Swept Away: A Squeaky Clean Honeymoon Novella (Squeaky Clean Mysteries Book 12) by Christy Barritt

doing this?” Riley nudged me behind him just as a big, fat drop of rain landed on my arm.
    Thunder rumbled overhead as if God himself was warning us of bad things to come.
    “We don’t have time to talk. I need you to get in the boat. It’s in the boathouse. No one will see us. We can finish this there.”
    “But—” I started.
    He raised his gun higher. “No buts. We don’t have time for this. You need to move.”
    “What are you going to do with us?” I asked as we walked toward the bay, our hands raised in the air.
    “That remains to be seen.” He wiped his forehead again. “I’m hoping it looks like you two were swept out to sea.”
    He was nervous. Like, really, really nervous. But why?
    “There’s a storm coming,” Riley said. “You don’t want to be out on the water.”
    “That’s why I’m not going to be. You both will be, though. Now move.” I felt something jam into my back. The gun.
    We had no choice but to continue walking. As we did, I glanced over at the house next door. No one could see us. The house was angled in just the right way to conceal us.
    What were we going to do?
    “Please, Wally. Can’t we just work this through?” I said, afraid if we got in that boat that we’d never be seen again.
    He didn’t say anything for a moment and then shook his head frantically. “It’s too late.”
    “It’s never too late,” Riley said.
    “Look,” he paused, his chest heaving. Not from exertion. We weren’t walking that fast. So why was he so anxious? “I don’t have a choice in this.”
    “What are you talking about?” I asked. His words caused me to pause. What did that mean?
    “You’re what’s called collateral damage. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t. But I’ve been ordered to get rid of you two. You’re too much of a risk.”
    “Who ordered you to get rid of us?” I asked.
    He glanced around. “It’s a long story. Now into the boathouse. We don’t have any time to waste.”
    As soon as we stepped into the boathouse, I knew I had my chance. I swung my leg, and it connected with Wally’s gun. Wally was many things, but he wasn’t a fighter. At least, that was what I was counting on.
    The gun flew in the air and slid across the pier before finally plopping into the water below. Thank goodness. But this battle wasn’t over yet.
    Riley charged toward Wally, tackling him. They both flew into the wall. The whole building shook with the impact.
    I held my breath as I watched, wanting to step in. But as arms and fists flew, I had no way of inserting myself. Not yet, at least.
    Wally smashed his elbow back, hitting Riley in the stomach. Riley only hunched in pain for a moment before getting a second wind. He grabbed Wally, twisted him around, and put him in a headlock.
    “Please. Stop. Please.” Wally struggled for breath and clawed at Riley’s arms. “They have my wife.”
    Riley’s grip loosened. “What are you talking about? You have five seconds to explain.”
    “Please! Those men grabbed my wife. They said if I told anyone, that she’d die. I had to go along with their plan or they’d kill her. I don’t mean you any harm. I promise I don’t.”
    His words washed over me until my pulse pounded in my ears. “It’s Joey’s ex-boyfriend, isn’t it? He’s behind all of this.”
    Wally’s eyes widened. “How’d you know?”
    “It’s all starting to come together.”
    “Skip cornered me on my front lawn before we left for Florida and told me to hire Elite, probably to throw the authorities off his trail. He came to me last week when he discovered Joey was on the show. I guess as soon as her name popped up on the show’s website, he panicked. He had some kind of alert system in place in case her name ever came up online.”
    “You overheard Joey and Vivian were going to meet?” I asked.
    He nodded. “I did.”
    “What about that ransom video?”
    “I planted it on their computer when I knew the guys from Elite were out.”
    “So Elite was a