Page 1 of Special Agent Raven

Chapter One

Driving alongside the normally lazy river below, thankful for her hard-earned time off from the FBI Child Exploitation Program, Raven sang along with her favorite song. Not noticing the changes around her, the loss of bird songs and the electric charge in the air that signaled something bad, she tapped the steering wheel to the beat of the throbbing old-time rock and roll.

At peace with her world… muscles that most days were tighter than a stretched rubber band, eyes that never stopped seeking problems… they had both settled. And a heartbeat that finally slowed down to a nice rhythm signified ease and happiness.

The stress at work had been building over the last few years. People were harder to get along with, everyone out for themselves rather than caring for each other. Her last supervisor had been a real prick, a credit-monger who took all the accolades for a case well solved and left the rest of them feeling invisible.Shaking off the bad mood those kinds of contemplations promised, she turned up the music and sang louder.

Even the pelting rain didn’t bother her; in fact, it created a kind of cleansing that she gladly accepted. Happy to be heading to her grandmother’s house in the Texas hill country, she wasn’t paying attention to the outside world. Therefore, when she came around the bend, the altered view caught her attention. Without warning, she sensed the danger. Stunned to see a flash flood rushing down the hill that promised to wash out the road ahead, Raven stepped on the gas.

Praying her jeep would make it to the top of the rocky incline before the approaching water washed her away, she leaned over and gripped the wheel hard. Her foot clomped on the gas, and with all her strength, she steered the jeep over the rough hilltop terrain.Come on, baby. Come on!The grinding sound from the wheels doing their damndest to obey her commands were louder than even the blaring music.

Something… maybe her intuition, or a faraway scream – whatever – made Raven glance out the driver’s window, forcing her to stomp on the brake halfway to her destination.

There, over to her left, the water had risen quickly, and she could see people fighting to stay on the roof of a house coming in her direction. They’d been caught up in the current, and like a living force the raging water was carrying them along in it’s swells. Heart already pumping from her exertion, it now raced from rising fear. Oh, my God!

Peering through the rain, she could make out two small kids clinging to the top of the window frame.Son of a bitch!Her stomach clenched in horror. Seconds ago, there were four victims. Jesus.

Running to the back of her vehicle and gathering the rope she used for mountain climbing, she tied one end around her waist securely and the other end to the column between the front andback window of the car. Then she rushed to the riverbank, kicked off her boots, flipped off her jacket, and dove in headfirst.

Seconds before she’d jumped in, she’d spotted an SUV floating nearby with a man climbing to its roof. When he saw the kids, he also dove into the water to swim in their direction. Meanwhile, both kids had stopped screaming for their parents… instead they were using their strength to cling to safety.

Thankfully, the other swimmer was closer and scooped them up before they were torn from their perch and flung into the river to be lost. In the last second, she aimed her dive to the right to give herself enough leeway for the water to carry her downstream towards the trio fighting for their lives.

Christ the water was cold. Raven held her breath and handled the pain by blocking out the discomfort. Watching for debris that came at her fast and furious, she swung most of the trash out of her way and took the blows that didn’t miss. Striving, with every ounce of energy in her slim body, the girl who’d won swimming ribbons in high school, pushed herself past her limits to reach the three ahead.

There, close… about three feet away!

She saw the man rising out of the turbulent wall of chaos, a kid in each arm. The rushing floodwater washed over them again before she had a chance to get to them. She saw him throw the bigger kid over his shoulder, yelling, “Hang on to me.” Then with the girl still nestled in his other arm, he used his free hand to reach out for the roots of a tree they were rushing past in the torrent. Jesus… he was so close, but the ferocity of the flow didn’t allow him the time he needed.

Swimming faster, gagging and spitting out the disgusting mouthfuls she couldn’t escape, her rope suddenly snagged on a tree limb, jerking her to a stop. Tugging as hard as she could, she choked on another gulp, clenched her teeth, and with a huge effort, she managed to pull it loose.Goddammit! No time.Precious seconds wasted, she swung back to see if she could find her quarry. There. They were still together. Thankful that he’d managed to keep the kids with him, she knew he struggled fiercely, aiming to get to the bank while fighting the powerful current.

With the rope snug around her waist, Raven pushed harder and met up with them. Screaming to be heard over the God-awful noise, she crowded in and hollered, “Hey. Behind you.”

He swung around. The thankful, relieved look on his scratched and bleeding face made her aware of the strain he’d suffered. Treading water, she gestured to the rope she held up and pointed to her jeep on the bank. Nodding, screaming his relieved thanks, words she could barely hear over the turmoil of the flood, he seemed to know what to do. First, he pulled the little girl’s clinging hands from around his arm and basically threw her toward Raven. Then he shouted to the boy on his back still holding onto his neck.

Thinking the man wanted him to let go, the boy loosened his hold, and the fucking maniacal river sucked him up and began whisking him away. If the guy near her hadn’t made a huge diving effort to grab at the boy’s shirt and reel him back in, the kid would have been a goner. Raven saw the unmitigated fear on his young face and then the relief of being saved. Jesus, that was too freaking close.

Raven’s silent scream of thank God echoed in her head. With the rain mixing with the dirty river water, making it hard to see, her hand searched and found her target. She grasped the boy’s soaked shirt to double his safety and watched the man check where her jeep sat safely, gauging the best place for them to get out of the river. Helping her support both kids, and with his strength obviously ebbing, he took charge of hauling them all toward the bank using the old hand over hand motion on the rope… their only hope for keeping them alive.

Once they got to the bank, gasping and spitting water, her partner struggled to haul himself up the grassy incline. Raven stayed in the churning river with the children, protecting them, kicking to stay afloat… desperate to keep their heads above water. She sensed the little girl in her arms had stopped clinging, and it worried her that the child had swallowed too much water and was suffering.

Meanwhile, the boy had found the rope too and helped the situation by holding on, taking away some of the stress from Raven. They were so close to safety and yet they couldn’t stop battling the blasted river that wanted a win.

Raven watched the poor guy ahead of her having a hell of time escaping the pull of the rushing current. His strength gone, panting with the effort, the bulging muscles in his arms straining to work his will, he fought to win. Twice he stretched to grab a bush on land, something to help anchor him, and twice the stems gave way, making him slide back, the raging swells working against his escape. One might have sworn the river didn’t want to give up its quarry, and they’d be right. As it continued to suck at their bodies as well as their courage, Raven’s own stubbornness kicked in.

Grunting in fury and seeing his predicament, with her last ounce of strength, Raven used her free hand to push at the slipping man, giving him the boost he needed to grab hold of the last bush that he could use. If he managed to haul his ass out of the water, then he could pull her and the kids out too.

Thankfully, at the final moment, he was able to hold onto the branch, and using superhuman strength, he pulled himself up and over the grassy slope. Instantly, he swung back to Raven and reached down for the rope, lifting it from the mud where it had dug itself in. Clawing into the muck, he gripped it and tugged to bring Raven, her cradled treasure, and the boy in close.

First, he lifted the gutsy little guy and swung him out of the water, lowering him on the bank, and then he turned to Raven motioning for her to hand him the limp girl in her arms. Not wasting a second, he reached down and plucked the small lifeless body from the water, laying her next to the older boy.

Last of all, he turned to Raven. Before he could grab her hand, something trapped in the water bobbed up, rushing toward her with the full force of the current. He screamed at Raven. “Back off. Dive. Go.” Desperately, he gestured his hand toward her left and then made a downward motion.

Not understanding at first, she didn’t know why he seemed to be telling her to leave. Then she saw where his finger indicated and understood. Seriously… Lord, what next? She only had seconds to take in a mouthful of air before diving back under the water, praying that whatever headed her way wasn’t too large.

Once she hit the bottom, she swiveled on her back, forced her hands in front of her, ready to propel whatever passed overhead away from her body. Clenched to fight, she watched the dark shadow hover for seconds and then float away like a shark hunting for his next victim. Before she could make the move to swim back to the surface, she felt the rope tighten and her body being pulled up through the water.

Her energy spent, she let him bring her close enough for them to grip hands and with a forceful grunt, he heaved her to the bank where she sprawled like a corpse. With her heart clogging her throat, the ability to spit out the dirty water and breathe at the same time seemed more than she could handle.