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Jake swirled the last few drops of carrot juice around the bottom of his glass just as Pinky stepped onboard.
“All set,” Pinky said. He pulled a small black bag from his pants pocket, and dangled it. “I got the diamonds.”
“What about the tracker?” Jake asked.
“Piece a cake,” Pinky replied. “Couldn’t have gone better. He has no idea.”
“Awesome!” Jake said. “Now for the fun part. Let’s see where that little weasel goes.”
“By the way,” Pinky added, “I almost didn’t recognize him. He shaved his beard and payos, and he’s wearing a Cubs cap and windbreaker.”
Jake tapped the tracking app, and waited until a flashing red dot appeared. He watched the dot move for several minutes before Pinky asked, “Nu? Where’s he headed?”
“It’s the weirdest thing,” Jake replied. “He’s not going anywhere.”
“Maybe he parked, or just stopped walking,” Pinky said.
“No, he is moving.” Jake said, ”And he’s definitely not on foot—he’s going too fast for that. But he’s not headed anywhere. Seems like he’s randomly driving around the Loop—goes down one street, turns on the next, then heads back up again.”
“That makes sense,” Pinky said.
Jake looked up from the app. “It does? Looks like he’s lost to me.”
“Nope,” Pinky explained. “He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s making sure he’s not being followed.”
Jake raised his carrot juice glass. “I gotta start drinking more of this.”
Jake continued following the dot until Benny finally exited the Loop off Jackson, and headed north on Lake Shore Drive.
“Now he’s heading back this way,” Jake announced.
He watched Benny turn onto Monroe, and follow the road.
“Damn!” Jake said.
“Now what?” Pinky asked.
“He’s here—at the yacht club! How the hell does he know we’re—I thought he didn’t know about the tracker. He must be using it to track us!”
“That’s impossible!” Pinky insisted, then yelled, “Shut your phone—quick! Power it down, now!”
Pinky started down the stairs below deck. “Follow me!” he commanded.
Jake followed him downstairs past the cabins all the way to the back. He watched Pinky twist a sconce on what seemed like a solid wall in the hallway. A panel retracted revealing a panic room.
He followed Pinky inside, and heard a whoosh as the panel closed behind him.
Pinky flipped a switch on a wall panel.
A bank of monitors came alive displaying every angle surrounding the exterior, deck, and the hallway they just left.
Jake scanned the monitors for movement.
His heart pounded.
“I don’t get how he did this,” Pinky mumbled. “It’s not possible.”
They watched, and waited for Benny to appear, but nothing stirred except some flags, and the water.
“Where the hell is he?” Pinky said. “Turn your phone back on.”
Jake complied. “I see the dot. He’s not moving, but he’s very close. Why can’t we see him on one of the monitors?”
Pinky rubbed his forehead with one palm. “We woulda seen him if he walked past us. He must be on one of the yachts closer to the club.”
Pinky twisted Jake’s hand to see the app. He zoomed in with his thumb and forefinger, then pointed to a spot on the app near the red dot. “Yup, that’s it!” he said. “We’re here, and he’s on that side of us, closer to the club.”
“Odd,” Jake said. “If he tracked us he’d be looking for us until he found us. But he’s not moving.”
“I knew it!” Pinky blurted. “He didn’t follow us. He couldn’t have.”
Jake gave him a puzzled look.
“He didn’t track us here,” Pinky said. “This was his destination. He must have a getaway boat docked here.”
Jake called Roberts to fill him in.
“You sorta know where he is,” Roberts said. “I’ll put in a call, but until you put eyes on him, I doubt they’ll send anyone.”
“Roberts says we need to actually see him before the police will come get him,” Jake said to Pinky.
Jake looked for a button near the panic room’s entrance. “How do I get outta here?”
Pinky pushed a button on the control panel. The entrance whooshed open.
“Wait!” Pinky said. “I’ll go with you.”
They climbed up to the deck.
“Lemme see the app again,” Pinky insisted.
Jake handed his phone to Pinky.
“He’s two slips closer to the club,” Pinky announced. “Let’s go!”
They disembarked, and headed toward the club.
Jake sprinted ahead of Pinky.
Pinky stopped to tie his shoe. “Wait up,” he yelled.
But Jake was too far ahead, and too fixated on putting eyes on Benny to hear him.
Jake spotted a small yacht named Hidden Gem docked right where Pinky showed him on the app.
He turned to tell Pinky he’d found it, but saw Pinky busy tying his shoe.
This yacht didn’t have a boarding ramp, but it was much smaller, and lower than Pinky’s.
Jake gauged the fluctuating distance from the dock to the deck as the choppy water rocked the vessel.
The fear of drowning gripped him just as it had when he woke to find only Debra’s tiny life vest in the boat.
If he’d conquered his fear she might have lived.
He wanted to overcome his phobia, but never learned to swim.
Jake pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the task at hand.
He gauged the timing between the tiny yacht’s dips and forced himself to lean forward over the water just in time to latch onto the gleaming brass railing with his right hand in sync with the next dip.
The choppy water sent the railing upward lifting him off his feet.
He summoned the strength to pull himself up, managed to wrap his left hand around the railing, and hoist himself aboard.
He turned to find Pinky, but the next dip sent him sliding feet first under the railing.
He grasped a rope hanging from a bell on the railing to avoid falling overboard.
The loud clang pierced the silence.
Jake pulled himself to safety, and could now see Pinky running toward him.
“What the hell are you doing on my boat?” A voice barked behind him.
Jake turned to see Benny sans beard and payos, wearing a Cubs cap and matching windbreaker, just as Pinky described.
“It’s you! Dammit!” Benny growled. “Hey Ma! We got trouble.”
“Gotchya!” Jake declared.
“The hell you do,” Benny replied while rushing Jake like a Chicago Bears linebacker.
Benny rammed Jake forcing him backward toward the railing.
Jake managed to keep his footing, and shoved back.
Benny crouched to ram Jake again when a gray-haired woman emerged from below deck.
She limped toward Benny waving her hands wildly. “Benny, stop! Not like this!”
But it was too late.
Benny lunged at Jake just as Pinky boarded.
Pinky grabbed at Benny’s windbreaker to hold him back, but he missed by a hair.
Benny hit Jake like a bull, and sent him careening backward over the railing.
Jake’s legs flipped up and swung back so forcefully it caused him to do a one-eighty.
His torso slapped the cold choppy water.
He thrashed around for a few seconds, and then held his breath as he slowly sank.
The cold, choppy water swallowed him.
He wondered if Debra was this terrified.
Drowning seemed like a fitting punishment for not saving her.
He couldn’t hold his breath a second longer.
His lungs forced him to exhale.
He traced his air bubbles up as they rose while he sunk even further.
He wondered when he would hit bottom.
His empty lungs were about to force him to inhale when he spotted a figure diving into the water above him.
A steel arm clamped his chest from behind, and pulled him up.
The moment his lips surfaced he gasped, and felt a deep sense of relief as the air filled his lungs.
The steel arm belonged to an officer who dragged him onto a police boat, and perched him on a bench.
Retired detective Roberts draped a heavy, blue, wool rescue blanket over his shivering body. “Thought we lost you there for a second,” Roberts said.
“Ya,” Pinky added. “Maybe I need to put a tracker on you!”