Kay groaned.
He was right, of course. Because Webster had been the one so eager to help the police and report suspicious activities on the beach, she’d trusted him.
Trusted him enough to follow him blindly into Demiri’s trap.
‘You’ll never get away with it.’
The shock at hearing the fear in her own voice turned to anger as she saw the effect it had on him.
He bared his teeth.
Kay clawed at Demiri’s hands as he reached down and grabbed the front of her stab vest and began to drag her towards the churning surf.
Despite his age, the man possessed an enormous strength, and lifted her with ease.
Her thoughts returned to the evidence he and his men had left behind in the nightclub cellar, and she fought down the urge to be sick.
She had to slow him down. She had to hope Gavin and the rest of the team were close by.
She opened her mouth to yell, to call out, to let them know where she was, but before she could, Demiri paused in his tracks and slapped her across the face.
She gasped with the shock of the impact, and then he was dragging her once more.
She dug her heels into the wet sand, desperately trying to slow him down, to delay what she knew was going to happen.
Her thoughts turned to her compulsory training, the extra swimming lessons that gained her a pass but did nothing to quell her fear of water.
Demiri’s fetid breath swept over her face as he worked, and then suddenly she was falling. She screamed as her arm twisted at an impossible angle with the force of the impact, and then seawater filled her mouth and nostrils.
A weight landed on her legs, and a hand gripped her stab vest as once more she was hauled from the surf coughing and spluttering.
Eyes stinging, her left arm useless at her side, she turned her head and vomited from her sitting position.
A large wave smacked against her spine, fanning out across her shoulders and splashing Demiri’s face.
She was shivering uncontrollably now, and struggled to focus on the large hands that held her.
Her head dropped forward, her chin resting on his knuckles as she tried to gulp in precious air.
‘Look at me!’
Demiri shook her until she turned her eyes to him.
Every time she’d imagined arresting the organised crime boss, she’d imagined feeling victorious, casting a blow to the crime community, and being hailed a heroine by the same people who had tried to destroy her career.
Now, she realised she’d underestimated him badly, and she was absolutely terrified.
Demiri raised her up by the stab vest until their faces were almost touching.
She could feel the hatred emanating from him, a pure evil that crawled over her shoulders and loosened her bowels.
At that moment, she knew she was going to die.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Gavin glanced to his left as Sharp slowed, then realised the DI was reaching into his utility belt for his torch, and followed suit.
Kay’s safety was more important than Harrison’s operational requirements.
Carys and Barnes caught up with them, and Sharp held up his hand to stop them forging ahead.
‘We walk the rest of the way. We don’t know Demiri is there for sure, and we only have Webster’s word that there’s a second dinghy.’
‘She’s in trouble, guv,’ said Barnes. ‘I can feel it.’
‘All the more reason that we don’t go rushing in there like fools. It could be a trap.’
‘What’s the plan?’ said Carys.
‘We fan out,’ said Sharp. ‘I want you evenly spaced between the shoreline and the road. That leaves about twelve foot between us, so we know no-one can try to leave the beach without us seeing them. Keep your torch beams on the sand in front of you, sweeping from left to right. We know our target is the groyne posts over there, so keep going. If I say stop, you stop. This is no time for heroics.’
They jogged into position and kept moving forward, and Gavin found himself with Sharp to his left and Carys closest to the unpaved road that ran the length of the beach. He could just make out Barnes, closer to the surf.
A sickness engulfed him, and he wished he’d insisted on staying with Kay. He knew he’d done the right thing by following orders and that she’d have gone anyway, but the sense of dread had been growing since he first told Sharp what had happened.
His thoughts returned to Carys’s comment that Kay wasn’t a strong swimmer. He knew the churning waters would make swimming dangerous, not only because of the cold but also the risk of being carried away by a rip current.
And if she couldn’t hold her breath for long—
The wind tugged at his cap, and then the roar of an engine reached his ears. Without slowing down, he glanced over his shoulder and saw two uniformed vehicles speeding along the road to catch up with them, lights blazing.
A figure stumbled towards them, silhouetted against the vehicles’ headlights, and he recognised the gangly figure of the DCI.
Evidently, Harrison was more alarmed at his news than he first thought, and he picked up his pace.
‘Easy, Piper,’ said Sharp. ‘We’ll find her.’
‘That’s a tactical response vehicle,’ said Gavin.
‘I know. That’s good. It means they’re taking your message seriously. And all the more reason not to go running across there. Demiri could have a gun.’
Gavin swallowed.
The thought that Demiri might have a weapon hadn’t even crossed his mind, and he cursed himself for doubting Sharp. He turned his attention to the cottage set back from the beach.
Adrian Webster had played them all.
Gavin was in no doubt that the man was an informant of Demiri’s, as Sharp had suggested.
‘This is where I left her with Webster,’ he said to Sharp. He pointed out
