“Just brush your teeth, Alana, and stop thinking!”
Reaching for the faucet to heat up the water in the shower, she paused when the dialogue from the television suddenly became deafening. The voice of the newscaster blared in the other room.
Had someone . . . turned up the volume?
A cold chill ran through her veins as she inched open the door to the bedroom and listened. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow move in front of the bed and toward her.
She slammed the bathroom door and pushed the button lock. Frantically glancing around the small room, she realized there was nothing she could use to defend herself. She crouched low inside the tub and wrapped the shower curtain around her. Her heart pounded against her rib cage.
Lord, please protect me.
Suddenly, the bathroom door burst open, and she screamed.
A hooded figure dressed in black forced the shower curtain from her rigid hands. Flames of fear coursed through her veins as she was forced back against the tub and a white cloth pressed against her face. Screaming into the cloth and clawing at her attacker, Alana could only see glowering eyes above her—dark and sinister. His bushy eyebrows were drawn together in anger. A strong, sweet smell filled Alana’s lungs as she struggled and screamed against the cloth. Gradually her limbs became weak, and her mind refused to function. Then, the creeping numbness squeezed out the presence of everything near, and the world around her slowly disappeared.
TWO
WAS THAT THE SOUND OF
water running?
Her hazy brain balked at trying to figure out where the sound was coming from—until Alana felt her toes tingling with cold. In spite of her confusion, she could tell her feet were wet, and when she kicked her feet slightly, they made a swishing sound.
Was she in the pool at her parents’ home? No, that was sold long ago.
Water swirling around her ankles forced her eyes open. A blurry steering wheel loomed in front of her, and even in her muddled state of mind, she recognized the dashboard of her car.
Her car was in water!
She tried to focus her vision as the water came up to her knees. With numb fingers, she felt to see if she still had on her seat belt. The latch was sitting by itself on the seat. She reached to open the door then gasped at what she saw.
Outside the window was a solid wall of water. Bubbles floated by her window as the water replaced pockets of air in the car. The headlights of her car were still burning, and the wavy beam cast an eerie shaft of light through the murky water.
She grabbed the door handle and frantically tried to open the door. It was either stuck tight or forced shut by the pressure of the water.
“Help! Somebody, help me!” she cried hopelessly as she scooted over to the passenger side and tried in vain to force open the door. Her voice broke, and the shaky sound vibrated back at her.
“Lord, please help me!” she prayed. The water now reached her waist. Tears fell down her face as she tried to find a hard object to bust open the window. There was nothing loose in the car . . . nothing on the seats or the floorboard . . . nothing in the glove compartment.
She had to get out!
As the water reached her shoulders, she pulled her feet up to bust the glass with her shoes. The soft-soles made no impact. Limply she tried to shatter the glass with her feet, then her hands, pounding on the unyielding glass with her fists.
Nothing.
When the water filled up the pocket of air in the front seat, she pushed herself to the back seat and tried to open the back door. It wouldn’t budge. The water continued rising until it reached her neck and crept toward the highest part of the roof.
She took a deep breath of air and watched the last pocket of air fill up with water. Jerking on the door handle and clawing at the glass with her hands, her lungs fought to hold the last stale breath of air. The faces of her family flashed through her mind.
Please, Lord, comfort my family.
She closed her eyes and prayed. When she could hold the air no longer, her lungs forced out the stale air. She uncontrollably opened her mouth and breathed in the murky lake water.
THREE
JAYDN HOLBROOK FLUNG HIMSELF INTO
his Lexus and blew out an irritated breath of air. Dropping back against the seat, he glared at the apartment building where he had just stormed out the door.
Patricia was impossible! It was hard to remember why she had charmed him in the first place.
He pushed the starter button and cranked the motor of his car. The long ride home would be murder. It would take more than an hour, and he was already tired and emotionally spent. Patricia’s insistence on his attending a party that didn’t begin until ten o’clock angered him. That was four hours ago.
He released a ragged sigh and pulled out onto the deserted street. The time on his dash clock flashed neon green in front of him. It was now after two a.m. No wonder they quarreled.
Even as the thought flew through his head, he knew it wasn’t true. They quarreled on every date they shared lately, and this latest argument had nothing to do with the late hour. Despite a nagging ache, he admitted their relationship was rocky—at best.
Her slender face and golden blond hair rose like a ghost from the depths of his mind and floated in front of him.
As a model, Patricia Langley was vivacious and beautiful, but when her attitude and character seeped through the facade of the beauty on the outside, she lost her charm—big time.
The stoplight turned yellow, and he slowed his car to a stop—giving him much too much time to think.
Making the decision to break his attachment with Patricia wasn’t going to happen overnight—not because he’d miss her beauty or personality—but because he longed for someone special to come home to at night.
Someone who would tantalize him with intelligent conversation.
Someone who would enjoy watching
Indiana Jones
movies
while eating bowls of caramel popcorn on the sofa.
Was Patricia that someone?
Did he really want to give up on the two years they’d spent together?
Would this red light never change?
When the light finally turned green, he made a right turn onto a deserted road that would take him across Lake Morgan. Confused, negative thoughts trapped his logic, and he traveled for a while in silence.
As he turned the corner toward home and headed across the four-lane bridge, his headlights caught the reflection of something in the water.
Probably night fishermen.
He continued across the bridge, but turned his head curiously to glance over the edge. What he saw caused him to draw in a sharp breath and do a double take.
That looked like the roof of a car!
Jamming his foot on the brakes in the middle of the bridge, he backed up to the edge of the road. Then pulling a flashlight out of the glove compartment, he slid down the muddy embankment.
As he peered into the waters below, he heard an engine come to life behind him. A dark vehicle, hidden at the edge of a dense stand of trees, made a U-turn in the road and rapidly headed in the other direction—slinging gravel everywhere. Jaydn stared at the back of the truck as it disappeared. The headlights flashed on just before it went out of sight.
He didn’t have time to figure out what that was all about. The city of Landeville was almost five miles away, and it would take the emergency crews too long to get here. He needed to see if there was still someone in that car.
In the light of his headlights illuminating the top of the submerging car, he picked up his phone and began jerking off his coat and shoes.
“Nine-one-one operator. What is the nature of your emergency?”
“Yes, I’d like to report a car in Lake Morgan at the Sam Monroe Bridge.”
“A car?”
“Yes! A car!”
“Is there someone in the car, sir?”
“I don’t know, but I’m about to find out. Send help.”
He snapped the phone shut and ran to the edge of the lake. After taking a deep breath, he dove into the water just as the trunk of the car went completely under.
The flashlight he still held in his hand went dead as the water closed over it, and he pushed it away in the water. He took another deep breath and swam down as close as he could to what he hoped was the driver’s side window. When he pulled on the handle of the door, it jerked open in his hands. His tall frame barely fit inside the small opening, but he pushed inside the car and felt around for a body.
There was nothing there.
Relief flooded his emotions as he backed his large frame out of the car and pushed his body up toward the lights at the top of the water. When his head broke the surface, he gasped for a lungful of air.
The short elation he felt disappeared, however, when logic reminded him there might be someone in the back seat. He pictured a baby’s car seat with a toddler still strapped inside. Groaning at the possibility, he shook his head in determination, then took two more deep breaths and blew them out slowly. The third breath he held and then dove once again into the shadowy depths.
When he pulled the back door to jerk it open, the handle bit into his hand, but the door wouldn’t budge. With an attitude close to anger, he swam back to the front door and once again pushed his tiring limbs into the car. This time when his hands floated around in the area of the back seat, they met something soft, cold, and still.
A body!
The adrenalin in his system took over, and with super human effort, he pulled the small form of the person he was trying to rescue up into the front seat and out the door. The journey up seemed to take forever. His lungs were begging for air. At the same time, he was trying to remember how long a body could live without oxygen. He only had a few precious moments if he was going to save this person’s life.
When he finally felt the cool air of the night around his head, his aching lungs gasped, and he breathed in the welcome oxygen. The accident victim lay limp in his arms.
A woman.
Her blond hair spread and floated in the water around her as he tugged her the short distance through the water to the edge of the lake. Gently, he lowered her to the wet ground, and in the headlights of his car, he watched her chest to see if she was breathing. Desperately, he placed his ear next to her mouth, hoping he would feel a puff of air.
Nothing!
The vein in her neck showed no signs of life-saving, pulsing blood pumping from her heart.
He quickly turned her over to push the water from her lungs. Then, after checking her mouth to make sure the airway was clear, he covered her mouth with his and began forcing air from his lungs into hers.
Fear and desperation had a chokehold on his soul, but he couldn’t let that stop him now. His CPR training pushed its way forward into his thoughts.
Two quick breaths. Then press.
One, two, three, four, five . . .
When he reached thirty, he checked again for a heartbeat.
“Come on, breathe!”
Two more breaths. Then press.
Though it was less than a minute, it seemed like hours before he heard the screaming siren in the distance and watched an ambulance pull off the road beside him.
Finally! Someone trained had arrived to take over the responsibility for this woman’s life. Jaydn blew out a relieved breath. Shirking responsibility wasn’t something he normally allowed himself, but being accountable for whether a person lived or died—that made his heart stutter.
A police car pulled in behind the ambulance as two paramedics rushed toward him. One of the paramedics, tall and muscular, leaned around Jaydn’s hands as he continued administering compressions and checked for vital signs.
The paramedic looked at Jaydn and shook his head.
“Can you keep up the mouth-to-mouth while I administer the compressions?”
Jaydn nodded and moved to the woman’s head.
The other paramedic began pulling equipment from the ambulance and set up radio communication with the hospital. Jaydn waited quietly while the first paramedic administered the compressions. Then he breathed into the woman’s lungs again.
“How long was she without oxygen? Do you know?” The paramedic puffed out his question as he continued the compressions.
Jaydn shook his head. “I have no idea. The car was sinking when I drove by . . . maybe not too long.”
He leaned over for two more breaths, but the second paramedic waved him back. The man placed the stethoscope on her chest and listened.
“I’m getting a faint pulse.”
Placing a portable resuscitator over her mouth, the man squeezed twice.
Suddenly, the woman coughed and drew a trembling breath on her own. Jaydn sat back on his heels and let out a relieved breath. He watched the two men hurry to surround the young woman with more attention. An IV was inserted in her arm, and her face was covered with an oxygen mask. Then they stabilized her and lifted her into the ambulance. Jaydn stood uncertainly, puzzled about what to do next.