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Back Deception Cove Save as PDF
Chapters (78)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Prologue
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Forty-Five
  52. Forty-Six
  53. Forty-Seven
  54. Forty-Eight
  55. Forty-Nine
  56. Fifty
  57. Fifty-One
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Fifty-Seven
  64. Fifty-Eight
  65. Fifty-Nine
  66. Sixty
  67. Sixty-One
  68. Sixty-Two
  69. Sixty-Three
  70. Sixty-Four
  71. Sixty-Five
  72. Sixty-Six
  73. Sixty-Seven
  74. Sixty-Eight
  75. Acknowledgments
  76. Discover More
  77. About the Author
  78. Also by Owen Laukkanen

She’d left it in a locker above the galley table, far removed from the rushing water, and she swam her way over, navigating by memory in the dark, and reached high and searched and nudged it with her fingertips, every second more distance between their boat and safety.

Finally she gripped the gun and swam it to the stairs, climbed up into six inches of water sloshing around in the cockpit. She hurried back to where Burke lay with Lucy, Burke’s head above water but not for much longer, Sweeney still paddling like it would do any good, the lights of the cruiser receding now.

“If God owes you any favors, Burke, now’s the time to call them in,” she said, and she raised the flare gun and pointed it in the air above the lights in the distance, muttered a quick prayer of her own, and pulled the trigger.

The flare screamed skyward, the sudden light blinding, and she could see the fear on Sweeney’s face, and the resignation on Burke’s, see Lucy scrambling for somewhere dry, somewhere safe, and finding nothing.

Jess watched the flare, and she watched the lights in the distance keep moving, wondered if the people on board were even looking in her direction, if they’d even notice.

Come on, she thought. We’re over here. Come on back and get us, please.

The lights kept moving westward. The flare burned overhead. Jess heard Sweeney sigh and reach back for his paddle, but Jess didn’t move. She kept watching the lights, and she kept trying to pray. She kept watching, and praying, and the lights kept receding—and then, almost imperceptibly, the lights seemed to slow, and the pitch of the motor changed.

Yes, yes please, please, God, send them our way.

Gradually the lights came about. The engine in the distance revved higher. The flare burned high above, and Jess handed Sweeney a flashlight to wave over his head as they watched the boat turn and speed toward them. Then she sat down on the deck beside Burke and held on to his hand, and it might have been her prayers, or it might just have been sweet relief, but she knew all of a sudden, just knew, that this rescue here was the last one they’d need, the last miracle, that everything from here on out was going to be better.

Sixty-Seven

Sixty-Seven

Sometime later Mason Burke and Jess Winslow sat across from each other at a small table outside a small coffee shop in Neah Bay, sipping good coffee and nibbling on some kind of pastry and steadfastly avoiding eye contact with each other. The sun was shining for once, and the air was warm enough to make sitting outside almost pleasant, and Lucy lay curled up between their feet, her head on her paws, catching a sunny snooze.