Page 124 of One Last Chance

He caught her a second before she careened into the river. But the movement jerked him off-balance.

He scrambled for purchase, fell back, his grip still on Flynn, and knocked into Parker?—

All three splashed into the rapids.

The water grabbed him, spun him, a thousand icy shards into his bones. But he surfaced fast, shook away the haze, and spotted Parker’s head five feet away. She fought the swirl of foam, trying to swim.

“Parker!” He reached for her, but the current ripped her away.

Where was Flynn?

He circled and spotted Flynn downstream, clinging to a rock. She clutched it, fighting the spray.

“Stay put!”

He turned, read the river, and swam hard for Parker. She thrashed in the water but caught the spur of a downed tree, and it slowed her down.

“Hang on!”

She clung to the spur and screamed as he fought the current toward her. Just as her grip broke free, he grabbed her arm. Then he pulled her up to himself, rolled, and shoved his feet against a nearby boulder.

But the rapids jerked at him, the current wanting to send him over. The falls dumped twenty feet ahead, the current inescapable, but maybe—“Hold on to my jacket. Don’t let go!”

Parker,good girl,grabbed his life jacket. Treading hard to stay afloat, he gripped the rock, got his legs under him, aiming for the edge, out of the flow. The river narrowed at the falls, and if he could get close enough?—

Overhead, the air thundered, and he looked up to see?—

Air One. Wow, he loved his brother.

London had let down a line with two slings. They rode the current, got caught up on a rock just beyond his reach, downriver.

He glanced at the shoreline, then the slings and?—

“Get ready to grab the sling!”

Parker nodded, and he turned, took a couple hard breaths, then pushed off.

The river snatched them up, flung them into the froth and wash, the current merciless. He fought to keep them above water, riding it, stretching out his hand?—

Missed!

He rolled, kicked, and his hand caught on a boulder. He gripped it, fighting, the water filling his mouth, his eyes.

The slings broke free, sliding down the river, and he flung himself at them again.

Caught one. He threw his arm into it, then grabbed Parker to himself and shoved her inside the sling. She wrapped her arms around it. “I’m in!”

He reached for the other, got his hand on it, his arm through it, hauling himself?—

A scream lifted and he turned just in time to spot Flynn flying into the green, over the lip and into the falls.

The chopper began to lift. He dove into the sling headfirst, barely in before the world dropped out from under him.

The chopper arched them away from the falls, and he searched the plunge pool for Flynn.

Nothing.

No—

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