Page 11 of Secret Mission

Then he drags me forward, and we sail off of the cliff.

My heart lurches. “Ooooh!”

My arms pinwheel as my feet scramble for ground.

I’m free-falling. Water rushing toward me.

I clamp my mouth closed around a scream just in time.

Then the river explodes around us.

Chapter Four

I hope like hell she can swim. At least enough to not drink the whole damned river.

It would be a bitch if I have to do CPR while being shot at.

The roar of the water is deafening when I surface and drag her up for air. The rest I can handle.

She sputters as we bob—two human corks sticking up in a wild current of roiling coffee-colored water.

Another rapid is just ahead.

“Get ready!”

We have less than ten seconds to breathe before we’re under again.

This time, bouncing through Class IV rapids.

It’s violent and long. A tumble of heaving water running over unseen rocks.

Fuck.

Tightening my hold, I drag Allison closer to me.

Only to be rewarded by a mouthful of long, wet hair and her screeching in my face like a wild creature, “You freaking maniac!”

She maneuvers against me, twisting her smaller body until her feet are pointed downriver.

I grin as I spit out a tangle of her hair.

“Good girl.”

So, she knows some whitewater survival skills.

Baller.

Best news all day.

My life just got easier.

“Start paddling toward shore.”

With an exasperated sound, the woman flicks her pale green eyes toward me. “Captain Obvious, are you?”

But she doesn’t pull away from my grip, and we work together, using her free arm and both our sets of legs to work our way toward the passing riverbank.

She eyes my gun as we swim. “It’s wet.”

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