Page 51 of Three Girls Gone (Detective Amanda Steele #14)
FORTY-FOUR
Amanda reached for her gun. She froze with her hand over her holster.
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you,” Marshall seethed. “And I wouldn’t call out either. Or I will kill her.”
So she is alive… He must have drugged her. “PWCPD. Surrender the girl.”
Marshall laughed. “And why would I do that?”
“You’re caught, Marshall. Just let the girl go.”
“I don’t answer to you,” he hissed.
“Please, we can talk about this.” Why hadn’t he just stayed hidden? Either he was feeling self-destructive or this fed into his game.
“No.” He turned and walked away from her, exposing his back, giving her a clear target.
She reached for her gun, tempted to take it, but what if he detected the danger and her bullet struck too late for Eloise? No, she couldn’t take that chance. She couldn’t scream either. She took Marshall at his word. He was prepared to kill the girl. This left her with one choice. Follow him.
She kept pace with him, but he didn’t glance over his shoulder once. But why should he be anxious with Eloise in his arms? With her there, he was protected.
He reached the riverbank and stopped. The moon slipped out from behind cloud cover. Its light shone onto the dark still water, reflecting across its surface.
“Marshall, please, let’s talk,” she petitioned. She was wishing that she hadn’t separated from Trent. Maybe together they could have devised a plan to take this man down. One of them could have distracted him while the other swept in for Eloise.
Marshall continued walking right into the river. The water must be freezing cold, but he showed no reaction to it at all. He just kept moving, taking deliberate steps. When the level reached the middle of his thighs, he turned to face her.
“There is nothing to talk about.” He dropped Eloise into the water, and the child screamed. The shock of the cold water must have woken her. Her arms and legs thrashed as she tried to get away from him. To no avail. Marshall bent over the girl and held her under.
In a fraction of a second, Amanda reassessed her options. The chance she could put a bullet center mass without endangering Eloise was slim. She didn’t trust her shooting skills to be precise enough to hit him between the eyes.
Amanda ran into the water. The cold soaked through her shoes, biting her ankles, then through her pants. She couldn’t feel her toes. But none of this mattered.
She rushed Marshall, throwing all her weight against him.
He toppled over, and she went with him. She struggled to get her feet beneath her, all the while thinking about Eloise.
She turned and saw the little girl’s head bobbing above the surface.
Eloise was crying and trying to get away from Marshall.
“Swim to the shore!” Amanda screamed at the girl. “Get help!”
“You bitch.” Marshall yanked Amanda’s hair .
She spun around to face her adversary and went to punch him, but he caught her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back. Then he took the other. She tried to squirm loose, but all her strength wasn’t enough.
He released her hands, just long enough to push down on her head.
She gulped a breath of air just before she was plunged beneath the water. Marshall was pressing down so hard, getting her legs under her was impossible. At best, the tips of her shoes brushed against the riverbed.
She flailed her arms, trying to gather momentum to propel herself upward, but to no avail.
Her muscles weakened, and she needed air.
She felt herself sinking farther down. Her fingertips grazed the bottom and slid across rocks, and the darkness tempted her to surrender.
It would all be over soon, and she could succumb to peace.
But as her consciousness drifted, she saw Zoe’s face, heard her calling her Mom .
She couldn’t go out this way! Zoe needed her!
Amanda had been so foolish thinking she could bring this man down on her own.
She should have listened to Trent. Help might come too late.
If she wanted to live another day, she had to save herself.
Just muster enough strength to make an impact.
Her palm rolled over a sizable rock. Grab it and hit him!
But her lungs were starving for oxygen, and she was battling against instinct to open her mouth. If she did, she’d gulp nothing but water.
I can do this! I have to!
She wrapped her hand around the rock and got a toehold on the bottom. She thrust up, swinging as fast as she could. Her head still didn’t break the surface, but she struck him hard. He howled, but his grip on her only weakened some.
She needed air. Now. She tried to hit him again. This time he caught her forearm and squeezed it in a vise grip. She cried out and swallowed a lungful of water. She started convulsing, her body wanting to purge the liquid, but every inhale kicked more river back into her lungs.
Her mind drifted to an inky blackness until there was nothing.