Island Holiday (Brookwell Island #4)

Chapter 14

It wasn’t a trap waiting for them in the lobby, only Jess. The regional coordinator for the agency beamed at them as they approached. “The takedown is coming together,” she said. “I know how much you’ve both invested.”

Sonya was relieved there wouldn’t be more trouble. She’d led Connor into enough of that in recent days. And although this wasn’t an Ellington property, the hotel was lovely and she was determined to start making more friends than enemies.

Besides, after the recent near misses, she looked at her environment differently. The glossy marble floors, aquarium tank, and grand vases full of flowers were gorgeous. And potential head wounds waiting to happen.

“Follow me.” Jess moved toward the glass doors that opened to a garden framed by low hedges. On the far side of the garden, a boardwalk stretched across the reedy marsh to the river.

“Everything’s all set,” Jess began once they were alone. Their footsteps creaked on the weathered wood. “The chartered boat will show up at the community condo dock as scheduled. I’ve done everything I can to mitigate civilian involvement. We cleared it with the owner of the boat so that Guardian Agency protectors replaced the regular crew.”

“Who did you get on such short notice?” Connor asked.

“We have really great people,” Jess reminded him. “Knox Moore, Logan Harris, and Boone Reynolds were all in on this venture.”

Sonya mentally tripped over Knox’s name. Was that the same man who had kept Harper infatuated through the years? It must be. How many could there be in this immediate area?

“And the plan?” Sonya asked once they stepped aboard the water taxi. “Will Connor and I be part of the crew too? Or posing as tourists?”

Jess held up a hand. “You’ll be witnesses only. From a distance,” she said, her voice firm. “The three of us will stay right here in our lane and watch the professionals handle the take down.

“The fire department water rescue is on standby with a police boat. They’re waiting up river, out of sight of the dock at the condo.”

Sonya relaxed as the details sank in. The agency had everything covered. Zimmer wouldn’t escape and the girls would be rescued. It was almost over. “Good. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Jess said with a little laugh. “You’ve done really good work here. Both of you,” she added. “The three of us will head downstream a bit, just to make sure we don’t tip anyone off.”

“Do you think Zimmer’s watching the river?” Sonya suddenly wished she had brought more than her phone. “Of course he is. He should be.” She gripped her phone. “I should’ve brought my laptop.”

“Take a breath,” Jess urged. “You’ve done more than enough. Everyone agreed—”

“Everyone?” Sonya interrupted. A hot lick of panic shot across the back of her neck. The more people who knew about this, the lower their chance of success. Had Jess forgotten that Mertens had someone on her payroll tracking Sonya?

“We don’t work in a vacuum,” Connor reminded her.

“He’s right.” Jess twirled her sunglasses. “There’s no cause for concern. Gamble and Swann, along with the state police and the FBI agreed that your research on this is impeccable. They’ve launched their own investigations based on what you brought out of the shadows. Today is the beginning of the end for Mertens and Zimmer.”

Sonya supposed a new investigation was for the best considering some of her access points hadn’t been entirely above board. That option, when used carefully, only proved there were more and more benefits to working with the agency.

“So they’re tracking down Mertens as well?”

Jess nodded. “That’s my understanding. I’m not privy to every detail, but I do know she is a person of interest and they expect to find her quickly based on your efforts and Zimmer’s eventual cooperation.”

“They expect him to roll on her?” Connor asked.

“You’ve probably seen more of Sonya’s research than I have,” Jess replied. “You’ve dug into his life. What do you think?”

Connor leaned back against the deck railing, his arms folded over his chest. “He’ll roll.” He scowled in the direction of the condos. “In fact, I’m sure he either has an exit strategy in place or some excuse all polished up and ready to go. Anything to protect his reputation and lifestyle.”

“Just my educated guess,” Jess said, “but if he is anywhere near this mess with the girls—”

“His credit card sure is,” Sonya interrupted.

“Exactly.” The smile on Jess’s face turned sharp. “He’ll do time for kidnapping and fraud and who knows what else.”

“How much longer?” Sonya queried.

Jess donned her sunglasses. “Here comes the charter now.” She pointed downriver where the bow of a big white fishing boat cut through the water. “We’ll give them a good head start and then sweep in and see if we can help explain the situation to the girls.”

“I still can’t believe their families aren’t suspicious,” Sonya grumbled. “Connor found the text messages that were sent, but still. Someone should’ve asked more questions.”

“Zimmer’s a con man at heart,” Jess said. “He knows what to say and when and how to be convincing about it.”

Sonya caught Connor nodding along. “Eventually that will bite him in the ass.”

“Please let it be today,” Sonya murmured to herself.

Jess lifted a hand in salute to the charter boat as it glided by. “Take a seat, Connor. We’re in a holding pattern until Zimmer is on that boat with the girls. That’s what it will take to make the federal charges stick.”

“I’ll behave,” Sonya promised when Connor gave her a long look. “You do the same.”

He grunted and turned to Jess. “What do you think Zimmer told the girls to keep them content all this time? I just can’t make sense of it.”

“He must’ve painted it as an adventure, a ground-floor opportunity while they’re still in school,” Jess said. “When Sonya found the purchase record for the new cell phones and you matched them to the profiles, the influencer angle was as bright as the sun.” Jess shook her head. “A pretty genius move giving them new devices and turning off their personal phones during this trial period. He must be holding them, since the accounts are still active. I can’t call them gullible for going along with it. Not these days. Loads of people have more than one device and many use a certain phone specifically for their influencer accounts.”

Sonya twisted in her seat, eager for a look at the activity on the dock even before they turned back upstream. “I should have caught on to that earlier.”

“What do you mean?” Connor asked.

“I never thought to look at what the testers were studying. I was too focused on what Zimmer was up to with the property rentals to bother with who he was targeting. If I’d looked harder at the students, maybe this situation could’ve been prevented.”

“Doubtful,” Jess said. “Criminals get greedy.”

Connor sat down next to her. “Jess makes a good point. And I think it was only a matter of an excellent con man drilling down to find the students most inclined to cooperate.”

Sonya couldn’t argue with that. People were his thing. Numbers were hers.

And trumping both of those factors was the captain turning the water taxi upstream. Finally. Down deep she needed to witness the rescue, not just for the case. For the pieces of herself that felt sharp and broken. These girls had people who did care, they just hadn’t known to be worried. She was determined to see them safely reunited.

On the water taxi, they were far enough away that they wouldn’t be perceived as a threat, if they were noticed at all. In silence, the three of them watched as the chartered boat turned and came to a stop at that condo dock.

The lines were barely secured before the young women were strolling down the dock, seemingly excited about the adventure ahead. In her head, Sonya cursed. Zimmer must have gathered the young women in a public area. Probably the pool or nearby clubhouse.

She watched as Logan stepped onto the dock to hook up a short ramp to make boarding easier. Even from this distance, his smile was pure Southern charm as he invited everyone aboard.

Zimmer included.

Sonya had to give the Guardian Agency credit for hiring experts. Zimmer didn’t seem nervous. He clearly had no idea his scheme was about to come crashing down around his ears.

She held her breath until the boat was underway once more. Part of her was hoping Mertens would show up. Highly unlikely that Mertens would take such a big risk, but it was the season of miracles.

The water taxi puttered along while Sonya’s heart raced. It was all she could do to watch the scene unfold. Thank goodness this takedown hadn’t been left to her and Connor alone. Training or not, she likely would’ve frozen up, becoming a complete liability and leaving Connor to do all the heavy lifting. She glanced at him. Sure, he was fit and capable of all kinds of things, even overcoming her weaknesses. And she was so glad they didn’t have to ask him to step up and live it firsthand.

What a strange realization, to finally accept that she was strongest when working behind a desk. That was her lane, her best possible service to the team, and it was enough.

Humbled, she turned to Jess. “Thanks for working this out,” she murmured.

Jess’s smile was tight, her gaze locked on the other boat.

The three young women were sitting together and someone had cued up music, pumping now through the boat speakers. The updated holiday tunes drifted across the river. In another context, it would have been a completely fun seasonal event.

Zimmer stood closer to the helm, next to Logan while Knox continued to steer.

“How long do we wait?” Sonya asked Jess.

“By now, Knox has confirmed everyone is on board and sent the signal to the police boat.”

“Okay.” She chanted the word over and over in her head. It was all going to be okay. Any minute now the police and FBI would swarm the boat and take Zimmer into custody. Any minute now, those girls would be out of danger.

The water taxi moved closer to the bank, the captain behaving as if he was giving a tour. She appreciated the cover, though Zimmer probably had no idea about normal traffic on the river. From everything they’d found, he was too focused on his little bubble of power.

The sound of the police boat closing in got his attention. The music wasn’t enough of a diversion. He hesitated, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. Then he twisted around Logan, lunging for the bow of the boat. Logan tripped him up and sent him sprawling as Knox brought the boat to a gentle stop.

Zimmer popped to his feet, resisting Logan’s attempts to keep him down. The girls screamed as the men fought, trying to intervene. Effectively conned, they tried to protect Zimmer.

Logan and Knox worked together to separate the women and corral Zimmer.

In the chaos, Zimmer noticed the water taxi and leapt out of the charter, swimming downstream as fast as he could.

“Hell no!” Connor was on his feet, rushing for the railing.

At the helm of the water taxi, the captain looked to Jess for direction.

“Hold here,” she ordered.

“What?” Sonya demanded. “You can’t—”

“He doesn’t know we aren’t on his side,” Jess said, her voice low. She radioed the impromptu plan to the police boat.

Sonya gripped the edge of the seat, wishing she could do more than watch.

Between the current and his desperation, Zimmer made it to the water taxi and hauled himself up. Soaked through, he clung to the railing. “Help me, please. The crew on our boat attacked me.”

Connor extended a hand and helped him board. Then he punched him hard in the nose. “Don’t get up.”

Blood spurted, dripping down his chin and staining the river-drenched polo shirt. “What the hell is this?”

“You haven’t found a friend, but they have.” Connor shook out his hand. “Stay put until the police get here.”

He tried to clamber to his feet, but Sonya pushed him back down on his butt. “Stay put, Mr. Zimmer.”

His eyes bugged out as he recognized Sonya. “You again?” He jumped up and took a swing at her.

To her amazement, Sonya didn’t freeze. It was like watching herself, standing apart from her body as she blocked his initial attack and lifted her knee to cut short his follow-through. Then suddenly, he was flying backward.

Connor had yanked him by the collar and tossed him down on the deck.

Flat on his back, Zimmer groaned and wheezed.

Sonya glanced away for a moment to check on the police when Jess started shouting. “He’s as slippery as an eel!”

Sure enough, Zimmer had scrambled off the water taxi.

Connor followed him, diving into the river.

“Connor, no!” Sonya shouted, rushing to the railing. Her plea was too late. Connor was swimming after Zimmer with powerful strokes. Momentarily helpless, all Sonya could do was watch while Jess radioed the details to the rest of the team.

***

Cutting against the current, Connor was pissed he’d let Zimmer slip off the boat. He couldn’t let the bastard escape. Zimmer had victimized too many people, including Sonya.

When the bastard had touched her the well-ordered plan flew out of his head in a haze of red. But he refused to let anything happen to her.

Whatever Zimmer thought in his mad scramble for the riverbank, Connor wasn’t deterred. Slogging through the strong river current and the pluff mud, he pushed himself. It was like running through a nightmare when progress was impossible. Except this was broad daylight and Zimmer would not be allowed to slink away and start over again. Straining, willing his body to catch up, he finally caught the man’s belt and hauled him back into the river.

They twisted and fought, the water making it hard to get any power behind his punches.

“It’s over.”

Zimmer kicked out, his foot catching Connor’s thigh and stunning his leg. Connor only worked his arms harder, grabbing at anything he could reach. The men rolled and an elbow caught Connor in the jaw. He tasted blood, felt his lip split.

Voices shouted, but it was hard to discern any specific words. The water and the boat engines all blended into one static mass of sound. He saw a first responder wrap up Zimmer, and a moment later, felt someone behind him as well.

“Up you go,” the woman said, pointing toward the ladder at the stern of the charter boat.

“I’m—”

“One of the good guys, I know. Get moving.”

“Right.” His leg was already working better and he kicked over to the ladder. Logan reached down and helped him onto the boat, now under the control of local police and FBI agents.

The first responder followed and he realized she was a Charleston firefighter. “Thanks for the assist.”

She shrugged off the compliment. “You had it under control.”

He watched her stride away toward the bow of the boat, step up to the gunwale, and then straight over to the fire rescue boat, just as smoothly as if she’d been walking down the street.

“They train ’em well around here,” Logan said.

Connor didn’t reply. His attention drawn to Zimmer who was—finally—in handcuffs and surrounded by the authorities. “What now?” he asked Logan.

“You know the drill. Statements, contact information. All the usual.”

Connor looked down. He’d lost a shoe in the water wrestling match. Sucked into the pluff mud probably. He figured he might be mostly dry by the time the authorities were done. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Toeing off the remaining shoe, he peeled off his socks. “And after that?”

“Christmas!” Logan smiled broadly. “Got plans?”

He glanced over at Sonya on the water taxi. “I sure hope so.”