“Don’t fuck with me, you pathetic excuse for a female.”

“What’s with the ‘female’ thing. You can’t say the word woman? Is it too hard for you, you tiny-dicked son of a bitch?”

He hit her in the jaw, snapping her head back and stunning her for a second. But she spotted what she’d been waiting to see, and it brought a wicked grin to her face.

“Where the fuck are we?” Warren growled. “That’s not the mainland.” The spotlight she’d played ahead of the boat bobbed from water to rock through the fog.

Remi made eye contact with Camille. “Jump,” she mouthed.

Camille shook her head.

“Jump,” Remi mouthed again.

Her friend shot her a “We are going to have words about this later” look. But carefully slid up onto the bench seat.

“Where’s the bridge? This isn’t right.”

It hurt to breathe. Her airway constricted.

Round Island’s decommissioned lighthouse loomed ahead of them out of the mist.

A spotlight caught him in its beam. Red and blue lights flashed out of the fog. The sound of a big boat engine was deafening. Brick. Brick was here.

“Mackinac PD. Hands up, Vorhees.”

When he swung his gun hand up and around toward the light, Remi shouted, “Now!”

The second she saw Camille disappear over the side, Remi hit the accelerator, and the runabout surged forward.

Warren was unprepared for the shift in his center of gravity, and his shot went wide as he fell into the bottom of the boat.

Lungs burning, Remi had one last play. She gunned the engine and headed around the rocks toward the beach. If she could keep him off balance, he couldn’t shoot anyone. And if she could make it to shore, there was a good chance she could get far enough away that Brick could shoot the son of a bitch.

Sweat and lake water dampened her skin as she swung the bow of the boat around in a tight turn. Warren slammed to the side behind her.

Just a few hundred more feet. Just a little bit farther. Brick had to stop to pick up Camille. She just needed to buy herself a minute, two tops.

But the cold barrel found its way to the base of her neck again.

“I will not lose,” Vorhees howled, yanking her hair painfully. Remi released her grip on the accelerator but didn’t pull it back. She didn’t have any tricks left. It was time to fight dirty.

She let out a yelp as he twisted her hair around his fist. He threw her down on the bench and backhanded her across the face.

She sprawled out on her belly and reached into her pocket for her rescue inhaler.

“Is that all you’ve got? A little bitch slap?” she wheezed, taking a hit from the inhaler.

She could hear the engine of the Marine Rescue zooming toward them. Camille and Brick were safe. Her family was safe. All she had to do was live through this.