He was almost to the waterline. He still couldn’t see Alex, but there was only one place she could be—on the other side of the car, which was blocked from his view.
“I have to admit, I didn’t realize you were working for the feds until after you moved into my house. I was taking a big risk bringing you in so close, I don’t know why I did it. Maybe I’m just reckless.” That certainly wasn’t true. He’d always been cautious, but when he was confronted with a bad situation, he always worked to get out of it. “Or maybe I wanted some of your optimism to rub off on me. Oh, you did a great job of playing the tough female cop, but at your core Alex, you’re an optimist. When faced with two choices, you will always do the right thing. Always. Even if you weren’t told what to do. That’s why I didn’t believe you when you said you could look the other way when Tommy was shaking down drug dealers.”
“Did he know?” Alex said quietly. “Was this all a big joke on me? Screwing Sergei Rykov’s best friend while everyone laughed that they were feeding me bad information?”
“Tommy had no idea about me. No one knew. That’s why it worked for so long.” He stepped to the side. A car was speeding down the road, getting closer. He didn’t want to be shot in the back. He needed to do this right, or not at all.
“Look, we don’t have much time. I’m not capable of loving anyone, Alex. But if I could, I’d love you. I pushed you that night because I knew you’d leave. If you didn’t leave, I would have had to kill you. And I didn’t want to kill you.”
“Isn’t that what you’re planning to do now? Isn’t that why you keep moving closer?”
“I put my gun away,” he said. “Honestly, Alex, if you were the only one who knew how those three whores were connected, I would kill you. Quickly, but you’d be dead. I’m practical like that. But you’re not the only one. You told Selena Black, and she told her brother. I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to kill you and then hunt them down and kill them.” He paused. “I figured out that you’re working with Matt Elliott. I should have seen that a long time ago, but I missed it.” He shouldn’t have. Perhaps his affection for Alex had clouded his judgment. “I heard him come by your apartment last night.”
“Bastard.”
He laughed. “I don’t care about who you have sex with, Alex. But Elliott is connected to the feds through his sister, and his sister is married to one of those mercenary types, and if I took out Matt Elliott, those mercenaries he associates with would swoop in and take down our entire operation. I can’t let that happen.”
“If you don’t plan to kill me, why are you here? Why don’t you run? Or turn yourself in?”
A car pulled up on the shoulder above. Jim stepped deeper into the scraggly trees.
“Alex!” a voice called from above.
Jim said, “I am turning myself in. I wanted you to know why.”
Could she believe him?
“Hands where I can see them, Detective,” Dean Hooper’s voice came from somewhere above her. She didn’t dare look for fear Jim was lying and had a gun aimed at the car. Though he wouldn’t shoot her in front of an armed federal agent, would he?
“I’m surrendering,” Jim called out.
“Come up the embankment. Slowly. No sudden movements, Detective.”
Alex desperately wanted to see what was happening.
“Where’s Alex?” Matt shouted. “Is she trapped?”
“I’m okay!” she yelled. “Matt, I’m fine!” She wasn’t fine. She couldn’t walk. Her right foot was completely numb, and her left foot as buried to the knee in silt. She’d tried earlier to pull her foot out, but she could hold no weight on her broken ankle. Her nose had stopped bleeding, but throbbed painfully. She reached up to use the car as leverage, but as she started to pull herself out of the silt the car shifted and tipped towards her. She screamed, unable to move away from the unstable car.
The car fell on top of her, the roof pinning her to the bottom of the river. With all her strength she pushed at the car, but she couldn’t budge it. She held her breath, the pressure of the car almost unbearable. Her lungs burned. Her throat ached. She was going to drown. She was going to die trapped under less than two feet of water.
No! This couldn’t be happening.
She reached her hand up and felt air. The surface was right there ... if she could get her head up just a few inches. She shifted and shimmied and almost screamed in pain as her broken ankle brushed against the car. Her other leg was trapped in the mud. She could scarcely move.
Fight, Alex. Fight!
The more she struggled, the deeper she sank into the mud.
She couldn’t hold her breath any longer, and water filled her lungs.
***
Matt watched as Alex pulled herself up on the car, her head barely visible. Then suddenly the car shifted and collapsed on top of her. She disappeared from sight.