Page 31 of Secrets Beneath the Waves

“Do I have to tell you what’s at stake if I don’t?”

Ramon wasn’t sure they were going to agree, and they didn’t have time to hash it out. “Okay, I’m going after him before he gets out of sight.”

She pushed the door open, and Ramon turned off the dome light. Seconds later, the door clicked shut, and she was gone. He followed Drew out of the neighborhood in a different direction from the way he’d come in.

“What are you up to?” Ramon muttered to himself.

This was what Drew Chamberlain had decided to do when someone told him to fix the mess of the police having his DNA. The guy couldn’t go into police lockup and destroy evidence. If it was even there. The samples might still be at Pioneer Forensics Labs, or they could be in transit.

Given Drew’s MO and the way he liked to snatch young women from their cars, it was likely going to happen in transit.

A short distance from Pioneer Forensics, Drew ran a stop sign and plowed into the passenger side of a shiny black Mercedes-Benz.

Ramon jerked the wheel of his car to the side and got out, as if he was a private citizen intending to render aid.

Drew got out at the same time, so Ramon grabbed a ball cap from the duffel on the back seat of his car. Whatever this guy was about to do, hopefully, Ramon could stop it without the man seeing his face.

The firefighter pulled open the driver’s door of the Mercedes and pointed a gun in the man’s face.

A woman who had also stopped, screamed. She backed away so fast that she tripped and landed on her behind on the asphalt. Another car swerved to avoid her and wound up slamming into the back corner of Drew’s car. Traffic backed up, and someone honked their horn.

Ramon couldn’t hear whatever Drew was saying to the driver of the car. When he got close enough, he realized the man in the front seat was Dr. Swanson. Swanson looked at Ramon, terror in his gaze. A brown bag marked “Evidence” on his back seat.

Hopefully, the use of his name would add to the surprise and catch Drew off guard.

“Chamberlain, put your gun down now.”

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

The firefighter swunghis gun toward Ramon. Swanson screamed, but Ramon couldn’t worry about anything else. He slammed his shoulder into Drew Chamberlain, pushing him against the inside of the open door. The gun went off, hopefully exploding away from any innocent bystanders.

Sound he couldn’t decipher rushed through his ears. Ramon shifted his grip on the gun and punched Drew Chamberlain in the face.

It barely dazed the guy. Running on so much adrenaline that it was like trying to take down a rhino.

Ramon slammed an uppercut into the man’s ribs. In the second after that happened, when Drew started to bend over, Ramon slammed his forehead into the roof of Swanson’s car.

The firefighter slumped to the ground beside the Mercedes.

An older man rushed over, dressed in jeans and work boots with a jacket over his T-shirt and a dusty ball cap on his head. “The police are on their way.”

Ramon nodded. “Thanks.” He slid his gun into the back of his belt and flipped his jacket over it, disguising it from view. If no one happened to mention that he had been carrying it, then the weapon would stay out of sight. The important thing herewas that a first responder had shown up with a gun and tried to attack another man.

It would probably be written off as a road rage incident, given the fact that the crash had preceded Drew rushing over and attacking the doctor.

Would the responding officers ignore the bag of evidence on the back seat that clearly implicated Drew in a kidnapping and murder, or would the whole thing be pushed under the rug? Nothing but a myth.

“Are you good, Doctor?”

Swanson pressed his hand against his tie, still wide-eyed and with a look of shock on his face. “I’m okay. Thanks to you.”

Ramon tipped his head to the side. “We’ll get someone here to take a look at you.”

A police patrol car turned onto the street, forcing the backed-up traffic to pull off to the side. One of the two officers who climbed out began to direct traffic around the incident, while the other came over to Swanson. Ramon backed up, keeping an eye on Drew and listening to the beginning of their conversation.

What he wanted to do was slip away. He tried to leave, but he only got a couple of steps before the police officer looked at him. Waved him back over. “Don’t go anywhere yet.”