Tailspin

But Sylvie was strong. She couldn’t have excelled in her career as a diving instructor if she wasn’t.

Then she heard it.

The echoing fire from a rifle. Sylvie ducked under the water. Had the rifleman seen her? Was he firing at her now in the water? Or at the pilot?

She was cold and numb and drained. Wasn’t sure she could breach the surface again. She heard the rumble of the floatplane before she found the energy to bob above the water’s surface and see it moving.

Disappointment weighed her down into the depths.

The rifleman was shooting at her rescuer. If he’d come to help, he’d been scared away. Sylvie fought the desire to give up, to sink and keep on sinking. Anger burned in her chest along with the need for air.

No, God! Her life couldn’t end like this.

Like her mother, Sylvie was a fighter, and she’d find a way to survive this. There were a million reasons to live, not the least of which was that she had to discover what had happened to her mother’s plane.

She had to be strong.

She’d always believed it was her faith in God that would see her through. But with nitrogen bubbles coursing through her blood, hypothermia threatening to sink and drown her, and men who were trying to kill her, Sylvie struggled to trust God to see her through. How much could she trust Him? How much did she do on her own?

Right now she had never felt more alone. Had never had to draw on her own strength, or even on her faith in God, in this way before.

Like her dry suit, her faith and strength failed her.

* * *

Will couldn’t leave without the woman. Neither could he stay with a man taking shots at him and his plane. He’d landed here because she’d been running in this direction. Now where was she?

In his Champ, he skipped across the water’s surface, searching and praying. If he saw nothing, he would circle the island and come back to this spot, but he needed to draw the rifleman away from her. She could be hiding in the woods and afraid to run for the plane.

There!

The woman breached the water and waved, not twenty-five yards from him. If he hadn’t been looking in the right direction at that exact moment, he might have missed her. Now to get her out of here without getting either of them killed. He slowed the plane, guided it close...closer...until he was as close as he could get without risking harm to her.

“You’ll have to swim the rest of the way,” he called. “Can you do that?”

The way she dipped below the water, that desperate look on her face, he wasn’t sure she had any reserves left enough to swim all the way. But she was already swimming toward him even as the words left his mouth.

He stood on the pontoon and leaned out, encouraging her and at the same time glancing intermittently to the shore, watching for the shooter. They had to hurry.

“Come on, you can make it.”

Determination flooded her features as she inched forward. Will reached for her at the same moment she grabbed on to the pontoon. She rested her head against it, catching her breath. Intelligent hazel eyes stared up, measuring him, her bluish lips quivering.

He thrust his hand out. “We need to get out of here.”

She grabbed his hand and held his gaze. “Thank you.”

Rifle fire exploded in the distance. They both instinctively ducked, but other than the plane itself, there was no cover.

“Hurry.” He assisted her up and into the plane, not missing that she was bleeding from a gash in her suit. She needed help in more ways than one.

When she was secured in the seat, he found a blanket and threw it over her, then quickly secured himself and headed away from land. Another chink let him know his plane had taken another hit.

A wonder the rifleman hadn’t succeeded in killing them already. But depending on the damage to the plane, the outcome remained to be seen. If he felt any trouble he could land them quickly enough, but he had to get them away from this place. He lifted off the water and glanced at her, noticing she visibly paled.

“You’re not going to get sick on me, are you?”

Shivering, she shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Well, which was it? But he wouldn’t give her a hard time.

“I need to get my diving gear.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

She stared at him, the gold flecks in her hazel eyes blazing. “Please. I appreciate your help, the risk to your life, everything you’ve done, but I might need to treat myself for decompression sickness.”

“You’re with me now. I’ll get you to Juneau where they can treat you.” Treating oneself was never a good idea.

“Can we just do a flyby to see if it’s safe or not?”

It didn’t sound as if she believed he would get her to Juneau. Will held back anything derogatory he might have said. “All right. Where is it?”

“I stashed it on the north side of the island where I’d been diving. There was a boat there last I saw, so that might mean trouble for us.”

“I don’t suppose now would be a good time for you to tell me what’s going on.”

“I would if I could. I don’t know exactly. I was scuba diving when another diver appeared and tried to kill me. I escaped and swam to the surface, but my boat was missing. I swam to the island and barely made it out of the water and stowed my gear when I saw the man with the rifle. I’d been running from him, well, until you came along.”

“And you believed you could trust me?” Now that almost had him grinning.

“When he shot at you, I knew you were here to help.”

Will banked to the right, flying around the island to the north, hoping the boat she’d mentioned would be long gone. He looked her over. She’d tugged the hood of her dry suit off and worked the blanket over her medium-length hair to dry it. He wouldn’t say she was pretty, in so many words, but she definitely had a presence about her that he might find compelling if he was looking to be compelled.

“There’s the boat. We might have a chance.” Will kept his disappointment in check. “But we need to make this quick. Where’s your gear?”

She pointed. “Over there along the shoreline in the trees. See that big, funny-looking boulder?”

“And you’re sure this is a good idea?”

“No.”

Just what he wanted to hear. “I like an honest woman.”

Will brought the plane down on the water and eased up against a sandbar. He pulled out his weapon. “You stay put. Tell me where exactly, and I’ll find it.”

Her eyes grew wide. “No, you don’t have to risk your life for me.”