"Redemption's Run": Chapter 21 closes; chapter 22 begins

A Star Tribune serialized novel by Jane Fredericksen

Chapter 21

The story so far: The crew sees the scars of Kinney's violent past.

Hattie reached out her hand, but Kinney's shot out first and held hers like a vise. His eyes were wide and staring, but did not seem to focus.

"Don't touch me!" he screamed.

He lashed out blindly, striking her. Hattie staggered back and tried to recover. Kinney's next blow caught the medical bag, scattering its contents across the cabin.

Ronnie, Hattie and the doctor grabbed Kinney's flailing arms and tried to pin them down, but he was like a madman, thrashing wildly.

He stopped struggling. Turned glassy eyes toward her.

"Gina?"

She could try to explain, or she could play along. She took his hand.

"I'm here for you."

He gripped both her hands, painfully. She was astonished that he had so much strength left. He was trembling, insistent. His breath came in deep sobs.

"I promise."

He relaxed. As if the effort had drained him.

His gaze drifted from Kacie to the storm outside. His voice became Kinney's again, soft as a dying breeze at the edge of shore.

"And you have to let me go."

His eyes closed. His head slumped. His hand fell from hers.

No one seemed to notice her. All eyes were focused on Kinney.

Kacie continued to back away to the far bunk, staring at her hands. The hands he had held. And she remembered …

His hand, raised, ready to strike — but holding back.

His hand, guiding hers on the wheel.

His hand, pulling her from the stormy lake.

She closed her eyes, clasped her hands together, and prayed: to God, to the wind, to her mother, to anyone who would listen.

"I know you can take him," she whispered. "But please, for my sake, let him stay."

She opened her eyes, hoping for a miracle.

But Kinney's eyes remained closed.

Light everywhere. So bright, his eyes stung.

He remembered the taste: dry and medicinal.

Talk to me, he ordered, and the wind whispered gently from his port bow. It beeped, quietly and rhythmically. Suddenly, it spoke in a clear, distinct voice. "You can't run. You can't hide."

Deep breaths — but he could not. His chest felt constricted.

He heard a scream.

With growing dread, he opened his eyes fully.

Kinney's eyes flicked clockwise around the room. They took in everything. The open window, the wind billowing white curtains like spinnakers. The television set mounted in the upper left corner, tuned to some B-grade horror flick. The antiseptically clean walls that explained the pungent smell. A sketch of a pirate taped on the wall opposite him. A bubble from the pirate's mouth ordered, "Get Well!" Kacie, in a chair beside him, asleep. A table with a half-empty glass of water …

He stopped and moved his eyes back.

Kacie, in a chair beside him, asleep.