Page 86 of Midnight Secrets

There wasn’t enough light for Isabel to follow gestures so he took her arms and placed them tightly around his neck and hoped to God she understood. She did. She held on tightly as he began to rise in the water using the full power of his arms and his one leg.

Fifty seconds.

It felt like it took forever, hauling both of them up through the dark, freezing, muddy water. Almost immediately he lost the light of the headlights of the van and could see nothing, nothing at all. Not even Isabel’s face so close to his.

Damn.

He knew she was alive because she was holding his neck but he thought he felt her grip lessen.

Please God.

Please don’t let this brave, beautiful woman die. Take me instead. But if he was too slow, he’d live because he was a navy SEAL and had trained for a year to dive and come up in dark cold water. He’d live but Isabel would die.

Fifty-five seconds.

Isabel’s grip was loose. She was dying.

Light! Faint, barely perceptible. He aimed his face up and pulled as hard as he could.

Fifty-eight seconds.

Joe broke the water on a huge gasp, just as Isabel went loose in his arms.

His head swiveled as he looked up at the bridge where the men had angled the headlights to shine over the water. Jack was shining a powerful flashlight into the water.

“Rope!” Joe screamed just as a rope hit the water five feet from him. He was bearing Isabel’s full weight now. Her eyes were closed and through chattering teeth he started praying.

Don’t die on me, honey. Don’t die. Don’t die. Please God, don’t let her die.

He wrapped the rope three times around his forearm, his other arm around Isabel. She needed to get the water out of her lungs but he couldn’t do it here. He had to get her onto that bridge where Metal could work his magic. Metal had saved men’s lives countless times. He’d saved lives other medics couldn’t save. He knew what Isabel meant to him, he’d save Isabel.

He had to.

The four men pulled them out of the water, Joe hanging from the rope, holding Isabel tightly to him.

Her eyes were closed. She looked like she was sleeping. He couldn’t do anything—one hand was holding on to the rope pulling them out of the water and the other was grasping her. All he could do was stare at her face, willing her eyes to open.

His gasps were clouding the frigid air with steam but there was no steam coming out of Isabel’s mouth.

Oh God.

And then they were pulled over the bridge onto concrete and Metal was bending over Isabel and Joe was on his knees, gasping, coughing out water. Blood pooled around his leg. Metal looked over at him, big hands compressing Isabel’s chest, but Joe waved him away.

“Take…care…of…Isabel.”

Metal was counting under his breath, big hands compressing Isabel’s chest hard. Isabel was so cold and still, beautiful face deathly white.

And then—the most glorious sound he ever heard. Isabel, coughing. Metal put her on her side as she weakly coughed out the water she’d swallowed. She looked ice white and battered. The most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

Joe’s leg wouldn’t bear him so he crawled over to Isabel, putting his arms around her, holding her tightly, patting her back as she coughed. He pulled back and looked down at her face, wanting his face to be the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes.

Her eyelids fluttered, she coughed again, then opened her eyes.

“Is he dead?” was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

Joe laughed weakly, and it turned into a cough. “Yeah.” His voice was gravelly. “He’s dead.”

“Good.” Her eyes closed again.

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