“Guys, shoot them in the legs or wherever you need to. We don’t need them being able to get around. I’m going after Julia.”
The clock resumed.
I ran for the side of the boat and dove in right where her chair had splashed down into the water. She was sinking fast with those weights on her chair. I pushed myself down to catch up with her, taking out my knife as I swam. I hurried to cut the ropes around her back, her arms, and her ankles, all while both of us were being pulled down by her heavy chair.
Once I had her free, I draped her body over my shoulder and swam up. I could already tell she was in trouble. She was unconscious over my shoulder. There was no telling how much water she’d taken in after sinking below the surface. When she hit, the force must have knocked her out in the chair.
We broke the surface, and I adjusted her to keep her head above the water behind me. I swam back to the boat with her over me. I had to work doubly fast. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the mayor’s men showed up to claim what was theirs on the boat. We had to get what was ours off.
Ricky threw a rope ladder over the side, and I grabbed ahold of it, pulling myself and Julia’s body up from the water. The whole time, my mind was racing. What was I going to do if I lost her? What was I going to do if I didn’t lose her?
This couldn’t be the end for us. It just couldn’t. There was no fucking way I was going to let those bastards take her from me.
“Is everyone else down below deck?” I asked Ricky as we stretched Julia out on the ground.
“Yeah, they’re tying the guys up and locking them in a room they found,” he told me.
“Good. Look, I’ve got her. You make sure any bodies that are just lying around are dumped off in the water, okay?”
“Got it.”
After he got up and ran off, I started CPR on Julia.
“And you aren’t going anywhere, Julia,” I told her as I pumped her chest and pushed air into her lungs.
“You’re staying right here with me, whether you like it or not,” I kept talking to her as I kept working on her.
I lost count of how many times I performed the same routine—pumping her chest and trying to breathe for her—but I wasn’t going to stop until she responded, dammit!
“Don’t do this to me,” I told her. “You don’t get to check out just because I lied to you and tried to protect you from all of this. Damn it, Julia. You weren’t supposed to get this damn involved. You were just supposed to ask that asshole a few questions and report back to me his answers.”
Pump. Breathe.
“Now, wake up, damn you. Wake up.”
Pump. Breathe.
She coughed, and water came up from her lungs. I cupped behind her head and helped her sit up. She coughed up more water and wiped at her mouth as she tried to breathe through it.
“It’s okay. Take your time,” I soothed her. “Take your time.”
She coughed a couple more times and took a good, deep breath. She grabbed my dive suit and pulled me close, kissing me.
Our lips met and mouths parted to let our tongues dance and tangle between us. She continued pulling me to her while she kissed me deeper and harder.
She pushed me away. “Thank you for not giving up on me,” she said. “I love you, Gage Noll.”
I wrapped my arms around her and held her against me. “I love you, too, Julia Danvers. God, I love you.” We held each other like that for a few minutes, until we were interrupted by the voices of my guys.
“We’ve got Boris, Ivan, and Dimitri tied up downstairs. We still haven’t seen Jorell, Aleskei, or any of the other guys who came on board with us,” Ricky said behind me.
I turned around to face him. “I don’t know what to tell you about them, Ricky, but it’s time to go. We’ve got to figure out how to get Julia back to our boats.”
“No, I don’t think we do,” Juarez said, stepping forward and pointing at a small boat approaching.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Ricky said.
“Just play it smooth,” I told him.
“Gage Noll?” the man on the front of the boat called as he stepped onto Ivan’s yacht. He wore a nice black suit with a red tie. He wasn’t law enforcement, like I figured we’d been expecting. He apparently represented a different interest on the part of the mayor.
Cautiously, I stepped forward. “Yes, sir,” I addressed him, still uncertain of exactly who he was or what entity he represented.
He flashed a friendly smile and gripped my hand for a firm shake. “The mayor said you would probably need a lift back to shore and told us we’d probably find you here.”