"Let him go, Kane."Isla's sights were fixed on the narrow slice of Kane's face visible above Halverson's shoulder."This is over.Whatever you think you've accomplished—"
"I've accomplished exactly what I intended."Kane's grip on Halverson tightened, drawing a whimper from the captain."This man has been running heroin into Duluth for eighteen months.Enough poison to destroy a thousand families.The Coast Guard knew about it—at least one of their officers did—and they did nothing.Because someone paid them to do nothing."
"Morrison's in custody," James said from Isla's left, his own weapon trained on Kane."Whatever corruption you were trying to expose, we found it.Let the captain go, and we can talk about this."
Kane laughed—a sound devoid of humor, carrying only the bitter recognition of someone who had heard similar promises before and knew exactly what they were worth.
"Talk," he repeated."You want to talk.The same system that let Morrison operate for years, that looked the other way while men like Halverson poisoned communities—you thinktalkingis going to fix that?"
"Killing him won't fix it either."Isla kept her voice steady, though her heart was hammering against her ribs."You're not a criminal, Kane.You're a soldier.You served your country with honor.Don't throw that away for a drug runner who'll be forgotten by next week."
Something flickered in Kane's eyes—a brief uncertainty that was gone almost before it appeared."Honor," he said."I had honor.I had a uniform and a mission and people who depended on me.And they threw it away because I wouldn't pretend the corruption wasn't happening.Because I wouldn't look the other way like Morrison.Like everyone else."
"I know what they did to you."Isla edged slightly closer, never taking her eyes off the knife at Halverson's throat."I read your file.The whistleblowing, the retaliation, the discharge.They were wrong.The system failed you.But this—" She gestured at the bodies surrounding them, at the blood that was beginning to congeal on the deck."This isn't justice.This is murder."
"Justice is whatever stops the enemy."Kane's voice had hardened, the brief moment of vulnerability sealed away behind walls of conviction."These men were the enemy.The drugs they carried would have killed people—innocent people, people who never had a chance against the poison flooding their communities.I stopped them.That's justice."
"Then why are you using a hostage?"Isla challenged."If what you're doing is righteous, why do you need a human shield?"
For a moment, Kane didn't respond.His eyes moved from Isla to James and back again, calculating angles, assessing threats with the tactical awareness that two decades of special operations had made instinctive.
Then he smiled—a cold expression that never reached his eyes.
"Because you're not going to stop me," he said."Not you, not the FBI, not anyone.These waters are mine now.And everyone who poisons them—" He pressed the knife harder against Halverson's throat, drawing a thin line of blood."—will answer to me."
"Kane, don't—"
But she was already too late.With a single, efficient motion, Thomas Kane drew the blade across Marcus Halverson's throat.
The captain's body crumpled, and Isla fired.
But Kane was already moving—breaking left, zigzagging across the blood-slicked deck with the fluid speed of someone who had spent years learning to evade gunfire.Her first shot missed, sparking off metal somewhere behind him.Her second came closer, tearing through the space he'd occupied a fraction of a second earlier.
Then he was behind the wheelhouse, using its bulk as cover, and Isla was moving too—circling right while James went left, trying to cut off his escape routes.
"Kane!"she shouted."There's nowhere to go!Put down the weapon!"
His response came not in words but in action.He burst from cover in a direction she hadn't anticipated—straight toward her, closing the distance with the terrifying speed of a predator who had decided she was the next obstacle to eliminate.
She fired again, but the deck pitched beneath her feet as the boat rocked in a swell, throwing off her aim.The shot went wide, and then Kane was on her—one hand seizing her weapon, the other swinging the Ka-Bar toward her face.
Isla twisted away from the blade, feeling it part the air inches from her cheek.She struck out with her elbow, connecting with Kane's ribs, but the blow seemed to have no effect.His grip on her gun hand was iron, inexorable, and she felt her fingers going numb as he applied pressure to the nerve cluster in her wrist.
The Glock clattered to the deck.
"James!"she shouted, but Kane was already spinning her around, using her body as a shield against her partner's weapon.The knife came up to her throat, its edge cold and wet against her skin.
"Drop it."Kane's breath was hot against her ear, his voice carrying the calm of someone who had taken hostages before and knew exactly how this dance was supposed to go."Drop the weapon or she dies."
James stood frozen, his Glock still raised, his blue eyes moving rapidly between Isla and the man holding her.The boat rocked beneath them all, indifferent to the human drama playing out on its deck.
"You're not going to kill a federal agent," James said, but his voice carried doubt that Isla could hear even through the pounding of her own heart."That's different from killing drug runners, Kane.That crosses a line you can't uncross."
"There are no lines anymore."Kane's grip tightened on Isla's arm, pulling her closer against him."The lines were drawn by people who never had the courage to do what was necessary.I'm not bound by their rules."
Isla felt the knife pressing harder against her throat, felt the trickle of blood where its edge had begun to bite.Her mind raced through options—none of them good, all of them likely to end with her bleeding out on a deck already slick with other people's deaths.
"You served your country," she said, keeping her voice steady despite the fear that threatened to overwhelm her."Twenty-two years.You believed in something—honor, duty, protecting the innocent.Does this feel like protecting the innocent to you?"
