Page 72 of Lifeline

And then, even though I had no idea what I was doing, I knew exactly what was going to happen. It was how fast everything happened; it was the mindless pain and panic in Mika’s voice, and it was the way Reno was scrambling to find purchase on the riverbed that refused to grant him mercy. I whirled around as Mika tried to fling himself forward, mindless and desperate to get to his brother, even if it meant putting himself in danger.

Colin was reaching for him, but he was too slow, and I did the first thing I could think of: I reached out and took hold of Mika. There was no way in hell I was going to overpower him, not with our size difference, not with his adrenaline-fueled panic. There was no other choice, and clamping down on his arm, I ignored the way he snarled at me and used his force to whirl him around, making him stumble and slip and lose momentum, using it to fling him behind me blindly.

I flung him right into a tree, and he dropped; I turned to Colin. “Stop him!”

Colin was calmer, bigger, and stronger than me, and had more training dealing with big, strong men who didn’t want to cooperate. He didn’t miss a beat. He was on Mika before he could do more than get to his hands and knees. It hurt to hear Mika’s raging, pleading, tearful cries to let him up, let him get to his brother, get off, get off, get off!

I turned and saw Reno had found something to get hold of. It looked like a branch, but there was no way any branch would hold long enough for him to stay in one place. I could also see he was dazed and weakening. There was nothing I could do to help Jake, not right now anyway, and I hoped he was as tough as he looked, but what could I do for Reno? He didn’t have the strength to hold on while I came up with a safe or clever way of saving him, and I didn’t think he had the capacity to help himself beyond clinging on for dear life as the water battered him.

I spotted something that would help me, even if it was a terrible idea, but how was that going to…my hand flapped against something hard on my hip and I gripped it. Right, I’d noticed it earlier when I’d put the work belt on; it was a rope and hook combination.

“Oh, bad, bad idea,” I muttered, but I was already moving up the river.

“Aidan!” I heard Colin bark through the storm. “What are you doing? Get away from there!”

I almost did, and not because it was borderline suicidal, but because there was a tone of command in Colin’s voice that made me hesitate. I turned and gave him a salute. “You’re actually going to be a great second.”

His eyes widened as Mika twisted in his hold, trying to break free, trying to get to Reno, who he could see hanging on for dear life in the river. “Don’t you fucking⁠—”

“Too late,” I said and ran before he could decide it was worth letting Mika up, hoping the two of them could stop me. I needed to be quick if I was going to follow through on my terrible plan.

A few spots of the beaver dam and the makeshift braces we’d made with the sandbags were left, but they weren’t going to hold for long. Hell, they probably wouldn’t hold my weight, but it was the only path across the river. A stupid, suicidal path, but a path all the same.

“Just like a game,” I muttered, as if that was supposed to make me feel bolder when all I felt was the fraying, jagged edges of terror stabbing at me.

Someone shouted my name, but I barely heard it as I drove forward, knowing if I didn’t do it now, I was never going to talk myself into action. Reno wasn’t going to last much longer; Xander was trying to do what he could for Jake if there was anything that could be done, Mika was blinded by fear, and Colin had him. The rest…weren’t there. I was the only one who could do something stupid and, well…even if I was going to lose all of them after today, that didn’t mean they had to lose each other.

I went, my foot sinking into the sandbag near me; it ripped under my boot and the sand washed away, pulling water toward it. I lurched forward as the water tried to pull me with the sand and brought my other foot down on the dam, which crunched and gave way as well. Another heave yanked my first foot out of the water, and the second snapped through a layer of wood and mud down to the ankle.

With a gasp, I lunged forward, my knee slamming into a rock as I yanked myself onto the part of the dam that hadn’t broken and was on the other side of the river. Pain exploded from my knee, and I heaved out a breath as I pulled myself to safety. The dam was giving under my weight, and I prayed it didn’t break as I scrambled, using my unhurt leg to shove at the rock I’d smashed onto and rolled onto the bank on my back to catch a breath and push the pain away.

“Not like a game,” I gasped as water pooled in my eyes and around my mouth.

I rolled onto my front and pushed upright, testing my injured leg and, yeah, it hurt like a bitch, but I could move it. Not ideal, but being able to move was better than breaking something important, so I got up, grunting as my knee radiated agony. “Not…a game at all. Fuck me. Should stick to games.”

It was a little late for that; and I had something I was supposed to be doing. I spared a glance at the other bank and saw Colin still fighting Mika; he had something in his hand that he was clutching to his face. I realized he was on the radio, and I couldn’t hear him. In a panic, I slapped my hand to my work belt. The rope and hook were still there, but I had lost the multi-tool and the radio.

“Guess Xander can take that out on my hide as well,” I snorted as I hurried downriver, ignoring the calls from Colin that sounded a lot like ‘stupid motherfucker’ and probably a few other choice words I couldn’t make out.

I made it to where Reno was still struggling, but the river was pulling at the mud and dirt at its edges, and I didn’t dare go for him immediately. Instead, I went to the nearest good size tree and wrapped the rope around it, fumbling as my fingers shook from the cold and my frayed nerves. Eventually, I got it through the hook and snapped that onto my belt, hoping it and the harness we had to put on would keep me from going downriver.

Not from drowning as I bobbed along like a human lure, but at least I wouldn’t get smacked around for miles until my shattered body was found⁠—

“Nope, we ain’t doin’ that,” I said, apparently channeling Jake…God, I hope he made it.

I focused on the job at the edge of the water, trying to figure out how to get to Reno and bring him back without losing my balance. It would have been easier if I had someone to help, but it was just me and a half-conscious Reno.

The earth, however, made up my mind before I could, and gave way under my feet as I feared it would. I tipped back, trying to get my balance, steadied and knew I didn’t have long. I saw Reno bobbing, his fingers slipping along what I could see now were the roots of a tree, maybe even the roots of the tree I had wrapped my rope around. And with a silent curse, I tipped forward and into the river toward him.

If I had thought the water was cold before, it was nothing like being submerged in it. I dimly remembered that a lot of the water came from the Great White north and it certainly showed as it sucked the heat from my body and the air from my lungs. I surfaced with a gasp and, in a haze, realized I had clung to Reno without thinking.

Reno’s eyes were wide even as they fluttered against the water, and I wrapped my arm around him tightly. The pull of the water and its icy grip made every motion feel as if it was done in sludge, but I held onto him, shocked he had lasted that long when I was already questioning how long it would be until I lost my grip. Time was running out, and my mind was a whirl of panic and a haze of desperation.

My fingers stung as they slammed into something hard on his waist, and I realized he had a hook and rope of his own. I didn’t care about the rope, but if I could just…undo it and not lose it, that was step one. Start with step one and keep your shit together, Aidan.

There, it was digging into the skin of my hand, which was quickly losing feeling, which meant losing use of it, but I had it.

“No,” Reno gargled around the water.