Page 98 of Shallow Remains

The only way to help her was to swim for the other boat before his blew up.

Hold on, sweetheart.

He stepped onto the port side tube and dove, slicing through the water only a few seconds before the explosion hit.

Maddy’s tackle had caught Eve off guard.

The impact drove Eve into the helm. Maddy fought to keep hold of her gun wrist, wrenching it back as they fell to the deck. Maddy landed on top of her, and the pistol fell with a thud.

Eve screeched in rage and attacked. Maddy thought she’d been ready for it, but Eve was trained. Bigger. Stronger.

Pain exploded across her face and the side of her head as the blows rained down one after the other. All she could do was throw up her forearms to try and block them. But even through the pain, she knew her life depended on getting that pistol.

Another punch caught her cheek. Her head snapped around. She kicked. Threw a punch blindly, connected with flesh and heard a grunt. Through watering eyes she darted a look around for the pistol. Saw it lying just out of reach.

She rammed an elbow at the side of Eve’s head and twisted with all her might, bucking her partly off her. Maddy immediately rolled to her side, threw a hand out for the pistol.

Her straining fingertips brushed the grip.

Eve pounced on her, shoving a hand under her chin and forcing her head up, fingers clamping around her jaw like a vise. Maddy did the only thing she could think of and sank her teeth into Eve’s hand. Hard as she could until her teeth touched and blood squirted in her mouth.

Eve howled and jerked her hand free. Maddy dove for the weapon, the nauseating taste of blood thick on her tongue.

She wrapped her numb fingers around it. But Eve snagged it at almost the same time.

With a feral sound of denial and rage Maddy grabbed hold of it with her other hand, holding on for dear life. Knowing that if she let go, she and Lachlan were both dead.

“I won’t…let you…hurt him,” she snarled, fighting to gain control of it with everything she had.

Their faces were inches apart, teeth bared. The muzzle of the pistol was pointed toward Eve’s lower body.

Maddy felt her grip starting to slip, her numb fingers unable to hold on anymore. She didn’t know if this gun had a safety or if a round was chambered but she stretched her finger out and curled it around the trigger. Squeezed.

The shot was so loud she jumped, the pistol kicking in her hand. Eve screamed and fell back, clutching her side with one hand. Maddy immediately scrambled backward, aiming the pistol at her with a shaking hand. It dawned on her that they were barely moving, the sound of the engine barely audible. But she couldn’t hear Lachlan speeding toward them anymore.

“Disarm the bomb,” she growled at Eve, her voice hoarse. Almost feral.

Eve gritted her teeth, nostrils flaring with each shallow breath, eyes glazed with pain as blood seeped from under her hand.

Maddy didn’t see the kick coming until it was too late.

One moment she was holding the pistol. The next second Eve’s drove her foot into Maddy’s left forearm.

She felt the bone snap. Yelped in pain and grabbed her injured wrist. Heard a faint plop and glanced over the side just as the pistol sank beneath the turbulent surface.

The next second Eve knocked her flat on her back. Her face was a twisted mask of rage as she straddled Maddy on the deck and locked her hands around her throat. “Get up. Get up so you can watch him die.” She dragged Maddy into a sitting position.

Never. She would never let Eve win.

With an enraged snarl Maddy fought back.

They rolled across the deck. Maddy cried out as her broken arm bent under her, the pain so sharp it stole her breath.

Eve came out on top, still bleeding freely from the wound in her side. She panted, triumph glittering in her eyes as she drew the knife from her pocket. Deployed the blade as she fished out her phone from her pocket with the other and hit a button.

Maddy’s heart clenched in terror. The bomb. She’d activated it.

Eve laughed, looking deranged with all the blood on her and that feral smile. “It’s too late. You can’t stop it now. He’s about to die, and you’re ne⁠—”