Page 82 of Edinburgh Escape
The chauffeur swept out his leg, tripping Callum. He came down hard on his knees. Alastair jumped on the man’s back and tried to pin him in a wrestler’s hold.
Fear for Maggie’s life gave Callum the adrenaline and determination to roll Alastair over and break free of his grip, but the man was like an octopus. As soon as Callum freed himself of one hold, Alastair pinned him in another.
Beyond frustrated, Callum roared, doubled his fists together and swung them at Alastair’s jaw. The force of the hit knocked the man backward and over the side of the road. Alastair tumbled down the embankment and crashed into a tree, headfirst. He lay still, unmoving.
Callum spotted the rear end of the black car, the only part of the vehicle that hadn’t sunk below the surface. If he wanted to get her out, he would have to break a window. He ran back to the rental car, popped the trunk and grabbed the tire iron.
His heart in his throat, Callum slid down the embankment, dove into the river and swam for the car and Maggie, the tire iron weighing him down and making it hard to fight the current. At last, he reached the car, dragged himself up onto the rear end, almost losing his grip on the tire iron in the process.
Then he knelt close to the rear window and yelled, “Maggie, if you can hear me, move away from the back window. I’m going to break it.” Without waiting another moment, he slammed the tire iron into the window.
The glass shattered where the metal bar hit it, but it took several more hits before the window was sufficiently broken. Using the tire iron, he swept the jagged edges loose.
The interior of the car filled the rest of the way with river water. In the murky swirls, copper curls floated to the surface.
Callum’s heart squeezed so painfully, he couldn’t breathe. He reached for the curls, tangled his hands in them and started to pull Maggie up by her hair. She didn’t budge.
Callum reached deeper for her head, ran his hands along her shoulders and found that her seatbelt held her in place. He dove headfirst into the frigid water and followed the belt to the buckle. After several failed attempts, the buckle came loose. He pushed the shoulder strap aside.
His lungs about to burst, Callum hooked his arms beneath Maggie’s and hauled her through the rear window onto the trunk of the car. She lay limp and lifeless, her face pale, her chest still.
“No, no, no. You said you wouldn’t give up on me.” Callum pinched her nose, covered her mouth with his and blew breath into her lungs. Then he performed chest compressions, alternating between them, repeatedly.
A shout from the top of the riverbank made him glance up for only a second. Two men stood there waving and then disappeared.
A few minutes later, the wail of a siren came screaming to a stop somewhere nearby.
Still, Callum didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. Maggie wouldn’t have given up on him. He wasn’t giving up on her. “You have to live. I have to tell you.” He breathed into her mouth and then whispered against her lips. “I love you, Maggie McKendrick. You have to live.”
Resuming the compressions, Callum glanced across to the bank where emergency rescue personnel were shoving a paddleboard into the water. Two of the men, dressed in wetsuits and life jackets, swam the paddleboard toward the car. The men on shore held onto a line attached to the board.
The vehicle shimmied beneath Callum. “Don’t go down on us now,” he said. “Maggie needs you to hold on just a little longer.”
The rescue team made it to the car as it shook violently beneath Maggie and Callum.
They grabbed Maggie’s shoulders and were lifting her onto the paddleboard when the car moved forward and sank beneath the surface.
“Take my hand,” one of the rescuers called out, reaching for Callum.
Callum shook his head. “Get her out. I’ll make it on my own.”
The two men shoved Maggie onto the board.
Their team on shore pulled the line tight and reeled in the swimmers and the paddleboard with Maggie.
Callum swam behind them, anxious for them to continue CPR on Maggie. He came ashore several feet away, giving the rescue team the space they needed to maneuver.
As they dragged the paddleboard up onto shore, Maggie’s body jerked. She rolled her head to the side and coughed up water.
Callum’s legs buckled beneath him, and he fell to his knees.
Maggie’s eyes opened. “Callum,” she croaked.
He crawled through the mud as close as he could get. “I’m here, my bonnie lass.”
“You came for me?”
He gave a laugh that sounded more like a sob. “I did. I want you to give me another chance. You believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”
