“I’m aware of that,” he said, wrapping his fingers around her wrists and bringing her closer. “If I had any other way of getting you out of this, trust me, I’d take it in a heartbeat. But it may be our only chance, and we have to take it before the bridge goes out from underneath us. Are you with me?”
Her eyes milled between his before circling his face. “You won’t let go?”
“Not for a second,” he pledged. He kissed her brow. “We’re good swimmers.” He pointed downriver. “The river flows to the right. We’ll make for the bank there.”
She nodded, the muscles of her face firming in determination. “Got it.”
There was a break between cars where the rail remained. Nick tested it with his boot. When it didn’t give, he drew Sassy close to his side. “Hold on tight,” he said. “We’ll make it, all right?”
“I said I’d never white-water raft again,” she stated, “but let’s do it.”
“On three.” Nick counted it off. They launched themselves over the rail, jumping as far out as possible to prevent hitting any broken sections of bridge or vehicles directly underneath.
The surge swept them up in watery arms. Nick felt Sassy’s fingers slip from his grasp as it closed over their heads. He kicked for the surface, reaching for her frantically. “Sassy!”
“Nick!”
The strangled shout was downstream. She’d already been pulled away.
“Head for the bank!” he called, kicking toward the sound of her voice. He couldn’t see. Where was she?
Flashing lights from the shore blinded him. The current pulled and tugged. The swollen river threatened to close over him again. He was a breath away from becoming entombed in its shifting, wet heart. Blindly, he groped for something, anything, to keep from being pulled like a rag doll into the depths.
He grasped something soft. Fabric. Wrapping his hand up in it, he pulled it toward him.
Sassy gasped as she reached the surface. She sputtered and coughed. “N-Nick?”
“Here,” he rasped. “I need you to swim.”
“Something rolled over my head. A tree, maybe?”
He didn’t like the lethargy he heard in her voice. “Just keep kicking for me, okay? The bank’s just ahead.”
“Nick…”
“Stay with me, Sassy,” he said, tugging her along in what he hoped was the right direction. “Fight with me.”
Her attempts to do so weakened with every moment they were in the water. Nick began to think they’d missed the bank and wouldn’t be able to fight their way back to it. Exhaustion settled in his limbs like weights, making him that much more sinkable.
He couldn’t let go of her and watch her slip away from him, as his father had done in Dark Canyon Wilderness years ago. It was his worst fears come to life.
A searchlight flashed over them like a strobe before it settled on their entangled forms. Shadows passed in front of it. Nick felt arms close around him. His arm torqued, trying to hold on to Sassy. “Her first,” he gritted.
A bright orange inflated ring splashed into the water before him. “Grab on!” a voice shouted from overhead.
“Sassy,” Nick said, working to keep his chin above the water level. He couldn’t keep kicking. His legs were killing him. “Take the ring.”
Her hand slid over the side of the ring and away. She tried again, making contact.
“Hold on,” Nick told her. “They’re going to pull you in.”
She was too tired to protest. Using a rope, the people onboard the rescue boat tugged her toward the starboard side while the rescue diver stayed with Nick, buoying him by locking his arms around Nick’s middle so his head stayed above water.
Two people maneuvered Sassy until her body was over the gunwale and safely inside the boat.
“Your turn, big dog.”
The familiarity of the voice finally penetrated Nick’s adrenaline-fueled mind. “Tony?”
