Then the anchor was lowered without a splash, preventing them from drifting away, and with incredible stealth, guylines were attached between their boat and the target, securing them together. Jason signaled silently from the other side of the stern. Dirk and Mei-li joined him, and Jason tapped Dirk’s chest. “Left,” he mouthed. He tapped his own chest. “Right.”
Dirk nodded, putting himself into a zone where he saw nothing, heard nothing except for his target. He’d started his career in the movies as a stuntman, and he knew how to focus. As steadily as if he were walking on dry land and not a floating boat, he slipped noiselessly from their boat’s stern onto the other’s bow, then held out his hand for Mei-li. She grasped his fingers, and the next thing he knew she was standing beside him.
There was no noise from the interior of the boat. No indication that the sleeping kidnappers had felt anything other than the natural rocking of the waves. Jason joined them with scarcely a sound, his eyes meeting Dirk’s over Mei-li’s head. He held up one finger, silently counting a beat of one. A second finger joined the first. A third finger was added. Then he pointed toward the front opening with a sharp movement, his hand signaling “Go!”
Dirk and Jason burst through the entrance together, Dirk veering left as Jason veered right. They were on the kidnappers before the other men knew what had hit them.
A shadow darted between the bodies of the four men struggling on the floor. Though Dirk’s attention was focused on incapacitating the kidnapper frantically attempting to free one arm and reach for the gun next to his pallet, he knew the shadow was Mei-li. Muffled cries from the back told him she’d found his daughters—alive, he exulted. Alive!
Then he pushed that thought ruthlessly from his mind as a blow rocked his jaw and a desperate fight was on. It was over in seconds. The two men were closely matched in size, but Dirk was fighting for his daughters. The adrenaline coursing through his body gave him nearly superhuman strength, and he managed to flip the other man onto his stomach with one arm twisted sharply behind his back. “Move and it’s broken,” he panted, bending the arm farther.
A cry of pain answered him, but the struggle ceased, and he knew the kidnapper believed him. Dirk scrabbled in the darkness with his left hand and finally came up with the gun. He raised his head and glanced to the right to make sure Jason didn’t need help. When he saw the other kidnapper was similarly immobilized, his gaze moved to the rear of the cabin.
Mei-li was plastered against the far wall, shielding two small bodies with her own. Jason called to her, and she raised her head, then unwrapped herself from Dirk’s daughters. Even in the dim light coming through the front opening, he saw their wrists and mouths were bound with duct tape.
A red mist rose over his eyes. White-hot rage slammed through him, and he turned to the kidnapper beneath him. In a corner of his mind, he realized what he was doing, but it was as if he were some other man. He let go of the arm he was holding, and shifted the gun to his right hand, then thrust the barrel of the gun against the back of the kidnapper’s head. “You son of a bitch.” He didn’t recognize the voice, but realized it was coming from him. “I should kill you.” His breathing was labored. “Those are my babies, you bastard. My babies!”
“DeWinter!”
“Dirk, no!”
The harsh voice belonged to Jason Moore. The soft plea belonged to Mei-li. His finger twitched on the trigger, and he wanted to pull it, honest to God he did. He wanted to kill this piece of filth who’d kidnapped and terrorized his daughters. Wanted to make sure no one else’s children ever suffered what his daughters had suffered.
Then he heard Mei-li’s voice in his mind, clear as a bell. You cannot know what you would have done if he’d dropped the knife!
His chest heaved, and he closed his eyes against the wall of emotion that hit him as other words came back to him. Mei-li’s words, too. You’re a good man, Dirk. You are. Are you perfect? Of course not. No one is. But you’re a good man...
He opened his damp eyes and gazed at Mei-li through the shadowed interior of the cabin. Then he saw his traumatized daughters watching him from the shelter of Mei-li’s embrace. And in that instant he knew he couldn’t do it.
He drew a shuddering breath and pulled the gun away. He flicked the safety on, tucked the gun into his back pocket and quickly undid his belt buckle. His belt hissed as he stripped it off. Then he used it to bind the kidnapper’s hands behind his back. Tight.