Chapter 55

I’D CLIMBED ALONGJenny’s body, pulling at handfuls of her clothes, and got to her ankle. It seemed years passed as I yanked at the rope. When the weight came free, we hung in the blackness. My eyes were bulging in my skull. She did nothing. The fight had gone out of her. I grabbed, clawed at her neck and head, yanked upward at her arms.

There was water in my lungs. My limbs were starting to shudder. I was drowning. I couldn’t tell if we were rising or not. Jenny’s hopeless eyes stared up at me. I needed her to kick. Do anything. Keep me down here with her, when every cell in my body was telling me to let go.

Suddenly, she started kicking. We grabbed at each other, pulled upward. The surface came unexpectedly. There were hands under my arms, wrapping around me, dragging me onto my back. I vomited water. Jenny was wide-eyed, being dragged toward the boats by cops.

“Let me go,” I said. “I need to get to the boat.”

“You’re all right now.” The officer who had me was trying to pull my head back, relax me, get me to safety. “Take it easy. Breathe.”

This was no time to take it easy. I wriggled out of his grip and swam as hard as I could for the New Hope, kicking faster as I saw smoke rising from the back deck.