by Tatum Throne
They headed to bed, determined to get some rest before they woke up at dawn for more training. Kyle thought about that night on the bridge. They had never talked about that night. Kyle thought he needed to with Mason.
“I thought I was going to die that day.”
“I’m glad that I was there so I could catch you before you fell.”
“Me, too.”
Between the bunks their hands joined. He hoped that nothing would ever happen to take him away from Mason, but he couldn’t be sure. He knew that his job would take him into places and situations that would scare the hell of him. It also made things worth fighting for and living for. Mason gave his hand a tight squeeze before letting it go. He knew that neither one could risk getting caught. Kyle turned over onto the bunk, closing his eyes. He thought about how Mason had just taken him hard in the forest. He couldn’t wait to have his lover again. He wondered if they’d have any more time together like that. It felt so good to be taken outside and have his Dom have his way with him. He wondered if they’d ever truly have a normal relationship. One where they wouldn’t be sneaking around and forever looking over their shoulders. Kyle hoped that one day they would.
Kyle thought about transferring units, but he didn’t want to with the SWAT training coming to a close. He wanted a chance to be part of the best and to be the best. Even if that meant letting go of what he had with Mason, he would. He loved the job. He hoped that he could one day work it out with Mason, but he wasn’t sure if he could. He wanted everything to work out, but what was going to happen when their relationship came out?
Chapter Ten
It wasn’t often that Kyle took over patrol, but he sometimes did as a lieutenant when things needed to be filled in on the schedule. Tonight was no exception. As he sat there watching the cars go by, the rain started to fall, hitting the windshield hard. Kyle was still physically strung out from his training at Camp Tack. His testing was in two weeks. TJ had assured him that he would pass with no problem. He needed the time to clear his head and get ready. His relationship with Mason was getting intense and starting to distract him. Kyle looked out at the yellow bridge still wondering how Mason had managed to save him. Kyle knew, too, that this was his first night on patrol since the incident on the bridge. It sure gave him a little bit of apprehension as he watched the cars go by and he checked his radar. He was looking for any infraction that would cause him to flip on his lights.
It was the call that came over the radio that they needed him to block the northbound lane of the bridge that caught his attention. Officers in Newport were on a high-speed pursuit, coming through Covington. It wouldn’t be long before they hit Newport and they would be crossing the bridge into downtown Cincinnati. Mason knew they needed backup. He called for backup and took up position, blocking the exit ramp.
As several other patrol cars came over, blocking the northbound lane of the bridge, Kyle got out of his vehicle and walked along the edge. Off in the distance, he caught sight of lights. He knew what he needed to do. He needed to deploy the stop sticks to bring this chase to an end. Just as the car was coming over the bridge, it caught air and slammed, spinning into the side of the bridge. The car came to a jolting stop. Kyle took off down the road at a run, sprinting down the bridge to bring this person to a stop. The suspect jumped out of the car with a gun in his hand. Despite being dazed, he leveled the gun toward Kyle.
Kyle took out his sidearm. “Put the gun down! Get down on the ground!”
The guy was only given one warning before he was going to shoot his weapon. Kyle ran down the side of the bridge. As the guy staggered forward with this gun, he fell against the side of the car. When Kyle thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, a woman was dragged from the car by the man pointing the gun. He brought the gun to the woman’s head and dragged her out. Rain fell hard upon everything around him.
“I’m going to kill her if you don’t back up!”
A shiver went down Kyle’s spine as he thought about how he was in the exact situation just two months ago. The woman’s eyes were wide with fear. Kyle moved forward, lifting his hand, showing that he had holstered his gun.
“Hey! Calm down, buddy! Everything’s going to be okay. Just let the woman go.”
“Not going to happen. You need to back the fuck up!”
This time Kyle knew that no one would be coming to his rescue. He had to diffuse the situation and make it happen fast. He was relieved that he wore his bulletproof vest tonight. He didn’t always. It was stupid, but he didn’t. Tonight, something told him that he would need it. There was something about the night that had thrown him off. It was as though he had stepped into a bad horror movie when he had gone out on patrol. There was something dark and eerie about the evening. There was something about this bridge that always seemed to throw the police officers off, too.
“Let the woman go!”
“Not going to happen! I want a car!”
Kyle knew he had no choice but to shoot the guy. The woman’s eyes were tormented with fear. She bit the man’s arm as she struggled to get away. He screamed, staggering toward the grate. Kyle rushed for the man. They stumbled backward toward the edge of the bridge. Kyle knocked the guy’s gun out of his hand, sending it spinning. Kyle grabbed the woman, shoving her across the bridge just as he jumped onto the man. They struggled and fought. Kyle didn’t think he was going to be able to pin him.
Cincinnati police officers were rushing from northbound side of the bridge, and Newport police officers were rushing from the South. Kyle didn’t think he was going to be able to hold the guy off. The guy fought him to get away. The man struggled to pull him over the side of the bridge. Kyle knew he was fucked if he didn’t put an end to the situation. The man pulled him over the three-foot cement barrier, kicking him toward the edge of the bridge. The guy flung himself over the side of the bridge into the Ohio River two hundred feet below.
Kyle slipped, grabbing onto the grate as his legs went over the bridge. He was hanging off the bridge. The man screamed as he jumped into the raging waters of the Ohio River. Kyle struggled to pull himself up and climbed back onto the bridge. With his twenty pounds of gear on and his five pounds of Kevlar covering his body, he was having a really hard time of it. All of a sudden, Officer Keats was above him, grabbing onto his wrists.
“I’ve got you! Hang on!” Keats yelled.
“I can’t pull myself up!”
“Just don’t let go of me!”
Kyle screamed as his fingers slipped through the wet grate and cut hard. Just as he saw more police officers rush toward them, Kyle lost his hold with his left hand. His body spun around, making it impossible to hold on any longer with his right hand. Kyle was going to fall and there was nothing he could do to stop it from happening. There was nothing officer Keats could do to hold onto him for much longer.
“Don’t let go of me!” Kyle screamed.
“I’ve got you! Hang on!”
Kyle screamed as his hand slipped through the grate and Officer Keats’s hand. He fell from the bridge, landing two hundred feet below. He splashed into the water, sinking hard and fast like a two-ton boulder. He knew he had to kick and fight to get to the surface, but the weight of his gear was pulling him down. Kyle struggled to kick off his boots. The belt around his waist came off next. It slipped from his fingers and fell to the riverbed below. Kyle yanked his shirt open, ripping the buttons off. His work shirt was like wax on his body. He peeled it off, working on the Kevlar around his body next. He knew he didn’t have a chance if he didn’t get the bulletproof vest off of him.
Kyle’s head started to spin from lack of oxygen. The vest went quickly over his head. Kyle started to kick and swim through the rough waters of the Ohio River above him. He surfaced on a long gasp as he struggled to maintain himself in the water. Kyle was shocked to see that the current had taken him nearly fifty yards from the bridge. Kyle looked around for the man who had jumped, but he saw no signs of him. He was probably already downriver from t
he current. Kyle moved farther away from the bridge. He looked up to see his fellow officers searching for him and pointing their flashlights as they tried to track him through the rough waters. Kyle struggled to swim to the riverbank, but was having a hard time of it. He fought to keep his head above the water as the rain hit him in the face. He didn’t know how long he could continue to swim so hard.
Despite removing the weight of his equipment, his pants were slogging him down. It was as though he had twenty-pound weights on each leg. Kyle knew that nobody would be coming to his rescue for a long while. It would be hard for them to catch up to him so it was all on him to save his life. He struggled to catch the current in the right way to get to the riverbank, but he was having a tough time of it. Kyle thought about Mason and about what they could have had. He just wanted a chance—any chance to be with him again. He thought about all the things he had done and all the things he wanted to do. All of that was gone now if he didn’t fight. If he did not fight, he knew he wouldn’t win. Kyle struggled to catch a piece of driftwood floating past him. Kyle grabbed onto it, trying to hold on tight, but it was no use. His hands slipped off of it. Whatever slime was on it was not letting him grip it tight.
Kyle thought about Mason as his head bobbed underwater. He now knew that he wouldn’t ever be seeing him again and that sucked big time. Kyle’s head went underwater several times. Exhaustion and fear went through his body. It would be so easy to sink, but he battled to keep his head above water. He was getting tired out, but there was nothing he could do. He had to keep trying, but he was reaching his hard limit. He glanced back at the shining lights of the bridge looming high above the water.
The golden arches were beautiful at nighttime. Kyle had driven over that bridge hundreds, maybe thousands of times. He couldn’t believe that it would be what had ultimately killed him. Kyle was so tired of trying to keep from sinking. He knew that he had to let go. Just then a longer piece of driftwood came splashing by. He tried to grab onto it, but it slipped through his fingers. He knew it was over. This was the end.
* * * *
Mason was in a meeting when he got word about the standoff on the bridge. He was sickened that it was happening all over again. He heard that his sub was at the center of all of it, too. Panic raced through his heart as he drove to the scene. Rain plastered against the windshield as he tried to keep his emotions in check. Updates kept coming to him via the radio. It was only when he pulled to a stop at the scene that he had heard over the radio that Kyle had fallen off the bridge after the suspect had jumped. Mason’s heart panicked. There was no way he could survive a fall into the raging waters of the Ohio River below.
Water rescue was already called in and on the way, but would they make it in time? Mason looked down at the water from the top of the bridge as he raced along the pathway. He had to get down there. He had to find him. Officer Keats’s light was trained on the water as they tried to find him.
“Over there!” Keats yelled.
Someone surfaced on a gasp. Mason’s eyes followed the man’s dark hair as he bobbed up and down in the water. The current was too strong and the person kept going under. They wouldn’t be able to survive this current for very long.
“Keats, you’re with me. We’re going down there,” Mason said.
They rushed back to his vehicle. By the time Mason drove around to the riverbed, dogs were already on the ground, searching for any sign of his police officer or the person who had jumped off the bridge. The weather was a bitch. They had to hurry. No one could survive this rush of water for very long. Especially if they had twenty-five pounds of gear on their body.
Mason scanned the riverbank and the rushing water. He wanted to be on the boat, checking the water. He flagged down the water rescue team and came aboard. They raced down the water looking for any sign of Kyle. Fear moved through Mason’s body as he thought about how he’d never see Kyle ever again. He did not want to have to tell his family that he was gone. He couldn’t accept that. He had to find him alive. He knew they only had a short amount of time before the chill of the water would cause hypothermia. The trauma of falling would probably cause him to go into shock, too.
Mason worked the high-powered light as he pointed it on the water, searching for any sign of Kyle. The thought of losing him was tearing him up inside. Mason wasn’t a man who normally prayed, but right then he was begging the universe to keep Kyle safe and to bring him home. He did not want to lose a police officer on his first few months of duty with the police department. They had a history of staying safe and keeping everyone strong. He didn’t want to be the first acting police chief to lose an officer on duty. Mason searched the water as the rain splashed him in the face.
“Over there! Eleven o’clock!”
Mason pointed the light where the officer was indicating. The boat raced up upon the man, popping up and down in the water. They pulled alongside him and grabbed him by the arms, pulling him into the boat. It was their suspect. This wasn’t Kyle. TJ got onto his radio and called the situation in. The man coughed and sputtered, but he was going to be okay. Mason wanted to find Kyle before it was too late. They handcuffed the man and left him in the boat as they continue to search the water. Mason did not want to end the search before he found Kyle. The light skimmed over the water at the boat moved down the middle of river.
Along the shore, Mason saw the dogs searching for Kyle along the riverbank. There was no sign of Kyle anywhere. Mason couldn’t believe that he was going to lose the love of his life before they could even begin. Mason scanned the water as tension raced through his body. He couldn’t give up. He would never get over it if he lost his love.
As the minutes bled into hours, Mason knew that their odds of finding Kyle alive were waning. They had taken their suspect ashore and handed him over to Newport police. Mason and the dive team got back onto the water to search for Kyle. The dogs continued to search the riverbank, but there was no sign of him. They were heading toward the far end of the river when one of the officers caught sight of something bobbing in the water. They edged the boat up alongside it. Mason leaned over snatching the piece of cloth. It was Kyle’s shirt. How the hell had he even taken it off?
Mason tightened his hand in the shirt, holding it close to his chest. A glimmer of hope raced through his body when he realized that Kyle had ditched his gear.
“He has to be still alive,” Mason said.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. Everyone knows that you have to ditch your gear to be able to swim through rough current. He must’ve had a bulletproof vest on and ditched it, too. If he’s out here, he’s alive.”
Mason’s eyes locked with TJ’s. There was doubt within TJ’s eyes, but he nodded. They got back out on the water and continued to search, looking everywhere as the sun began to rise high in the sky. Mason was not about to give up on one of his officers, not until he brought him home. Several search-and-rescue boats were now in the water from different departments. Despite being tired, Mason was not about to end the search. They were heading down the river when word came in that they had found a half-naked man on the riverbank. It was Kyle. Relief poured through Mason’s body as they turned the boat around and headed toward that spot on the riverbank. Mason knew he wasn’t going to be happy until he caught sight of Kyle in the flesh. He had to know he was okay. As they came along the riverbank, he was being loaded up onto a stretcher and taken to the hospital. God, he had to be okay. Mason knew it wouldn’t be easy for anyone to survive rough waters for nine hours. Somehow Kyle must have done it.
He hoped that he was okay and had no long-term damage. The psychological effect of being injured in the field could linger for years. Having one of their own injured was enough to make anyone reassess their life.
TJ grabbed Mason’s arm. “I’ll drive you to the hospital. You don’t look like you’re in any shape to drive.”
For the first time in Mason’s life, he could agree with somebody else. He knew that he was in no shape
to drive. All he wanted to do was to get to Kyle and make sure he was okay. He nodded, allowing TJ to anchor the boat to the dock and take him to the hospital. TJ glanced over at him and their eyes held for just a moment as they drove to the hospital.
“Everything’s going to be okay. You know that, don’t you?” TJ said.
“I’ll know for sure when I see him with my own eyes.”
“Just remember that a lot of the men will be there.”
“I will. You don’t need to worry about me. I got this handled.”
Chapter Eleven
Kyle felt as though he went five rounds with a MMA fighter. He was still astonished that he made it, that they found him and helped drag his ass out of the water. He was lucky to be alive. He felt like he needed a shower and about ten gallons of toothpaste to wash the taste of the Ohio River out of his mouth. As the doctor gave him the all clear in the emergency room, Kyle stood up from the bed. He just wanted to get home.
“You should probably stay overnight just for observation.”
Kyle shook his head no. “I’m fine. You said I’m good to go.”
“You don’t look so hot right now.”
“Thanks.”
“You have to be signed out against medical advice then.”
“That’s fine with me. Get me the form. I’ll sign it. I just need to get home and get some rest. It’s been a long day.”
Just as Kyle was getting to his feet, Mason came through the door with TJ at his side. It looked as though they were shocked to see that he was standing up next to the bed and about to walk out the door.
