LOGAN ROUNDED THE CORNER INTO A WINDOWLESS CORRIDOR
lined with the broken remnants of a dead coral colony on one wall, and cooled, pitted lava on the other. He was almost out of earshot when he heard Angel’s offer.
Hostage.
Angel was offering herself as Ceto’s hostage in return for Michael.
He didn’t know whether to rush in and save her or hightail it out of there—until Michael’s question gave him the answer.
“Why isn’t Angel with us, Logan? She’s coming, right?”
Logan’s heart squeezed, both at the hopeful expres-sion on his son’s face and the knowledge that Angel was not coming with them.
Hadn’t been planning to, obviously.
Logan couldn’t let her sacrifice be in vain. He had to get Michael out of here.
“She’ll be along when”—if—“she can, Michael,” he whispered, urging his son toward a light at the far end of the corridor, trying to block out the generosity and unselfishness of Angel’s act and focus on thwarting their shark guard and the bitch who’d put them in this spot to begin with.
He couldn’t throw away this chance Angel had given him. A parent was supposed to protect his child. The
child’s welfare came first—a fact Christine hadn’t real-ized, but one Angel instinctively had.
She was trading her freedom for his son’s life. Of all the selfless things to do… She’d knowingly put herself in Ceto’s power to give them the opportunity to escape. He tried to remember why he’d been bothered that she was a mermaid. Hell, the kid’s own mother hadn’t been that unselfish and she was human. No, Christine had dumped
Michael when the going got too tough, but Angel…
He was a fool. He never should have told her to leave last night. He should have seen beyond her tail to the person she was. To the good-hearted, loving, giving woman residing in that body—tailed or otherwise.
He’d get Michael out, then find some way to help her. “Okay. I guess.” Michael tipped the rim of his base¬ball cap lower on his face and dragged his hands along
the rough lava wall. “When’s that gonna be?” “I don’t know.”
“Let’s move it along, Humans.” The shark’s breath preceded his words and Logan didn’t want to focus on what could cause such a stench.
The daylight got brighter. Somehow they’d have to make a run for it. Logan surreptitiously checked the cor-ridor behind him—and saw four hundred pounds of fish filling the darkness there. They obviously weren’t going back that way. Their only chance was through whatever was up ahead.
Logan looked forward. Plant life grew along the wall, which meant direct sunlight. Conceivably then, they had a straight shot to the surface, but what awaited them in between?
They had to get away from the mako and, preferably,
without witnesses. Logan wasn’t exactly looking for-ward to hand-to-fin combat with the big fish, let alone with any of the guy’s buddies.
He slid his hand into his pocket and grasped the edge of the knife, his thumb straying to the blade-release mechanism. The knife wasn’t that big, but still, a well-placed blade could bring down a shark.
It could also put his arm in bite range. And Michael in harm’s way. But makos were some of the fastest swim-mers in the shark world; he didn’t have much choice if they had to make a run—swim—for it. He’d rather any confrontation be on his terms.
Something swam by outside, passing through the daylight, casting its shadow onto the wall. He had to act before any other sharks showed up.
Logan squeezed Michael’s shoulder to get him to stop, needing the least traumatic way to do this for his son—and the deadliest for the shark.
“Get moving, friend.” The shark butted Logan in the back with his bullet-shaped snout.
That was the opening Logan was looking for.
He pretended to stumble and shoved Michael away with one hand while whipping the knife out with the other, engaging the blade, and spinning around to shove it between the mako’s eyes in one maneuver.
Someone Upstairs was looking out for him because the shark’s eyes glazed over without him uttering a sound. The embedded knife effectively stopped any bleeding, so they were home free on alerting the entire Caribbean, and the water carried the dead fish gently onto the corridor floor where it looked like ol’ Brutus had decided to take a nap.
The fact that he was belly-up against the wall wouldn’t necessarily be a good detail to point out to a six-year-old.
“Hey, Logan.” Michael did a somersault into a hand-stand before righting himself. “Didya see my handstand? Were my legs straight? Angel said I was real good at handstands. What do you think—hey. What happened to Brutus?”
“He, uh… He decided to take a nap.” Logan swam over to Michael and swept his arm around his shoulders, turning his son around so they were facing the bright light at the end of the tunnel.
Mission accomplished. Now they had to escape those tower guards Angel had mentioned.
Another shadow flickered on the wall. This time, Logan recognized the shape.
Lifting Michael, Logan pushed off the lava wall and swam to the arched window. One side of it was wide enough for him to squeeze through.
He hoped.
He looked outside to make sure that shadow wasn’t a trick.
“Hey, cool! Dolphins!” Michael waved. “I like dol-phins better than sharks. They smile.”
And, more importantly, they were on their side.
Logan took one last look down the corridor. Past the dead Brutus and into the inky darkness. Angel was back there. With at least three other makos and a sea monster who’d once been a goddess.
He had to save his son. That’s what Angel wanted. “How about we go meet them, Michael?” Tucking
Michael’s hat in his pocket, he grabbed a piece of broken
coral and smashed the window, then cleared the debris as best he could and helped Michael through, garnering several nasty cuts when it was his turn. But they were free. In a manner of speaking.
Judging the distance between the towers and the dol-phins, Logan kept an eye out for the tower guards. He and Michael should be able to make it…
“Yo, dolphins!” Michael, who had no idea of their predicament, waved so hard he floated off the wall, only to start swimming toward the mammals.
Logan didn’t have long to wait before the first bull shark wiggled through the window on the southern¬most tower.
Shit.
Logan shoved off the wall, scooping Michael in his arms, and kicked his legs for all he was worth.
He looked back. The bull shark was closing in. Then another one swam over the top of the building. They weren’t going to make it—
The dolphins dove down in formation, one taking Michael on its back, two others lodging beneath Logan’s arms, and carried them off, the speed in their powerful tails putting much-needed distance between them and the sharks.
Miles later, sides heaving, the dolphins circled to-gether. “Where’s the princess?” the captain asked.
“Still there.” Logan kept his voice low, not wanting Michael to understand the seriousness of their situation.
“You left her?”
He tossed Michael his hat, then steered the captain away. “She gave herself up as a hostage so we could escape. I couldn’t risk my son.”
“Your son’s safe now.”
All thanks to the woman who was down there, facing God-knew what. He wanted to go back. But the sharks… Michael…
No. She’d given up her freedom—possibly her life— to save Michael’s; Logan wouldn’t jeopardize that. Angel wouldn’t want him to.
But he couldn’t just leave her there. “Can you distract the sharks?”
“What?” The captain’s toothy grin opened in shock. “Can you distract the sharks? And take my son to
safety. I’m going back.”
The captain closed her mouth and nodded. “We can, and we’ll protect the child. It’s a very courageous thing you’re doing. Thank you and gods-speed, Human.”
Logan didn’t want to leave Michael, but what choice did he have? He couldn’t leave Angel down there.
He wrapped Michael’s arms around a dorsal fin. “Hold on tight, okay?”
“Okay. Are we gonna race?”
“In a little bit. There’s something I have to take care of first. Now hold on, I’m counting on you.” He tucked Michael’s hat into the waistband of the boy’s shorts, then dropped a kiss onto his temple. “I love you, son.”
Michael’s smile appeared, the gap between his teeth reminding Logan of the discarded shark teeth Angel had found and what she was facing. He definitely couldn’t leave her to the sea monster’s mercy.
“I love you, too, Log—Dad.”
The dolphin arced then, tail rippling the water, and Michael headed to shore with half the contingent, while the other half took off back toward the palace.
Dad.
He’d finally gotten the Dad.
And Angel wasn’t around to hear it.