She screamed and the two of us lurched behind a large rusted-out barrel. It was barely enough to cover both of our bodies, but it did its job as a bullet whizzed past. I put myself closest to the barrel, so we sat in a straight line. If a bullet cut through, it’d hit me and not Imogen.
She huffed for breath, her eyes wide and looking in every direction. We were so close to freedom. So close to what I promised her. We couldn’t give up now. I’d get us off the ship.
Long docks stretched out over the water a hundred feet away from us. The crew had obviously been pulling into a port or marina as we escaped. It meant we were close enough to swim it if we had the strength and got off the boat without either of us taking a bullet.
I held on to Imogen’s hand and leaned to the side, not wanting to leave our position too much and blow our cover. They saw our general direction, but I couldn’t tell how many people were shooting at us from the different directions the bullets came from. At least more than one person heard our escape. I fired randomly in the direction I thought most were from but had no idea if my bullet hit its target.
It was a stupid move to make—a decision made in the heat of the moment—because my next two clicks on the trigger resulted in nothing. I’d picked up a gun with a half empty clip.
“Can you swim?” I asked Imogen, trying my hardest not to let panic fill my voice. It was my responsibility to get us out of there, and I didn’t plan to fail.
She pursed her lips and nodded. “Um, sure.”
It was good enough for me. I’d carry her on my back if that’s what it took. “Okay, we’re going to jump.”
“What?” she screeched.
It was too late to come up with another plan, so I stood, still clutching her hand as hard as possible, and took her with me as I made a running break for the side of the boat. We reached the railing and didn’t have time to climb over it, so I squeezed Imogen through the opening and pushed her into the water, falling in right behind her.
Her head bobbed above the waves and she sputtered out ocean water. I had no time to apologize. We had to use the adrenaline flowing through us to make the last leg to safety.
“Swim toward the docks. Stay with me,” I yelled, pointing in the direction we wanted to go.
If we got far enough away from the boats before they had time to figure out our direction, we might make it. “Keep your head underwater as much as possible.” It was the only advice I had to give.
The water was fucking cold. It was impossible to determine how far south the boat had gone, but we were south enough in the Atlantic I hadn’t expected the chilly waters. It wasn’t a good sign. Either I’d been wrong about our location or I was experiencing more fatigue than I realized.
A bullet zipped into the water next to me, cutting through the waves and barely missing my arm. We had to get further away. I expected lights on the beach, some form of civilization, but as we swam closer, we met nothing but darkness.
Imogen slowed beside me until she was so far back I turned around and floated in the water watching her.
“Come on, beautiful. We’re almost there.” I held my hand out for her and she took it limply. Our time was running out, and we had to get to safety fast.
As soon as we reached the first wooden pole of the dock, I swam behind Imogen to give her cover and watched as we made our way to shore underneath the dark expanse of beach. The water receded slowly until I touched the ground and walked on the sandy bottom. My shoes were heavy and weighed me down, but they kept my feet safe against anything jagged in the sand.
Imogen threw herself on the sandy beaches, but panic was still thick in my system. We were not safe yet. Not until we were a lot farther away. I couldn’t leave her out here all alone, so we had to keep going.
I gave her a moment to catch her breath and then helped her stand before walking farther up the beach, away from the waters as quickly as possible. Our feet dragged, and I did my best to help her wring out her clothes, ridding us of some excess water. The night air was cool against her skin and I worried about hypothermia.
I worried about a lot of things.
“Can we flag down a car?” she asked as we reached the end of the beach, which opened up into an empty parking lot and, beyond that, a four-lane highway.
A pair of headlights drove down the expanse of the road and I pushed her behind me, standing next to a tree and hoping it acted as cover. “No, we have no idea the reach of these men and no idea who to trust.”
It was safe to say this all somehow connected to Bernard and the Grandmaster, but how deep did the treachery go? What if the Grandmaster lied and Bernard hadn’t actually gone rogue after all, but still worked for him? If they were a team, we were screwed.
“What do we do?” she asked as I waited until the car’s taillights were far in the distance before we crossed the road. It was weird to have four lanes so empty. What time of night was it?
“I’ll feel safer about our options once we’re farther away. Then we can call Ridge and my brother.”
Farther down the stretch of road, a set of lights that weren’t moving lit up a portion of the ground in front of them. I pointed in that direction and waited until Imogen followed my movement and saw them as well.
“Can you make it that far?” I asked, hoping she would say yes. Otherwise, I’d have to carry her. We were sitting ducks this close to the docks with no one nearby.
She nodded and took a deep breath. “Yeah.” I heard the steel in her words. She hadn’t faltered, screamed, or given up. Imogen and I were going to make it.
We kept to the ditch in case more cars drove past us. From the looks of it, this area was almost in a deserted part of the countryside. I saw no indicators of where we were. No road signs or billboards, just an open lonely stretch of road with tall palm trees on the other side and vines hanging off of them as if they were trying to eat the trees one leaf at a time.
