Clara draped over Tom. Sean lying in the center aisle. Kat in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.
Tom was closest, so Zach hunkered down and felt for a pulse at Tom’s throat first, then Clara’s. They were both alive. He stepped around them quickly, relief filling him.
What drug had the women used? What would put them out so completely? What the hell did it matter, if he couldn’t gain control of the boat? And how was it rigged to explode? He had to know so he could stop it from blowing sky-high.
He started to rise, so he could station himself on the steps and listen to whatever was going on, but just then Sean’s eyes opened and he tried to speak.
Zach shook his head and brought a finger to his lips.
“Caer,” Sean mouthed. “Stalling them.”
“I know. It’s all right,” Zach repeated.
All right? A maniac had Caer. Nothing was all right.
Zach stood and retrieved the gun he had tucked into his waistband under the wet suit.
Sean was out again, he saw. Just as well. With his gun drawn, he moved to the steps and silently started to climb.
Simultaneously, Amanda came to the top of the steps, saw him and screamed.
He rushed her. He had no choice.
He grabbed her bleached blond hair and pulled her against him as a shield, his gun to her head, as Marni stood, dragging Caer up with her.
Standoff.
“Let Caer go,” Zach said.
Marni laughed unpleasantly. “You must be joking.”
“Actually, I’m not. Let Caer go or Amanda will be dead before you can flick your wrist.”
Marni shrugged. “Kill her.”
“Marni!” Amanda shrieked.
“I’m going to have the treasure,” Marni said. “If I have it alone, so be it.”
“No!” Amanda cried. She was shaking in Zach’s arms, betrayed.
“Stop crying,” Marni snapped at her. “He isn’t going to shoot you. He’s a man. He’s in love. Or lust. Didn’t I teach you all about men? Trust me. He’ll let you go, and he’ll toss his gun overboard, or else I’ll slit his girlfriend’s throat and fillet her like a fish, and let him watch.”
“Like hell you will!” Caer exploded. “Zach, shoot her.”
“We can figure this out,” Zach said flatly, buying time, trying to figure out a way to convince Marni to let Caer go.
He could see it in Marni’s eyes. She wasn’t the kind of crazy that would make her do anything stupid. She was smart-crazy. She had planned this for years.
“Don’t bother with Amanda,” Caer pleaded. “Shoot Marni.”
Holding Amanda tightly against him, he felt her shivering body through the wet suit. He aimed the gun at Marni.
“You won’t take the chance,” Marni taunted.
“You have to kill her,” Caer said. Her eyes were brilliantly blue and pleading as they met his. “Zach, I’ve told you the truth. You’ve seen the birds. You have to save Sean. There’s a reason. I don’t know what it is, but Sean has to live out his natural lifespan. That’s why I’m here. Please, Zach. You have to believe me, believe what I’ve told you. Everything I’ve told you.”
He stared at Marni, who only laughed coldly.
“Shoot her, Zach,” Caer said again. “You have to believe me. Believe in me.”
“Drop the gun, Zach,” Marni said again, and pressed the knife harder against Caer’s neck. “See? I can make her bleed.”
And he knew. He couldn’t give up his weapon, not even if his heart was tearing as if the knife shimmering in Marni’s hand was slipping into his own flesh.
Because there was something…
Something in Caer’s eyes that spoke of truth and wisdom.
But she wasn’t a banshee.
Couldn’t be a banshee…
Could she?
The image of another knife flashed into his mind, a kitchen filleting knife, razor sharp, slicing through the air and into Caer’s back.
She had lived, had only been nicked. She had explained it away as coincidence, the knife hitting the wire of her bra, but…
Did it matter? There was no choice. They would all die, Sean, Kat, Tom, Clara, not only Caer, if he didn’t stop Marni.
“Zach, do it!” Caer cried.
“Don’t do it unless you want to see her bleed,” Marni taunted. “I’ll make her bleed just a little more now, just to prove it to you.”
His finger twitched, and the gun exploded, the knife slicing into Caer’s throat just as Marni caught the bullet in her forehead, pulling Caer to the deck with her as she fell.
Amanda began screaming hysterically. Zach thrust her away from him as he hurtled toward Caer, clutching her against his chest, searching frantically for something to stanch the flow of blood at her throat.
There was a roaring in his ears, and he looked up. The sky had gone black, but not from weather, he realized in shock. It was the birds, hundreds upon hundreds of birds, swooping down toward the deck.
Amanda continued to scream, her cries merging with those of the birds.
He held Caer, his hand over the wound at her throat as he tried to stop the bleeding. Then he saw. Her eyes were open, and she smiled slowly.