Page 88 of Lost Truth
“Lay a finger on her and it’s the last thing you’ll do!” Hayden’s beautiful, wonderful voice came from nearby.
Collins glanced back, and she shifted to look in Hayden’s direction. His rifle was aimed at Collins. Neither she nor Collins had heard Hayden sneak up on them.
Collins’ expression waffled, and his gun arm lowered a fraction.
Now was the time for her to act. She lifted the binoculars and slammed them into the barrel of his gun. His arm went up. The gun went flying.
In the blink of an eye, Hayden was on him. His hand on the back of his neck, jerking him from the truck and tossing him to the ground.
Hayden got Collins on his stomach, his hands behind his back. “Cady, get the handcuffs in the glove compartment.”
His words barely registered. Adrenaline swept through her body, making her weak, and her head pounded from the handgun’s report. She was safe! Alive!
“Cady?” Hayden asked.
“Sorry.” She tried to shake off her stupor as she reached for the glove compartment.
She located a pair of heavy-duty zip-tie handcuffs. She slid out of the vehicle, her legs rubbery and threatening to let her collapse. She held on to the door with one hand and bent forward to give the cuffs to Hayden with the other.
He expertly tightened them on Collins’s wrists.
“Ouch!” Collins glared at her. “Not so rough.”
“I’ll bet that’s what the women and children said to you when begging you not to throw them in the water.” Hayden jerked up on the cuffs and got Collins into a sitting position.
A crunching noise sounded in the distance, and Cady spun. She let out a long breath.
“Dude,” Hayden said, his tone tense. “Where have you been? Collins could’ve killed her.”
“I owe you both an apology.” Nolan glanced between them. “I expected him to use the dock or hide out in one of the other slips. It took time to clear all of them. By the time I finished, thirty minutes had passed, and I’d told Cady to leave if I wasn’t back by then. But when I got back to the gate, I saw the vehicle was still here and got up here as soon as I could.”
“Yeah, well.” Hayden scrubbed a hand across his face and let out a few long breaths. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I would probably have handled it the same way.”
“I don’t think you did anything wrong either,” she said. “And I certainly don’t blame you for this creep getting to me.”
“For what it’s worth,” Collins said, “I was only gonna drag her out and take off in the vehicle. I wouldn’t have shot her.”
“So you say now, when charges will soon be brought against you and you’re trying to lessen the severity.” Hayden stared down on the man as a siren sounded in the distance.
“Finally,” she said and explained why law enforcement was so delayed.
“Yeah,” Hayden said. “There were several patrol vehicles and ambulances at the boat ramp when we docked.”
“How did the rescue attempt go?” Cady asked.
“We rescued everyone,” Hayden said, but didn’t sound joyous. “They all seem to be doing well, but the last woman is suffering from hypothermia. So we’ll see how she does.”
“Praise God you found all of them,” Cady said, as she offered a silent prayer to God.
Hayden nodded, but glared at Collins. “You’ll be lucky to get out of this without any murder charges pinned on you, but you better believe I’ll make sure you’re charged with sixteen counts of attempted murder. No, make that seventeen, including Cady.”
“Now come on.” Collins glared right back at him. “I didn’t try to kill them. Just didn’t want them on my boat.”
“Seriously.” Cady blinked at him. “Throwing people overboard into frigid water when you don’t know if they can swim doesn’t in your mind equate to attempted murder?”
“Well, when you put it that way…” He shrugged.
“That’s exactly the way we’ll put it,” Nolan said. “But you can do yourself a favor—maybe reduce the charges. Tell us who’s in charge of the trafficking operation and where Kai Nakoa is located.”
