It wasn’t about tomorrow, the next hour, or the finish line. It was about now, being focused, deliberate. That washow he’d learned to outlast Johnny and his brothers, to flat-out endure.
Three feet.
Do it. Now.
He concentrated on his arms and cleaved a yard past the trajectory of the rope so he’d be in a good position when their paths intersected. It took every bit of his reserve.
This time, when the rope came within reach, he clasped both hands around it and scooted it to his body, then clamped it under his armpit until he could loop it clumsily around his torso. Elated, he spun. For a moment, his heart almost stopped beating when he failed to spot Mackenzie.
But an instant later, he caught the flash of orange. In spite of her vigorous effort to hold on to the piece of foam, she was barely above water, her face ghastly pale. Nonetheless, at his thumbs-up, she strove to swim toward him, and he met her in the middle.
He wrapped her in a bear hug and looped the rope once more to encompass both of them. The rush of emotion took him unawares. Under pain of death and dismemberment, he would never admit to anyone that he’d longed since he was sixteen years old to embrace his best friend’s sister. God had an interesting sense of humor to finally make that wish come true in such a moment, when he was so cold he might as well be clinging to a block of ice. But when she moved and pressed her cheek to his, he felt something flutter through his iced-up interior.
Something other than rage and frustration. An echo of what he’d felt when she startled him with a kiss just before she mugged him.
Nope. No room for teenage daydreaming.Stay in the moment.
A tug on the rope informed him the man on the bank was reeling them in. They clung as tight as they could, which was wise considering the way that Gideon had knotted the rope was not up to standard. The speed with which they cut through the water was impressive. The guy couldn’t possibly be hoisting two full-grown adults at such a pace. Gideon eventually heard the whir of a winch as they reached the edge, plowing into the mire. They began to slither through the goo until they were pulled above it, skimming the steep bank as they rose, sometimes smacking the earthen wall and at other moments swinging free. They twirled and he did his best to steady them as they were hoisted up the fifteen feet to the top of the bank and delivered, a mucky half-frozen mess, to the top.
They lay tangled together, encased in mud as they panted and shivered.
The man stopped the winch on the back of his vehicle and freed them from the rope. “Town’s evacuating. Spotted you down there in the water. What happened?” His brown eyes were wide.
So he hadn’t seen the episode on the bridge.
Mackenzie sat up and gave Gideon a warning look. “We had an accident. Went over the side.”
The brown eyes widened even more as he threw two musty moving blankets over their shoulders. “Incredible you survived.”
Gideon nodded.You don’t know the half of it.
The man was staring quizzically at them as if he was waiting for more of the story.
Clearly, Mackenzie wasn’t ready to trust their rescuer. Because she didn’t want to go back to prison or because she feared he might be working with the guys who tried to kill them? The orange of her jumpsuit was almost completely obscured by the muck, but their rescuer might have made note of the color when she was in the water.
He jerked a thumb toward the road. “Got a trailer about a mile from here. You can warm up. Figure out how to get out of town.”
“Weren’t you evacuating?” Gideon said, finding enough strength to climb painfully to his feet and help Mackenzie to hers. At first he wasn’t sure his legs would hold him, but somehow he managed.
“My wife and kids left this morning. I’m staying until I can return a horse trailer to the stables tomorrow. Name’s Kevin.”
“I’m Zee,” Mackenzie said. “This is Gid. Thank you for helping us.”
Gideon offered his frozen hand and shook Kevin’s meaty palm but could barely feel it. “Yes, thank you, sir. We wouldn’t have lasted much longer if you hadn’t stepped in.” His mouth was on autopilot, his brain foggy and slow.
Kevin shrugged. “It’s that kind of town.” He unfurled a plastic tarp and laid it across the back seats of his Dodge. A broken cheese cracker fell out and a crayon rolled on the floorboard. The kid thing was true enough. Kevin checked all the boxes so far, but Gideon was barely functioning.
“Okay,” Kevin said. “Rain’s just gonna keep pounding according to the weather channel. Climb aboard. I got the heater blasting.”
Decision time. Once they got into the vehicle, theirchoices would be limited. Should they trust that Kevin was who he seemed? A well-meaning family man? Truthfully, there really wasn’t a decision to be made. They had to get out of the open to survive. His body was shutting down; hers too.
Mackenzie’s desperate nod told him she’d come to the same conclusion.
They climbed in, the mud and river water sluicing off them in puddles onto the tarp. Kevin raised the heat another notch. Though Gideon could hear the air blowing through the plastic vent, no warmth penetrated his frozen hide.
He shot a glance at Mackenzie, who looked like she was trying to stay alert and failing. Her limbs twitched and quivered like his. What was her game plan? He knew what his was. Get warm and dry. Contact the police and share their location. Mackenzie was a detainee, after all, and she would have to face the music.
She steadfastly refused to look at him.
