Page 125 of One Last Chance

He looked up. London held the hoist, not reeling them up until they stabilized. “I’m dropping!”

“No—Axel!” London leaned out over the river. “There’s another falls—it’s too high!”

He knew that. But he also knew this river. And even if Flynn made it out of the plunge pool, she couldn’t survive the next drop.

And if he didn’t let go now, he’d be too high.

“You got this?” he said to Parker.

“Yeah. Yeah.” She seemed to come back to herself, despite her wide eyes.

“London will get you into the chopper.”

She nodded, wore an expression of survival.

Attagirl.

Then pushed himself out of the sling and dropped into the frothy, unforgiving churn of the Copper River.

CHAPTER13

This was not how she wanted to die.

Flynn gripped the rock behind the falls, her breath exploding inside her lungs, and pulled with everything she had inside her. Up, against the current, plastered against the rock?—

Air.

She clung to the rock, gulping it in, blinded by the water, the terrible thunder of the falls around her, engulfing her.

Breathe. Just breathe.

She opened her eyes, blinked away the water.

Somehow, she’d come up behind the falls, the water a curtain between her and freedom.

But she’dsurvived,and right now, despite the frigid water and the hammering of her heart, that mattered.

Pulling herself up, she found a small ledge. Scooted herself onto it, skinning her knees, bloodying her hands. Then she drew her knees to herself, clasped her arms around them, and shivered.

Last she’d seen of Axel and Parker, they’d been scrambling toward rescue from the sky. But her grip had given way, and she hadn’t had a hope of latching on.Please be alive.

She closed her eyes, the terror of careening over the falls still razoring through her, catching on her breaths, filling her throat, working out now into stuttered breaths.

Get ahold of yourself.

She opened her eyes, blew out a breath. She’d been forced to the bottom, hit the rocks, fought the pummel of the water until it pushed her free, curling into itself and bringing her with it. Blood trickled down her legs—whether from her hands or knees, she couldn’t know. But that rock had saved her life.

Now what?

Somewhere out there, people—Axel—were looking for her, she knew it in her bones.

Funny, Kennedy slipped into her head. Did she know the same? That Flynn would come looking for her?

Or had she just kept running, afraid, alone . . . into the darkness?

Flynn drew herself tighter, the thought tunneling through her. Clearly she and Kennedy were exactly alike, because she’d done that very thing. Run, alone, into darkness.

And yes, God had saved her. That truth exploded through her, and she gasped.

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