Risk Everything

by Janie Crouch

  Tanner tapped her on her nose. “Nope. They just hunker down, breathe in and out, and survive. That’s it.”

  “Boring,” Sam muttered again.

  “I have no idea how Tanner knows all this stuff,” Bree murmured to Marilyn. “I’m not sure if it’s the nerdiest thing I’ve ever seen or the sexiest.”

  She glanced over at Marilyn, but she was just staring out blankly ahead of her.

  “You okay?” Bree asked.

  “I’m a marmot,” Marilyn finally said. “Spending half my life living in a hole, just trying to survive. That’s basically what I’ve done.”

  She said it so softly there was no way anyone else could’ve possibly heard her.

  But when Noah spoke again, he was looking directly at her. “I don’t think marmots are boring at all. I think they’re pretty amazing. They don’t really have any true defense mechanisms like other animals do, and it’s just sheer strength of will that keeps them alive during the winter. They survive because they are determined to. That’s something to be respected.”

  Marilyn finally looked away from Noah.

  “All right,” Tanner said. “Let’s get going. We’ve got about another mile until we get to the rafts.”

  Everyone picked up their pace. The rafting was the highlight of the trip for Sam. He liked the tents and the wilderness and whatever crazy stuff Noah had told him about escaping bears, but rafting was truly exciting.

  “We’ll only be on the water a couple hours,” Tanner said. “And there aren’t any real rapids until much farther down the river.”

  Sam let out a disappointed groan. Tanner chuckled and ruffled his hair. “How about you get some rafting experience under your belt today and we’ll start building up from there. Everybody has to learn in the safe water.”

  “I’ll bet you and Noah didn’t have to learn in baby water like this,” Sam said when they reached the area where the rafts were stored.

  “Not only did we learn in water just like this, we learned in this exact water,” Noah said. “Lips wasn’t much more than your age, and I was just a couple years older when our dad brought us here for the first time. So don’t be talking junk about this water.”

  Sam’s eyes grew big. “Really? You first went rafting here?”

  “Yep,” Tanner said. “And a year later I was already doing class III rapids. So let’s get to work.”

  Sam was a lot more focused after finding out this was where his two idols got their start.

  Like they’d done everything else, Tanner and Noah carefully explained the logistics of rafting. Noah readily admitted that Tanner was the better raftsman, although Bree was sure he could do it just fine.

  Tanner pulled the map out of his backpack and showed everyone exactly where they’d be going.

  “At this second fork, we’ll take the left. Farther downriver is where the rapids get a little more exciting than what we’re looking for today.” He winked at Sam. “But maybe soon. If it’s okay, Bree Cheese and I and the two rug rats will go down with the majority of the supplies. Noah will have the honor of escorting the rest of the lovely ladies.”

  Bree was going to offer to trade with Marilyn so she could be with her kids. But when she heard the other woman mutter “no marmot,” she held her tongue. Marilyn was trying to face her fears by allowing the kids to be away from her. Bree wanted to help.

  And when Noah gave Marilyn a reassuring nod and a small smile, Bree was even more convinced this was the right thing.

  Soon they were on their way. The first hour on the river Bree just sat back and enjoyed herself. The water was moving at a fast enough pace to keep everybody interested and it felt like nothing could go wrong out here. The kids kept demanding Noah and Tanner race, and they took turns paddling hard to get in front of each other. About thirty minutes later they came up on the second fork and Tanner let Noah pull ahead.

  “Aw, man,” Sam said. “They’re beating us!”

  Tanner just smiled. “Noah’s got to get ahead so he can help us dock and get the supplies out. And come on, you and I both know we could take them.”

  “Yeah, we could!”

  Tanner slowed them down further with his oar as Noah took the fork. Bree could see why he wanted to have Noah already stopped and ready to help them. The speed of the water had definitely picked up.

  She was just about to ask him about it when an odd screeching noise came from the front of the raft. She looked back at Tanner, who was steering them with the paddle. “Do you hear that?”

  When the sound got louder a moment later, everyone could hear it.

  Tanner’s muttered curse was cut off when the raft jerked suddenly, the front end collapsing, throwing them all forward.

  Both kids screamed as they were thrown forcefully into the water. Bree grabbed for Eva, but the rapids pulled her away, then pulled Bree under.

  Chapter Eleven

  Tanner didn’t even waste time trying to figure out what the hell had caused a large enough puncture in the PVC material of the raft to cause it to collapse so suddenly. They weren’t near any severely jagged rocks, and even if they were, the raft material should’ve been able to handle it.

  Instead he pushed off the remainder of the raft that was still above water and dived forward into the water.

  The cold of it stunned him for second. It might have been May, but the water flowing down from the Rockies was still damn cold. And Bree and the kids were in it with not nearly the muscle mass he had to fight the cold.

  All of them were wearing life jackets, but someone could still drown in one if they fought it or got pulled under the wrong way.

  Out of the corner of his eye the fork where they needed to have turned floated by. There was no way they could make it over in this current, and now there was no way Noah would be able to get here to help them out. It was all up to him now.

  Bree’s voice reached him over the roar of the water. “Tanner... I... Sam... Find Eva!”

  Praying that meant Bree had Sam, Tanner propelled himself as high up in the water as he could in his sopping clothes and boots to try to see. Two bright life jackets were closer to the shore. The other one, smaller—it had to be Eva—was still flailing in the middle of the rushing water. Tanner began to swim toward her with every bit of strength he had. If Eva got washed too far down the river, she’d be in the serious rapids.

  He pushed himself hard, shoving away the fear that even though Bree and Sam were closer to the shore, they could still be in danger. Bree had become quite the outdoors woman, but this could be more than she could handle.

  Saying a silent prayer on his bride-to-be’s behalf, he swam the last dozen yards between him and Eva.

  “Eva, I’m coming, sweetheart!”

  “L-Lips? I’m cold.”

  Her scared voice tugged at his heart, but she was alive. That was the most important thing.

  “I’m coming up behind you and then we’re gonna swim together to the shore.”

  “I’m not a good swimmer.”

  “You’re doing just fine. Doing perfect, considering none of us had planned to be swimming down this river today, did we?” He closed the last yard, his fingertips grabbing the back of her life vest. “Got you.”

  “I—I didn’t know what to do. I’m cold.”

  He pulled her up against his chest, wrapping his arm under her armpits, and began swimming toward the shore. “You did perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

  “Where’s Sam?”

  “He’s with Bree. They are probably already on the shore. Let’s go find them.” Tanner prayed that was true.

  Eva really was a little trouper. She didn’t panic, didn’t cry, just used her little legs as best she could to help propel them toward the shore. He’d known grown-ass adults who hadn’t kept as much composure as this five-year-old girl did in the face of danger.

  T
hey made it to shore a few exhausting minutes later. Tanner made sure Eva was all the way out and safe before standing to see if he needed to go back into the water for Bree and Sam. His heart began thumping harder in his chest when he didn’t see any sign of either life vest on the shore or in the water.

  “Bree!” His voice came out much weaker than he wanted it to.

  He wasn’t even sure what direction he should look. He hadn’t seen either of them after catching them out of the corner of his eye when he first went after Eva. Maybe they hadn’t made it to the shoreline. Maybe they had gotten sucked back into the water and were rushing downstream.

  “Bree!” he called again. When he didn’t get an answer, he ran toward a boulder that would give him a better vantage point of the riverbank and the water itself. He scrambled up the rock, cursing as he fell, movements uncoordinated from the cold, scraping his hands. He ignored it. There would be time for first aid later.

  From this higher vantage point he spotted Bree and Sam immediately. A relieved breath shuddered out of his chest when he saw they were alive and conscious. They were both hovering over one of the side whirlpools the rapids made, reaching for something.

  Tanner scrambled back down the rock to get Eva, and they made their way over to Bree and Sam, Tanner carrying Eva’s shivering body most of the way.

  “Oh, thank God,” Bree said when she saw them. She then tried to stand, clutching the emergency bag that they’d obviously fished out of the whirlpool to her chest.

  “This bag has rope,” she said between chattering teeth.

  “Smart,” he said, pulling her to his chest and letting Eva slide to the ground. If Bree had needed to get him out of the water, that rope would’ve been the best way to do it. Possibly the only way to do it.

  “That bag has emergency supplies—Mylar blankets and waterproof matches. If we could only save one backpack, that’s the one we want.” He turned to the kids. “We’re going to build a fire and we’re going to get warm. I know this sounds weird, but I need everybody to strip down to just your T-shirts and undies.”

  He knew they were cold when nobody gave him any complaints. Tanner and Sam began gathering firewood while Bree helped the shivering Eva off with her wet clothes.

  “I can get this, buddy, if you want to go get your wet clothes off. I know you’re cold.”

  “I’ll—I’ll help,” Sam said through chattering teeth. “The sooner we get wood, the sooner we’ll have a fire.”

  They began picking up twigs and branches. At least it hadn’t rained, so nothing was wet.

  Tanner nodded at the boy. “That’s exactly what my father said to Noah and me when we fell into this river when we weren’t much older than you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. And I know your mom would be so proud of how brave and strong you’re being. Noah too. Don’t tell him I told you, but when he fell in the river, he cried like a little baby.”

  Arms full of wood, they headed back toward Bree and Eva.

  “Noah really cried?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah, of course, and I was crying too. It was damn cold.” That got a small laugh from Sam.

  Bree was holding a sleeping Eva on her lap wrapped in a blanket when they got to them.

  Tanner began building a fire. Normally he would have taken this opportunity to teach Sam about it, but Sam probably wasn’t up to learning much right now, and getting the fire going quickly was of the essence.

  “She okay?” he asked Bree.

  Bree rocked the girl back and forth in her arms. “Once I got her warm and fed her a protein bar, she was out like a light.”

  “Did you get something to eat too?”

  “Yes. There isn’t a lot in that bag, but I’m thankful for a little bit of food.”

  Tanner got the blaze going, then reached down and pulled off his wet jeans, glad he had boxers on. He held out the other thermal blanket to Sam, who took it, then removed his own wet clothing.

  “I feel like I could sleep for a week. Getting tossed around like that takes it out of you.”

  “What happened?” Bree asked. “Did we run into a rock or something?”

  Tanner looked over at Sam. The kid’s eyes were already drifting shut. He grabbed a protein bar from the bag, unwrapped it and put a bite in the boy’s mouth. He chewed without protest. Tanner took a bite himself, then put the rest of it in Sam’s mouth.

  “It shouldn’t have mattered if we’d run into a rock. Rafts like that are meant to hit rocks regularly.”

  Feeling much better without his wet clothes on, Tanner grew the fire until it was a large blaze. Sam was already falling asleep on the ground next to him.

  “The bag you saved wasn’t the one with the emergency sat phone, was it?”

  Bree shook her head. “No, it wasn’t your backpack. It was the emergency kit Barb was carrying. Blankets, some food, a water bladder and a flare gun.”

  “Flare gun. That’s good.”

  “Do we need it?” she asked.

  “Only to signal to the others that we made it and we’re okay. I’m sure Marilyn is beside herself right now.”

  Bree pulled Eva more closely into her arms. “I would be too if I saw my kids go headfirst into a river and there was nothing I could do about it.”

  He got up and walked over to the wet backpack. Pulling out the flare gun, he also grabbed two of the four flares in the package.

  “Two flares will let Noah know we don’t need any assistance. Otherwise he’ll be trying to sprint his way to us. Getting to the nearest bridge would take him hours, even at full speed. We don’t want him doing that—the risk of injury is too high in the dark if we don’t need help.”

  He kissed Bree on top of the head as he walked by to get far enough away not to wake the kids as he shot. He pulled out the flare gun, loaded and shot it, then repeated the process. He knew Noah would understand the message and just hoped he’d be able to keep Marilyn calm.

  He added more firewood to the fire, then resumed his seat next to Sam.

  “So what’s the plan?” Bree asked, attempting to smother a huge yawn. “We’ve got, what, an hour or two before sunset?”

  “Plan really doesn’t change too much from the original camping plan, except to cut it short.” Tanner looked up at the trees that were starting to sway more. “Honestly, we probably would’ve needed to cut the trip short anyway. The wind is picking up, which is going to blow in the storm that was coming this way a little faster.”

  She made a face. “Are we going to get rained on? I’m just getting dry.”

  “No, not tonight. Maybe late tomorrow night. But we’ll be able to make it back to the vehicles by then. We’ll meet Marilyn, Noah and the others at the first bridge where they can cross. Noah will know to rendezvous with us there. Besides that, we’ll still have fun, learn as much about nature and the wilderness as possible and the kids will have a hell of a story to tell as they grow up about the time they almost drowned in the Colorado River.”

  She smiled. “I like that plan.”

  “We’ve got plenty of water and a way to carry it, some edible plants around and the basic supplies to fish tonight and tomorrow. We’ll have to cut the trip short, but all in all, nothing too bad.”

  Bree shifted, scooting over so she could lean more of her weight back against a large rock behind her. She moved the sleeping Eva over so she was on the ground, but still next to her.

  “Have you ever had anything like this happen before? I know you rafted in this area your whole life. What would’ve happened if something like that occurred once we’d hit the bigger rapids?”

  He stretched his legs out in front of him, finally feeling, if not quite warm, at least not freezing. “No, I’ve never had anything like this happen to me, or even heard anything like it. And these rafts were inspected before they were brought here. A puncture would’ve been
noticed.”

  “It definitely wasn’t a slow leak. We jerked like we hit something.”

  “That shouldn’t have made a difference either. These rafts are qualified for up to class V rapids. If they burst every time you hit a rock, there’d be people floating down the river all over the place.”

  And that was the problem, wasn’t it? The raft had burst. Even if there had been some odd puncture, it should have been a slow leak, not that sort of explosion.

  “I wish I could get my hands on the raft,” he continued. “It had to have been some sort of manufacturer malfunction. It was dangerous enough as is, but like you said, on bigger rapids it could have been deadly.”

  “Could someone have tampered with the raft?”

  Tanner thought about that for a minute. About the danger Noah had been sensing. But it just didn’t make sense. “The short answer is yes.”

  Bree sighed, shifting her weight. “But the longer answer is that it wouldn’t really make sense to tamper with the raft.”

  “Exactly. Too many unknown variables. We didn’t decide who was going to be in each raft until just a couple minutes before we got in them. Plus, we were never in very dangerous waters. If we had been in the other raft, and Noah, Marilyn, Barb and Francis had been in ours, they would’ve just immediately swum to shore. Nothing but a big headache.”

  Bree wrapped her arms around her knees. “I guess I’m just jumpy after the fire and all the Jared stuff.”

  Yeah, Tanner didn’t like that he now did not have any sort of communication with Risk Peak. Ronnie couldn’t send him an update if something happened with Jared. And his Glock was now sitting at the bottom of the Colorado River. It was time to get home.

  Tanner got up and moved over until he was sitting next to her, on the opposite side of the sleeping Eva, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, that’s for sure. And in camping my dad always said you could count on some sort of calamity, but I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting this.”

  “Well, hopefully we’ve gotten our share of bad luck all used up. None left for the wedding.”