Free Dream Sky by Brett Battles Page A

dropped his rifle to the ground the instant he saw Robert’s pistol. The other one—most likely Jacob—started to aim his rifle at Robert.
    Robert pulled his trigger.
    He’d been aiming for the man’s shoulder, but the bullet caught the guy under the jaw and exited by the ear. The man grabbed his face as he dropped to the ground, moaning.
    “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” the other guy said. “You shot him! Why did you shoot him?” He dropped down next to his buddy. “Jacob, hold on. Hold on. You’ll be okay.” He looked at Robert again. “You fucking shot him!”
    Robert knew that, knew it to the very core of his soul, but he also knew he would have done it again. “So he wasn’t trying to kill my friend?”
    The man turned away. “We’re just trying to get home, man. We’re just trying to get home.” He put his hands on Jacob’s wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but blood continued to gush. “Oh, God.”
    Robert took a couple steps closer. “Use your shirt.”
    He wasn’t sure if it would help, but at least it would give the hysterical man something to do. The guy pulled his shirt off over his head and pressed it to Jacob’s face.
    Robert was about to call up to see if Pax was all right when he heard a loud groan of wood behind him. He turned to see a girl, who couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, nearing the top of the steps, a rifle pressed against her shoulder.
    When he heard the shot, he flinched, expecting to be hit, but her bullet apparently went wide.
    No, he realized as his eyes refocused. It hadn’t gone wide because the shot hadn’t come from her rifle at all. She was the one hit, the bullet piercing her chest and sending her tumbling back down the stairs.
    Robert looked over his shoulder and saw Pax at the other end of the bow, holding his pistol.
    “Don’t shoot!” a voice called from below. “I don’t want any trouble.”
    A woman, about twenty years older than the girl, appeared near the bottom of the stairs, her hands raised. She looked at the body, then up at Robert.
    “I…I…I’m not part of this,” she stammered. “I never…never wanted them to do this.”
    “Come on up, Kat,” Pax said as he walked over to Jacob and the other man.
    The woman gingerly stepped over the dead girl and hurried up the steps, her hands still high. When she reached the top, she jerked to a halt at the sight of Jacob, but quickly recovered and said, “His own damn fault.”
    Pax put a finger against the uninjured side of Jacob’s neck. After a moment, he looked at the other man. “You can let go now, Aiden. He’s done.”
    The adrenaline rushing through Robert’s system finally crashed. That and the knowledge of what he’d done sent him running to the railing just in time to vomit over the side.
    __________
     
    P AX AND AIDEN dumped Jacob into the ocean, and then with Robert’s help did the same with Avery, the young woman. Luke they left on the top deck with a nasty bump on the back of his head and his hands and feet tied to the railing. They would deal with him when and if he regained consciousness.
    Pax knew they wouldn’t have any trouble with Kat. She’d only been along for the ride, glomming on to the only survivors she had found. Aiden wouldn’t be a problem, either. He was a follower, and with Jacob gone, he might complain a little but he’d do as he was told.
    If there was anyone Pax worried about, it was Robert. When he didn’t see him for nearly thirty minutes, he put Kat in charge of keeping the ferry on course and headed down to the main deck. He found Robert at the back, looking out at the two boats they were towing.
    “Was checking the fuel gauges,” Pax said as he walked up. “We’ve got just under half a tank left. Might be able to make a run at Isabella from here, but I’m not sure. What do you think?”
    Robert was quiet for several seconds before saying, “We should refuel in Limón first. Don’t want to run out when we’re in the middle of