Page 90 of Jessica's Hero

My world starts to close in around me.

All my dreams for a future with Jess; gone.

Despair slams into me, making my eyes burn with tears.

We were too late.Iwas too late.

And then.

“Kane?”

It’s weak. Shaky. Scared.

“Jess!” I scrabble in my belt for my flashlight, grasping it with a trembling hand. Then I flick it on and shine the beam down below, watching the light reflect faintly off the black water.

At first I can’t see her. “Help me,” I call to the guys. “I need more light!”

Cole flattens himself to the floor beside me, adding his light to mine.

I hold my breath again.

Then I see her.

Soaked. Paddling with uncoordinated strokes. Her mouth bobbing close to the surface of the water. But alive.

Alive.

“Fuck, Jess!” I spring to my feet and bark, “I need a rope. I need to get down there. Now!”

“On it,” Zane replies.

“Where is he?” Cole calls down to Jess. “The man who took you. Did he leave?”

From below, Jess replies, “He… he’s dead.”

“Here.” Zane rushes over to me. “Tie this around your waist. We’ve got you from up here.”

As I secure the rope around me, I force my voice to stay calm as I say, “I’m coming down, baby. Just hang on. I’ll be right there.”

But I feel anything but calm. I don’t know how badly she’s hurt. How much longer she can stay afloat. If I make it down and she sinks below the surface…

“I’m trying,” Jess says. Her voice cracks. “But I’m so cold. And I’m so tired.”

My heart breaks. “I know, sweetheart. I promise, I’ll be down there in a minute. That’s all you need to do. Wait one more minute.”

Rope tied tightly, I turn to Cole. “Let’s go. Quickly.”

The next minute feels like an eternity, as the three B and A guys lower me down into the pit. I ignore the stench of the water and the claustrophobic darkness of the pit as I inch closer and closer to the woman I love. And my strong, incredible Jess actually swims towards me, doing her part to make the rescue easier. Once I get close enough, I can see the barely banked panic in her eyes, and the instant it shifts to relief. “I knew you’d come,” she whispers through chattering teeth. “I just didn’t know… the silo… I didn’t know if the tracker…”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”

And a moment later, I do.

I pull Jess into my arms, trapping her soaked and shuddering body against mine. She’s nearly frozen, on the verge of hypothermia or already there. But she’s here. Alive. I wasn’t too late.

Though I want nothing more than to kiss her all over, now’s not the time for that. Instead, I tighten my grip around her and shout, “I’ve got her. Pull me up.”

And thanks to three former Green Berets turned security experts, they haul both of us up in a matter of seconds. The next thing I know, we’re both back on the walkway, away from what was obviously intended to be a watery grave.