Secrets Never Die (Morgan Dane #5)(79)

Chapter Thirty-Three

“Do you have a phone?” Morgan shouted to Tina.

“Yes,” Tina yelled back.

“Call 911! Then help Rylee.” Morgan ordered over her shoulder as she raced down the wooden steps. She couldn’t make a call with her hands tied behind her back.

Behind her, Tina was at Rylee’s side.

“OK!” Tina answered.

She’d left Tina and Rylee on the upper deck, with Tina trying to stanch the bleeding of Rylee’s bullet wound. Morgan hit the lower deck, turned, and raced across the boards to the wet ground.

Where is Lance?

She tracked a line of footprints in the mud. They led right into the river. Morgan ran to the riverbank, scanning the water. A head broke the surface. Was that Lance? A second head popped above the water. The two men struggled, fighting the white water and each other as the current swept them away.

Morgan ran along the bank, keeping pace with them, feeling helpless.

The men shot between huge boulders and disappeared as they were sucked down into a dark pool of water.

Morgan stared over the water, her heart clenching as Lance disappeared, refusing to blink in case she missed some sign of him. But nothing happened. Seconds ticked past as dread eddied and pooled behind her solar plexus.

He couldn’t drown. Not after everything they’d been through together. Morgan moved to the water’s edge, her eyes scanning the surface. Rain pummeled the river and her face.

Where are you?

A head broke the surface. But it was Aaron. Clutching one hand to his chest, he used his other to grab her ankle and try to pull her into the water. With no hands and no way to reach her gun, Morgan pulled her free leg back and kicked him in the head as hard as her precarious balance would allow.

Her boot connected solidly with his face. Blood spurted from his nose, and Aaron’s head snapped backward. She fell on her ass in the weeds, but he kept his grip on her foot, grunting and pulling her toward the rapids. His eyes lit with desperate cruelty.

Morgan’s body slid a few inches in the slick mud. She kicked at his hands, but he held on, his mouth set in grim determination to drag her into the water.

Lance’s head popped up. He grabbed Aaron by the hair. Morgan sent one final kick into Aaron’s face as Lance dragged him away. Both men went under. Morgan couldn’t see any bubbles. The water was too turbulent.

Desperate, she held her breath and searched the surface.

Where are you?

A head broke the water. Lance! Relief pushed the air from her lungs. He shook the water from his hair and swam to the bank. Morgan rushed forward as Lance climbed out of the water.

They both collapsed for two breaths. Rain pounded Morgan’s face as she kept one eye on the surface of the water in case Aaron came for them again. “Is he . . .”

Lance sat up. His eyes narrowed. “You don’t have to worry about him. He’s not coming up again.”

“Good.” Morgan had no pity for the man. He’d killed Paul. He’d shot two innocent teenagers.

Nodding, but clearly still out of breath, Lance stood.

With her hands still bound behind her back, Morgan kicked out, using momentum to rock onto her knees. Lance helped her to her feet.

“I couldn’t break the zip tie,” she said as they hurried across the muddy ground.

“It takes practice.” Lance dug into his pocket and pulled out his keys. “Turn around.”

She did. The plastic dug deeper into her wrists, but he released the tie in a few seconds. Morgan rubbed her wrists and stared at the falls. A fresh burst of alarm shot through her. The water had risen significantly since they’d arrived, and the rain showed no sign of letting up.

She gasped. “The river is almost at the entrance to the cave.”

“Did you call 911?”

“Tina did.”

“But there’s no telling how long it will take them to get here. The roads are flooded, and I’m sure they’re inundated with emergency calls.” Lance sprinted to the edge of the water across from the cave. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Evan!”

There was no response.

Panting, Morgan stopped next to him. She assessed the swirling, raging water. How would they get across? “What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know.” Lance’s body was still, but she knew he was trying to come up with a plan. “I could probably swim to the cave, but I don’t know how I’d get Evan back across.”

“Do we have rope?” she asked. “You can string a line across as a guide.”

“In the Jeep.” He turned and ran up the steps. Morgan followed. She reached the higher deck just a few seconds behind him.

Rylee lay flat on her back, with her leg elevated on the deck railing. Tina had tied her jacket around Rylee’s leg. The girl was bone white and trembling, and the pant leg of her jeans was completely saturated with blood from midthigh down.

Tina glanced over the edge of the deck. “I have to save my son.”

But how? Neither Tina nor Morgan was physically strong enough to cross the river or move someone the size of Evan.

“It’s going to take some muscle,” Lance said. “If you look after Rylee, I’ll get Evan.”

“I don’t want Rylee to move.” Tina stood. “If you carry her down to the parking lot, I have additional first aid supplies in my car.”