The cop approached him, gun raised. As he stepped out of the shadows, Brandon got a better look at his face.

“Akins, it’s me. Detective Reynolds.” Brandon grabbed his weapon and straightened.

Antonio walked out from the trees, holding up his badge. “We’re APD.”

The Marble Falls detective looked from Antonio to Brandon, seeming confused.

“We got a call about a domestic disturbance,” Akins said, holstering his weapon.

“Yeah, we called it in,” Antonio told him. “We think we’ve got a potential hostage situation going down.”

*   *   *

Leigh raced for the trees, not daring to look over her shoulder to see if she was being chased. Adrenaline spurted through her veins, and she ran flat-out, arms and legs pumping, until she felt like her lungs would burst.

She darted behind a flimsy mesquite bush that would do nothing to shield her from a bullet.

*   *   *

Pop!

Brandon’s head whipped around at the sound.

“Gunshot,” Antonio said. “Sounded like near the lake.”

Brandon sprinted down the slope toward the boathouse, gun in hand. His heart jumped into his throat as he saw the shadowy shape of a boat backing out of one of the slips.

Was Leigh on that boat?

Was Vanessa?

He raced for the dock. The boathouse was dark, but he made out the form of a person at the back of the boat.

No, two people, locked in a struggle. A high-pitched scream turned Brandon’s blood cold, and then one of the two people went over the side.

“Police!” he yelled. “Freeze!”

The taller figure leaped from the boat onto the dock and darted around the far side of the boathouse.

“I got him!” Antonio shouted behind him.

Brandon ran onto the dock, searching the water’s surface. Nothing. Holstering his weapon, he rushed to the very end, scouring the inky water near the boat.

He spied a faint trail of bubbles and jumped in.

Cold water swallowed him. He groped through the blackness, and his hand encountered a limb. He grabbed on. Was it Leigh? Vanessa? She thrashed and flailed, trying to fight him off as he put her into a lifesaving hold and kicked to the surface. She came up choking and gasping, and Brandon got a look at her face.

“Vanessa, I got you!”

She punched and flailed.

“It’s okay, I’m a cop. Breathe.”

But she continued to fight. Brandon kept her head above water as he scissor-kicked his way to the dock, scanning the shoreline with a tight knot in his chest. Where was Leigh?

Akins rushed to the end of the dock as Brandon moved toward it with a panicked Vanessa still struggling against him.

“Get her arms,” Brandon ordered.

Akins reached down to take her arms, and Brandon helped lift her. She gasped and choked as she rolled onto her side on the wooden slats.