Page 20 of Fast Fury

“You’re fast, I’ll give you that. On land,” Kai added, wiping the water from his face. “But water’s what separates the boys from the men.”

Freeman nodded, dark brown eyes sparkling with glee. “True. Let’s do this.”

Enjoying himself immensely, Kai stood and walked back to the edge of the surf. Four of the guys were already there.

“Khan, Granger and Prentiss all headed over to the finish line,” Hamilton said, standing on the beach like he owned it, arms folded across his chest. Colebrook and Rodriguez stood on either side of him, both with their phones at the ready, waiting to record the race. Lockhart’s eyes were hidden beneath his shades, a big grin on the former sniper’s face.

Kai twisted around to see the other three running along the beach to get to the spot that marked the end of the race route. He used arm signals to move them into position, then gave them a raised fist to tell them to stop. “There,” he said to Freeman, lining up beside the other man on the strip of wet sand that marked the edge of the water. “From here to there’s three-quarters of a mile.”

Freeman’s gaze was fixed on the end point. “Less talking. More action.”

Kai smothered a laugh. “Okay. Cap, you count it down,” he said to Hamilton.

“All right. I want a nice, clean swim,” Hamilton instructed. “No choking or drowning your opponent. No wedgies or pantsing. And definitely no biting or hair pulling.” The others chuckled.

“Well that’s no fun,” Kai muttered under his breath. He leaned forward slightly, eyes on the finish line, his muscles tensed, ready to go. Before them lay a quarter mile of rolling ocean, and a bitch of a rip current that would try to pull them out to sea. It was one of the reasons his instructors had loved using this stretch, to tire them out.

“Three,” Hamilton called out in a deep, authoritative voice. “Two. One…Go.”

Kai took four running steps into the water, then dove headfirst into an oncoming wave.

The moment the water closed over his head, it was like coming home. The cool water surrounded him, hugged him as he knifed through it.

He kicked hard, feeling the pull of the rip against his body, and came up for air. Stretched out full length at the surface on his belly, he angled his head to take a breath, and began a punishing front crawl stroke. The water deepened, the sand changing to reef before it dropped away.

Waves broke over him. His muscles began to burn a couple minutes in. He savored it, pushed his body to go faster. Harder.

The next time he surfaced he glimpsed Freeman a few yards off to the right, trailing by a body length. The former SEAL was amazing in the water, but he hadn’t grown up in it like Kai had, and here, Kai’s large size wasn’t an impediment. He propelled himself through the water, shut his mind down and focused on the rhythm of his arms and legs.

Beneath him, the water shallowed as reef appeared again. The muscles in his shoulders and legs were burning like fire, his lungs laboring. But he was almost there, and damned if he would lose to a SEAL here in his element.

Using the last of his energy reserves, Kai shut out the physical discomfort and put on a final burst of speed. The coral gave way to sand. When the water was chest deep, he surged to his feet. Freeman was a few yards back, but it was gonna be close.

Panting, he forced his tired legs to push him the last few yards to the beach where all seven of his remaining teammates were waiting. They were all yelling, some cheering and some trash talking, several recording everything with their phones.

Kai splashed through the water and onto the wet sand, running for the line someone had drawn in it. Splashing footsteps signaled that Freeman was right behind him. And the former SEAL moved way faster here than Kai ever could.

With a final lunge, Kai crossed the line a full second before Freeman did.

Yes!

He doubled over, resting his palms on his thighs as he dragged in gulp after gulp of air.

“Just want you to know, my money was on you all along, big man,” Khan said, scrubbing a hand over Kai’s wet hair affectionately.

“He’s totally lying,” Prentiss said, tossing Kai a towel.

“Whatever, you owe me five bucks,” Khan shot back.

Kai snorted a laugh but couldn’t answer, too busy trying to get his breath back. Made him feel better to see Freeman sucking wind as well.

“That was epic,” Granger said, grinning as he looked at his phone. “Got it all right here on video, too.”

Kai swung his head around to look at Freeman. “For the record, nobody’s ever come that close to beating me.”

Freeman narrowed his deep brown eyes. “Don’t try to make me feel better.” He heaved a breath and straightened. “That rip was a bitch, man.”

Kai grinned. “She always is.” Crossing to Freeman, he clapped a friendly hand on his buddy’s back, then held it out. “Good race.”

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