Page 100 of Hold Your Breath
The next pull slid the blanket across the ice with an immobile Cal still on board. The earlier wind had scoured the snow from the ice, so the surface was slick and mostly smooth. Once she started moving, it got easier, and Lou sped up to a shuffling backward jog. Every so often, she’d turn her head to find the flashing lights and readjust her direction. Each time she looked, they were a little bit closer to shore.
“We’re coming!” she yelled when the lights had gotten close enough that she figured she could be heard. Answering shouts made her want to dissolve into tears again, but she bit her cheek hard to stop them. She wasn’t there yet. The ice roughened as she approached the edge, making it harder to pull Cal. They were so close. Lou tightened her fists around the handfuls of blanket and yanked. The blanket caught on an uneven patch of ice, rumpling under Cal.
Swearing under her breath, she looped her arms under Callum’s and pulled. He moved with surprising ease, throwing her off balance with the unexpected lurch. Although she stumbled backward, she didn’t fall. She shuffled back, pulling his limp form with her.
Before she could make it to the shore, it felt like a hundred people surrounded them. Relief took all the remaining strength from her body, and she toppled backward, pulling Callum on top of her. Shouting voices and flashing lights overwhelmed Lou’s senses, and she clung to Callum as hands tried to separate them.
“Let go, Lou.” Ian’s face came into focus in front of her.
“Not until he’s about to be lifted into the ambulance,” she said between chattering teeth. “Or Callum will yell at me like he did when I let go of Phil in training.”
“That’s now. Let go.”
She allowed herself to be pulled away from Cal, and then he was gone.
“Anyone else down there?” Ian asked, helping her to a sitting position.
An image of Brent’s lifeless form flashed through her mind, and her shaking increased. “A body will need to be recovered.”
“Phil’s on his way,” Ian said, shooting a grim look at the reservoir. “It’ll take at least an hour before he gets here, though. We put a call in to the Mercer County Dive Team, but they’ll be even longer. Right now, they’re stuck in the snow in their fire station parking lot.”
“He’s dead.”
Ian gave a single shake of his head, still staring out over the ice as if he could pull the guy out of the water with pure strength of will. “There’s a possibility he could still be revived if we could get him out. There just aren’t any other trained divers here.”
“No, Ian.” She grabbed the sleeve of his coat, waiting until he looked at her. “He’s dead. I stabbed him. Then I watched him stop breathing.”
Although his eyes sharpened, he just stared at her for a long moment before giving her a short nod. “I’ll let Phil and Mercer County know to stand down.”
Her muscles relaxed at his easy acceptance. She didn’t think she could handle horrified accusations or demands for explanations, at least not until she’d had a chance to mentally process what had happened. “Thanks, Ian.”
He just nodded and helped her to her feet. “Med needs to check you out.”
“I’m okay,” she protested, but Ian shook his head. He urged her into the back of an ambulance, ignoring her protests. The young, dark-haired EMT, whom Lou was pretty sure had introduced herself as Amy, ignored Lou’s insistence that she was fine, as well.
“Really,” Lou said for the tenth time. “I’m okay. Go help with Callum.”
“He’s already on his way to Denver. He got the luxury ride,” Amy said with a smile, helping her free her arms from the dry suit. She’d first moved toward Lou with scissors, as if to cut the suit off of her, but Lou had put her foot down. She was conscious and fully able to remove the dry suit—there was no reason to ruin an expensive piece of equipment. “Flight picked him up.”
“Flight for Life? Of course.” Her brain seemed a little sluggish. She remembered the limpness of his body and swallowed. “Was he conscious when he left? Still breathing okay?”
Amy ducked her head, focusing too hard on the dry-suit sleeve she still held. “They grabbed him and went. I don’t know what his vitals were, but they’ll work on him in the helicopter.”
“Oh.” Desolation washed all the warmth from her body, and shivers overtook her, despite the thermal underlayer she still wore. “He was without air for so long. I should’ve been faster.”
“Don’t give up on him yet,” Ian said, sticking his head into the back of the ambulance. “Remember, there’s no such thing as a cold, dead person. There’s only a warm, dead person.”
“She doesn’t need to hear that!” Amy snapped.
He just rolled his eyes. “Save all that PC shit for the tourists. Lou gets it—she’s one of us. Cold water is the best water to drown in. They’ve revived people up to an hour later—much longer than Callum was in the water. Besides, he’d come back from the dead rather than let someone else manage his dive team.”
With a watery laugh, Lou said, “True.”
“Need a ride home?”
“I need to check her out first,” Amy protested.
“Well, go for it. I’ll be back in five.”
