She’d barely gotten the ropes back when she heard footsteps. Hands behind her back, leaning back against the closet wall, Lainie waited.
The door opened and Lainie squinted as light assaulted her eyes.
It was the big guy. She didn’t see the Taser in his hands this time, but he had a pistol on his person in a shoulder holster.
He reached in and grabbed her upper arm. She tensed to keep her arms back and not give away her freedom.
“Come on. We’re going up top.” He pulled her out into a narrow hallway. The boat rocked and he fell off-balance but caught himself quickly.
Lainie stayed alert. This was what she needed, him distracted. She prayed for another pitch as he pulled her into what looked like a galley, with steps that led up top. If she was going to make a move, it had to be down here, while they were one on one. There would be less of a chance of success if it was two against one. She stayed observant, hoping her chance would come.
Her goal was to apply a control hold, a twist lock, the first basic weaponless defense tactic officers learned. If she could land the hold properly, the size and strength difference would be negated, and she could use his tightly muscled strength against him.
They approached the stairs. She pretended to lose her balance, at the same time the boat pitched again and he did stumble. Lainie braced one knee against the counter, whipped the loose rope from her wrist around his at the same time she grabbed his hand, twisting it back into a twist lock while bracing his elbow into her midsection. She knew that she would only have one chance, and she nailed it. She had him.
“Ahh.” He rose on his tiptoes and tried to break the hold, but Lainie increased the pressure on his wrist tendons. Holding his wrist in this position took away his power. He moaned in pain.
“Stay quiet or I’ll break your wrist.”
He didn’t obey and Lainie applied more pressure. It took very little strength to hold his wrist back—it was all about leverage, and Lainie had the advantage.
“Okay, okay.”
As Lainie considered her next move, she caught sight of the Taser. It would be difficult to try and tie his hands. She’d have to let up on the tension, and she needed to have him secure before Vine knew what was happening.
She nudged him forward as if they were going up the stairs. At the last minute, she shoved him loose and grabbed the Taser. He turned, she fired, and he went down with a thud. Knowing she had seconds,minutes at most, she rolled him over and tied his wrists together as tightly as she could. It took all her strength, but she did it. When she stepped back, her heart pounded, and he was just starting to come out of the shock.
He had a gun in a shoulder holster and Lainie grabbed it as he started to yell.
“Dallas! Dallas! She’s loose!”
CHAPTER 68
“Shut up, would you? I’m sure he heard you,” Lainie said.
“You got nowhere to go, lady.”
“Neither does he.”
Lainie had braced herself against the galley counter as the boat bounced along. She couldn’t tell if she heard footsteps or if it was just the water slapping against the side of the boat. Lainie couldn’t shut him up unless she tasered him again, and she decided instead to take the fight to Vine. She brought the gun up, expecting him to appear at the top of the stairs. He didn’t. The big guy kept yelling.
A flash caught her eye and she dove to her knees.
Bang, bang, bang—three bullets came from behind and smashed into the counter above her head.
Lainie rolled and turned to return fire, landing on the big guy’s legs. She fired twice and heard a surprised grunt.
The big guy kicked his legs to get her off of him, but she was already moving.
The shots had come from behind, so she bounded up the stairs and swung around, wobbling on the bouncing deck.
In two steps, she saw Vine. He’d lost his balance and slipped through the railing. He hung on as the boat bounced along. Lurching forward, Lainie shoved the gun into her waistband and grabbed him,pulling with all her might. There was no way he was going to escape her arrest and then the eventual trial for the murder of Daphne Sparks.
The fear in his eyes gave her no pleasure. When he was on deck, she saw that she’d hit him in the shoulder. He moaned in pain. She dragged him to the top of the stairs, no easy task with the boat bouncing along on the ocean, and then she went below and found a first aid kit.
By the time she returned, Vine had passed out; he’d lost a lot of blood. When she stopped the bleeding, she talked to the big guy. He’d sat up by now, and his face was streaked with sweat, but he couldn’t get free of the knots she’d tied.
“Do you want to tell me how to stop this thing?”
