"Yes," she said.
"I'll be right behind you. If he gets out of the vehicle to pursue us, we'll have the advantage of plenty of cover."
There didn't seem to be anything else to say, so she said nothing.
Max went into a close turn, accelerating hard on the far side. She realized he was trying to buy them a little time to get over the bridge and into the shelter of the trees.
The narrow bridge suddenly appeared. The river looked even higher now. Just another sixty seconds, Charlotte thought. That was all the time they needed.
"Shit," Max said very softly.
He started to brake.
Charlotte opened her mouth to ask him why he was changing his mind. Then she saw the massive tree that had fallen across the road at the far end of the bridge. It blocked the narrow strip of pavement as effectively as a brick wall.
The front wheels of the SUV were already on the bridge.
"Hang on," Max ordered.
He slammed the vehicle into reverse and managed to back up a few feet, angling the SUV to the left side of the road.
Briggs's vehicle shot out of the last turn before the bridge. The driver must have taken in the situation in an instant. He slowed but not much. Charlotte realized he was taking aim at Max's SUV.
Max hit the switch to lower the windows.
"He's going to push us into the river," Max said. "Grab the handhold and brace yourself. The air bags will probably blow. Don't unfasten your seat belt until we're in the water."
There was no time to think about what was happening. Charlotte reached up and took what she hoped would not prove to be a death grip on the handhold. Before she could ask any questions, Briggs sideswiped the SUV with enough force to send it hurtling forward off the muddy riverbank into the water.
The explosion of the air bags was followed immediately by the impact of the landing. For a few seconds Charlotte could not focus. She heard Max giving orders and followed them blindly.
"Seat belt," he snapped.
She fumbled with her seat belt and got it undone.
"Window," he said. "You won't be able to open the door. Whatever you do, don't lose contact with the car."
She managed to scramble halfway through the open window.
"Grab the door handle," Max ordered. "Don't let go."
She reached down, groping wildly for the outside door handle. Miraculously she found it.
"Got it," she shouted.
Max pushed her all the way through the opening. The shock of the cold water hit her with such paralyzing force she could not catch her breath.
"Don't let go of the door handle," Max said again.
"I won't."
She realized he was not following her. Instead he was scrambling into the rear seat, reaching for something in the cargo area.
Water was filling up the interior of the SUV very quickly.
"Max," she shouted. "What are you doing?"
"I'm here," he said.
He emerged through the rear window behind her.
The SUV was now firmly in the grip of the river. The water was carrying it swiftly downstream, away from the bridge.
She looked back one last time and caught a glimpse of Egan Briggs. He was out of his vehicle, standing on the bridge. He had a gun in his hand. She saw him take aim.
She thought she heard the crack of a shot being fired, but in the next instant the river took them around a bend and out of sight of the bridge.
CHAPTER 24
"We're going to get on top of the car," Max said. "Just do as I tell you. Got that?"
"Yes."
He thought her voice sounded steadier. He took a closer look, doing a fast assessment. He needed to know if she was in a state of panic. That would complicate matters even more.
She seemed to realize what he was doing.
"I'm okay," she said. "I'll panic later."
"Good plan," he said.
Adrenaline had kicked in, he decided. Like him, she was wholly focused on survival now.
"I'll go first," he said.
The water was up to the edge of the front windows because the weight of the heavy engine was dragging down the front end of the SUV. There was still enough air left in the interior of the vehicle to keep the SUV afloat for another couple of minutes but no more.
He gripped the window frame with one hand and reached up to grasp the luggage rack with his other hand. Bracing one foot on the bottom edge of the window frame, he hauled himself up on top of the vehicle. It wasn't easy because his soaked clothes and his boots might as well have been lead weights.
When he was sure his grip was secure, he crouched, leaned over the edge and reached down.
"Give me your left hand," he said. "But don't let go of the door handle until I tell you."
She reached up. He locked his fingers around her wrist.
"Got you," he said. "Let go of the door handle. Try to get one foot on the bottom of the window for leverage."
She was already in motion. She managed to brace one foot on the lower edge of the window frame just as he had done.
He hauled her up out of the water and onto the top of the SUV. She was breathless from the exertion and thoroughly soaked, but she crouched on the luggage rack and looked at him.
"Now we hope for an eddy, right?" she said.
"You've done this before?"
"No. But I took some kayak lessons a few weeks ago. I know how eddies work."
"Okay, that is very good news."
He allowed himself a small sigh of relief. He wasn't going to have to explain the principles of fluid dynamics. Anyone who had spent time on a river understood eddies. They formed when water hit an object like a boulder. A whirlpool effect was created on the far side of the obstruction, producing a reverse current. If they could get into an eddy near the edge of the river, there was a good chance that the countercurrent would wash them up onto the bank.
He took off his belt and looped it loosely around Charlotte's waist.
"When I say jump, we'll go together," he said. "I'll hang on to the belt to make sure we don't get separated."
She nodded.
Driven by the strong current, the SUV swung in a slow arc, pivoting around the heavy front end. Max studied the river. Eddies frequently formed immediately after a bend or a natural obstruction.
"There's a bunch of boulders coming up," he said. "There should be an eddy right after them. Get ready to jump."
The SUV bumped along, scraping the river bottom in places, swinging lazily from side to side. The vehicle was almost completely submerged now.
The SUV was dragged past the boulders seemingly in slow motion. He saw the change in the surface of the water that indicated the eddy and tightened his grip on the leather belt.
The boulders slipped past.
"Now," he said.
Charlotte didn't hesitate. They went into the slack water on the far side of the rocks. For a few seconds he worried that he'd miscalculated. But he got his feet under him. He felt Charlotte catch her balance, too.
They were close to the edge of the river. The water was fairly shallow and the eddy formed by the boulders protected them from the heavy current.
They staggered up the muddy bank and onto the road. The chill of the air felt like a blast from a freezer. Charlotte was shivering. So was he. It was time to stop worrying about drowning and start thinking about the dangers of hypothermia.
"We need shelter," he said. "The rain is easing up, but the wind is getting worse."
Charlotte looked around. "We passed several cabins and a couple of closed lodges on the way to Briggs's place."
"Right. Let's move." He pulled the two small plastic packets out from under his shirt. "Here, take one of these."
She accepted one of the packets. "Emergency thermal blankets?"
"I keep a stash of them in the emergency kit. Couldn't bring the whole damn kit, but the blankets will help us ward off hypothermia until we find shelter."
They unfolded the paper-thin reflective blankets and wrapped them around their shoulders. They started walking down the road.
"Out of sheer curiosity," he said, "what made you sign up for that course in kayaking?"
"My therapist told me I needed to learn to be more spontaneous. One of the residents at Rainy Creek Gardens suggested kayaking. Mildred said she'd done it for years. She told me it was a great way to meet outdoorsy-type men."
"How'd that work out for you?"
"Quite well, actually. Here I am in the great outdoors-with a man."
CHAPTER 25
The road followed the river, more or less. It would have been an easy, pleasant hike on a warm summer day. But with the wind and the rain, the trek was dangerous and exhausting. The thin thermal blankets trapped some of their body heat, but they offered only minimal protection.
The wind was whipping the heavy branches of the trees. There was a real risk that some of the limbs would snap and come crashing down. They were potentially lethal in their own right, but there was an added problem. Some of the falling branches would almost certainly take down power lines, which, in turn, were another serious hazard.
At one point they had to detour through the woods to avoid a landslide that blocked the road.
"Do you think Briggs will come after us to see if we made it out of the river?" Charlotte asked.
"Damned if I know. He'd have to move the tree that's blocking the bridge before he could follow us in a vehicle. That won't be easy. I doubt if he'll try to pursue us on foot because the river was moving too quickly. My SUV is long gone. Even if he thinks we might have made it out, he'd have no idea where to start searching for us. I'm guessing that he is probably back at his cabin by now, telling himself that we both drowned in the river. In his eyes, we're just a couple of city slickers who wouldn't know how to survive in his world."