Fate Interrupted 3 by Kaitlyn Cross Page B

Shaun asked.
    “A little,” he
replied, dropping his hand and looking up into the sky. “Must
be picking up some nearby alien transmission.”
    “Did you know
that mermaids actually look more like rotting zombies than beauty queens?” Will
asked, lifting his eyebrows. “Saw it on Discovery.”
    Jon leaned in
closer. “What if when we get back to shore…”
    “Quiet!” Captain
Taylor ordered, scrambling out from beneath the small roof over the helm and tilting
an ear to the sky.
    Dean squinted
into the pale light of dawn, following the captain’s line of sight.
    Taylor ducked
back inside and came back out with a big black gun.
    “Holy shit, it’s
the mermaid, isn’t it?” Will cried, frantically rummaging in his backpack.
    Taylor fired a
single shot, sending a red streak bursting high into the sky where it bloomed
into a red mushroom that oozed back down toward the lake. He watched the small Cessna
fly overhead with his mouth agape, heavy breath tickling his bristly mustache.
    Their heads
turned with the single engine plane, following it across the sky until it
disappeared into the dark western horizon.
    “Holy shit,”
Shaun said, “you almost shot them down!”
    Taylor lowered
the flare gun to his side. “If that captain is worth a lick of salt, he’ll be callin in our coordinates as we speak.”
    Kat shivered
beneath the blanket. “What if he didn’t see it?”
    “He saw it,”
Taylor said.
    Dean’s gaze
narrowed. “You don’t sound so sure.”
    “Find out soon
enough, Dean ,” the captain replied,
going to put the gun away.
    Dean turned back
to the water just as something took one of the fishing lines, pulling it out
with a long zing that dragged the
boat with it.
    “Oh, shit it’s
her!” Will cried, whipping out his gun and aiming at the water.

 
 
 
 
 
    Chapter
Seventeen

 
 
 
 
 
 
    Carrie arrived
at Brooke’s house shortly after Evy had, her blonde hair reaching out in all
directions, dark bags resting beneath her eyes. “I still can’t believe this,”
she said, dropping her purse onto a gray couch.
    “You?” Brooke retorted,
staring at her cell phone, a dumbfounded look hanging from her ears. “This
doesn’t make any sense!”
    “If Shaun’s not
already dead, he’s going to be when I get through with him.” Carrie checked her
cell phone again. “I had to take the girls to the neighbors – who, let me tell
you, were just thrilled about someone knocking on their door at four thirty in
the morning. We’re lucky we didn’t get shot!”
    “They’re not
dead,” Evy said from a high-backed armchair that made her seem as small as her
voice. It wasn’t the first time the thought had crossed her mind. Maybe their
boat had hit a rock or caught on fire, tragedies she saw on the news more than
once each and every summer. Dark thoughts consumed her because only dark thoughts could explain the
unexplainable. They weren’t swimming at Shaun’s, or partying in Chicago into
the wee hours of the night. Something had happened. Something
bad.
    Carrie’s shoulders
slumped. “I’m sorry, honey. I know they’re not. My mouth doesn’t work well
before coffee and makeup.” She fluffed her bed-head and poured herself a cup of
coffee. “Anyone call Pam yet? Because I’m not giving Jon a
ride home. This is probably all his fault. He can walk for all I care.”
    “She’s on her
way.”
    “What’d she say?”
Carrie asked, coming back into the living room and sinking into the couch with
a winded sigh. “Was she pissed?”
    “I don’t think
she was pissed. She sounded wide awake.”
    Brooke looked
up. “At this hour?”
    “God, I miss the
days of still being awake at this hour, going to Denny’s for breakfast and laughing
at all the people heading to work.” Carrie took a careful sip from the steaming
mug and dropped a hand on Evy’s knee, stirring her from her twisted thoughts.
“Live it up while ya can, ladies, because the next thing ya know, you