Emma swiped a tear from her cheek and folded her arms tightly across her chest.
Cap wanted nothing more than to go to her and wrap her in his arms and tell her everything would be okay, though that was a promise he couldn’t guarantee. But the darkening sky kept him on the upper deck so he could drive them to safety. Quickly.
“Cap, we’re going to pull up. I’m going to ride in on your boat,” the chief said.
Cap supposed the man didn’t want to leave his boat without police protection just in case the Colombians found them again.
Chief Mertz climbed aboard despite the treacherous wave action rocking both boats.
Over the radio, Cap heard the Coast Guard call it and quickly maneuvered their boat to head back to the station. Cap followed the police boat and the dive boat in tow.
He looked over his shoulder toward his passengers. “Take a seat. We’re going to move fast, and it’s going to be a rough ride.”
Hailey and Morgan went into the cabin. Emma hesitated, then met his eyes with a look that sliced straight through him, angry they’d called off the search.
The chief stepped toward her and motioned for her to go into the cabin. She followed his instruction, but not before she shot him one more displeased look.
Once Emma disappeared into the cabin, Chief Mertz climbed the ladder and stood next to him as he throttled up.
“I know you know how this is going to end,” the chief said to him.
“Yeah.”
“How well do you know these passengers?”
“I don’t. I was supposed to take a bachelor party today and ended up with the jilted bride and her bridesmaids.”
“How did Jonathan get here then?”
“He hired a boat to find us. Jumped off that one and left me no choice but to pick him up because the other boat took off.”
Chief Mertz arched a brow.
“Yeah, I knew this was going to be a crazy day from the get-go.”
“You’re losing your touch since leaving the force.”
Cap snorted. He missed the work sometimes, but not the constant grind of being a drug investigator. The stress of the job was what he didn’t miss, though he did like the satisfaction he got cleaning up the streets. However, it appeared every time he took a drug dealer off the street, six more showed up. It was exhausting. Working in the outdoors was better. Ever since he’d guided for his Uncle Lee in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, he knew outdoor work was for him.
“You know, you’re welcome back anytime. I’m guessing if these ladies had been on any other boat today, with any other charter captain, we’d be looking for more bodies.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
The chief chuckled.
“What?”
“I’m not, sir, to you anymore.”
The wind and waves rocked the boat. Cap throttled back a bit. The speed of travel was too great for the wave action. Then he looked at the dark sky. The rain was about to let loose.
When they reached the Coast Guard station at the mouth of the canal, the personnel on the Coast Guard boat pulled up to their dock and signed off.
By the time he, the police boat, and the dive boat made it to the no-wake zone in the bay of Sturgeon Bay, sheets of rain pounded the windshield so heavily he could barely see. The night sky added to the darkness along with the storm clouds.
The police boat peeled off first, and he pulled up to the floating dock at the Sawyer Park boat launch. Chief Mertz jumped onto the dock and held the boat steady as he assisted the ladies onto the dock.
Investigator Pearson-Hawk loaded the ladies up in her squad. Everyone would regroup at the police station, even though the chief had done a fair amount of questioning while on the boat.
