Page 100 of Threat of Danger
Derek glanced around with a desperation he hadn’t known before. He had to find a way to save her.
Except, she wasn’t going to wait for him. She squared her shoulders into a movie-hero pose, legs braced, her entire demeanor calm and centered as she faced Crane.
She looked as if she was preparing herself.
For what?
She stepped forward and turned a couple of degrees as if positioning herself for something specific.
Moonlight fell on her hands. They were tied in front of her. Derek growled with impotent fury.Shit.What in hell chance did she have?
Crane abandoned shooting at Derek and stepped toward Jess. He called out, and even over the rushing of the river below, Derek caught the words.
“That’s right. Come to me!” The man’s voice was thick with self-satisfaction.
Jess shifted again. Derek recognized that stance. He’d seen it with spec-ops soldiers all the time. He probably looked like that himself when he was about to make his move. Her body subtly rearranged, her muscles readying themselves for a burst. Still utterly calm, collected, and focused, she didn’t take her attention off Crane for a second.
She was going to attack. And it finally dawned on Derek that this was along-planned attack. She was prepared. She had imagined this before. Many times. Maybe many different scenarios.
She was ready to take out the man who’d hurt her.
Oh hell.
Derek scrambled to his feet, a wild theory springing to life in his brain. While he’d writtenDark Woodsto draw out the masked man ... Jess had exploded on video for Maxwell to do the same thing. Losing her cool like that was completely out of character for her. Especially while being recorded. She’d done it on purpose.
They’d both used themselves as bait.
Derek wanted to shout at her, fury pounding in his brain.No!If you get hurt...
Of course, he was damn proud of her too. Freaking impressed. And then scared out of his ever-loving mind when she lunged into action.
Whatever he’d imagined would happen wasn’t this. She ran full force toward Crane. Crane raised his gun, but Jess flew through the air, a body slam that took them both over the edge.
“Jess!”
Crane dropped like a rock, but Jess managed to manipulate her body—she’d kicked against him at the last second, using him as a fulcrum—so that she flew in a graceful arc, away from the rocks below. Into the rushing river. She hit with a loud splash, and before Derek could so much as draw a breath, the water closed over her head.
He was already jumping for the trees. The same stunt he’d pulled in front of Eliot— made more difficult by the dark, the frozen muscles in his left leg, and the fact that for the first time in his life, he could barely breathe from panic.
He slammed into the branches, lost some skin from his cheek, grabbed on, dipped toward the ground with the treetop, waited for the return snap, and let go, leaping for the next lower tree. Then one more dip and snap and jump down to the rocks that either dislocated his ankle or broke it, he didn’t care. He ignored the shooting pain completely and lunged for the water.
“Jess!” He couldn’t see her in the dark.
Where was she? He swam toward the spot where she’d hit, accounting for the current, looking to spot her head above the churn. Nothing.
Then, an eternity later, “Derek!”
He caught a glimpse of her blonde hair for a moment, but then she disappeared again.
Swim like someone shoved a torpedo up your ass, one of the officers in SEAL training used to scream at the recruits. And that was exactly how Derek swam.
She kept going under.
Her hands were tied, and her limbs had to be stiff from the cold. She had to have been chilled half to deathbeforeshe’d ever jumped. Hypothermia slowed a body down. At this temperature, just minutes in water could mean death. Derek’s own teeth chattered.
She hated water stunts, was all he could think. She’d almost drowned once. How cold she must be, and how trapped she must feel with her hands tied. He hoped she knew that he was coming for her.
He saw her head again, but once again she almost immediately disappeared under the water. Derek plowed forward.
