Page 76 of Corrupted Lies

October 20th

3:03 P.M.

Come on, Jake.

Where are you?

Please do something.

Soon.

Alannah pressed herself into the very back of boat as the men standing in the water before her reached out to try to grab her.

The looks on their faces told her exactly what they were going to do if they got their hands on her.

“Don’t be shy, darling,” the man with the startling blue eyes said as he managed to get a hold of her wrist and yank her toward them.

“Stop! Don’t,” she cried, hitting at him and trying to pull herself free. Even though she knew these men weren't going to get a chance to follow through on what they had planned, the terror she felt was real.

Jake will stop them.

He won't let them hurt me.

Reminding herself of that didn't seem to be helping. What if Jake really had been shot? She was assuming he’d done what he said he was going to do, but maybe that last bullet had hit him and he was already dead. It had been a couple of minutes since he went under, and he hadn't come back up, which meant if he had been hit he was already dead.

Or maybe he’d been shot on the beach.

When he’d asked her, she’d said she hadn't been hit, and he’d said the same when she asked him, but at the time, adrenaline had been buzzing through her veins, and she hadn't really been completely sure that she wasn't shot because she couldn’t feel anything. It had been like her body was numb, too focused on survival to worry about anything else.

Now she could feel, though.

The fingers wrapped too tightly around her wrist for her to break the hold felt like tentacles. If she felt this repulsed just by his hand touching her, how was she going to feel when he did so much worse?

Come on, Jake.

Now.

Please.

Apparently, this time her plea was heard by the universe, because the other man who was watching her with almost bored light brown eyes, suddenly howled and let go of his weapon ashis hands went under the water, and he hunched over as though in pain.

Relief hit her hard.

Jake.

He was alive and making his move.

Unsure what she should do that would be the most helpful, Alannah yanked hard on the arm that was still being held by the other man.

Distracted by his friend’s howl of pain, she was able to break her hold this time, and since the last thing she wanted was to be used to manipulate Jake in any way, Alannah threw herself overboard and into the water.

It was cold on her skin, and her clothes were immediately soaked through, reminding her of the fear of those hours spent at sea, wondering if they would survive.

Fighting through the memories, she kept under the water and swam herself a small distance away from the boat. She didn't want to be in the way, and when she came up for air and turned to look, she was amazed at what she saw.

Like he was Triton or some other god like sea creature, Jake had gotten his hands on the weapon that had floated off when he must have hit the bored man. He rose out of the water, which streamed down around him, and lifted his weapon, firing at bored man and hitting him several times.

Bright red blood bloomed on bored man’s chest, and he seemed to hover in place for a moment before he collapsed into the water, which immediately turned red around him.

---