Page 113 of High Water

“You can do it!!” I’m yelling to encourage them both now; Aspen is closer than ever, and Jay could make it if he just tries. I know he can.

There’s another loud splash, and Jay’s eyes are torn away from mine. He looks back across the water, and there out of the murky depths of the shaft is the governor, rising like a phantom from the shadows.

The governor yells something inaudible over the roar of the water and charges forward.

The grenade is still in his hand. My eyes snap to Aspen. She’s only feet away, and she’s hurrying as fast as her soaking wet and frozen body will carry her. Only a few steps out of my reach and yet so far.

Jay lunges for the governor and misses. The governor reaches the rope and tugs hard, his body weight dragging Aspen backward and separating her from the ladder. Her feet dangle free, and she swings out as he tugs her again.

“Over my dead fucking body. You’re not getting out of here with that. It belongs to me. It’s my fucking legacy, not yours!” He yanks again with his free hand, still gripping the grenade in the other.

“Then take it!” she screams and hurls the sword down at him.

Her aim is true and perfect.

It slices into his shoulder, and he stumbles backward, losing his grip on the grenade. My heart skips a full beat in my chest, and I use all the strength I have left to haul the rope up in one quick motion. I stumble backward and fall, but it does its job, dragging Aspen up and over the edge just as the grenade explodes.

The explosion rocks the shaft, sending debris, dust, and water flying upward in its immediate wake. Aspen crawls toward me, and I roll up onto my feet, hurrying back to help her. She stumbles forward a moment later, her frozen limbs too far gone to hold her up any longer. She chatters and reaches around her body, trying to cling to any warmth she has left as she looks up at me with bright-green eyes. Terror and relief mixed behind them.

But as the dust seems like it’s about to settle, the shaft starts to shake again, the rotting wood giving in to the effects of time. There’s a crack. A snap, and then it all fucking goes to hell. The whole support system of the shaft starts to collapse, buckling in on itself and creating a massive rockfall.

I snatch Aspen up from the floor and into my arms, and I take off running for the vent shaft as I see the supports in the tunnel start to give way over our heads. She clings to me, her head pressed against my chest as I run.

I feel like I’m flying, gliding through the tunnel with feet that don’t touch the ground. My entire life is flashing before my eyes as I carry her as fast as my feet will take me. We’re speeding and standing still at the same time, a million moments between us unfold in front of me as I continue to run out of instinct, stumbling and tripping more than once before I round the corner to the vent shaft tunnel. The support beam that holds it open collapses behind me just as we make it, and the force of the collapse sends me tumbling forward. She lands on the snow mound created by the vent, her fall cushioned by it before she slides down the ice. I slam into the ground in front of it. A numbness taking over where there should be pain, my body trying to help preserve whatever reservoirs of energy I have left to save us.

I manage to make it to my feet again. I wrap my arm around her chest and drag her alongside me. I’m coughing hard, and she can barely catch her breath. The collapse steals all the oxygen and drives a plume of thick dust and mold into the air.

“Hold on to me,” I instruct her in between coughing fits as I grab the rope with both hands, and she follows my directions. I haul us up, one handful of rope at a time. This part of the tunnel might hold, but it’s doubtful. I hear another sound of cracking wood, and I take it as my sign to race to the finish.

A few moments later, we’re on solid ground again, rolling out onto the snow-packed ground on the side of the mountain where the shrubs and tallest grass have started to peek through. I hear Aspen’s tears of elation and look up to see her eyes wide with disbelief that we made it out. I reach out for her, desperate to have her wrapped in my arms again.

But before I can, there’s another rumble under our feet, and now in the bright light of day, I see how much blood she’s covered in, in addition to how soaked she is in cold water. Her lips are blue, and her body is shaking with the effort of keeping her warm. The mountain quakes, and I feel my stomach drop. Her smile fades immediately.

“Let’s go.” I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder, not bothering to wait for her to answer me, and I start racing down the mountain.

It’s one step at a time, one foot in front of the other, grabbing trees and branches to brace myself as the snow turns to a slushy, icy mess underneath my feet and each step feels heavier than the last. The snow finally gives way to mud, and I see the path ahead, dodging around a boulder that I nearly fall over to get to it. I stay focused on a point in front of me, my arms wrapped tightly around Aspen’s thighs, pinning her to my chest as we follow the slope of the path to the bottom of the hill.

I swear I hear a helicopter in the distance. The methodical, heartwarming beat of its blades calling me home. The exfil point must be close. I’m nearly there. If I can just get Jones and me back to the helicopter, they can get us out of here. The explosions will stop. The medic can treat our wounds. We’re so damn close I can taste it.

But there’s a cracking sound.

Searing pain.

My knees buckle.

And the whole world goes black as I hold on to the only woman I’ve ever loved.

FORTY-EIGHT

Aspen

“Where’s Fallon? Where’s Bishop?” They’re the first thoughts in my mind and the first words out of my mouth when I see my brothers in my hospital room. Levi stands at my side, and Grant’s at the foot of the bed, looking through my chart as Ramsey watches me, hands steepled over his knees in the chair just under the window.

“I sent Fallon down to get some food with Dakota and Hazel.”

“Is someone with them? Security? They could take her again.” I try to sit up, but Levi holds me back.

“We’ve got three guys with them wherever they go, and hospital staff have been alerted to our security needs,” Grant reassures me, his brow furrowed as he studies me.