Page 24 of Knox's Mission

He struggled to fight Lorna enough to keep both of their heads above water.

Amy must have caught on to the fact he was struggling because her muscles coiled, and then she struck like a King cobra. A second later, Lorna’s body went limp and the pressure she’d been putting on Knox lifted enough for him to break the surface.

As soon as his head jutted out of the water, hegasped for air. He couldn’t get his arms and legs to work right. The current threatened to drag him under again.

“You’re okay,” Amy soothed through labored breaths. “Breathe, Knox. Breathe.”

Those words had a calming effect on him, giving him the reprieve he needed to shock his nervous system back into operating mode. Finally, his arms listened to his brain’s instructions and moved. His legs followed suit next.

“Grab her right side,” Amy said before choking on a mouthful of water herself.

Between the two of them, they could keep Lorna’s head above water long enough to get her to shore. Hopefully, she would stay knocked out so she wouldn’t fight them.

With Lorna in the middle, they managed to swim to the riverbank and then wrap her in a vine to keep her head and half of her torso safely above water. Knox had enough strength left to help push Amy out of the water. She immediately grabbed hold of a vine and then extended a hand back to pull him out.

With a heave, he pulled his heavy body—soaked from head to toe—from the rushing water.

Once they were safe on land, they managed to pull the vine holding Lorna toward them. Knox reached for her, missed, and almost fell into the water.

“Swing the vine,” he said to Amy. At this point, her friend was just out of reach. She was unconscious, so no help. With him on one side and Amy on the other, they managed to swing the vine enough for him to grab hold of Lorna’s still-limp body. With his last ounce of strength, he pulled her to shore, untangled her, and then eased her onto the ground.

Knox wouldn’t allow himself to think she might be already dead. He noted that Donnie was nowhere to be found.

At this point, Knox didn’t care.

Amy was crumpled on her side, watching, gasping for air like she’d just run a marathon in record time.

Knox sat down hard before lying back. He clasped his hands on top of his head like a runner to open his airway, allowing in oxygen. Even sitting up required too much energy, so he didn’t try.

All he could do was heave for air and hope like hell there were no predators around, ready to strike.

7

“Donnie?” Lorna’s weak voice was better than no voice. For a few seconds there, Amy feared her friend wouldn’t regain consciousness. Whatever bad blood was now between them, she didn’t wish harm on Lorna, let alone death, even though Amy and Knox had almost drowned trying to save her.

“He’s not here,” Amy managed to say. Talking required energy she didn’t have, so she didn’t explain further. At this point, all she could do was reach out and take Lorna’s hand as she blinked her eyes open.

She seemed to realize what she’d done when her eyes widened. “I’m so sorry. I panicked and I couldn’t stop?—”

“We’re safe now,” Amy pointed out. Knox had kept them both alive but almost drowned in theprocess. When his head broke the surface, the look on his face had worried her. He’d gone to a different place mentally, and she’d had no idea how to reach him or bring him back. Or, honestly, even if she could.

Thankfully, he managed to snap out of the fog before all three of them drowned. But the incident invited more questions. She remembered he never got inside the pool. Not even when Garrett gave him an unholy amount of crap for sitting on the edge in hundred-plus temps, frying in the Texas heat.

Knox would roll those broad shoulders of his, laugh it off, and act like he meant to get a sunburn. Now, she wondered if something had happened during childhood to make him afraid of the water, but he’d been too much of a proud teenager to admit it.

Since he wasn’t exactly opening up to her about the past, she might never know the real reason. Or anything else about the man, for that matter. He’d kept to himself years ago. And he was keeping to himself now. So, basically, nothing had changed.

Except the way he looks at you, an annoying voice in the back of her mind pointed out. That was most definitely different now. She’d been nothing but a snotty-nosed annoyance to him all those years ago. Now, she was almost certain she’d seen a spark of desire last nightin those gorgeous eyes of his—eyes with the thickest, blackest lashes framing an intense shade of blue. His protectiveness was different now too. He’d kept a physical distance before. Now, he liked her to stay close.

Then again, theywerein the jungle. A predator might see her as the weaker one between the two of them and, therefore, attack her. Isolate her. It made sense in the National Geographic framework. Knox was tall, broad, muscled. Basically, he took up a lot of space and would be perceived as something that could fight back. She, on the other hand, was shorter and far less muscled. She didn’t spend her free time at the gym but swam every chance she got and jogged most mornings to clear her head. Since losing Garrett, those jogs had turned into runs—runs that probably gave her the stamina to survive in the jungle alone with no supplies and then make the swim like she just did. Stamina that just saved Lorna’s life.

Speaking of the woman, Lorna reached a hand toward Amy and mouthed a thank you.

Amy gave a nod of acknowledgment all the while wondering where Wonder Boy had disappeared to. Once again, he’d managed to stay out of danger. Would he disappear again? Make up another hair-brained excuse that he was actually saving their lives by ditching them?

Tall and willowy with a distinct lack of muscles, would a predator see him as prey?

When Knox’s breathing returned to some semblance of normal, he pushed to sitting and turned his attention toward Amy. “Not sure what I would have done in there without you.”

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