Page 13 of Claim

Two.

Pull!

My parachute is as dark as the sky in hopes that no one will see me.

Especially Alexei.

He needs to think I crashed.

It will be him telling everyone, I know it.

The silk has barely widened to full when I’m plummeting into the icy water of the lake. It’s like hitting a wall of concrete with my legs.

Then the shock of the cold soaks into me.

It’s only a split second before the thin emergency life preserver inflates, bobbing me to the surface.

Which direction is the land? I know this lake is big enough, I could swim for hours before finding the shore. I chose it for the size, but that long in the frigid water will kill me before I can get out.

A giant boom breaks through the dark, then a plume of fire from my crashing plane brightens the night.

There it is.

I think I can make it.

The cold works its way into my bones, but I force myself to keep going.

One more kick, one more stroke, then my toe drags across the rough bottom.

I can barely feel my feet they’re so numb with the cold.

Each step is grueling until I can drag myself out of the heat-sucking lake.

Now to figure out where the hell I am. But first, I have to warm up before the heavy frost of the night turns my soaked clothes into icicles.

I don’t even have my phone. I made sure to leave it with Enzo so I couldn’t be tracked, nor could it be compromised for all of the information on it.

The small survival kit I had in my pocket seems inadequate in my frozen fingers.

Fuck. I should have strapped on some extra clothes, too.

At a certain point though, I can only carry a certain amount, knowing I still had to fight my way to Alexei.

I hope he’s okay.

Won’t matter if I don’t get this damn fire going.

A few dry sticks, and the packet of tinder, and soon a tiny flame lights the dense forest around me.

Finally.

Shivering, it takes all of my patience to keep adding the kindling until it’s grown enough to move to the larger sticks.

Bigger and bigger, I let the blaze go until my jacket is steaming and I’m starting to get some feeling back into my limbs.

That was close.

I hate to do it, but I strip down, hanging my wet layers as close as I dare to the heat. I need to dry them out.

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