came out raw. "Stop! You're going to kill him!"

"Begging now?" He sounded delighted. "Sign the document. Do it right now, or I drop him."

"Okay. Okay, I'll sign. Right now."

I dragged my phone out with shaking hands. The screen was smeared with mud and blood — I could barely read it. My fingers wouldn't stop trembling.

I found the email. Uploaded the signature.

Gerald's voice had dropped to almost nothing.

"You bastard. I'm your father!"

Carter got the confirmation. His tone shifted into something uglier.

"You've all been such a pain in my ass. Go keep Chloe's parents company."

He let go of the winch.

Gerald dropped. Hit the water and gone.

"No —"

"Dad —"