Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 90769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
We reached the raft. I could see Jacques’ steamboat on the far side and Jacques was standing by the door that led downstairs, waiting for us. But between us and him was the river and it was nothing like the calm, sunlit scene it had been last time. The storm had swollen it and it was raging and foaming as it rushed downstream, the water a dirty grey-brown with white caps to the waves. I saw branches being tossed and tumbled by the current. Sometimes they’d disappear, sucked beneath the surface and I waited for them to pop up again...and they didn’t. It had gotten colder, too, and the water would be colder still. I shuddered.
One at a time, we gingerly boarded the raft. Then Rufus jumped excitedly aboard, setting it rocking, and I had to grab hold of the rope and tell him sternly to sit! If any of us wound up in the water, I wasn’t sure we’d make it to shore.
Rufus grudgingly sat. I ruffled his fur and Cal began to haul us across. I tried not to think about how hard it was going to be to say goodbye.
Last time, it had seemed to take hours to get across the river. This time, it felt like seconds. As the steamboat came closer and closer, I felt the emotion welling up inside, unstoppable. This can’t be the end!
The raft bumped up against the steamboat and I turned to Cal, feeling tears hot in my eyes. “I don’t—” My voice caught.
Cal put his hand on my shoulder. “You’ve got to,” he said. “It’s the only way.”
“Then come with me,” I blurted. “Come to Canada with me, I’m sure Jacques could fix it. We can bring Rufus—”
He shook his head.
“Cal please! I’ll help you build a cabin—”
He looked off into the distance. His mouth twitched but then he pressed his lips together as if he didn’t trust himself to speak. He shook his head.
I could feel tears escaping and trickling down my face, and I had to look away too or I would have started full-on sobbing. I squatted down on the raft and wrapped my arms around Rufus. “You are a good boy,” I told him, my voice shaking. “The best. You take care of each other, okay?”
Rufus licked my cheek and woofed, looking worried for the first time. He looked at Cal, then at me. What’s going on?
I swallowed and breathed deep, trying to hold myself together long enough to say what I needed to say. I stood up and put my arms around Cal, nestling my face into his chest for the very last time. “Thank you,” I said. I took a shuddering breath. “Back in Seattle, I felt like my life was ticking away, one day at a time. I've lived more in these few weeks than I have in a year.”
And I lifted up on tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. His whole body tensed...I felt him growl, deep in his chest, and his arms twitched, trembled, about to grab me and pull me close—
He broke the kiss. “Goodbye.” He looked quickly away, but I saw his eyes were shining.
I nodded. Blinked. Turned around and stepped off the raft and onto the steamboat. Jacques was waiting for me, looking pale and drawn. He held out a Canadian passport and I took it, my chest beginning to quake—
Jacques staggered to the side. The man who’d pushed him stepped out of the doorway and grabbed my wrist. I blinked uncomprehendingly at him, my eyes still full of tears.
Alik. Ralavich’s bodyguard. In his other hand, he had a gun and he lifted it to point at the raft.
“No!” I screamed, lurching forwards.
There was a boom that made my head ring.
I saw Cal jerk as the bullet hit him...and then he fell from the raft and was swept away by the river.
44
Cal
PAIN EXPLODED like white fire, searing down my arm and across my chest. I was spun around, a puppet with its strings tugged, and then I was falling, falling….
I hit the water and the shock of the icy cold made me gasp and inhale water. Choking, I tried to kick for the surface but the current had me now, tumbling me over and over, and my cheek scraped the bottom. I tried to stabilize myself but as soon as I used my left arm, my whole upper body lit up with agonizing pain.
I was moving too fast and spinning too much to figure out which way was up. And now I really needed to breathe. I kicked at the water but that just tumbled me more. My back scraped along the river bed, drawing blood, and my mouth opened in a scream, choking down more water. My boots dragged against the mud, kicking up brown clouds until I couldn’t see anything. The cold was soaking into my bones with each passing second, draining my energy and turning my muscles to concrete. The aching pressure in my lungs grew and grew and the world went black around the edges.