Page 74 of Landry

Billy Ray yanked the board out of the floor and shoved it aside.

The roar of the airboat fan penetrated the crackling of the fire as Dion and the rest of Tony’s men left the hut, condemning the people inside to a fiery finish.

Not on Camille’s watch. Summoning all her strength, she sat up like nothing was wrong. “Go. I’ll be right behind you,” she said, knowing it was a lie. She couldn’t fit through the gap and didn’t have the energy left to try.

“I’m not going without you,” he said.

“You have to.” She reached around and found the empty fabric shell of Fuzzy Bear. “You have to take this to Ava. Gisele will fix it and make it better.”

“But nothing will make it better if you don’t make it home,” he said. He got behind her and pushed her toward the hole in the floor.

“Please, Billy Ray,” she said, the light fading at the edge of her vision. The smoke was getting lower. Flames burned through places in the wall, climbing to the roof.

Billy Ray had to go, or he’d die.

“Please go,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll be right...”

Her world went black.

Chapter 15

As they neared the marsh where Landry and Camille had hidden among the reeds before, Landry spotted an orange glow barely visible through the trees.

When they were within five minutes of their destination, J.D. turned off the red and green lights on the sides and the white light on the stern. They didn’t need them to navigate the bayou with the stars shining brightly overhead. The downside to being able to see without lights was that others could see them.

Another airboat blasted around a bend in the channel ahead and raced straight at theirs.

“We’ve got company,” Landry said into his headset.

“Get around them and keep going,” Remy responded in his ear. “We’ll take care of them.”

“What if they have Camille and the boy?” Landry said.

“What if they don’t? The fire has me worried.”

“Me, too.”

“Then go. We’ve got this.”

Landry and his boat team didn’t have much choice. With the other craft barreling straight at them, they were forced to engage.

At the last minute, both boats skidded sideways. The men on the other boat opened fire at the same time as Landry, Simon, Valentin and Simon. Even J.D. had a weapon and fired at the other boat.

All too soon, they were past and zooming on toward the fire that Landry was now certain was coming from the Later Gator Fishing Hut. As old as the weathered wood was, it wouldn’t take long to burn into nothing.

Marceau maneuvered the airboat as quickly as he could, slowing only to go around tiny islands dense with trees and underbrush. As they moved closer to the final bend with the low-hanging tree branch, flames lit the night, climbing high above the treetops.

She was there. Landry knew in his heart Camille was there. Please, God, don’t let her be inside that hut.

Marceau rounded the bend past the tree branch and brought the airboat to a gliding stop, bumping into the dock that was just beginning to catch fire.

Landry leaped from the boat onto the dock and ran for the hut, completely engulfed in flames.

“Landry don’t!” a voice called out behind him as someone jumped onto the dock, shaking the structure with the impact.

Before Landry could reach the burning door, arms wrapped around him, bringing him to a halt.

“You can’t go in there, the roof is about to fall in,” Simon said into his ear.

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