Page 94 of Clive Cussler's Quantum Tempest

Panama

Raven and Linc stood on the bank of the raging river in the suffocating dark.

Scudding clouds strobed the thin moonlight over the boulders arrayed like staggered stairsteps across the wide expanse. Heavy logs and branches swept through the roiling waters, thudding like rubber hammers against the rocks.

“Whaddya think?” Raven asked. They’d already trekked three miles off their trail. So far, this was the narrowest ford. Cabrillo only gave them twenty-four hours to reach Eidolon.

“We should’ve already been there. But if we get taken out by that river we’re not gonna make it anyway.”

“We can look for a better crossing, but no telling how long it will take to find one.”

“So we risk drowning now or waste time and lose our target.”

“Not much of a choice, is it?”

“Mission comes first.”

“Always.” A heavy cloud suddenly shadowed the moon, dumping a torrent of hammering rain. Raven wiped the hair out of her face. “I guess the only easy day was never.”

Linc tightened the strap on his stolen AK rifle beneath his jacket. Raven secured her weapon as well.

“Follow me.” Linc leaped to the first flat rock just beyond themuddy bank. He landed like a cat, but his boots slipped on the algae-slicked surface. His flailing arms barely kept him upright.

“No style points for you, big boy,” Raven teased before launching herself. She landed next to him, steadied by his grip.

The cloud passed, stopping the rain as quickly as it had started. The moon bathed the churning waters in faint light.

“Two feet down. A hundred to go.”

Linc picked his next target, waited for a tangle of broken tree limbs to race by, and jumped. He landed safely on the small rocky platform, but the rushing river swept over his ankles, gently tugging him toward the edge. There wasn’t any room for Raven to join him.

“All good?” Raven called out.

“Just make sure you stick the landing.”

For the next several minutes, the twoOregonoperators navigated the treacherous crossing. Linc was two-thirds across when he thudded onto a rock, but it gave way and he plunged into the rushing water.

Raven watched him get swept away, his big arms windmilling in the water. A massive log just a few feet behind him threatened to crush him at any moment.

She considered jumping in after him, but knew she couldn’t help. Instead, she focused on the far bank, picked her path of rocks, muttered a quick prayer, and vaulted.

She stuck the next landing, and the one after it, adrenaline narrowing her vision to the rocks ahead of her—not to Linc. Losing focus could get her killed.

Raven leaped again, but the rock wavered under her feet. She pinwheeled her arms to keep her balance, and only barely kept from falling in.

She glanced over and saw Linc fifty yards downstream, struggling to cling to a low branch of a tree on the far bank. His desperation put more fire in her belly.

Raven picked her last three rocks and bolted across each one, her eyes carefully calculating the debris surging down the river between each jump.

With a grunt she made the final leap onto the muddy far bank. Shesprinted over to Linc as he hauled himself hand over hand against the swiftly moving current, grimacing with each strike of thick debris crashing into him.

Raven waded out into the river as far as she could, keeping a steady grip on the branch until she was close enough to reach out. Linc grabbed her small hand in his massive paw and she yanked with all of her might. It was slow, hard work, but ten minutes later she grunted with her last ounce of strength and pulled with everything she had. The two of them fell onto the muddy bank, safe but hardly dry, gasping for air, their muscles trembling.

“Well, that was fun,” Raven offered when she finally caught her breath.

Linc stood, and made a feeble effort to brush away the mud from his jacket. He checked his weapon, still strapped to his chest.

“I always hated swimming.”