Equal Access (32 page)

Charissa stared at him as Shad opened the
pocket knife. “He lied to me!” She practically wailed.

“I know.” Shad grasped Charissa’s wrists and
began cutting at the cords while taking care not to cut the girl.
“But you’re gonna be all right now. I just need you to stay calm so
we can get out to the car.”

“He said we were gonna see the boat.”
Charissa whimpered. “And when we got here, he said he had a game
for us to play. I thought the tape was funny but I didn’t like it
when he tied me up. But I couldn’t even tell him to stop! And then
he left me here!”

The rope snapped apart and Shad began pulling
it loose. “Is that all? Did Vic do or say anything else?”

“He told me to be quiet or he’d go back and
hurt Mom.”

Thank God he’d gotten here in time. Shad
tossed the rope aside and grabbed Charissa’s right wrist.

“Why did he do this?” Charissa gasped.
“Why?”

“Later. Right now we need to go.” Shad nearly
pulled the girl off the bed.

He stepped through the splintered doorway
first, but movement out on the deck caught the corner of Shad’s eye
as he glanced back to be sure Charissa passed through without
bumping into the mangled door frame.

Shad turned and saw Vic step to the doorway
of the cabin. He had a pistol pointed at them.

Charissa yelped as soon as she saw Vic. Shad
immediately pushed the girl back behind him, his left hand darting
from her wrist to Charissa’s left shoulder.

“Don’t do this!” Shad barked.

Vic stared at Shad with what had to be
shocked disbelief. “What are you doing here, Delaney?”

“Stopping you. You’d better not shoot. The
sheriff’s been notified and he’s on the way.” Now would not be a
good time to get killed. Charissa was nowhere near safety. “You
don’t want to add murder to your charges.”

Vic continued to stare at him. He seemed to
take a few seconds to think about what Shad said before tentatively
shaking his head.

“It’s all because of you, Delaney. You’re the
root of all my problems. Thanks to you I’ve got the cops looking
for me, because every time I turn around, there you are. And now
you’ve found me out here where nobody else would look.” Vic’s tone
got gruffer. “Now how the hell did you do that?”

Shad could feel Charissa’s hands clenching
his shirt at the small of his back. From his grip on her shoulder,
Shad knew she was trembling.

“It’s a long story.” Shad hoped a little
conversation would gain him some time so he could figure out how to
get off the boat with both of them alive. “But I’ve got a few
questions of my own. How involved is Drake Anderson in all this? Is
he the one who took on the hit job?”

“Drake’s not even in town,” Vic growled. “So
he had nothing to do with that bitch wife of yours who showed up
shooting everything in sight.”

The derogatory term sparked anger in Shad,
but he wasn’t sure if that was the most useful emotion right now.
“So you’re borrowing the houseboat until he gets back?”

“I was gonna shove off tonight and make our
way down the rivers until I could ditch the boat outside the
state.”

Shad hated to admit he was impressed.
“Clever. While everybody’s on the lookout for your pickup, which I
presume is parked in Drake’s garage, you escape by a method they
won’t immediately think of.”

“And you won’t be able to tell anybody about
it,” Vic snarled as he raised the pistol a little higher so it
pointed at Shad’s upper chest. “Since you’re finally gonna be
dead!”

Charissa jumped and Shad started. He
tightened his grip on her shoulder.

“Killing me won’t help you one bit.” Shad
still looked for any other exit besides trying to crash through the
small windows. “I can even help you. If you’ll surrender, if you
won’t shoot me, I’ll help keep the charges to a minimum and I’ll
even recommend a good lawyer for your defense.”

“What do you take me for?” Vic snarled. “I
don’t need your charity and you’ll say anything right now to save
your skin!”

“You can’t argue that keeping me alive means
you won’t have a murder charge. You can turn back right now. You
can keep this from becoming worse.”

“Shut up!” Vic straightened to a true aiming
stance and the pistol was pointed at Shad’s sternum. “Let Charissa
go!”

“What?”

“Let her go! Send her over here!” Vic
actually smiled. “You don’t want her to be in the line of fire, do
you?”

“I’ve got a better idea.” Shad noticed again
the bowl on the table and remembered his suspicion about Wally’s
coffee that morning.

“I’ll bet you do!”

“You don’t wanna mess up your friend’s nice
boat. Let me step outside.”

“Nice try,” Vic growled. “But your time is
up!”

Shad released Charissa as he dove forward but
he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. The table was only one step
away, and in one motion Shad grabbed the bowl and hurled it at
Vic.

In that same second he heard the crack of the
pistol and Charissa’s scream. Shad’s lunge was already in progress,
however, and he tackled Vic in the stomach. The two men tumbled to
the deck outside.

If Shad had been shot, he didn’t know it yet.
He scrambled to pin down Vic’s arms. But Vic’s right hand, still
grasping the pistol, struck Shad in the left temple. The force of
the blow knocked Shad back as pain flashed through his head. Vic
lurched to his knees.

Shad lunged forward and tackled Vic again.
Although Shad had the more athletic form, the bulk Vic had was a
force to be reckoned with. Shad wrapped his right arm around Vic’s
neck and with his left hand grasped the man’s right wrist, just
below the pistol. For a few seconds they struggled over the gun.
Then Vic boxed Shad in the right ear.

New pain coursed through his head, but Shad
pressed that side of his face into Vic’s chest and focused on
trying to force the man’s right hand lower and closer to them so
Shad could grab the pistol.

Vic punched him in the ribs. Shad realized
he’d forgotten how excruciating beatings could be.

Vic grabbed for the pistol himself. As Vic
yanked it from his right hand, Shad reached up with his other arm
and grasped Vic’s left wrist. For a few seconds the two men
strained against each other.

Vic pummeled Shad in the face with the top of
his head.

Most of the blow centered on the right side
of his mouth, adding another dimension of misery to Shad’s
experience. But it was the shift in weight that caused Shad to fall
backwards as Vic fell on top of him. Even as he gasped for breath
Shad kept a tight grip on Vic’s wrists.

Realizing only his left leg was pinned under
Vic, Shad drove his right knee into Vic’s tailbone. The man grunted
and recoiled enough for Shad to release his wrists. With a quick
roll to one side, Shad tried to spring on top of the man. In the
same instant he spied Charissa standing in the doorway to the
cabin, grasping the side frame as though she needed it to hold her
up.

“RUN!” Shad bellowed as he dove for Vic.

Charissa darted to his right, but that was
all Shad saw. Vic lurched to his knees and slugged Shad in the ribs
again. The blow knocked Shad back, and Vic scrambled to his
feet.

But Vic didn’t have the pistol.

Still on his own knees and short of breath as
spasms of pain pulsed through his head and body, Shad fully
expected Vic to start laying into him. But the man dove to one
side, snatched up the pistol that had fallen near the cabin, and
darted in the same direction Charissa had gone.

Shad spun to see where that was as he
clambered to his feet. He spied Charissa near the stern of the
boat. She screamed again as Vic overtook her and grabbed the back
of her shirt with his free hand.

Shad lunged forward. Vic roughly yanked the
girl back and raised his pistol hand to strike her.

The rage inside Shad snapped free.

He sprang at Vic and drove his right elbow
into the left side of the man’s face. The blow nearly toppled Vic
over the side railing and the pistol clattered back to the floor.
He released Charissa, who scrambled to the back corner and slid
along the side railing.

Shad grabbed Vic by the shirt and slammed him
against the side of the cabin. Just as he drew his arm back to
deliver another blow to Vic’s face Shad heard Charissa scream.

He spun his head toward her just in time to
see Charissa’s outstretched hand disappear behind the boat. The
girl hadn’t noticed that the railing ended. Shad heard her hit the
water just before Vic boxed him in the jaw.

Shad staggered back. He could hear Charissa
sputtering and shrieking. Vic charged him, but Shad ducked to one
side and sprang to the back of the boat. The current had already
pulled Charissa a few yards downstream, and her struggles to stay
afloat were drifting her toward the center of the river. She was
sputtering much more than shrieking now.

Shad leaped feet first into the river. The
water was just deep enough to be over his head this close to the
bank. He kicked off the deck shoes and Shad buoyed back to the
surface of the river to gasp a lungful of air and start swimming
toward Charissa.

The simultaneous crack of the pistol and a
high-pitched whine near his left ear reminded Shad that Vic was
still out there.

He had his lungful of air. Shad submerged. He
dove toward the bottom of the river and took a few strokes toward
its center. There was less than two feet of visibility in the
water, which would help conceal Shad from Vic but would also
conceal Charissa from Shad. Shad normally didn’t like to open his
eyes much in the Osage River, but he had to try to get some bearing
where Charissa was. Partially blind, with only the gurgling roar of
the moving water for him to hear, Shad swam in the direction he
prayed Charissa would be.

He surfaced in order to gulp more air and get
his bearings. Shad immediately spied Charissa, who was only a few
yards downstream from him, but frantic splashing was the only noise
she could make. Shad heard the simultaneous crack and whine again
as Charissa sank into the river.

He protects and defends the weak and helpless. He
aids and comforts the unfortunate and oppressed. He upholds the
rights of others while defending his own.

--One of the obligations from Eagle Scout Court of
Honor

Shad dove again and swam directly toward
where he believed Charissa had submerged. His breast stroke became
a bit inefficient as Shad began groping in the water. He was more
likely to find her by feel than by sight. Please, please, let his
guess be right. Shad knew this river. He knew its currents and
eddies and how they could change. He knew about buoyancy and drift.
He should be in her vicinity by now but time was slipping away.
Shad plunged even deeper into the water and groped again as his
lungs began to burn.

The side of his right hand bumped something
thin and soft yet firm. Shad immediately grasped what felt like an
arm and pulled it toward him. Charissa’s face emerged from the
darkness. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly
parted.

Shad erupted to the surface of the river with
Charissa in his grasp.

With his left arm crooked under her arms and
his lungs hurting almost as much as his head, Shad began swimming
with the best side stroke he could manage at the moment toward the
nearer bank.

Already wearied from fighting with Vic, Shad
found himself stretching his feet down when he was still a few
yards away from shore in the hope he could touch bottom. His third
attempt was successful, and Shad staggered out to the bank which
was slightly overgrown with brush. Rocks and sticks dug into his
feet. He set Charissa down in a grassier area and immediately
checked for breathing.

As he feared, she wasn’t. Shad immediately
gave Charissa fifteen chest compressions, then mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation. The pain that shot through his lip upon this act
reminded Shad it was split.

By the time Shad gave Charissa ten more chest
compressions, she suddenly gagged. He quickly rolled her to her
left side, and Charissa coughed up water as she continued to gag
and sputter.

“It’s all right. You made it,” Shad gasped as
he thumped her on the back. “Cough it up. Take a breath. You’ll be
okay.”

Charissa wheezed and hacked. Shad realized he
heard the drone of an approaching motor, and he remembered the
smaller boat tied at the dock.

Shad almost wished he were a swearing man.
Why couldn’t Vic just make a run for it? But the man was coming,
and Shad was going to have to deal with him. It didn’t help that
the rage that motivated Shad earlier was now spent and ready to go
back inside for a glass of milk and some cookies. And in the back
of his mind Shad realized his phone was now toast.

“I’m coming back,” Shad said to Charissa, and
he hoped those wouldn’t be his last words to her.

His lungs still desirous for a steady supply
of fresh air, Shad waded back into the Osage and saw Vic sitting in
the motorboat as he steered it along the center of the river.
Apparently Vic hadn’t seen them emerge from it. But he saw them now
and turned the boat toward the bank.

The idea that flashed through Shad’s mind was
just as dangerous for him as it was for Vic, but he really didn’t
have the time to consider any other options.

Shad muttered, “God, I’m Yours,” before he
drew a deep breath and plunged into the water.

He had the rumble of the boat’s motor to help
guide him this time, and as Shad swam far enough below the surface
to prevent himself from being seen, sound was about all he had to
go by. Vic didn’t seem to be slowing the boat down, and Shad knew
he’d have to surface quickly if his plan to topple the boat would
work. He would have to take care to not be chopped up by the
propeller blades. At least he wouldn’t have to stay under water as
long.