Page 98 of Ground Zero

They worked together until all the crates were sinking in the water.

She watched the last crate descend, hardly able to breathe. Then she stepped back, her arms crossed over her chest as nausea pooled inside her.

She looked up at Maverick. “Are you sure the river is salty enough?”

“It’s brackish, but it should work.”

“I hope so.”

“Fifteen seconds.” Maverick glanced at his watch, his voice steady despite the sweat running down his face.

Around them, she heard shouting from the shore, patrol boats moving closer, and helicopters approaching.

But all of it felt distant. The world had narrowed to this moment, these seconds.

“Ten seconds.” He put his arms around her and pulled her toward him.

The smoke began to rise from the water, thick and acrid. Something inside was definitely reacting to the salt water.

But would it be enough?

“Five seconds.”

She closed her eyes, pressing closer to Maverick. If these were her last moments, at least?—

“Three.”

The boat rocked violently as something sparked inside one of the crates.

“Two.”

A hissing sound, like steam escaping.

“One.”

Sheridan held her breath. Maverick’s arms tightened around her.

A few muted pops sounded from within the crates, like firecrackers going off underwater. Smoke billowed up, thick and chemical-smelling, making them both cough.

The boat lurched as something shifted inside the explosives.

For one terrifying moment, Sheridan thought it was simply a delayed reaction before the real explosion.

But then . . . nothing.

Just more smoke, a few more muffled pops . . .

And then silence except for the sound of water sloshing in the crates.

The air left her lungs.

They were alive. Impossibly, miraculously alive.

Sheridan turned to Maverick, a surge of victory leaping through her chest.

Her own relief was mirrored in his eyes—along with something else, something that had been building between them since that first day on the beach.

Without thinking, without caring who was watching, Sheridan closed the distance between her and Maverick. Her hands found his face, fingers trembling against his jaw as she pulled him down to her.