She looked at him calmly. “They’re standing there talking. I don’t see any weapons. The men from the SWAT team vehicle are waiting far behind the three men at the front.” She spoke in a low voice, hoping to take the edge off his tension. “I’ve seen things like this before. They’re going to talk to you for a while. They don’t want to look bad on the news because they shot someone without asking questions first.”

“They want me dead. They probably know what happened.” Troy’s voice rose an octave and his left hand balled into a fist.

“I don’t think so. They want to come out of this looking good. For them that means no dead bodies. What do you think about letting them arrest him?” She nodded at Derrick. “I told you I thought that was a good idea. That way you’re not to blame for anything that’s happened to him.”

Troy frantically shook his head. “That’s not how it’s supposed to go.” He ran a hand across his forehead and flicked away the water. “We know what needs to be done.”

“I think we should—”

“Stop talking!” he shouted at her. “I need to think!” He closed his eyes and tipped his head back but kept his gun pointed at Derrick’s.

Ava looked toward Mason. He was too far away for eye contact, but she slowly shook her head, hoping they would understand she meant Don’t fire, not This isn’t going well. She saw his hat dip in an abrupt nod.

Troy appeared to be thinking through his options. Now she needed to guide him to pick the right one. Thank goodness Mason had caught on that Troy believed she was Colleen. If Troy knew she was an FBI agent, she didn’t know what he’d do. She’d been lucky that Derrick was too scared to tell Troy who she really was.

“Troy,” she started. “Do you think you could untie my hands? I can’t feel—”

“I said, Don’t talk!”

She pressed her lips together and glanced at Derrick. He lay on the ground, a soaking mess of rain, tears, and gasoline. Would the rain be enough to keep his clothing from lighting? His petrified gaze met hers and his chest heaved with each breath. He’d been close to going over the edge, and he knew it. He also knew he wasn’t out of the woods.

“How about you let one of them go, Troy?” Mason shouted. “You don’t need both of them.”

Troy muttered under his breath and shook his head resolutely but didn’t answer. He glared at Derrick. “I’m never going to get him over the edge with these guys here. They’ll shoot me before it happens.”

“You’re probably right. Why don’t you let them arrest him?” Ava said calmly.

Derrick nodded, making a squealing noise behind the gag.

Troy smirked at Derrick. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? That’d be a nice easy end for you. You forget you’re supposed to suffer!” he snarled. Derrick turned his face to the concrete.

Ava eyed the distance between Derrick and Troy. Maybe twelve feet? Troy would be dropped by bullets in a split second if he rushed to heave Derrick over the edge. Should she encourage him to do it? She knew the SWAT team; there’d be two snipers with their sights on the cargo door.

Troy shoved his gun in his waistband, reached into the van, and grabbed a box smaller than his palm.

Matches.

She held her breath as he lit one, flicked it at Derrick, and laughed. The match fizzled on the ground two feet from his face. Derrick shook his head and tried to inch farther from Troy.

Will the rain keep him safe?

Fuel catches fire on top of rivers.

Troy flicked another match at Derrick. The man flinched and the flame extinguished on the concrete.

“Troy, stop it,” begged Ava.

“No one stopped him when he burned you, Colleen.”

What happened to that poor girl?

“But I’m okay now. Please let the police take him away.”

Troy shook his head and rubbed at his right eye with the back of his hand as he frowned. “It was all supposed to be better today. Once I get across this bridge, I’ll have peace. I need to finish this and things will return to normal.”

Across the bridge?

Ava glanced behind her at the end of the bridge on the island. What was he expecting? “Across this bridge, Troy? What’s over there?”

“Not a real bridge. The steps that make the bridge to forgiveness. I’ve completed three of your steps. I need to finish the fourth and fifth and it will be over.”

“Fifth step?”

He gave her a pitying look. “I know I’m part of your plan.”

Alarm shot through her. “The plan is over, Troy. I want it to end. It’s not going how I expected.” She paused. “How were you going to do the fifth step?”

He shrugged, glancing at the gun in his waistband.

He’s suicidal. He doesn’t care if the FBI shoots him. He’s only protecting himself at the moment because he wants to finish Derrick.

“Troy, I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“It’s okay, Colleen. I know you say that, but I see it in your eyes.” He smiled at her. “You’ve been good to me, but I always knew you wanted me dead. No one goes through what you did and offers forgiveness. They say I’ll be dead before the year’s out anyway.”

“Who says that?”

“The doctors. It’s too big. They can’t take it out, and I don’t want them to treat it.”