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“Stop that,” he said, humor lining his words.
But she couldn’t and for several minutes the two of them laughed like idiots.
“This is going to suck,” she said.
“Yep,” he agreed. “Let’s get going.”
“Oh, wait. Your phone rang while you were wrestling with the elements and our now soon-to-be former vehicle. May Oscar rest in pieces.” She couldn’t keep a straight face.
Amusement shimmered in his gaze. “Shut up and who’s Oscar?”
She could only giggle. “This rust bucket of a truck, of course. Who else? Grouchy, grumpy, slow, and protesting the whole way.”
He shook his head, his look indulgent. “You named the truck?” He chuckled, trying to keep his serious we’re-going-to-have-to-find-another-vehicle face in place, failing, then trying again. “Don’t start again,” he said, reaching for his phone.
He tapped at the screen, then set the phone to his ear. He bent his head, then plugged his other ear. “I can’t hear you. Tex? Sir?” He looked at the phone. “Dammit,” no bars. The rain is interfering.” He stretched for his pack and tucked the phone inside. He reached for her bag, but still jumpy about her Choos, she clutched it.
“Easy there. Don’t you want your shoes to stay dry?”
“Yes, but—”
“My pack is waterproof.”
“Oh, yes, thank you.” He took the bag from her and tucked it and the extra clothes he was kind enough to buy her inside. At least she’d have something dry to wear when she got to wherever they were going, providing she didn’t drown in the process.
“I think we should push the truck off the road and hide it as best as we can.”
She nodded. It was a good idea. If Ramos was looking for them, and happened across that old man in that shantytown, he wouldn’t hesitate to give them up. Why wouldn’t he?
But the moment she opened the door, it simply fell out of her grasp, and she jumped back as it hit the ground. She was instantly soaked down to her skin, including her underwear and the sneakers Easy had gotten for her. Then the truck started to shudder, and it collapsed as the back tire came clear off and rolled into the murk.
Easy came around the truck and said, “What the hell?” He bent down and looked under the vehicle. “Rusted axle. It’s a good thing we stopped. Who knows what would have happened if it had cracked and broken while we were driving.” He slipped his arm around her. “Let’s move before the wind sends chunks of rusted metal our way,” he shouted over the roar of the downpour.
She shivered at the sudden drop in temperature and stayed close to Easy. They walked against the howling wind driving water into their faces, so they could barely see where they were going. The whole world seemed to be made of sheets and sheets of water.
They made it into the meager cover of the trees. The sky gave them very little light. Mountains rose around them, the tree line silhouetted in silver against the gray sky.As she took a step, she could feel the water rushing over her ankles. She looked down, thinking she had stumbled into a stream. Confused, she looked at Easy, but then there was a rumbling roar and her head whipped around. A ten-foot rushing wave of water rolled toward her, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it had swept over the truck and caught it up with debris and branches. It was a raging flash flood.
Easy shouted, but it was too late. The water hit her with a driving force that knocked the breath out of her and lifted her off her feet in an instant. The power of it rolled her around in the stream like a rag doll, and she couldn’t even get her bearings to try to swim, the sudden current swift and treacherous. Part of the truck’s door came perilously close to her head, the edge of the rusted metal scoring her cheek with a painful slice of pain. Without warning, the ground was gone and there was nothing there. She couldn’t even draw a breath to scream.
Then suddenly she stopped short, someone had her wrist as the water continued to pour over them and disappear below. It was a drop-off, and she couldn’t even see anything but darkness underneath her as she dangled in midair, the water continuing to strike her face, flowing over her shoulders.
Finally, the deluge slowed, then stopped altogether. She gasped for breath as she looked up to see that Easy had his arm securely around a tree root.
“Don’t panic, Jack. If you thrash, I’ll lose my grip.”
It took everything she had, every ounce of willpower and trust she had in the man above her. “Okay,” she said, gritting her teeth.
“Good.” There was that beautiful calm voice, and it worked its soothing magic. “Look over your left shoulder. See that outcropping of land?”
She swiveled her head, and her mouth went dry. There was an outcropping all right, but the land was ragged and torn. It was clear trees had toppled, their roots ripped from the ground. There was no way to know if the rain and flash waters had loosened the dirt.
“I’m going to toss you over there. Grab on and don’t let go.”
Don’t let go? Oh, God.She looked up at him and met his gaze. They stared at each other as seconds passed. She felt a connection with him, strong and unbreakable. There was no way he was going to drop her, and no way he was going to let them die. All of that was in those gorgeous blue eyes.
“Are you going to count to three on this He-Man maneuver, Prince Charming?”
He huffed a breath. “Jack—I can’t be both.”
