Free FEARLESS by Helen Kay Dimon Page B

falling off Davis, the guy slammed his weight harder against Davis’s stomach, doubling him over as he gasped.
    With a final blood-freezing scream of rage the attacker brought the knife down in a swooping arc. Davis shifted his head to the side at the last second and the blade stabbed into the floor.
    Fearing Davis couldn’t win this one, not when he was already hurt, she struggled to her feet and looked across the bow for something, anything, to aim at this guy. She saw cans stacked up at the far end and blinked. Her mind didn’t grasp the importance or even understand what she saw until she inhaled and the harsh scent of gasoline ran through her.
    He was going to blow them up.
    She spun around in time to see Davis whip out the flashlight and deliver a bone-crunching hit to the other guy’s jaw. The attacker’s head actually snapped back. For a second his eyes slipped shut and Davis used the opening to shove the guy off. Up on his knees, Davis stretched out for the gun.
    “Davis!” Her scream bounced off the fiberglass and had him turning to face her. “Gasoline.”
    She barely got the word out over the terror shaking her body and kicking life into her muscles. She wasn’t even sure he’d heard or understood until his eyes went wide. His gaze traveled over the boat as all emotion vanished from his face.
    Swiping the gun, she stood up, stopping only to kick the attacker in the shoulder when he struggled up for another round. Running, his arms pumping and cheeks hollow, Davis smashed into her. With a hand on her arm, he lifted and propelled her to his right. Her thigh slammed into the side of a seat as they went but she kept going. She didn’t have a choice. Davis had her locked to his side.
    The attacker got to his feet but Davis didn’t stop moving. With a hand on her butt, he hoisted her up on the side railing. His body wrapped around hers like a blanket as he dropped them over the side. The air rushed around them. She closed her eyes and waited for the hard crack of the dock against her skull a few feet below. When they hit, she bounced against his chest and heard him groan.
    Her eyes popped open in time to see him aim his gun at the side of the boat, as if waiting to see a face peek over. They were lower and couldn’t see inside, but he was ready.
    She heard a splash and Davis swore. He shifted and jumped to a crouch. A rumbling whoosh stopped him from going farther. One minute she sat there, trying to get her bearings, and the next a wall of heat punched her face. The bang rang out right before Davis slipped his arms around her and rolled them to the far side of the dock.
    The floor beneath them fell away and they flew through the air again. She gasped as they hit the water. The smell of fish smacked her in the face as she struggled to hold her breath. Her eyes opened as a ball of red and orange exploded above the water. Even under she could hear the booms and crackle.
    Something slapped the water near her head. Davis kicked and they swam, bubbles giving away their path, as chunks of wood and things she couldn’t recognize through the haze of water crashed around them.
    Just as her air ran out and she thought her lungs would explode if they went one more foot, they broke the surface. She hung on to his shoulders and he grabbed on to the side of the small hill leading to the road and the firm land beyond.
    Flames shot up from the center of what used to be Pax’s boat. “We would have been in there.”
    The explosion numbed every part of her. Her mind barely functioned, yet somehow her hands held on to Davis.
    “That was the idea.” Even through all the noise his voice sounded harsh and raw.
    The water bobbed around them and sirens squealed in the distance. Men raced to the scene, screaming for help while the few people on the boats in the slips ran up the docks to safety. The fire consumed Pax’s boat and the impressive sailboat next to it. Lara didn’t see any sign of the attacker, but she had a