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“Copy.” Halo braced one foot under the dash and, pulling his knee in for a sidekick, he started battering the windshield, aiming for the corners and side where the window was the weakest. The first cracks were a victory. He kept kicking as the window pressed outward, like taffy. Created to protect the passengers in an accident, Halo knew there was no breaking this glass; all he could hope for was peeling it free.
With each kick, tiny shards peppered over them.
Suddenly, there were thunks on his hood. The car dipped forward. Gloved fingers wrapped into the progress he’d made and dragged the glass backward.
Gage’s face came into view. “We’re here. We’re tying you in. The people behind you are going to knock into the car, but you’re not moving forward anymore.” He swept his hand around the edge of the empty windshield space, removing the last of the glass shards.
“Got the mother?” Gage called, passing a line into the car. “Let’s get her out first. How’s she doing?”
“No change.” Halo clipped the carabiner in place. “The contractions are still five minutes apart.”
“We have an exit strategy and a car waiting.”
Hands, legs, feet, faces, there was a press of common effort as the unconscious woman was lifted free.
The water splashed and then gushed into the car.
Mary was thrusting the child forward.
Halo passed the tiny girl on to other hands.
“Come on, Mary, You’re next.”
But she grabbed Max’s collar and shoved him toward Halo.
Another bang shifted the car, and while it held in place, it tipped to its side.
Halo fought the rush of water. Filling his lungs he dove and reached, searching for Mary, but she was gone.
He couldn’t wrap his mind around the empty space.
A hand dragged Halo to the surface. “She’s in the water,” Gage yelled.
Halo scrambled out of the open windshield. Titus was on a line swimming toward Mary. Mary was digging in with one arm. Max had clamped his mouth onto Mary’s other arm and was swimming toward the car with single-minded determination.
Titus made a one-handed grab for her wrist and pulled them both in.
Gage got his fingers through Max’s collar, snapped a carabiner, tethering him to the line, and pulled Max onto the submerging car.
The water churned dark and angry. Halo was clamping into one of the lines, then dove into the water, clasping safety rigging for Mary. Until he was all the way in, he hadn’t fully appreciated the strength of the flash flood. The debris burned as it abraded his skin. With Titus gripping under her arms, Halo wrangled Mary into the harness.
Gage hefted Titus from the water.
The two turned and dragged Halo and Mary onto the side of the car. “We’ve got you!”
Halo looked over at the distance to the window. The waters below. His eye followed the rigging, and he was grateful for his team's expertise.
With Max draped over his shoulders, Gage moved hand over hand to the window where Nutsbe waited with an assist. After handing Max off, then climbed through the window.
Titus leaned in to talk into Halo’s. “I’m going up to join Gage.” He pointed at the second-story window where the rigging hooked in above the flood waters. Nutsbe leaned out, projecting a light down to illuminate the rescue. “Once we get up there, we’re going to use the pully to get your two into the apartment. Mary’s reserves were taxed by that swim. We’ll pull you two up together. Hang tight for a second while I get across.”
Titus swung hand over hand to the second-story window. “Ready?” Titus called out. “You two keep tight hold of each other.”
Mary and Halo looked at each other. “Always,” they said as one, then their lines tightened, and they were snatched into the air.
Epilogue
“Are you kidding me right now?” Sam asked from the corner of the couch where she’d curled up. “Kyle’s and my first meeting story is so sad compared to yours. Dangerous, romantic.” She hugged herself. “I mean, when Kyle proposed, it was on the same beach where we met having cocktails with friends, and I thought that was so sweet. But there you and Halo were, dangling from buildings and braving raging floods.”
