AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Then the body of thekiller surfaced, floating, lifeless, carried by the indifferent waves.
With no thought savethe preservation of life, Ella kicked off her boots, her movements mechanical,driven by something primal and unyielding. She hurled herself into the water,the cold of ititing at her skin like a thousand needles. It welcomed her withicy arms, its currents clawing at her, threatening to drag her down into itsdepths, to claim her as it had claimed the man she sought to save.
Yet, she fought.Fought against the waves, against the darkness that sought to swallow themboth. Her hands found purchase on him—his clothes, his flesh—and she hauled himback toward the merciless rocks. Each stroke was a battle, her lungs screamingfor air, her muscles burning with every ounce of strength she summoned from thedepths of her resolve.
Finally, they collidedwith land. Ella dragged his limp form onto the stones, water sloughing fromthem in rivulets. His leg bore the mark of a bullet, and his pallor suggestedthat the icy waters and bullet holes had already sent this man to the other side.
‘Come on!’ she urged,pressing down on his chest with rhythmic desperation, commanding a heart tobeat, lungs to breathe. 'Breathe! Stay alive!'
For an eternity, therewas no response, just the futile compression of flesh and bone. Doubt crept in,a whispering shadow that questioned each compression, each breath she forcedinto his lungs. Was she too late?
Then, a miracledisguised as a violent coughing fit. His body convulsed, a harsh, gutturalsound tearing from his throat as it expelled the invading waters in a ragged,choking fit
Ella paused, her handsstill poised above his chest, her breath caught in her throat as she watched,wide-eyed and disbelieving, as life, stubborn and defiant, clawed its way backinto him.
Ella collapsed besidehim, her energy spent, her spirit hollowed out. Ripley rushed forward with theother officers, their pistols still aimed on the broken man beside her.
It was over, Ella toldherself. It was finally over.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Ella sat on thebridge, shivering uncontrollably, her body ensconced in the rough andultimately useless fabric of an emergency towel. Her eyes, red and raw fromsalt and strain, were fixed on the scene below—a chaotic ballet of officersmoving with purpose, securing the perimeter, ensuring their suspect didn't tryto submerge himself again.
Ripley was sittingbeside her. ‘Did you really need to jump in?’
Ella tried not tolaugh. ‘Yeah,’ she said, her voice a rasp, the cold biting at her throat. Shepulled the towel tighter around her shoulders. ‘I had to.’
'Why?'
‘I couldn't let him goout like that,’ Ella said, her breath forming small clouds in the frigid air.
'A lot of other peoplecould.'
'Yesterday you told meabout a sailor who fell overboard, the one who said that drowning was agony.This guy might be a murderer, but in his head, he's still a kid. And now he'sgoing to spend his life in a prison cell. I'd call that justice enough.'
‘Always the hero,’Ripley grinned.
'Dead men tell notales. No confessions, either,' Ella said.
Ella offered ahalf-smile, one that didn't quite reach her eyes. Heroism wasn't her aim—justjustice. And she'd dive into the depths a thousand times over if it meantdragging the truth up to the surface.
‘Lucky you're a goodswimmer.’
Ella managed a weakchuckle, the sound hollow in the cold air. 'By the way, did you really have toshoot him?'
Ripley shifted besideher and pulled out her gun, the metal glimmering faintly in the morning light.She popped the magazine with a flick of her wrist, revealing six intactbullets.
‘Didn't fire a shot,’she said. ‘Other officers did the shooting. I knew you had it under control.'
Gratitude washed overElla in an unexpected wave, mingling with the cold that seeped into her bones.A smile tugged at the corners of her lips, a small, weary upturn that spoke ofrespect, of shared experiences that went beyond the confines of standard partnership.
‘Thanks,’ Ella said.‘For trusting me. It means a lot.’
Ella's gaze turnedback to the scene, and there she saw officers escorting the unsub up the bridgein their direction. His clothes clung to his body, soaked through and stainedwith patches of red that weren't there before the icy plunge. His face was a maskof defeat, marred by the elements and the impact of his capture. Despite hisstate, something within Ella settled knowing he was alive.
As the officers limpedthe subdued killer past her, his leg wrapped in bloody towels, Ella caught hiseye, expecting to see resentment, hatred, or perhaps the void ofremorselessness she had encountered in so many others.
But instead, there wasan unexpected glint of something else, something that took her bysurprise—recognition, maybe even a trace of gratitude. Their eyes locked for afleeting moment, and in that brief exchange, Ella sensed a silentacknowledgment. This man, a killer, whose actions had warranted nothing butdisdain, was looking at her not with the eyes of a monster, but with thehumanity she had fought so hard to preserve.
