With one quick breath, Jake turned away from Brit and bounded to his feet. "That's Rudi! Something's wrong!"
Brit lay there for a second, cooled by Jake's sudden departure, unsure of what was happening. Except that Jake was gone; another magic moment was destroyed. She wanted to scream, "Jake, come back!" but something logical clicked into her passion-muddled brain and she realized that there was real trouble. And Rudi needed help of some kind. Jake was alert enough to realize it and was on his way down the rocks to the camp.
In half a minute, Brit was scrambling, down the rocks and toward the distraught sounds.
Jake felt a rush of adrenaline that was precipitated by his arousal, then fueled by Rudi's frantic calling. When he reached the camp, Rudi was standing on the perimeter, waving with his whole arms for Jake to join him down by the pool.
"What is it?" Jake demanded, even as he ran toward Rudi.
"It's Yolanda!” Rudi’s arms were whirling and his breath came in excited spurts. “She's washed away - in the high water!"
Jake paused only long enough in camp to grab the looped rope he carried on the digs. If things were as bad as he suspected, or imagined, this would be their best and only tool. And even then. . .
Chapter Five
Brit was horrified at how quickly the river had turned rampant. The current was much worse now than it was earlier. It was hard to recognize this as the same calm, safe spot she had bathed in yesterday before the storm.
Water, the giver of life, had changed into a violent villain. What once was a lazy stream, am-bling through canyons, had become a spirited racehorse, thundering ahead. What once was a wading pool had turned into a runaway wagon, crashing its way over the cliff, taking its passengers along for the wild ride.
At first, Brit couldn't see Yolanda in the expanse of choppy white-capped waves. She feared Rudi was right, that the wild river had swallowed Yolanda and washed her away!
But Jake pointed out the dark-haired woman clinging to a rock, just before the rushing water turned into raging rapids and proceeded downstream at breakneck speed. Apparently Yolanda had grabbed onto a half-submerged rock at the last minute and now, she desperately clung to it.
"There! There she is!" Jake yelled and started to run around the bank to get closer to her.
"All right! I see her!" Rudi yelled, following Jake and waving frantically. "Yeah, babe, hang on! We're coming to get you outta there!"
Brit chased the men to the shore closest to where Yolanda was stranded. They stood on the side, all of them calling frantically to her. "Hang on! Don't let go! You can do it!"
Jake fiddled with the rope for a minute and, aiming carefully, threw it toward her. The looped end fell short. He tried again and again, but each attempt missed her. "Damn! I . . . can't do it!"
Rudi's red hair stood on end and he bounced around as if attached to a rubber band, bounding, waving and calling to Yolanda, urging Jake to "Try again, try again, man!"
"It's no good. This isn't working," Jake muttered. He feared that Rudi would dive into the raging river any minute. And he knew he couldn't rescue them both. "Got to try something else."
Yolanda clung stubbornly while rough water splashed around her shoulders, tugging and pulling at her.
"She can't stay like that," Jake said tightly, knowing full well the tragic consequences if she let go. "We've got to get her off that rock. The danger is that she'll get tired and lose her grip. If she gets caught in that current, we won't be able to keep up with her." He gritted his teeth and didn't utter the other possibility, that of her being pulled under, as he retrieved the rope for an-other attempt. This time it brushed her shoulder, almost lassoing her, before falling into the water.
Brit watched helplessly as Yolanda remained glued to the rock, an expression of absolute fear on her face. And she felt empathy for the woman who possibly faced death with water raging around her.
Frustrated, Jake stood still for a moment and studied the situation. He could see that fear had paralyzed Yolanda. "She's afraid to move, Rudi. Afraid she'll lose her grip and fall. Afraid to do anything."
"But she'll lose it, anyway," Brit wailed, voicing what everyone knew. "It's only a matter of time. She can't hang on there forever."
"My God, what can we do to help her?" Rudi begged frantically, continuing his rubber band bouncing from Jake to Brit to the water’s edge, then back again. "Do something. Do anything, man!"
Jake tried to remain calm. "We have to think of something else."
"I've never seen her like this, Jake," Rudi said. "It's like she's frozen to that position."
"Then we have to hurry," Jake decided as he recoiled the rope. "Before she loses her grip."
"Oh God, no! We can't let that happen." Rudi's voice was thick with emotion.
Brit suspected that he was near tears, and near to losing all control, as well. Her heart went out to him. "How are we going to get her?" Brit asked Jake. "The water's too high and wild. It's impossible!"
"There's no other way. We're all the hope she has," Jake said with conviction. "We'll just do it, that's all."
For a moment no one said anything. Only the clamor of the river could be heard, the roar of nature's rage and power. Then, from the distance, Yolanda called in a weak voice, "Help me!"
That feeble sound was the impetus they needed. Brit could feel the electric energy spark between them. Emotion welled up to choke her. They had to do something quickly for Yolanda and crying wouldn't help at all. Brit forced her own swell of tears back down. They needed brawn right now, raw muscle to overcome the might of the river. But none of them had that kind of strength. They were only human against a vicious force of nature. She looked at Jake and saw something in his face that could combat anything: grit, determination, and resolution. He would not be defeated, and she believed it with all her heart.
"We have to work together on this, or it'll never happen," Jake said as he began unbuttoning his shirt. There was no one who could go except him. He knew it. Rudi was frantic, almost hysterical. Plus, Jake knew that he was probably in better shape than Rudi for such an effort. Be-sides he would need both Rudi and Brit here, on shore, to help.
Fortunately Brit seemed not as panicked as Rudi and might help calm him.
"I'll go after her." Jake had already decided and his tone left no room for argument. "You two will have to hold the rope and keep us from being washed away. I need to be able to depend on you. So does Yolanda."
"Yes, yes! We'll do it!" Brit confirmed.
Rudi blinked hard and nodded. "Yeah, man. Anything! I'll do anything for her. Hurry!"
"Good." Jake wasn't sure how Rudi would function in this crisis. Right now, he didn't look so hot. Bending down to drag off his hiking boots, he said, "My tennis shoes are in the tent."
"I’ll get them." Brit sprinted off before he even finished the sentence.
Good sign, Jake thought. At least Brit was alert and capable of following orders and reacting. He hoped Rudi wouldn't collapse under the stress. They needed his vigor to pull off this nearly impossible feat.
Rudi stood with his big arms dangling helplessly by his sides, his normally ruddy face pale. "Want me to go out there for her, Jake?"
"No, definitely not! I need you here. You'll have to provide the muscle to hold both of us. Can you do it?"
"Sure. Whatever you need, I'll do it."
"Good. I'll depend on that. Yolanda, too."
Jake stripped down to his shorts while Rudi bounced around again, yelling encouragement to Yolanda.
"Hang on, babe! We're going to get you! Jake's coming out there after you! He'll help you back safely. Don’t worry."
Jake glanced at Yolanda. She probably couldn't hear everything Rudi was saying, but his voice and actions would encourage her, showing her that they were doing something positive to rescue her.
Rudi's words sounded so simple. Jake's coming after you. But the rescue would not be simple. It was risky for both of them. Anything could happen to plunge them into the
swift current. But now wasn't the time for evaluation. They had to act. Get her, he repeated to himself. Get her out.
Brit moved as fast as she could, slipping in the mud but managing to stay upright as she raced back with the tennis shoes. She halted before an almost nude Jake, a man with a lean body framed with taut muscles and sleek tanned skin from the width of his chest to the length of his sinewy legs. "H-here," she stammered, shoving the shoes into his waiting hands.
"Thanks," He tugged them furiously onto his feet.
Brit tried not to notice the intense masculinity of the man, nor her own stomach-knotting reaction to the sight of him so scantily clad. Get a grip, she told herself firmly. We've got a job to do. And yet, this view of him convinced her that Jake indeed had the ability they needed to combat the dark, swirling waters; he was the only one who could rescue Yolanda. He just had to do it. Feeling a mixture of emotions, ranging from pride to fear, she turned away from the magnificent man, back to Yolanda, back to the subject of their rescue.
"Listen up!" Jake grabbed Rudi's and Brit's arms. "I can't do this without your assistance. Both of you will have to hold on with all of your might. Rudi, you will have to keep me upright. Wrap the rope behind your back so you can use your body as leverage. Brit, use this boulder to brace yourself and pour all your strength into the pull. Got it?"
Rudi nodded eagerly. "I will, man. Just get her, please."
Jake knotted the rope around his slender waist. "Okay, when I get out there, I'll be your responsibility. I intend to support her, assist her on the way back here, but there's no way I can completely carry her. She'll have to walk with me. Think she can do that?"
"I don't know, man. She's scared of water."
"Does she swim?"
"Nope. Not a lick."
Jake breathed out a curse. "Oh, great. Another strike against us. That's why she's totally panicked." He was already figuring how he might have to force her to move, if she wouldn't come voluntarily. And he wouldn't use gentle encouragement. It might be pretty rough, especially for Rudi to witness. Jake pressed his lips together. He would just do his best and hope it worked.
Brit stared anxiously at Yolanda who continued to cling to the rock. “She’s losing it, Jake. We’d better hurry.”
"Okay, let's do it," Jake said, plunging into the muddy swirls. "Rudi, keep that rope stretched taut, especially when I grab her. Brit, don't let up. Rudi needs you."
"Right." She wanted to hug Jake or give him some sign of her support, but he was already moving into the engorged river. There was no time for emotion. Only action.
As she watched him, Brit was struck by the notion that although Jake was anything but small, right now he appeared vulnerable and frail. A mere man versus a world gone berserk. The waters swirled up Jake's body, past his thighs, hips, and waist. When the water reached his chest, he stumbled. Rudi struggled with keeping the rope tight until Jake regained his footing and moved onward. At this point, he seemed to be swallowed by the nemesis, a part of the greater mass, lost in the depths of the universe.
Brit and Rudi watched anxious, breath-holding silence. Their hands laced side by side on the rope, alternating their strength, pooling their resources for one concentration. Their legs braced together to form one strong base. Mentally and emotionally, they took every toiling step with Jake.
Just before he reached Yolanda, a deep current grabbed him and whirled him around. Brit gasped and loosened her grip.
"Hold it! Don't let go! Steady, man, steady." Rudi kept up his encouragement to Yolanda. All the while, he created a buttress with his legs set far apart to keep the rope tight. As Jake lunged and stumbled, Rudi maintained the line that kept him on track toward Yolanda.
"Keep going," Brit murmured and renewed her grip. She released her breath only when Jake started moving forward again.
Finally, he stood before Yolanda, wavering a little in the push of the current. Neither of them moved for a long minute, and Brit wanted to scream with the tension. Yolanda's attention was glued to Jake. He was probably talking to her, instructing, persuading. She shook her head.
"Come on, babe," Rudi muttered to his wife. "Come on."
Yolanda shook her head again.
"Go with him, babe. Go." Rudi's voice rose and he bellowed, "Go, dammit!"
"What are they doing?" Brit asked. "Why won't she go?"
"Too scared. Too scared to budge."
"But Jake needs for her to walk. What'll he do? How'll he get her?"
"Go on . . . you can do it, babe . . ." Rudi seemed mesmerized. He spoke as if in a trance, a direct communication with Yolanda, commanding her, pleading with her at some other level, for she certainly could not hear him.
Abruptly Jake raised his fist in a signal to them. This was it. No more waiting.
"Hold on!" Brit commanded, knowing instinctively that he was going to force Yolanda. Rudi tensed as Jake grabbed Yolanda, pulling her into the water with him.
She struggled frantically and fought him. Arms and legs flailed above the high water line. Yolanda bobbed underwater, then popped up again. The two of them teetered, Yolanda clambering onto Jake's body, trying, it seemed, to climb onto his shoulders.
They grappled. Jake grabbed her roughly and, pinning her arms to her sides, forced her back against his chest, keeping her from clutching at him. She had little choice but to walk—stumbling and struggling—through the water with him toward shore. Jake leaned against the rope, depending almost entirely on the muscle power of Rudi and Brit to pull him across the deadly currents to the sandy bank.
It took them only a few minutes to reach safety. It seemed to Brit like hours. When they were close enough, Yolanda's verbal barrage directed at Jake could be heard. She was furious with him, and left no doubt about her feelings or her future actions toward him. Finally they stumbled ashore and fell, exhausted, onto the pebbles and sand.
Rudi grabbed Yolanda, hugging and cuddling her. "Oh, babe, my sweet girl, thank God you're safe!"
Gasping for breath, Jake looked at the two in dismay. "Sweet? Ha!"
Brit knelt beside Jake, tears streaming down her face. When he turned his weary eyes toward her, she laughed, unable to stop. "You did it!" She felt overjoyed and relieved and weak and exultant all at once. She wanted to hug him but tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder instead. "Terrific . . . great rescue . . ."
He shivered at her touch and tugged at the wet knotted rope at his waist. "We did it together. All of us."
Feeling a little rebuffed, she bent her head and helped him untie the knot at his waist. Her shaky fingers brushed his wet muscled waist. "You're cold. You need ... to get warm."
"Yeah." His devilish dark eyes met hers. "Only one sure way to prevent hypothermia. Body heat to body heat."
"I'm sure a blanket will, do nicely." Brit quickly reached for his clothes. How could he think of anything else at a time like this? "Here's your shirt."
Jake nodded at Yolanda. "She's going to need some warmth quickly, or she'll go into shock.
She can wear some of my clothes. You get the blankets, and I’ll gather some wood to start a fire." He skinned off the wet tennis shoes and slid his legs into the dry jeans.
"You scum!" Yolanda yelled when he stood to zip his jeans. "You hurt me out there! You forced me against my will and hurt my arms. I’ll bet I have bruises all over from your manhandling! When we get out of here, I'll sue—"
"Nothing like a little heartfelt gratitude," Jake murmured to Brit.
"Yolanda!" Rudi yelled. He grabbed her shoulders roughly and shook them. "Yolanda, shut up! Jake saved your life, And he risked his own to do it. If you're going to sue anyone, sue us all, including me! Because I was a part of this life-saving effort, too."
Brit was amazed at Yolanda's outburst, but even more astonished at Rudi's uncharacteristic assertiveness with her. His defense of their rescue, including Jake's necessary roughness, impressed her.
Yolanda glared at Rudi, shocked into silence by his reaction to her complaints.<
br />
"It's true, babe," he said in a quieter tone. "I love you so much, I was scared silly. And I'll admit, I wasn't worth much. Brit helped keep me in there. But Jake's the one who saved you. So leave him alone. You aren't going to sue anybody here."
Sudden tears filled Yolanda's eyes and, in an emotional switch, she began to cry. She also started to shake all over.
Jake nudged Brit. "That's it. She's going into shock. We've got to get her warm—quick. Come on. Let's get busy."
They all worked steadily for the next hour with one goal: to keep Yolanda from going into shock. They dressed her in Jake's insulated underwear and a heavy flannel shirt, wrapped her in a blanket, and gave her hot chocolate and warm soup. Jake started a small fire, and the four of them huddled around it, sipping hot chocolate and eventually rehashing the events of the afternoon.
"Man, we were so lucky today," Rudi said, kissing Yolanda's hand repeatedly. "I'm sorry about the way she acted. She didn't mean what she said out there, Jake. She just didn’t under-stand."
"Thank you, Mr. Rudi Romero," Yolanda interrupted, giving him a commanding glare. "But I can speak for myself. Never had any problem with the mouth." She turned a timid smile toward Jake. "Rudi has helped me to realize that I put everyone at risk today, especially you, Jake. And I know now why you had to rough me up today. In spite of the inevitable bruises, I do fully appreciate what you, and everyone, did. And I'm sorry I cussed you out."
As usual, she had everyone laughing.
Jake put another piece of wood on the fire.
"Aw, shucks, Yolanda." He continued her banter with an effective drawl. "I had to do something. You might still be perched out there on that rock if I hadn't dragged you off."
"No," she answered seriously. "I wouldn't still be there, and you know it. I couldn't have held on much longer. We all know what could have happened today. That was pretty close. In fact, that's two close ones in less than a week."
"I'd say you're damned lucky, Yolanda," Brit said. "Jake didn't mean to bruise you, but you fought him pretty hard. I know a lot of women who would fight like that to get into his arms!"
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