Page 49 of Perilous Tides (Hidden Bay #2)

W hop , whop , whop.

Cole held on to Jo and turned to look north, where a helicopter landed. Hawk jumped out, along with Detective Sanders and two deputies. Hawk wasn’t flying that thing with a concussion, was he?

Interesting. Who’d given them the heads-up? His arm around Jo, they walked along the sandbar until they were near the water. “I really hate having to get wet again, but we’re not going to make the beach without going through the water. At least we have a ride back.”

He suspected that Hawk had some blankets in that bird as well.

“You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Holding Jo’s hand, Cole walked with her through the thigh-deep water to the shore. The icy cold shocked him again, but he could weather any storm, any kind of shock or dangerous waters, as long as he had Jo by his side.

A vehicle appeared on the beach, heading from the north. Jo’s Land Rover? “What? Who’s driving—”

“Pop. He must have raced back to the shop. I don’t know how he crossed the river, but I bet he was the one to call for help too. Oh, I bet I know. He probably was able to maneuver a tree trunk via some kind of leverage and then crossed. That sounds like him. But how did he get my Land Rover?”

“I took your Land Rover to the shop. Left the keys inside in my panic. Come on.” Cole picked up the pace, and the Land Rover stopped near them.

Cole opened up the back to climb in, expecting Jo to get in the front with her father, but she climbed into the back with him.

“I have the heat cranked up,” Ransom said.

Hawk hiked toward them, and Cole lowered the window.

“We got him.” He peered into the vehicle at Ransom. “You’re planning on hanging around, aren’t you? You have a lot of questions to answer.”

“Sure. I only meant to protect Jo.”

Hawk jogged back to the helicopter where they were hauling Troy Martin. Hawk wasn’t even an aerial deputy anymore, but his skills and his bird obviously came in handy.

“Are you in trouble, Pop? Did you commit a crime?” Jo asked.

“Not as far as I know. Look, Jo, I can’t tell you how sorry I am about everything.”

Cole spoke up. “Why don’t we talk about this back at—”

“The lodge. Cedar Trails Lodge. I just want to be back with friends and family. I consider everyone at the lodge my family.”

“Cedar Trails Lodge it is.” Ransom steered them along a forest road and then finally turned onto the road to Cedar Trails Lodge.

Jo squeezed Cole’s hand and then got out of the vehicle. Remi was waiting and hugged Jo, then dragged her inside her personal cabin. Cole and Ransom followed. Remi wrapped them each in a thick blanket.

A fire was going in the fireplace, and they had the choice of drinking hot apple cider, hot chocolate, tea, or coffee. Remi was the best hostess, but after all, she ran a lodge.

Cole settled on the sofa next to Jo and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She gripped a mug of coffee in her hands. It was over, finally over. But he could tell by Jo’s pained expression she wasn’t done.

“You’ll have to tell the police everything, Pop. You know that. But I want to hear it first. You owe that to me, don’t you think?”

Ransom Driscoll hung his head. “It’s a long and complicated story.

I told you some of it in the shop, just in case that was my last chance.

Your mother and I, and Mason, worked with Troy Martin.

He was the founder and owner of Resonant, which employed most of the small town of Griffin, Nevada.

Your mother and I were two of fifty or so engineers.

Resonant was one of hundreds of NASA contractors.

We developed and supplied only a few of the more than 2.

5 million parts for the Liberty shuttle.

Even today, the orbiters are considered the most complex flying machines ever to be built.

But that’s beside the point. Myrna was best friends with Helen Martin. ”

Jo sat forward, and Cole dropped his arm. He wasn’t entirely sure this was the best way for Jo to learn everything, but it wasn’t his place to stand in the way. And they needed answers.

“I was project manager, and I repeatedly tried to tell Troy we had issues. Big issues. But he refused to listen. Myrna ... she should never have told Helen, but she thought maybe Helen could talk sense into her husband. But NASA was already threatening to use other contractors, and Troy didn’t want to lose his company.

Not to mention destroy an entire town, should Resonant lose the NASA contract. ”

“That’s a lot of pressure,” Cole said. “On all of you.”

“Myrna knew that Helen was going to confront him. Then ... she went missing.”

“And you suspected that he killed her over the information?”

“I didn’t suspect it. I knew. I confronted him.” Ransom got up and paced, the anger and incredulity pouring from him.

Next to Cole, Jo shivered. “Maybe this isn’t the best time to talk,” Cole said.

“I want to hear everything,” Jo said. “I need to know why my mother is dead.”

“I confronted him about Helen, and he said it was an accident. He wouldn’t want Myrna to have an accident either, which was his way of threatening her. And just like that, I knew that I couldn’t win. Troy Martin had friends. His brother was police chief.”

“But you could have gone over his head. Directly to NASA.”

“I had already tried. You have no idea the bureaucracy and red tape involved when you’re talking so many contractors, so many people under pressure to perform or else the government will snatch away the funds—billions of dollars.

What was my life worth? Or Myrna’s, if even his own wife’s life held no value to him?

So we made a decision. Myrna and I. Mason had been the one to document everything, and he simply handed it over to me and kept his head down.

Myrna and I had to disappear. Just fall off the face of the earth.

We knew that Troy would find a way to make each of us accidentally disappear if we remained. ”

Ransom looked at Jo with tears in his eyes.

“So we did. We each left in a manner that wouldn’t leave friends questioning our disappearance, like Helen’s.

But Mason remained working for Resonant, even after it became Gemini, for a few more years, believing himself safe.

Considering he was targeted and murdered, I believe he must have started to doubt his safety, even years later.

Maybe he was pressured into tracking Myrna down.

Why else would he end up in Michigan? I’m theorizing, of course.

“Regardless, I never saw her again. Still, I secretly kept up with her. I knew that she’d gone to Michigan and that she met and married Dale Cattrel, and I guess pretty quickly, to cover up that she was already pregnant.

I didn’t know she was pregnant, and maybe she didn’t either when we parted ways.

Marrying Dale also meant she would have a new name and a new life.

She was scared and wanted to protect you.

I didn’t know about you, Jo. Until that day at the funeral, and then I was afraid that even being there, I had caused trouble.

I know now that her death wasn’t an accident.

She was killed to draw me out. But at first, after I found you, I thought I could keep you safe here in Hidden Bay. ”

“And the bomb?” Cole asked.

“I got a call from Troy’s hitman, warning me just how close he could get to you.

Troy wanted me, and he was using you to get to me.

I’m so sorry, Jo. I had hoped that I had left the area before anything could happen to you.

Two weeks ago, I thought I’d seen Troy driving through town.

I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it, but I figured that eventually he would find me.

That’s when I had lunch with Jim Jordan at AT and learned that he had sold me out.

Six months ago, he’d brought his grandkids out to Cedar Trails to see the rocky beaches, and his car had trouble.

He brought it to the shop and recognized me.

I asked him not to share my location with anyone.

But who was I kidding? There was no going back from that.

He didn’t last six months before giving me up.

Jim claimed Troy said he just wanted to reconnect with his ‘old friend,’ but Jim knew I’d left under the worst kind of circumstances.

Troy needed to make sure everyone he considered a loose thread was dead.

I was the last one he needed to silence. ”

“Why didn’t you tell me everything? You could have told me.”

“No, I couldn’t. If I could have somehow persisted and found the right person to listen, though, those Liberty astronauts might still be alive today.” Ransom paced again. “The truth will come out now. Finally.”

“But wait,” Jo said. “Didn’t you give Troy the space shuttle with a flash drive in it?”

“I gave him a space shuttle with an empty drive. Are you kidding? The power has always been in the solid rocket boosters.” Ransom held up the model rocket booster he pulled from his pocket.

“I’ve already uploaded everything, and even now, Senator Goodman, a ranking member of the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, is reviewing the data.

The senator’s niece died on the Liberty . ”

“But what about you, Pop?” Jo stood and moved to him. Wrapped her arms around him. “I don’t want to lose you. What if you get in trouble for withholding this information?”

“We’ll see where the dominoes fall. As far as I’m concerned, I did the right thing at the time—I saved your mother’s life.

Your life. I don’t know how he finally found her, and then Mason.

But he’s going away for a long time. That’s all I care about.

That, and for you to live a full life. Get married.

Have a family of your own, free of this hidden burden. ”

A knock came at the door and Remi opened it. Detective Sanders entered, along with Hawk, followed by WSP Detective Hargrove.

“It’s time for me to go,” Ransom said. “I love you, Jo. I’ll be in touch soon.”