Stryker was surprised they hadn’t flooded during the evening. The water now covered many more acres than it had the day before. As the water level rose, it spread out over the higher terrain and grew much wider. He could see no other reason for the building floor to have remained dry.
The dark sky persisted, the rain continued to lash the land, and he sighed and walked about the lunch room, poured himself the last of the coffee from the drip machine, and sat on the table, drying his feet on a chair after removing his boots. His short jaunt outside to look around was probably ill advised.
“Get me coffee.” Erin walked into the lunch room. Stryker filled the pot, poured the grounds into the filter, and hit the on button.
“Be a minute,” he said.
“How long you been up?”
“Forever.”
“I heard you leave the Humvee hours ago.”
“I can’t sleep in something that small,” he replied.
“You probably would have trouble sleeping in a king size bed by yourself.”
“Not really, it’s just my feet hang out under the covers and get cold. Aside from that it’s fine.”
They both sat drinking coffee, until Stryker heard a faint yell in the distance.
“Did you hear that?” he asked.
“Hear what?”
“I thought I heard someone yelling.”
“Nope, all I hear is rain hitting the roof.”
Stryker got up, moved back to the front door of the warehouse, and looked out. “Get me the binoculars.”
Erin left the room, returned shortly, and handed them to Stryker. He peered out the door and spotted a small person standing on high ground off toward the highway.
“You see that?” He handed the binoculars to Erin, who gazed through them and nodded her head. “That person was not there yesterday.”
Stryker took them back and again glassed the area. He saw a partially submerged vehicle around two hundred meters from where the person stood stranded, and he looked back at Erin.
“I have to go help that person,” he said. “At the rate the water is rising, they’ll be swept away in an hour.”
“You don’t have to do anything.”
“Duty, honor, and commitment,” he murmured. Stryker went to the pickup, plucked a long strand of paracord from it, and returned to the front door.
“Just let it be. The rain will stop and whoever that is will be fine.”
“No, the rain won’t stop and they won’t be fine. In another hour or so the current that runs on either side of that high spot will top the hill and if that happens, he or she is dead.”
Stryker took off all his clothes, save his shorts, wrapped the paracord around his waist, made it fast with a hitch knot, and handed the other end to Erin.
“Haul me back with this.”
“You weigh 250 pounds. All three of us couldn’t haul you back against that current.”
“Good point.” He went and tied the other end around the trailer hitch of the pickup.
“And that is?” Erin asked.
“That’s how you get me back. Just drag me out. Keep the pickup going until the engine dies, then I’ll haul myself back. If you can get me out of the main current, I’ll be fine.”
“Why is the engine going to die?”
“The water. You’re going to be driving through it to get me back.”
“Of course.”
He kissed her lips lightly.
“You got to love a rescue.” He waded through the puddles until his head disappeared and he emerged doing a sturdy Australian crawl. His long arms churned the water and he looked almost like a thrown dart. Then he got into the stronger current and began drifting toward the east.
Stryker turned straight north and fought his way past where the victim stood stranded on the hilltop. It was hard going and he was getting winded by the time he was far enough north of the hilltop to drift back toward the person. His arms and legs began to feel leaden and weak.
He was considering forgetting the whole thing when he sensed the burn in his arms and legs grow critical and felt himself dragged into the current.
Stryker reminded himself of who he was, he thought of Sarge and their shared creed, and new strength flowed into his limbs, but his teeth chattered as he continued across the flood, and he began to wonder if he could actually make it.
He felt water entering his mouth every time he came up for air when he alternated strokes, and choked several times, until he started his breathing toward the downstream side and things got better.
He again felt his strength waning and began shivering uncontrollably.
“Duty, honor, and commitment,” he muttered to himself as he took a breath, and felt a new resolve.
Then, he ran out of paracord, and had to untie himself from the lifeline back to the building. He tied the cord to the top of a sapling that was nearby, and set out again. “That sucks.” He swam until he finally regained his footing. Trudging through the water, he now recognized the person as a young woman. He guessed she was in her early twenties, barefoot, dressed in shorts and a white t-shirt. She was obviously not wearing a bra.
He puked up what seemed to be a gallon of water, and then stood, with his hands on his knees, stooped over, and to regain his breath.
“Are you the rescue committee?” She looked like a pissed off cat standing in an unwanted rain. She was a slender woman with jet black hair and startlingly blue eyes. Her hair lay flat against her head, and her nose was long and thin. She was probably an attractive woman with makeup and a hairdo, but at that moment, she looked plain and angry. She was also very short, and Stryker examined her closely, trying to decide if she would be able to make it back.
“Why are you staring at me?”
“I’m trying to decide if I should leave you here or not.”
“Well, you came all the way out here to get me, so I have to think you would rather take me back.”
“Well, I guess so,” Stryker replied. “But I lost my tether getting over here, so getting back could be dicey. I don’t suppose you are an Olympic swimmer or anything?”
“No.”
“Well, now it really sucks being me.”
“Welcome to my world.”
“Name’s Stryker.”
“Emily.” She looked away as though tired of formalities with a man she just met. She didn’t offer her hand.
“Can you tell me why I never seem to rescue men?” Stryker asked.
“Huh?”
“Never mind. I just get a little tired of traveling with women.” They both looked at the water swirling by them. She chose to ignore his question.
“We’re going to have to swim against the current to get down to where you guys are,” she said. “I saw you hit the water and swim against the current past me and drift back to come here.”
“Yes, we are.”
Stryker saw the end of the paracord downstream, still tied to the tree.
“We could drift down and try to catch the rope down there and let them pull us in,” Stryker said.
“You think that will work?”
“No idea, but I can’t drag you across the water and I’m not sure you can make it on your own.”
“I have a good chance of making it across. I’m not the best swimmer in the world, but I’m not really lousy either.”
“Forgive me if I don’t believe that. I need to know that you can make it across or I need to just go downstream, get my tether, and go back to where I came from.” Stryker was going to take her, regardless, but was looking for a way to put a little resolve in her. It was going to be a brutal trip back.
“I can make it,” she stated flatly.
“Well, okay, let’s wade into the water and start north,” Stryker replied. “If you can’t make it, I can try to haul you back.”
“You won’t need to haul me, I carry my own weight.”
“Okay, glad to hear it. Let’s get out of here. But stay close to me just in case.”
&n
bsp; “Okay.”
“Were going to start at an angle between due north and the spot where I left the tether. When we get directly above it, we turn and let the current take us there. Then we signal my friends to haul us out.”
“Got it.” She took a deep breath and studied the water that raged past them. A look of doubt crept into her expression, and then she steeled herself and started into the water.
She stopped, seemed to consider the situation, then removed her shirt and shorts, and swam into the raging torrent in only her panties.
“Christ, Erin is going to have a cow,” Stryker muttered under his breath, and then he waded in behind her.
They walked until the water was too high, and then Stryker pushed her upstream from him and began to side-stroke his way across the torrent of water so he could keep an eye on her. She was swimming an American Crawl, and seemed to be fairly competent at it. Stryker had to slow his stroke down to stay even with her and again wondered if she would make it across. After a few minutes she slowed, breathing hard.
She stopped, treading water, gasped a few times, and again began swimming. Stryker mirrored her movements, careful to stay downstream from her until they reached a point above his tether.
She stopped again. They were still fifty meters from the point where they could turn downstream and get the tether.
“You need help?”
“No, just resting.”
“Rest fast,” Stryker replied.
They again struck out, still heading north against the current and she again stopped again after a few minutes.
“Can you make it?” Stryker asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Okay, let me drag you for a while and, when you feel stronger, you can take over,”
“I don’t like that.”
“Lady, you’re risking my life, and you sure as shit better do as I say, or I am going to watch your body float down this shit storm and get on with my life.”
She looked reluctant. “Okay, but only for a while.”
“Jesus, I’m in a negotiation about a rescue?” He grabbed her under her breasts and began to sidestroke against the current, wondering if they had any chance at all.
“We can turn now,” she said.
Stryker glanced downstream and saw she was almost right.
“Another 50 meters,” he muttered. “I don’t want to miss the tether.”
He continued dragging her across the flood, felt himself flagging again, and looked south. Stryker was again growing exhausted, and he recognized this time he truly was at the end of his stamina.
“Heading south.” He turned their bodies downstream.
“Are we going to make it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Thank you for trying no matter what happens,” she said.
Stryker guided them both toward the tether, holding her arm and nudging her when needed so they had a margin of error in reaching the rope.
“We’re looking good.” Stryker gasped, noting they were on course to hit the rope well before the tree to which it was anchored.
“Good, I’m about at the end of my strength,” she whispered back.
Just a little more to go, and we’re safe as in the arms of Jesus.”
“I’m agnostic,” she gasped with a pained expression.
“Nobody is at times like this.”
The current continued to take them downstream. They hit the tether two meters from where it was tied to the tree. Stryker dragged her with him and untied the rope, wrapped it around his left arm with successive loops, and raised his free hand to signal Erin to drag them in.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Erin and Haley peered through binoculars, tracking Stryker’s progress. When they saw him raise his hand, Haley ran to the truck, started it, and looked back at Erin.
“Take it slow at first. I’ll tell you if you need to speed up.”
“Okay.”
Erin turned back, saw Stryker wrap the rope around his arm, grabbing what was obviously a young, bare-breasted woman by her arm, and he signaled Haley to start moving.
“Why does he only seem to find young naked women,” she murmured, remembering her own rescue.
She watched as Stryker towed the woman toward her position, and saw him raise the woman by her arm until her head was no longer submerged. She wondered how he could hold dead weight up that high and still maintain his grip on the rope.
The two slowed to a stop, and Erin looked back at Haley who shrugged at her apologetically from the downslope side of the hill. The pickup was in five feet of water, and the engine had stalled.
“Stryker,” she yelled through cupped hands. “You’re going to have to swim the rest of the way.” He waved with his left hand, now free of the rope, grabbed the woman under her breasts and dragged her, facing backward, toward the rise with a side stroke that was long and steady.
When he could reach the ground with his feet, he trudged through the water until he reached the rise, and then stooped over so Emily could use his shoulder for support and they staggered toward the entrance of the building.
Erin met them, took Emily from Stryker and helped her stumble into the building. Stryker stood for a moment, his lungs feeling like a bellows, took several deep breaths, and then followed them. Haley was wrapping Emily in a blanket. Erin hugged him, and then wrapped him in another blanket. His lips were blue, and his skin whiter than usual as he stood next to her, still struggling to control his breathing.
Emily looked comatose, and shivered uncontrollably under the blanket.
“Meet Emily,” Stryker said, plopping down into a chair with a long sigh. He also shook from the exposure to the cold, but recovered more quickly than the young woman.
“You need coffee?” Erin asked.
He just shook his head.
She stepped away and returned with a steaming mug. “Here, just take a sip at first.” She held it to his lips. His hands shook violently.
“I’m taking Emily to the shower to warm her up,” Haley said.
“Leave it running when you’re done and give me a yell. He’s going in as soon as she gets out,” Erin said.
Haley helped Emily into the bathroom, and Erin heard the shower start.
“You’re next,” she said.
“You going to join me?” he whispered, attempting a lecherous grin, and falling way short.
“Maybe later.”
“Okay,” Haley yelled.
“Let’s move.” Erin tried to help him to his feet. He stood, swaying unsteadily, and then moved into the bathroom with Erin under one arm. Emily was in another blanket, and looked better than before.
When the hot water hit him, he gasped once, and then his entire body tingled as if an electrical shock were running through him.
“Just stand there for a few seconds,” Erin ordered. A few minutes later she shut off the water valve, dried him off with a towel she found on a towel bar to the side of the shower, and then wrapped him in a new blanket.
Both Stryker and Emily left under their own power and went to the lunch room table and sipped coffee.
“Thank you,” Emily finally said, lowering her cup
“Of course.” Stryker held his cup out to Erin, who refilled it and came back to the table.
“Guard?” he asked.
“Haley, take care of them. I’m going to keep an eye on the front of the building.”
“Go ahead. I’ll get dinner started.” She went to the stove and began preparing more freeze dried food.
“Did you think we would make it?” Emily asked.
“I knew I would. You, I wasn’t sure about.” He smiled weakly and she returned the grin with one of her own.
They ate dinner, not tasting much, but glad to have some hot food. Neither could make conversation, so the dinner was a stilted affair, filled with expressions of concern from the other women. They ate in silence, and then Stryker and Emily both stumbled over to the cots and were immediately asleep.
CHAPTER NINE
“I want to apologize again for my behavior this morning,” Annie said with a guilty expression. “I guess I’ve been under the control of others so long that I wanted to feel like I was in control for a change.” She looked truly contrite and Erin wondered if she had judged too harshly.
“Just don’t do it again,” Erin replied evenly.
“You have to understand that we’ve been together for a while and get pretty defensive if we think somebody is attacking one of us,” Haley added, her expression softening.
“It’s a terrible feeling when you have no control over your life and are forced to do things you don’t want to do. I guess I sort of lost track of how to behave when people treat me kindly.”
“It’s all right,” Erin said. “Just think about what you say before you say it and we’re all going to be fine.”
Erin could not relate her own ordeal with Annie’s, but got the gist of what the woman was saying. She shuddered when she thought of what might have happened to Haley and her if Gramps and Stryker had not shown up when they did. She tried to temper her anger, and nodded at Annie to show she was no longer upset.
“Will you still take me home?”
“Of course, as long as you behave.” Erin smiled.
The three women were doing dinner dishes as Emily and Stryker napped on the cots at the end of the room. Both were covered with blankets and out cold. Erin closed and locked the front door and then returned to the kitchen.
“What do you suppose her story is?” Haley nodded toward Emily.
“Lord only knows,” Erin replied. “Probably just like us. Trying to get somewhere and got caught in storm.”
“She seems pretty small,” Haley whispered. “How old do you think she is?”
Erin shrugged. “Early twenties.”
“She was almost naked when Stryker brought her here.” Haley’s voice held a note of disapproval.
“I saw her undress before she went into the water. She got rid of anything that would drag her under. She’s a pretty tough woman from what I saw.”
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