Shoot Him If He Runs (Stone Barrington 14)

“Great,” Dino said. “I like lying on the beach better, anyway.”

“I don’t,” Holly said. She stood up, dropped her towel and ran into the sea, swimming strongly a hundred yards out. She looked back to see that Stone had followed her to the water’s edge and was keeping an eye on her. She waved for him to follow, and he entered the water and began swimming.

Holly ducked underwater and swam a few strokes, looking for the sandbar that she knew ran parallel to the beach. She found it after a moment and stood up in waist-deep water.

Stone shortly joined her. “How did you know about the bar?”

“Thomas told me. He said not to go farther out, th

ough.” She splashed water in his face.

“Stand still,” he said.

“What?”

“Just don’t move around. Stand perfectly still.”

He was looking back toward the beach, and she followed his gaze. A large gray fin was slicing through the water inside the sandbar, between them and the beach. “Oh, shit,” she said.

“Just don’t move,” Stone replied. Slowly, he slid under the water for a moment, then, just as slowly, reemerged. “It’s a hammerhead,” he said. “A big one.”

The fin went a few yards past them, then reversed course. “How big?”

“I’m guessing fourteen, fifteen feet. Tell me you’re not having your period.”

“I’m not having my period.”

“Thank God for that; we don’t need that scent in the water.” She looked back toward the beach and saw Dino and Genevieve walk into the water and begin swimming toward them. “They’re splashing,” she said, pointing.

Stone turned and looked at the swimmers and began waving his arms. Dino waved back. Stone, with both hands, began making a pushing motion, waving them back to the beach. It took Dino a moment to understand, then he tapped Genevieve on the shoulder, and they began swimming back. They stood in knee-deep water and watched. Dino pointed out the shark’s fin to his girlfriend.

“This is ridiculous,” Holly said. “Four naked people watching a shark swim.”

“Two of them in the water with the shark,” Stone pointed out. “That’s even more ridiculous.”

“What are we going to do?” Holly asked.

“Wait for it to decide we’re uninteresting.”

“And if it has a different opinion?”

“Hit it with our fists in the eyes, which, I think, are at the ends of the hammer. I wish now I hadn’t missed that field trip to the aquarium when I was a kid. I was home with the flu.”

“I wish I had a gun,” Holly said, looking at Stone. When she looked back at the shark, the fin was gone. “Oh, shit.” She pointed.

“Oh, shit, indeed,” Stone replied. He ducked slowly under the water again, and this time he was under for a full minute before he came up again.

Holly kept looking for the fin. “Could you see it?” she asked.

“No, it vanished.”

“Vanished where?”

“I don’t know, it’s just gone.”

Holly ducked under the water and did a slow three-sixty. She wished she had goggles. She wished she had a shotgun. She came up again. “I can’t see more than thirty feet.”

“Neither could I.” Stone suddenly pointed outside the bar. The fin had reappeared, moving slowly down the beach, away from them. “I think it’s time to rejoin Dino and Genevieve,” he said. “No overhand swimming; breaststroke.”