“No!” He dove beneath the surface but the too-violent, dark water offered zero visibility.
The crew members of the Kraken shouted at him. Blew their whistles. He glanced back and saw them pointing. They must have spotted Sadie. They’d released the smaller boat into the water, as well. Good. Gage started swimming in the direction they pointed. He couldn’t see her, but hoped he would connect.
Then she bobbed above the water, riding high on a rising swell. Gage had to get to her—he could see in her eyes that if he didn’t reach her this time, she was done. Her lips were blue already. She had to be a good swimmer to have survived this long, but even his limbs would begin to fail him soon. He was pushing the limits.
Gage forced himself to swim harder and faster against one of the strongest forces of nature, and likewise Sadie swam toward him, her strength fading, her desperation warring against her biology. The swell crested and buried her again, sucking her down and under.
Gage dove beneath it, a calculated risk on his part, and gave one last thrusting lunge for her. He felt the tug of his tender line—the Kraken crew members trying to tow him back to safety.
“No, no!” He yanked the line, hoping someone would get his message, give him the slack he needed.
He tried again...
And touched something. A hand? He grabbed it, lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her body as he held on to the rescue buoy. Rescuing a drowning person was a dangerous task—that person was reduced to their basest survival instincts and would often drown their rescuers in the process.
Sadie had already turned into that drowning person.
And she fought him. Dragged him under. Instinctually. Nothing she could control. Her survival instincts had taken over. The right thing to do, and what protocol demanded, was that he hit her hard enough to knock her out and save them both. But since when had he gone with protocol? He grabbed her arms and willed her to be still, to trust him, and she relaxed.
Now. It was now or they would both be lost.
He felt the tug of his tender line, and he held on to her. His pulse shot up even higher, if that were possible. They breached the surface. When he looked in her face he saw why she’d relaxed. She was unconscious. Unresponsive. Drowned already?
Oh, no! No, God, please, let her live.
Suddenly, she coughed up water, even as a wave crashed over them, but he held tight. The Kraken crew wouldn’t let him down.
“We’re going to make it. You’re going to be okay.” He stared into the familiar crystal-blue eyes, which widened with recognition, while the tender line tugged them back and the smaller Coast Guard inflatable made its way toward them in the dangerous waters. “I’ve got you and I won’t let go. You’re safe now.”
She shook her head. Her teeth chattered as she struggled to speak. “Not. Safe. Someone. Tried...to kill me.”
Copyright © 2018 by Elizabeth Goddard
ISBN-13: 9781488087790
High-Risk Investigation
Copyright © 2018 by Jane M. Choate
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