He jerked to see what she was reacting to as a wave the size of a building engulfed the rooftop. The chopper lifted off inches above the liquid frenzy just as a wall of water blasted into them.
He was tumbled over, twisted, and turned until he lost sight of everything. He felt himself picked up like a dried leaf, helpless against the roiling surge.
The raging tumult made it impossible to orient himself, but he felt the scrape of cement as he was dragged along. Something, the edge of the roof perhaps, caught him in the stomach as he was swept over. The breath was expelled from him by the unexpected punch.
His fingers clawed for a way to save himself, to return to Mackenzie. There was nothing to hold on to. The sound of the cacophony changed, and he realized he’d been swept over the roof and deposited into the middle of the maelstrom.
Mackenzie? Frank? Had they been washed over too? He fought for breath, the freezing waves dousing him againand again. Something whipped against his forehead, but he had no idea what it was.
The cold was crushing, the force of the rush irresistible. His strength was all but gone. Another wave picked him up and dumped him deep below the surface.
From underwater, he saw the faint lights of the helicopter as Jake took the bird into the sky, carrying Cordelia and Katie away from the deadly flood. The mother and child had been saved.
But not Mackenzie.
She hadn’t made it aboard.
His howl was lost to the waves.
****
Mackenzie could no longer feel anything except the bone-crushing cold. Was she in the water or out? She couldn’t tell. Possibly she was in the process of dying—or maybe dead already.
She prayed for her parents, that God would eventually soothe the anguish they would feel at losing their remaining child. How thoughtless she’d been of their feelings, ignoring their needs in favor of her own. She prayed that Jake would get Cordelia and Katie to safety. They’d already lost so much at the hands of her father. Why should their futures be denied them like Aaron’s had?
She prayed for Gideon.
There were so many things she wanted to tell him, regrets that she’d not spoken of.
All around was darkness and noise and the intermittent glimmer of blurry objects jetting across her field of vision.Everywhere was an inconceivably vast void. Bottomless water, excruciating cold. No help. No hope.
No Gideon.
The only emotion that penetrated her deadened senses was grief. He was lost out here somewhere, if he was even still alive, because of her. He’d suffered and died, because of her.
Survive, evade, resist, and escape. He’d sacrificed everything for her to do all four. If the chopper had managed to lift off, he’d made it possible for Jake, Cordelia, and Katie to survive. Because of her choices, she was alone out here and dying by inches, separated from him. She hoped it would at least be fast for both of them.
She caught a tiny glimmer of starlight between the clouds. Was it worth it? Her life for vengeance? No, but the price was hers to pay.
Not his.
Not Gideon’s.
She thought of his easy smile, the way one eyebrow lifted when she was confounding him, how his family would feel when he didn’t return, his parents, his brothers and cousin.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to him and to God. Her vision blurred as she twirled helplessly.
The sky, or what she thought was the sky, was a black sprawl of nothing, and she looked in vain for the chopper. Another wave slapped against her face and she held on to the one positive thought she could muster. Cordelia had hopefully gotten her child away from her murderous grandfather. Aaron’s daughter would have a future. It was some solace, though it didn’t penetrate the agony at whatshe’d done to Gideon. Would Cordelia tell Mackenzie’s parents what had transpired? That at the last moment she’d turned away from her vendetta as they’d begged her to?
Her chin sagged. She had no energy left to fight. She abandoned herself to the tug of the water. When the next wave pulled her under, she didn’t have the strength to battle back to the surface again. What a way to die, to be slowly inundated and overwhelmed. Would it stop being so cold as her heart ceased to beat?
Something caught her, yanked her head free from the watery grip.
She gagged, trying to expel the water from her lungs and suck in oxygen at the same time. The night was impenetrable, smothering, and she saw nothing but darkness.
Her name ... Someone was saying her name over and over.
Her mind slowly broke free from its stupor.
