The first gunshot hit the log right next to her fingers, so close she was showered with tiny splinters. She lifted her hand with a yelp.
Oh God. She had another five feet to traverse—at least.
She crab-crawled as fast as she could and then threw herself forward, suddenly more afraid of the gunfire than the crossing.
The next shot tore up the wood she’d just occupied.
In a heartbeat, she went from frantic to wired—adrenaline hitting her in the usual places, lighting her up like a runway, making her sharp and ready in ways she could never explain.
She crouched behind a tree wishing she could return fire when two men appeared on the other side, high on the slope heading down to the river.
One of the men lifted his rifle again to fire—at her or Elias, she wasn’t sure. In the next heartbeat, something gave.
The saturated earth that held the piece of waterlogged wood currently straining under Elias’s weight just collapsed. Bo barked wildly and leapt back as the bridge went down, the whole thing much too silent for something so terrible.
“Elias!”
The mud slid, painfully slow but too fast. He was there, hanging by one arm, knuckles white where they grasped a branch. Leo screamed when the whole thing sank another few feet, propelling him inexorably toward the rushing water. It was so loud, her scream probably didn’t even reach his ears, but he craned up, the movement awkward and painful looking, and met her eyes.
She stopped breathing, stopped thinking entirely. For a handful of seconds, she was nothing more than blinking eyes and beating heart, pumping blood.
Nothing.
She glanced up for a split second to see the shooter draw closer. He’d kill Elias, kill her. She shifted as close to the edge as she could get without getting sucked in.
“Go! Run!” he gasped, the words barely audible against the racing rapids. “Go, Leo!” He strained to get footing on the side of the river, but his feet slid and the log shifted again.
“No!” Her yell echoed off the opposite bank just as the killer slid to a stop. The second approached slower. No time to think. No time to decide. Only time to do. “Do or die!” she shouted, repeating something Elias had said days ago.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
It felt like the end.
At her words, Elias nodded once. He opened his hand and was gone.
All she could do was jump in after him.
***
“Fucking bastards!” Deegan was irate, his pig eyes frantic and full of rage. Ash wanted to throttle him. Or laugh.
This was a mess. A lovely, odd, interesting mess. If he was smart, he’d turn around and head back to the place they’d just left. There’d been a hot spring there—no doubt exactly what had drawn the fleeing couple to begin with. He could rest his aching muscles for a spell and get the hell out of here.
Then, he’d watched Deegan shoot at them—the idiot—instead of slowly, skillfully reeling them in.
Deegan clearly couldn’t believe his eyes. Even after a minute passed, he was still blinking at the place where their quarry had been. Across the river, the dog barked madly.
“Shut up!” the man yelled and the animal immediately stopped.
“Good dog,” said Ash with a smile. He could have sworn the dog understood him.
It let out another bark—purely to annoy Deegan, who raised his rifle as if to shoot it—and took off into the woods opposite as if pursued by the hounds of hell.
Ash sighed, taking a look around. “Well, now. You must have a plan, correct?”Or not.“Shooting at them was just the first step, I imagine.”
“Fuck you.”
“Look mate, you’ve got us in a right mess, it’s only fair that you shou—”
