AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One more grenade and we’re all going into the water sooner rather than later.
WHOOSH!
Another one whistles over my head and then crashes into the ice a few feet away. The boom is loud and my ears are ringing. Before I can comprehend what’s happening, the ice beneath me splits into a million pieces and I drop into the freezing water. Another grenade hits and I lose sight of Lake as more ice shatters around me, pelting me with shards of frozen fragments and sucking me under the freezing water.
Icy needles pierce my skin, but it’s not the cold that freaks me out—it’s being pulled under and sideways by the insane current happening beneath the icy surface. My eyes search for sunlight and I’m fighting against the current, trying to swim back up, but all I see is a sheet of solid ice above me.It’s too dark and I’ve lost sight of the hole where I can climb out.
No way out.
Panic gnaws at my gut and suddenly I’m back in Syria, tied down, a wet towel over my mouth and nose. Being waterboarded sucks, but my Delta training prepared me for it. Even taught me tricks to get through it. It was when they tied a rope around my ankles and tossed me head-first into an old well that nearly broke me. Suspended upside down with my hands secured behind my back and my mouth and nose filling with stagnant water, I did my best to remain calm. But the first inhale of water into your lungs sets off a panic in part of your mind that screams you’re going to die while another part of your brain prays they’re going to pull you out and expel the water soaking into your lungs.
They waited and I fought and bucked, doing my best not to breathe in more. But when you think you’re going to drown, it’s hard to remain calm and cool. All rationality disappears fast. Eventually my captors pulled me out and, for whatever reason, decided to only let me half-drown.
Maybe because I refused to give them the answers they wanted, but I was too valuable for them to kill me.
Right now, I’m fighting the urge to breathe and my lungs are burning as I kick to the surface, struggling against the current battering me around. My head hits a chunk of ice and I lift my fist and pound. It’s too thick here so I swim forward, head scraping along the jagged formation, desperately searching for an exit.
Then I see a large pair of hands appear in the water, not too far away. Kicking like mad, I swim over, grab the extended hands and Aidan heaves me up out of a hole and onto a slab of ice. Coughing and shivering, I try to stand up, but my legs buckle.
“Dash!” Lake screams my name and drops down beside me. “Are you hurt? Did you get hit?”
“N-no,” I say, teeth chattering.Fuck, it’s cold.
“He’s alright,” Aidan states, grabbing my wrist and checking my pulse. “Just a little frozen.”
“Just a l-little,” I acknowledge. “What happened to our f-friends?”
“Maddox blew them all to hell,” Cassian says. “C’mon, we need to get you on that bird and warmed up fast.”
Aidan and Cassian each grab one of my arms and hoist me up, propping me up between them, and we follow Lake, jogging over to the waiting helo like some bizarre three-legged race.
“What the fuck happened?” Finn says in greeting as they lift me in through the open door. I can barely feel my feet and my legs refuse to do anything productive to aid in my rescue.
“Don’t ask,” Cassian says. “We need to get him warm. Fast.”
“Lay him down,” Aidan orders. “Clothes off, Slater. And please have your woman help,” he adds jokingly. “We don’t need to see your junk.”
I’d flip him off, but I can’t feel my finger.
Lake immediately starts tugging my shirt over my head and I try to help but my limbs are refusing to cooperate. They’re stiff and I’m shaking so damn hard. Nearby Cassian grabs a Ready-Heat blanket.
“What is that?” Lake asks, working on my pants.
“It’ll heat up, keep him warm. Good for treating hypothermia, shock and trauma. Get under it with him.”
“You might want to take your wet clothes off, too,” Aidan recommends then turns away.
For the first time, I notice that Lake is also wet, and I remember they’d mentioned a short swim. Cassian and Aidan, on the other hand, are in some kind of waterproof clothing and look completely comfortable. Damn SEALs are used to cold water and never seem to mind it.
Lake pulls her shirt off and slides under the blanket with me. After she shimmies out of her leggings, I pull her against me, wrapping my arms around her, and burying my face in the curve of her neck. The blanket slowly begins to warm up and it’ll reach 100 degrees within the next ten minutes. Meanwhile, I hold her body against mine, and being skin to skin with Lake is the best medicine I could ask for. Her touch instantly begins warming me up and the guys back off, giving us a moment together.
While Finn makes his way to the cockpit, I lift my head. “What about the others?” I ask wearily.
“Fallon, report,” Aidan says, pressing on the small comms unit in his ear. He listens for a moment then says, “They have Nik. He’s pretty banged up, but he’ll survive. They’re getting in their SUV as we speak. They have the T-Force, too.”
Thank God.I lean my forehead against Lake’s and briefly close my eyes as the whir of the rotors fills the air. We did it. We escaped Anton Petrov and somehow we’re all still in one piece and breathing. It’s a fucking miracle.
And then I hear the horrible sound of another RPG. It shoots past us, exploding far too close, and the entire helo tilts sickeningly.
