Page 57 of The Deadly Shallows

“There’s a sandbar out there,” Austin said between strokes, “but the water’s too deep for her to stand.”

Megan struggled, screaming with each movement. Billy still gripped her hand but wobbled in the unsteady canoe.

“There’s—” Billy lost his balance and fell back into the canoe, letting go of Megan. She dropped below the water surface, then back up, gulping for air, screaming.

“There’s blood in the water,” Billy cried.

They couldn’t be dealing with a tiger shark, could they? Caleb finally reached a very panic-stricken Megan. “It’s okay,” he said, keeping his voice even. “I’m a policeman. I’m going to help you.”

“I’m stuck, and it hurts,” she wailed.

“Megan, I’m going to go under and take a look,” he said as Austin settled Billy in the canoe.

Megan nodded, and he dove. The water was murky, but thankfully, the light was bright this morning. He saw something tall and round with a jagged hole in it. Somehow Megan’s leg had gotten caught inside. Every time she and Billy tugged to pull her free, the jagged edges had cut deeper into her little leg.

He rose back above the surface. “Your foot is caught in a broken barrel. Don’t worry. I’ll get you out, but the less you move, the less it’ll hurt. Okay?”

She nodded, eyes wide, but she appeared to be calming.

He turned to Austin. “Head back to shore with Billy, call for an ambulance, and I need something to cut the metal around Megan’s leg. Gardening shears, maybe?”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

She paddled for shore and returned minutes later with what looked to be a large pair of shears. She handed them off, saying, “The ambulance should be here soon. Billy’s in the house. I’m going to call their dad. He works just a couple minutes away. And I’ll grab some blankets.”

“Good idea.” He ducked back under and cut the barrel until he had a wide enough opening. Then he looped his arm around Megan’s stomach and gently pulled her up.

As Caleb settled Megan on the shore, he saw deep lacerations covered her left calf, and blood streaked down, dripping off her foot.

“Megan! What are you doing out here?” A crass brunette stomped up. “Who are you? What are you doing with Megan?”

“Celia!” Austin said, striding up with blankets in hand.

She dropped them next to Megan and turned to the woman. “We found them in the water, and Megan’s leg is all cut up. If you turned off the TV and stayed off your phone long enough to actually watch the kids you’re paid to watch, everything would have been fine.”

Sirens wailed in the distance, growing closer until the red swirling lights rounded the corner.

Celia looked between the arriving ambulance and them. “I had nothing to do with this.” She shook her head. “This—” she waggled her finger—“this was not my fault.”

“Clearly it was,” Austin said, as she sat next to Megan on the grass, wrapping her in a blanket, holding her cold, trembling hand.

Billy ran out of the house just as their dad, who Austin whispered was Thomas, pulled up, jumped out of his car, and rushed down the driveway. “What happened?”

Billy fastened to his dad’s leg as Austin explained.

“I can’t thank you enough,” Thomas said. He lifted Billy into his arms and hurried to Megan’s side, holding her hand as the paramedic, who identified himself as Trent, triaged her.

“Would you like to ride in the back with your daughter?” Trent asked Thomas when she was settled in for the ride.

“Of course.”

“We can watch Billy if that would help,” Austin offered.

“Carol is meeting me at the hospital. We’ll watch him, but thank you. Thank you so much.”

“The big guy is welcome to ride up front with me,” Trent said.

Billy smiled. “Cool.”