Adam’s head cracked against one of the metal cleats bolted into the wood. Blood and white-hot pain temporarily blinded him. Dazed, he wiped his eyes as he staggered to his feet. His opponent was hardly more than a hulking shadow in the dark. He lowered his head like a bull and slammed into Adam. The impact knocked the breath from his lungs and toppled him backward into the lake.
Surfacing, he caught his breath on a gasp, almost expecting his opponent to jump into the water to try to finish him off. A million thoughts rushed through his head as the adrenaline continued to pump. He shook water from his eyes and ears and searched the darkness. Footsteps pounded up the steps. The assailant had gone back for his gun.
Adam tried to hitch himself up on the dock, but a volley of shots forced him back into the lake. The man came running down the steps, peppering the water with bullets. Adam pushed away from the dock and dived, swimming out into deeper water for cover. He stayed under until his lungs screamed for air, and when he surfaced, he heard the putter of a small outboard, which had been silent earlier. He treaded water until a spotlight caught him in the eyes. The boat was almost upon him before he once again dived for the murky bottom and swam out toward the middle of the lake.
The night was pitch-black above and beneath the surface. Disoriented, Adam hung suspended as he tried to get his bearings. Once upon a time, he’d been able to hold his breath for a very long time, but that was before he’d taken two bullets in the chest. He surfaced a third time, gasping for air as he searched for the boat. His head throbbed; his lungs burned. For weeks, he’d been intensifying his workouts, fooling himself into thinking he was fully recovered. His muscles now told him otherwise. He was already fatigued.
The outboard rumbled off into the distance. He waited until the sound had disappeared into the night and then he rolled over on his back and floated. He couldn’t stay out on the lake forever. Already the adrenaline was giving way to a dangerous lethargy. Setting out toward the bank, he measured his strokes and controlled his breathing until he could stand up in knee-deep water. Exhausted, he sloshed back toward the dock. He’d lost his phone somewhere along the way. He imagined it at the bottom of the lake, along with the photograph of Dr. Nance’s mysterious note.
He still had no idea of the significance of that number. He couldn’t begin to guess what Dr. Nance may have stumbled upon.
What he did know was that someone had been willing to put a bullet in him tonight.
Chapter Six
A storm blew in after midnight, and a loud clap of thunder awakened Nikki with a start. She fluffed her pillow and pulled the covers up to her chin, but she couldn’t fall back asleep.
Rolling to her back, she watched shadows dance across the ceiling, hoping the hypnotic motion would lull her back under. She only grew more and more anxious. Finally, she kicked off the quilt and rose to wander restlessly through the house. After pouring herself a glass of water, she went out to the back porch, where she could watch the storm through the screen door.
The wind chimes clanked in the gusts and the rain deepened the scent of roses and wet grass. In the flare of a lightning strike, Nikki could have sworn she saw a tall man dressed in dark clothing standing just inside the back gate.
She straightened with a gasp, her heart flailing against her rib cage as she peered through the darkness. For a split second only, she thought about going out to investigate, but a voice that sounded suspiciously like her grandmother’s froze her in place. Girl, are you stupid or just plain crazy? Don’t go out there alone. He could be an ax murderer, for all you know. Go inside and call the police.
But the figure she’d spotted in one lightning strike vanished in the next, leaving Nikki to wonder if she’d seen nothing more than a small tree that grew along the fence. She stood behind the latched screen door and scanned the yard until her pulse finally settled and she managed to convince herself the lightning and her imagination had conjured the intruder. No one had been in her yard earlier. No one was out there now. Go back to bed.
She closed the wooden door and turned the dead bolt, then checked all the windows on the porch before padding back off to bed. Climbing under the covers, she lay wide-awake as the flickers of lightning gradually grew dimmer and thunder faded in the distance. She was just growing drowsy when she heard a car start up down the street.
Nasty night to be out so late, she thought. The vehicle seemed to slow as it approached her house.
She got up and glanced out the window. A truck lumbered by, splashing water to the curb. The back was enclosed like a delivery vehicle of some sort, but who would be getting a package at this hour?
Nikki told herself the driver was just being cautious in the storm. He hadn’t intentionally slowed for her house. She really was letting her imagination get the better of her. No one had been in the backyard watching her house.
