by Linda Gerber
Of course, I didn’t have much choice. He was coming, and I couldn’t leave the log in place for him to cross. I pushed myself into a sitting position, braced my back against some rocks, and pushed my feet against the end of the log until it gave way and tumbled down into the ravine. The rotted wood smashed into pieces at the bottom. I let out a breath. At least he wouldn’t be able to reach me.
My relief didn’t last long; a bullet ricocheted off the rock next to my head. I screamed and rolled to the side, scrabbling in the mud to reach the safety of the trees. In the shadows, I stood shakily and turned back just in time to see my pursuer running at full speed toward the ravine.
Time slowed, and I watched frame by frame as he flew through the air, arms and legs working for more distance. His feet hit the edge but slid backward in the mud. I was sure he was a goner, but at the last moment, he pitched forward onto his stomach and grabbed handfuls of weeds before the momentum could drag him down.
I didn’t wait to see more, but spun around and ran, the focus of my world narrowing to one objective: staying alive.
CHAPTER 12
The weird thing about being terrified is that it heightens your senses. I would have thought that your mind would shut down and you’d obsess about what was making you scared, but that’s not how it happened. Everything around me came into sharp focus, from the spongy texture of the jungle floor to the clean rain scent mixed with the earthy smell of humus. The hum of insects and tree frogs finding their voices after the storm seemed to be calling out to me. Run. Hide. Run. Hide.
I became acutely aware of the noise I made smashing through the undergrowth and winced at every footfall, knowing that he must be hearing it, too. I could hear him. Not clearly, but enough to know he was back there. Coming. My aim was to put enough distance between us that I could slip into the cove without leaving a trace.
Thing was, between my sanctuary and me lay the marshy old taro patch. On the best of days it’s a challenge to slog through. After the rains, it was even worse. Wild and overgrown and about the width of a football field, I knew it was going to slow me down, but there was nothing I could do about it. I slipped into the bog, hip-deep in water and sludge that sucked and pulled at my legs as if it wanted to root me to the hill forever.
I hadn’t made it far before I heard a crack in the jungle behind me. I dropped to my knees so that the muck closed around my chest and the huge, arrow-shaped leaves formed a canopy over my head. At least that was something to be grateful for; I’d be well hidden while I made my escape. I slid through the putrid water like a snake, navigating between the rows of taro plants.
Another rustling came from the undergrowth, much closer than before. I froze. Sheltered under the shadow of the clouded sky and the protective leaves of the taro, I considered the merits of staying right where I was. Except for one thing. The stagnant waters of the taro patch were the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. The rain had stopped now, and the mosquitoes had resumed their hunt for blood. There I sat—a living, breathing smorgasbord. They were all over me. I tried my best to wave them away, but there were too many of them. One landed on my face and sunk its proboscis into my skin. I flinched and reflexively swatted my cheek. Not a smart move. The noise apparently caught the killer’s attention because the rustling behind me became louder, more distinct. Even though I couldn’t see him, I knew he would be looking over the taro field now. It would be only a matter of time before he found me.
I eased toward the bank, gauging the distance between the end of the bog and the line of trees beyond. I had enough of a head start that I could probably lose him in the jungle. The questions were, how well he could aim in the dark, and was I willing to take the chance?
A splash at the opposite end of the field made the decision for me. He wasn’t going to wait until I showed myself; he was coming to find me. I couldn’t let him do that.
I slogged to the edge of the bog and tried to climb out, but the banks had turned to mud and kept coming away in handfuls. Behind me, I could hear him sloshing through the muck, tearing the plants out of his way.
In desperation, I dived at the bank, throwing myself as high aground as I could. When I was able to pull myself up, I crouched and ran for the trees.
I didn’t stop until I reached the clearing that surrounded my hidden pool. In the darkness it looked like a different place. Instead of the serene, magical escape I found during the day, the shadows were menacing, the lulling sound of the waterfall now like the roar of a feral beast.
The plan was simple enough: to swim to my cave and hide there for as long as it took for the assassin to go away. Of course, life seldom works out the way you plan.
I ran toward the ledge, but my foot hit something and I stumbled. Whatever it was went skittering across the rocks. I squinted through the dark. My vial! I reached for it, but it tumbled over the ledge and clattered to the rocks below.
Those extra moments cost me a clean escape. The unmistakable sound of movement among the trees sent new tremors of fear through my body. I spun around, looking for someplace to hide. I couldn’t jump into the pool now. The splash would alert him that I was here. I rushed into the shadows of the huge stones near the cliff wall just as he emerged from the jungle. Holding my breath, I watched as he scanned the clearing. In the darkness, I could make out only his shape as he crept like an animal on the prowl, light-footed and feline. He paused at the ledge and surveyed the empty water below before climbing down the rocks to patrol the banks of the pool. With any luck, he would move on when he found the place deserted.
Moonlight broke through the clouds, and I pressed my back against the stones, sending frantic telepathic messages. Don’t turn around. Keep walking. But he stopped. He bent to pick something up from the water’s edge and turned it over in his hands. My vial. Great. That’s just what I needed—a signal that someone’s been here.
The assassin turned around. He lifted his head. I drew in a breath.
He was not a he at all.
I almost called out to her. After worrying about her being lost alone in the storm with a killer on the loose, the only thing my brain could accept was that she was here, safe. And then I focused on the gun in her hand.
In the ghostly light of the moon, Hisako’s mouth curved into a wicked smile as she held up my pepper spray. “I know you are here, Elena,” she called. “It is no use to hide.”
I sank back against the stones, my mind reeling. Wait. Was Hisako working with Watts? Or was she the real hit man? Hit woman? Hit person? Had she killed Bianca? Was she trying to kill my dad? I couldn’t believe it was true. All those questions she asked earlier . . . she’d been using me to get at the Mulos! I shook my head. It couldn’t be real. And yet, there she was, and she wasn’t going to go away.
Disbelief quickly turned to anger. I narrowed my eyes at her dark shape. No way was I going to let her get away with this.
Watching her from the shadows, I considered my limited options. If Hisako got close enough to realize it was me she’d been chasing, she might just head back down to the Plantation House and waste the real Elena Mulo. Then she’d kill Dr. Mulo, who wouldn’t be able to save my dad. And what about Darlene? And Seth. No, I couldn’t let that happen. I didn’t have much time to think it through, but an idea formed in my head. It could work. . . .
Eventually, Hisako climbed back up the rocks and tossed the vial aside. She scanned the area again before heading back toward the trees. Just a little bit farther and I could make my move. I edged away from the stones, praying that my luck would hold. I tiptoed to the ledge. When I was in good diving position, I kicked at a loose stone.
It worked. The noise caught Hisako’s attention, and she spun to face me. She raised her gun.
Then, out of nowhere, came a dark shape, flying straight at me. I screamed. A shot echoed through the cove as the shape slammed into me, hurtling us both over the edge.
Seth.
The force of the impact knocked the breath from me, and I didn’t hav
e time to take another before we plunged into the water. I sank downward in the blackness, pulled by the weight of Mrs. Mulo’s coat. My lungs were already burning as I wriggled out of it and let it drift away. Even without the extra burden, I knew I was in trouble. If I popped back up to the surface to take a breath, I was dead. If I didn’t get air, I was dead. My only chance was to get to the cave. Seth brushed by me, and I tugged on his arm, signaling for him to follow.
The waterfall churned above my head as I groped along the rocks, desperately feeling for the opening. I forced the small amount of air in my lungs into my mouth and then swallowed it again to give myself more time. It prolonged the inevitable a few more seconds, but that was not nearly enough. A small stream of bubbles escaped my lips as my chest constricted. Sparks of light danced in my vision. My ears began to ring. With a strange sense of calm, I realized that I wasn’t going to make it.
It was then that Seth’s hand closed around mine and he pulled me close. I tried to push away, but my strength, like the oxygen, was gone. Weakly, I tried to signal that we needed to find the entrance to the cave. He didn’t seem to be getting the message. Instead, his free hand snaked around the back of my head. He drew me to him.
I’ve never felt such an electric shock pass through my body as when his lips touched mine. Every muscle, every nerve came alive, even as my life was slipping away.
I returned his kiss, parting my lips and letting my tongue slide tentatively along his. And then . . .
He pinched my nose and blew a breath into my mouth.
Too shocked at first to take it in, I pulled back, eyes opened wide. He grabbed me again and gave me another breath. I could feel my head clearing, which wasn’t such a great thing, because now that I could think straight, I felt like a total idiot.
Seth was buddy-breathing, not kissing me. What a fool. What a . . .
I didn’t have time to worry about it. Above our heads came a watery plink! followed by a zinging noise. Hisako was shooting into the water. I didn’t know if she could see us in the darkness or if she was just shooting randomly into the pool, but either way, we were like the proverbial fish in a barrel.
I grabbed Seth’s hand again and pulled him to where I hoped the opening was. Nothing. Solid rock. Another shot zinged by very close. I started to panic. Disoriented from the fall from the ledge and from the lack of oxygen, I had completely lost my bearings. It was too dark to see clearly among the shadows. Either we were going to drown, or Hisako was going to shoot us. Neither option sounded particularly appealing.
Seth pulled me close again. I shook my head. He couldn’t keep breathing for me, giving up his own air. With an exasperated grunt, he grabbed my hand and slapped it against the rocks, then moved it downward so that I could feel the emptiness below. The tunnel! Without hesitation, I dove for it and wriggled my way through.
It wasn’t until I had surfaced in the cave and sucked in a lungful of sweet, cool air that I began to worry about Seth. If it was tricky for 110-pound me to get through the opening, how was he, with his broad shoulders and football physique, ever going to make it?
I took a deep breath and dived back under, feeling along the rocks until I found Seth. He was straining to push himself through the opening, his muscles rigid and his chest all puffed up with the breath he was holding. I pounded on his torso and blew out a mouthful of air. The bubbles burbled to the surface. Seth continued to struggle. He wasn’t getting my message. I knocked on his chest again. Exhale, stupid!
As if he could hear my thoughts, he released his breath so that he had just enough give to push the rest of the way through. We came out of the water at the same time, our dual gasps for air echoing through the blackness of the cave.
I dragged myself out of the water, coughing and sputtering as I rolled onto my back on the cold, hard rocks. Seth flopped down beside me. I couldn’t see him in the dark, nor was I touching him, but I could feel he was there. The energy radiated from him like an electromagnet, surrounding me, vibrating through me. Just like our underwater kiss. Or unkiss.
My face burned as I thought of what I had done. What was I thinking? Sure, Seth. You’re trying to save me? Here. Let me stick my tongue in your mouth. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I could just imagine what must be going through his head. He would probably rag me about what I’d done. That thought made me want to hit him. Especially when it occurred to me that the whole thing was his fault anyway, so I shouldn’t be the one feeling dumb.
I sat up and glared through the darkness to where I knew he was lying. “Well, I hope you’re happy.”
He grunted.
“I had everything under control. All I had to do was let Hisako take a shot at me so I could fall into the water. I would have disappeared into the cave, and she’d have thought I was dead. But then you had to come along and try to be the big hero. You just about got us both killed!”
Again he grunted, which made me even angrier.
“One disappearing body she might have bought,” I raged, “but two? She’s going to figure out where we are. Caves behind waterfalls are not that uncommon. What happens when she comes after us? Did you think about that? Did you think at all?”
This time he didn’t make a sound.
“See? You have no answer to that, do you?”
Silence.
“Seth?”
I reached for him in the dark. His arm lay right next to me. Limp. I followed it up to his shoulder. His neck. My fingers moved up over his face, reading his features like Braille. He was out cold.
And he was deathly still.
My heart dropped as I realized he wasn’t breathing. Leaning close, I felt along his neck for a pulse and panicked when I couldn’t find one. “No! Oh, no. Seth!”
I shook him hard. “Come on, come on.” Kneeling beside him, I put my ear to his chest to listen for his heartbeat. What I felt about stopped my own heart cold.
Hot. Wet. Blood.
I bolted upright and fumbled with his shirt, ripping it away and feeling for where the blood was coming from. The coppery smell of it filled the air. My fingers found an oozing hole on his left arm, just below his shoulder.
The shot. Right before we fell. Ice gripped my chest when I realized that Seth must have taken the bullet. He had saved my life. Again. No way was I going to sit there and let him die.
I grabbed his face. “Seth!”
Hands trembling, I tilted his head back, lowering his chin to make sure his airway was clear. With a strange sense of déjà vu, I pinched his nose and sealed my lips over his to give him a breath. It was a lot harder on a real person than on the dummies they use for lifeguard certification. I had to try several times before I could feel his chest rise. I gave him another quick breath and switched positions to start chest compressions.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I was all kinds of scared, not the least of which was the knowledge that there was an assassin lurking nearby ready to kill us. My immediate fear, though, was not knowing what to do with Seth. What if the CPR got his heart pumping stronger just so he could bleed to death from the gunshot wound? The rational part of me knew that wasn’t likely, but I was way beyond rational by then.
I wished my dad were with me. I wished Seth’s dad was with him. I wished I could talk to my mom. I wished for a whole lot of things as I counted compressions. The Red Cross says thirty, hard and fast, between rescue breaths. That’s hard work. I pumped rhythmically. Overwhelmed. Exhausted. Terrified.
“Please,” I whispered into the darkness, “please don’t let him die.”
CHAPTER 13
Emotions that had been trapped inside for too long came tumbling out as I struggled to keep Seth alive. I vaguely remember tears, but I don’t know exactly who they were for. Perhaps for Seth. More likely for myself.
Something about being responsible for another person’s life thrusts your own under the microscope. You feel small, inadequate. At least I did. Every fault, every shortcoming magnified until I knew I wasn’t worthy. I would screw up yet agai
n, and Seth would die.
“Come on, Seth.” Pump, pump, pump, pump. “Keep fighting.” Strong breath. Listen. Strong breath. Pump, pump, pump, pump.
I kept giving him chest compressions and rescue breaths for I don’t know how long. My head grew light, my muscles tight and weak, but I continued. I never realized it would be such exhausting work. And still no response from Seth.
“Seth! Please! Don’t give up!”
I kept up an endless monologue. Mostly it was for my own benefit, but I hoped somewhere in his subconscious Seth could hear me. Maybe if he knew how I really felt about him, he might fight harder. I just hoped it wasn’t too late to admit it.
Pump, pump, pump, pump. Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty. Big breath. Listen. Big breath.
“Too late” was the story of my life. I thought of my dad lying on the couch in his office, and new tears rolled down my cheeks. All these years I had been so fixated on the mom who had gone that I’d never let myself get close to the dad who had stayed. So, all right, maybe my dad did have a hand in her leaving, but we could work that out. At least I knew now that she hadn’t gone because she didn’t want me. That meant more to me than anything. If we ever got out of this mess, things were going to be different. All I needed was another chance.
Pump, pump, pump. Big breath. Big breath.
Seth had reached a part of me I’d kept hidden for years. He saw right through the walls I’d built to keep people out. I thought of his easy smile and gentle humor. Of how he’d made me feel, standing there in the storm. Letting my guard down hadn’t been scary. It felt . . . good. Right.
I bent to give him another breath, and for the first time, I was sure I felt a response, a movement of his lips. He had my full attention now. “Seth?” I listened for a heartbeat. Nothing. I breathed for him again, feeling his chest rise and fall. Laid my head on his chest to listen for the heartbeat once more. Thunk, thunk. Thunk, thunk. It was faint, maybe a little erratic, but it was definitely there.
