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Back Blood in the Water
Chapters (82)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. Praise for Blood in the Water
  81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  82. Newsletter Sign-up

“The water!” Carpio said. “We are going to the water! If you move or you scream, you die.” He was half pushing, half carrying her down Courthouse Way, toward the harbor. There was a small pier just off the edge of the seawall less than fifty yards away. None of it made any sense. Was he planning on jumping into the harbor? Was he planning on drowning them both?

Steele’s feet slipped beneath her, but Carpio kept her upright. Around them, people were shouting and running in different directions. It seemed as though no one was in charge. Worse still, it was as though no one could see them. She looked at Carpio and saw that he was still in his orange prisoner’s jumpsuit, and yet no one was stopping them as they hurried away from the smoldering courthouse.

She was thinking that she was possibly dead and in some nightmare of an afterlife—but then a BPD officer shouted at them. “Hey! What the fuck are you doing?” He approached them. He looked like he was in his fifties, heavyset, with dark circles under his eyes. Judging from his age, he probably spent nearly all of his time in some administrative role, and had only been pulled out onto the street because of the extra manpower requested to deal with the planned attack. She opened her mouth to talk, but her tongue wasn’t ready to function.

“She is hurt,” she heard Carpio say. “I am helping her.”

The officer was confused by the answer. He was standing right in front of them now, blocking their way. He had a hand up, making clear that he didn’t intend to let them pass—as though his hand could stop a madman. “You’re a prisoner!” he said.

“She’s hurt,” Carpio repeated. Steele could feel the policeman looking at her, and yet she still wasn’t physically able to speak—to warn him that he was about to be killed, and that she would soon follow. Carpio kept one arm around her waist, keeping her moving. He pulled the gun out of her abdomen, though, and shoved it into the officer’s prodigious gut. He fired three times, and the policeman’s eyes went wide as the bullets tore his insides apart. He went down like a sack.

The man’s belly had muffled the sound of the shots somewhat, but after the earlier explosions, everyone in the area was sensitive to anything that sounded like any sort of attack. All of a sudden, dozens of law enforcement personnel turned their attention to Carpio and Steele. “Stop!” they shouted. “They’re getting away!”