Gibbs stepped forward, looming over Tom, while Olivia looked on apprehensively. Tom had been hiding something, all right. He may not have killed his brother, but he and Olivia made themselves equally culpable when they'd concealed what Rhianne had done.
"He asked you a question, Donner. Where is your sister?" Gibbs asked, fists clenched and eyes glinting dangerously. "Is she still in the house?"
Tom looked up, the conflict plain to see on his face. "I…don't know."
Olivia spoke finally, shaking her head in answer. "Not anymore."
Gibbs turned back to Ben. "The boathouse."
Ben nodded as Gibbs rushed from the room. He pointed at a deputy. "Place these two under arrest. Accessory to murder. You search the house for Rhianne, just in case," he ordered, pointing at the second deputy. Instructions acknowledged, he turned and chased after Gibbs, catching up to him on the inn's wide front veranda.
"Gibbs, wait for me!"
Gibbs turned, vibrating with tension and the need to get to Tony. "There's no time!"
"You have your weapon, right?" Ben asked.
Gibbs nodded.
"Okay, consider yourself a sworn in temporary Harding Township deputy."
As they started down the veranda steps, the air seemed to ripple and distort in front of them. Rory appeared on the steps in their path. Fingers of dread crawled up Gibbs' spine. What did this mean?
Ben saw him this time. He froze in disbelief at the apparition. "Oh my God…Rory."
Gibbs noted he didn't appear solid, as Tony had described him. Rory truly looked ghostlike; pale and insubstantial, as if being away from Tony and their link affected his ability to appear corporeal. He shot Ben a quick smile and then turned to Gibbs.
"Tony's in danger. She's already hurt him…you have to get to the boathouse. Hurry; it's not too late," the apparition said before fading away.
Gibbs immediately started sprinting for the lake. Ben activated the radio clipped to his shoulder and ordered his deputies inside to summon an ambulance to the inn, before taking off after Gibbs again.
Fear galvanized Gibbs into action. He took off running down the steep slope to the boathouse, hearing Ben's pounding footfalls behind him. The sound of a motor had him pushing himself beyond his limits, trying to lengthen his stride and cover the ground even faster.
As they approached the boathouse door, movement caught his eye along the pier that extended out over the water. A boat moved through the pool of light cast by the lamp at the far end. They caught sight of two figures in the boat before it passed into the darkness and continued out onto the lake.
"Come on, there's another boat," Gibbs said breathlessly, throwing the door open and charging inside.
They ran to the other boat and Gibbs' steps faltered as he saw Tony's cane, and the contents of his gear bag strewn on the wood planks. His throat tightened at the blood pooled and smeared along the boards where the other boat had been tied.
Ben leapt inside and started the motor. "Get the lines," he yelled over the noise.
Gibbs yanked the lines free, tossed them into the boat and jumped onboard. No sooner was he safely in, than Ben gunned the motor, speeding them out of the opening far faster than was probably safe. Unlike the boat Rhianne had taken because it had been in the front, this was a ski boat, built for speed. The one that carried Tony and Rhianne was a fishing boat, with only a trolling motor.
Steering with one hand, Ben opened a storage compartment in the hull with the other and fumbled inside a moment. He pulled out a battery-operated floodlight and handed it over to Gibbs as they sped out across the lake.
Gibbs switched on the light, relieved to see the powerful beam it generated. He braced his body against the control console so he could use both hands to hold the heavy light and sweep it back and forth over the lake surface. When he found the other boat, Ben immediately corrected course, arrowing directly toward where the beam pointed.
As they got closer, they realized the other boat was adrift. Their own boat dipped sharply as Ben quickly throttled nearly all the way down. Gibbs hated losing the speed but he knew Ben was making sure they wouldn't shoot past the smaller, nearly stationary boat.
He could see Tony and Rhianne clearly now. The distance between the two craft was closing, but not fast enough, dammit. Gibbs' stomach clenched as Rhianne stood up in the boat and moved toward Tony.
The act had to be pure desperation. When she got close, Tony moved lightning fast, lunging upward from where he'd been sitting in the bow of the boat. In a move that looked like a callback to his college sports days, he threw a shoulder upward into Rhianne and knocked her off balance. She stumbled backward, trying to regain her footing as the boat rocked.
Tony followed, trying to press his advantage. His hands shot out, reaching to push her overboard and Gibbs caught a glint of metal at his wrists. Aw, hell…he was cuffed. Rhianne staggered against the side of the boat furthest from them, and then tumbled overboard. Before he even had time to feel relief, Tony's body jerked hard as if she'd grabbed hold of him somehow, then he disappeared over the side with her.
"Tony!"
"Shit," Ben cursed. Gibbs looked over desperately, but Ben was already working to maneuver their boat around to the side where Tony had gone over.
When they got there a few seconds later, they could see neither Tony nor Rhianne had surfaced.
NNNNNNNN
"It's time, Rory."
His pulse quickened as Rhianne reached into her pocket and pulled out the evidence bag containing Rory's knife. She removed it and opened the blade, pressing her thumb against the edge to check the sharpness. She smiled at the line of blood that welled on the pad of her thumb.
Hoping to catch her off guard, Tony didn't react except to look down and pretend to be accepting of his fate. The bullet graze burned like a hot poker against his side, and whatever Rory had done to slow the blood flow had worn off. He could feel the renewed bleeding under his jacket, soaking through his shirt and jeans on his left side. His limbs felt leaden and stiff, but he mustered his strength, and his nerve, as best as he could.
Rhianne rose and started toward him and he knew the other boat wasn't going to get to them in time. He just had to hold her off for another minute until Gibbs got there, and in his weakened condition, he might only get one chance to overpower her. His mind hummed with the awareness of Rory in the background and he felt the spirit's encouragement.
Almost there…
He tracked her movements with hooded eyes. When she got close enough, he exploded upward from the seat, feeling a gush of fresh blood down his side as he did so. He turned his body slightly to throw the shoulder on his good side into Rhianne's chest. She staggered back and dropped the knife, the impact forcing the breath from her in a gust of air. She wheezed and tried to get her balance as the boat rocked.
Tony moved with her and threw up his arms, trying to push her out of the boat before she regained her footing. He felt a vicious satisfaction as her legs hit the side wall of the boat, and she started go over. As began to fall, she instinctively reacted to prevent it. Rhianne managed to get a hand around the chain between his cuffed hands and yanked hard as if in that moment, she remembered her vow to drown them both. The walking boot slid on the floor of the boat, leaving him precariously balanced with all his weight on one leg for a second. He had just enough time to suck in a breath before Rhianne succeeding in pulling him over the side after her.
NNNNNNNN
Gibbs quickly passed the floodlight to Ben's waiting hands and tore off his jacket. He pulled his weapon from his waistband and handed it to Ben for safekeeping, then kicked off his shoes.
"Gibbs?" Ben asked doubtfully as he looked at the black water between the boats.
Gibbs understood; he had no idea how he was going to find Tony in the dark either. All he knew was Tony needed him. "I have to try!" he exclaimed.
All at once, the air felt colder than it already was, and they turned to see that odd shimmer in the air again. Rory materialized in the boat with them.
"Go now," Rory said urgently. "She's trying to keep him down." He leaned over the side and pointed. "Here," he pointed at a spot over the side. "Right here. GO!"
Gibbs didn't hesitate; he took a deep breath and dove out of the boat.
Ben pointed the floodlight down where Gibbs had gone, and watched the water's surface intently for any sign of movement.
NNNNNNNN
The water closed over him, shocking and painfully cold as Rhianne had predicted. It was silent and dark, and he became disoriented quickly. He had no idea which way was up, but the increasing pressure in his ears told him they were sinking fast. He tried to yank free of Rhianne's hold but she held on to the cuffs with an inhumanly strong grip.
The added weight of the now-saturated walking boot, along with his clothes and jacket made it difficult to try to kick away from her. He was running out of time…numbness crept into his arms and legs, and he didn't know how much longer he could hold his breath. He reached out to the connection with Rory, still thrumming in the back of his mind.
Rory…if you're there, I could use a little help.
As he thrashed and tried to break her hold, he saw a faint glow above them as if someone were shining a light into the water. Help had arrived and the light told him which way was up. He tried to kick upward again, but Rhianne had pulled herself closer and clung to him like a limpet, keeping him down. He was tiring fast.
A few more seconds, Tony…Gibbs is coming.
A shadow passed across the dim glow above and his increasingly muddied thoughts told him someone else was in the water. His lungs burned and ached fiercely. The pressure was getting unbearable. He'd held off against his body's demand to inhale until now and bubbles escaped from his lips. When he realized he could no longer fight the involuntary need to draw in air, Rory screamed in protest through the link. Then the link went quiet, leaving him feeling empty and alone.
He could resist no longer, and breathed the cold water into his lungs. God, that hurts so much, he thought. He was dimly aware of a roaring in his ears and his body convulsing from lack of oxygen as he began to drown. Is this what Jethro felt when he died in that car?
On the edge of losing consciousness, his last thoughts were of Jethro and a wave of sorrow and regret filled him. Sorrow at the idea of his lover being the one to pull his lifeless body from the water, and that he'd suffer another loss in a life where he'd already borne too many. The regret for everything they'd left undone, and all the things left unsaid between them weighed on him for a fleeting moment.
Then everything slipped away and he surrendered to the darkness.
NNNNNNNN
Gibbs descended blindly, ignoring the biting cold of the water. He focused on the movement of his arms and legs, propelling himself down, hoping it was the direction Rory had pointed. Kick, pull…kick, pull. His hands extended in front of him, sweeping back and forth, reaching out desperately. His eyes opened instinctively, searching futilely and then a soft glow appeared in the water in front of him. Rory materialized again, his figure distorted by the water, but still recognizable. An ethereal glow surrounded him, casting a soft blue area of light into the darkness, a couple feet in radius. He didn't understand how it was possible for the ghost to appear here like this, but it was clear he'd come to help. Without hesitation, he adjusted his movements to follow Rory's descent.
Growing panic made his heart pound and he was already beginning to feel the need to surface. He estimated Tony had already been submerged well over a minute. How much longer could he last, injured as he was? Scant seconds later, the light surrounding Rory illuminated two figures locked in a disturbing parody of an embrace.
Rhianne's arms were wrapped tightly around Tony's midriff as they slowly sank, and he wasn't moving. They were out of time. He grabbed one of Tony's cuffed wrists and turned back toward the surface. Rhianne reacted instantly, tightening her grip and trying to resist his attempt to bring them up.
Rory's apparition already sensed the problem. He moved behind his sister and encircled her with ghostly arms. They stopped sinking and hung weightless for a moment as Rory's hands moved along Rhianne's forearms. He grasped her wrists, forcing her to release her death grip on Tony and pulling her arms from around him. She struggled and bubbles burst from her mouth while Rory held her in place as she'd done to Tony.
As soon as the resistance fell away, he pulled Tony's body against his with his left arm. Leaving Rhianne to her fate, he kicked with everything he had, pulling with his free arm and aiming for the circle of light above.
The burning pressure in his chest was becoming agony and his lungs were screaming at him to inhale. The lake surface was tantalizingly close. Not close enough, he thought with a growing sense of despair. Just as he involuntarily released the breath of air he'd been holding and inhaled, he felt himself buoyed upward somehow. Rory again. The short burst of momentum was all he needed to breach the surface.
He coughed explosively and sucked in air. He blinked the water from his eyes and whirled around, trying to locate the boat just a few feet away. Ben was leaning over the side and shouting, but his waterlogged ears muffled the sound. Fear gave him a burst of adrenaline and he stroked quickly toward the craft, towing Tony.
He reached the boat, grasping the ladder at the back with one hand and pushing Tony's cuffed wrists up out of the water and toward Ben. He hadn't caught his breath well enough to speak yet and he hoped Ben understood.
Ben grasped one of Tony's wrists and pulled him partially out of the water. "I've got him, get onboard!"
Gibbs climbed the ladder and helped haul Tony into the boat. Ben pulled out his own handcuff key and released Tony's hands. "Get us back," Gibbs shouted. "He isn't breathing!" He leaned over Tony, pinched his nose and gave him two quick breaths before pressing nearly numb, shaking fingers against the icy skin of his neck, feeling for a pulse. There wasn't one.
Gibbs shot a desperate look at Ben and shook his head.
Ben muttered a curse and moved quickly back to the wheel. He gunned the engine, bringing them around in a wide circle and back toward the pier. He'd wedged the floodlight into a niche next to the controls and it pointed downward, illuminating the floor of the boat with harsh light.
Gibbs got his first good look at Tony as he ripped open Tony's jacket and shirt. He placed his hands over Tony's sternum and started chest compressions. Blood oozed from a gunshot wound in his side, and his skin was waxy and colorless except where blue tinged his lips.
Two breaths, then back to compressions. Fear made him angry. "You still do not get permission to die, Tony. You come back right now!"
Tony's head lolled. His eyes were open and staring fixedly, their usually vibrant green dull and glazed. His arms and legs shifted as Gibbs pumped his chest.
"We're almost there," Ben yelled over the roar of the motor. He could see red flashes on the valley road leading to the inn; the ambulance was approaching. He looked back to Gibbs as he performed CPR. He pressed his lips together grimly. It was beginning to look like they'd been too late to help Tony. Maybe the paramedics could do more.
"The ambulance is coming, Gibbs, I see the lights now."
Gibbs nodded briefly in acknowledgement and kept going. His shoulders were screaming in pain, and he was getting lightheaded from breathing for the both of them.
Two more breaths, then pumping the still chest again.
"This isn't the time to start disobeying my orders, Tony. You got that?"
Grief and loss began to well up, tightening his chest and throat.
Two more breaths; back to the unmoving chest.
Tony remained unresponsive; his glazed, dead eyes staring vacantly.
He's not dead! He can't be…
"Don't do this, Tony. Breathe, dammit…stay with me," he pleaded hoarsely as tears welled and ran from his eyes.
"Please…"