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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

None of them, though, was between them and the pier. Carpio pulled her along at a near sprint as the gunfire started behind them. She assumed that they would hit the seawall and he would drag her into the water. That was fine with her. At least he’d be dead, and if she had to sacrifice herself to make sure that Vincente Carpio never hurt anyone else, she was happy to do it.

As they came to the seawall, though, she looked down the narrow ramp to the small pier and saw the two boats waiting there. They were both military vessels with guns mounted fore and aft, both with three armed men on board. They were shouting to Carpio, urging him on.

It was at that moment that she knew T’phong Soh had lied to her. The attack on Northern Avenue had been a diversion to keep the law enforcement forces at the front of the courthouse and leave the waterfront unguarded. She’d been an idiot, and Carpio’s escape was her fault. Any further brutality that Vincente Carpio would carry out in his lifetime was on her head.

Cormack was only a hundred yards from the courthouse when he saw Vincente Carpio appear at the edge of the shore. He had what looked like a hostage, and it took only a moment for him to realize that he was dragging Kit Steele with him as he hurried down onto the ramp to the small pier. The two heavily armed boats were pulled up to the edge of the pier, and they looked poised to speed away as soon as Carpio was on board.

“What are you going to do?” Cicero called to him.

“We can’t let them get away from the shoreline!” Cormack called back. “If they get out onto the harbor with all this traffic, there’s no way to know where they’ll disappear to!”

“They’ve got machine guns,” Cicero responded. “We’ve got pea-shooters. How are we going to keep them from getting away?”

“Only one option! Hold on!” Cormack floored the engine and crouched down behind the center console as he sped straight at the two boats.

Cicero rolled his eyes and got down low next to him, pointing a gun up ahead, but waiting to fire until he had a realistic chance of hitting anything. “This is stupid,” he muttered under his breath.

Javier Carpio’s attention was focused on the shore. He was gratified to see his brother had made it to the edge of the harbor, but he knew that the mission wasn’t over yet. Several of the police and federal officers now realized what had happened, and they were giving chase. They were shooting down at the boats from the shore, but were easily dispersed with volleys of machine-gun fire.