Deep Cover Detective

“Stop the boat against the bank,” someone yelled. The voice sounded as though it came from the shore. And it sounded...familiar.

Someone in the boat screamed.

Silver leaned over to see what was happening.

On the bank about ten feet away, beneath a twisted cypress tree, a man stood with a bandanna tied across his face with holes cut out for the eyes. On his head was a Miami Marlins baseball cap. And in his hand, pointed directly at Danny, was a gun.

Excited chattering erupted all around as the tourists began to realize what was going on. Danny did as he was told, poking his guide pole beneath the water into the mud to push the boat toward the bank. A low grinding noise sounded as the bottom of the hull scraped across weeds and mud, then stuck and held.

The gunman rushed over to the boat but didn’t try to board. He aimed his pistol at Danny and pitched a large burlap bag into the boat. “Jewelry and cash,” he said. “Fill it up. Hurry.”

Oh, no. She suddenly recognized the voice. Eddie, what are you doing? She groaned and shook her head.

Colton moved his left hand down between them, the back of his fingers skimming her calf as he slid the leg of his jeans up his boot.

Silver blinked with horror when she saw why. He had a gun. It was strapped in a holster against the side of his boot.

She grabbed his arm just as his fingers closed around the gun. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

He jerked his head around and frowned at her. “I’m a cop,” he whispered. “I’m an undercover detective with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. Don’t worry. It’s okay.”

A cop? Her stomach sank. Everything had just gotten a whole lot more complicated. And dangerous. He was about to ruin everything. She had to stop him. She shook her head back and forth. “Too dangerous,” she whispered back. “Someone could get hurt.”

“Someone could get hurt or killed by that kid holding the pistol. Now stay down.” He pushed her hand off his arm.

Silver clenched her fists. Danny was passing around the burlap bag while Colton slowly pulled his gun out of the holster, his gaze never leaving Eddie.

This was a disaster waiting to happen. She had to protect Eddie. The gun in Eddie’s hand was shaking so hard Silver was afraid he was going to shoot someone by accident. And Colton had his gun completely out of the holster now.

Silver leaned back and raised her right hand as if swatting away a bug. The movement caught Eddie’s attention, as intended. His head swiveled her way, and his eyes widened. Silver made a gun signal with her pointer finger and thumb and pointed at Colton’s back. It didn’t seem possible, but the gun in Eddie’s hand started to shake even more. He nodded, and Colton snapped his head around to look at her suspiciously.

She dropped her hand from behind his back and gave him a nervous smile.

His eyebrows slashed down and he whipped his head back toward Eddie.

“Your jewelry, Silver,” Danny said, pushing the bag toward her.

She hesitated, glancing from Colton to Eddie. They were staring at each other like two gunmen about to have a shoot-out.

Do something. You have to stop this before someone gets hurt.

Silver started to pull her necklace over her head.

Eddie turned his gun away from Danny and toward Colton.

Colton started to bring his gun up.

Silver dropped her necklace and it clattered against the floor of the boat in front of Colton. “Oh, darn it. Sorry.” She braced her right hand on his shoulder and leaned across him.

“Out of the way,” he snapped.

“Sorry, sorry, oops.” She fell across his lap, slamming her right arm on top of his gun arm and trapping it between her breasts and his lap.

She jerked her head up and looked at Eddie. Go, she silently mouthed to him.

He whipped around and ran for the trees.

Colton swore and tried to yank his gun out from beneath her, but she clung to him like pine sap on a brand-new paint job. He looked toward the bank, then shook his head and looked back at her. His glare was so fierce she was surprised she didn’t turn into a human torch on the spot.

“I should arrest you right now,” he growled. “You let him get away on purpose.”

“I fell.” She blinked innocently and braced her hands on his thighs, pushing herself upright.

He swore viciously and let his gun slide back into the holster, then yanked his pants leg down over it. No one seemed to have even noticed his gun. The rest of the passengers were all chattering excitedly. And Danny had turned away to try to comfort a loudly crying woman.

Colton leaned down toward Silver, his face a menacing mask of anger. “Until I figure out my next step, you keep quiet. Not a word to anyone about me being a cop or I will arrest you. Got that?”

Bristling at his tone but understanding his anger, she decided to comply—for now—and gave him a curt nod.

He crossed his arms and looked away, as if he couldn’t stand the sight of her anymore.

A hand touched her left shoulder. The woman who’d been so excited by the egrets earlier looked ready to pass out. Her eyes were like round moons brimming with tears about to spill down her cheeks.

Her lips trembled as she whispered, “I can’t believe we were almost robbed. We could have been killed.”

Silver’s heart tugged at the poor woman’s fear. Her own anger at Eddie probably rivaled Colton’s anger with her. Thank God, no one had gotten shot, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t been hurt. This poor woman, and others, would probably have nightmares and no telling what other lasting effects because of Eddie’s stupid stunt. Silver squeezed the woman’s hand and pulled her into a hug, rocking her and patting her back as she tried to soothe her.

“You’ll want to take the boat to the main dock where everyone’s cars are parked.” Colton’s deep voice cut through the conversations around them as he addressed Danny. “We’ll have cell phone coverage there and can call the police to report the gunman.”

Danny hesitated, then nodded. “Right. Of course. Um, ladies and gentlemen, my apologies for the fright you just had. The tour is over. We’re returning to the south dock.” He gave Colton another curious look before using the pole to push the boat off the mud.

Chapter Five (#ulink_f4434fbc-e2ae-5292-adb9-4cc0cc58a64a)

Colton switched his cell phone to his other ear and leaned against the police cruiser as he and his boss debated his next move. The airboat captain had brought the tourists to this main dock near the Interstate. This was where the tourists had parked their cars earlier this morning before being taken in the boats to Mystic Glades for breakfast.

Half a parking lot away, on the mini-boardwalk outside Buddy’s Boats Boutique, a team of four Collier County Sheriff’s deputies were interviewing the few remaining airboat riders. Most of them had already given their statements and had been allowed to go. Only Silver, Danny Thompson and a couple of others were left.

A different group of deputies had taken one of the department’s airboats out earlier, with Danny as their guide, to the spot where the gunman had been, in order to search for clues. But other than some muddy footprints that the soggy marsh had rendered useless as evidence, there wasn’t much to find. And no trace of the gunman. They’d brought Danny back and now those deputies were already on their way back to Naples.

As Colton listened to Drew, some of the store’s staff members came outside on another one of their rounds, checking on everyone and passing out bottles of water—at four bucks a pop. Colton supposed that was entrepreneur Buddy Johnson’s brand of Southern hospitality.

“Okay,” Drew said. “Since the B and B owner interfered and it’s unlikely the perp even saw your gun, what do you think had him spooked?”

“Miss Westbrook must have signaled him, warned him, just before she threw herself on me so I couldn’t draw my gun.”

“You think she interfered on purpose?”

“Yes. But I can’t prove it. When I drove into Mystic Glades and saw Eddie talking to her, I should have confronted her then and there. Instead, before I continued to the B and B, I waited to see what they would do. Eddie disappeared. And Miss Westbrook’s been playing cat and mouse with me ever since. Did she interfere on purpose? I’d bet my next raise on it.”