Page 55 of Out of Sight

But she didn’t believe me. I could see the exact second her doubt turned to hatred.

“You’re the mole,” she said, eyes burning with betrayal, horror on her face. “After everything we… You’re it. You’re still working with the Morellis!”

“No! I’m not! Claire. Jim! I wouldn’t do that to you guys.”

We’d turned in almost a full circle now and something had to give. Maybe if I took the shot from Antonio to form a distraction they would believe me.

If I died to save her, maybe she’d believe in me.

I whipped around, knocking the hand holding the gun away and took a swing at him. He went down and grinned big at me, but didn’t fight back or fire.

“Didn’t mean to blow your cover, man,” he smirked, nodding in the direction of Claire and Jim’s disappearing forms. “Oh shit. Guess I gotta hurry since I can’t just listen until you eventually tell me where to find you.”

He went to get up and I punched him again so he stayed down on the forest floor. “You’re not going after them.”

He lifted the gun up to my chest and clicked back the hammer, holding me at a stalemate. “How are you going to stop me?”

He was only half paying attention to me. He kept glancing back toward the river, the way Claire and Jim disappeared. I had one chance.

The next time he glanced away I kicked his arm back down to the ground, stomping at him until he lost his grip on the gun. I kicked it somewhere behind me out of the way across the forest floor and focused on Antonio. I tried to kick at him again, but he rolled away, dodging me as best he could until I just threw my whole weight at him, pinning him to the ground, punching him hard enough his eyes rolled back for a second.

Since I didn’t see exactly where the gun wound up, I just shoved Antonio as hard as I could in the other direction, giving him a couple more swift kicks in the side and one to the balls. I stomped his fingers. I spat at him. Anything to get him to hate me enough to chaseme, not my girl and my friend.

And then I sprinted off in the opposite direction of Claire and Jim, unfastening my watch and throwing it into the forest as I ran.

I made it maybe thirsty seconds before I heard the first gunshot. It was too far away; no one was chasing me. Shit, my distraction wasn’t enough. He still went after them.

I immediately turned around, heading back for the river.

I saw Jim’s body first. He was dead-eyed on the ground just before the tree line, body collapsed in a haphazard heap. I kneltnext to him, feeling for a pulse I knew wasn’t there. Why was he so close to our resting spot? He should have been a lot further away with how long it was until the shot rang out.

But his Glock 22 .40 was there, a couple inches away from the hand that once held it. I grabbed the gun, then thought to check his ankle for the second gun he usually kept there. I stuffed his beloved Colt Single Action Peacemaker in the waistband of my jeans. Jim was right all along; it never hurt to have a backup. The only other thing in his pockets were his wallet and badge, so I grabbed them for good measure, then followed the sound of Antonio’s laughter.

As I got closer I could hear Claire’s level voice answering from not too far away. She was still in danger, but holding her own and alive all the same.

I paused at the tree line, trying to assess the situation. Last time I barged in without thinking my sister almost died and I went to prison. I could use my brain. I could think of a way out of this. I could do it right this time.

But then Claire took a deep breath and threw herself into the river.

twenty

Claire

Icould have sworn I saw Will in the woods before the river took me. He was lurking in the background, letting Antonio do all the dirty work while he betrayed me.

How could I be so taken in by him? I was kind to him, I helped him, I slept with him! I was almost ready to give my heart to him, but he never wanted it to begin with. I was right to never fully trust him, stupid to believe him when he tricked me into falling for him. It was all a lie.

But I had other, more pressing worries.

The current sweeping me downriver was a beast. I was a decent swimmer, butnobodycould swim in this. It took every last bit of strength I had left in me just to avoid drowning.

The river was freezing cold and I flailed around for a good long distance, doing everything to keep my head above the current. I could hardly think, battered over and over by the rushing water, forcefully thrust into rocks and branches, submerged so I’d bang into the bottom of the riverbefore the water pushed me back up again. I tried grabbing onto anything I could, but my frozen fingers couldn’t grip anything.

But I fought.

I fought with strength I never possessed before, with a ferocity and will to survive. Funny how Will’s betrayal made me want to die, but it was his determination to get me strong and workout with him that gave me the physical strength to keep my head above water.

Eventually I managed to grab hold of a larger tree limb that had partially collapsed into the river, holding on with all my might. My wrist screamed in protest and I could feel the skin on my palms tearing, oh-so-sensitive in the frigid water, but I didn’t let go. I held on long enough to eventually pull myself up to reach a branch just a bit higher, and then another, until I surfaced enough to breathe freely.

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