Page 78 of Beau
A shrill bark sounded from the boat.
Beau slipped an arm around her waist and turned her toward the airboat. “I found her under the skiff in the air pocket.”
Gerard held up Lady, so Aurelie could see the wiggling, squirming little dog.
Aurelie hurried toward her and climbed onto the boat, taking Lady from Gerard. She hugged the dog to her, laughing as she was covered in doggy kisses. “How did you find me?”
“The bass boat has a GPS tracking device on it,” Beau said.
Her eyes widened. “Ben’s tracking experiment?”
Beau nodded.
Aurelie’s eyes narrowed. “So, you can still track it?”
Beau glanced down at the app on his cell phone. The blue dot was still moving. “Yes.”
“We have to go after it,” she said. “We have to stop them.”
Remy took the helm, backed away from the island and turned in the direction the bass boat was heading. “Gerard, text Shelby and let her know what’s happening. She’s on standby with her people in the sheriff’s department. We can have them be there when that boat docks.”
“Only if you know where it’s going to dock,” Aurelia said.
“We’re tracking it now.” Beau held up Remy’s cell phone, displaying the blue dot and the blue path it had taken.
“They could veer off at the last minute and dock somewhere else. It takes a lot longer to change courses on land if you have to drive along a jagged shoreline.” She caught Beau’s hand. “They baited those alligators and left me to die. We can’t let them get away. Slash, Lansky and Marceaux are the ones who were ready to murder me. Marceaux is the one who orchestrated the attacks and forced my father to withdraw from the race so he could put his puppet, Jason Gousman, in place. Patrick Holzhauer was also there.”
“That would be an impressive haul to indict all of them for kidnapping and attempted murder,” Remy said, yet still hesitated.
“At the very least, follow them. If they get away, they’ll claim some bullshit alibi and say I made it all up. Who would believe a senatorial candidate and a bigshot CEO would be hanging out with the Cajun mafia?”
Remy met Beau’s gaze. “She’s right. We can’t let them walk away from this. Marceaux and his hitmen have called the shots for too long. This might be the chance to put them away for good.”
Beau nodded. “Just don’t get within range of that rifle. Follow. Don’t engage.”
Remy pushed the throttle all the way forward. The airboat leaped forward, racing through the bayou, weaving through the channels and gradually gaining on the slower bass boat.
Extreme speed wasn’t an option with all the twists and turns they had to make. The airboat had an advantage over the bass boat when it came to marshes. It could skim through the tall grasses without fouling propellers.
They emerged into just such a marsh. Starlight lit the marsh well enough that they could see the bass boat weaving through the open channels.
Suddenly, the bass boat leaped forward, speeding away.
“We’ve been spotted,” Remy called out over the fan's roar.
“Don’t lose them,” Aurelie yelled.
Remy kicked up the speed, racing through the marsh grasses, still gaining ground.
The bass boat aimed for the darker shadows of the bayou with the overhanging trees, probably thinking they’d have a better chance of disappearing into the low-hanging trees where the airboat would be too tall to enter.
Beau held onto his seat with one hand and Aurelie with the other as they bounced across the marsh field. Remy ran parallel with the bass boat, gaining ground until he passed the boat and cut them off from entering the trees.
The bass boat spun to the left and raced for a different entrance.
Before they reached it, another boat appeared out of nowhere and cut off the bass boat, barring it from entering the heavily wooded area of the bayou.
The bass boat spun in a circle and then headed straight for the airboat.