Oh, shit. They weren’t going to make it. She glanced down to check their speed. They were still going too fast. She’d miscalculated the number of turns. They should be on the rise by now, but they weren’t.
The road veered off sharply to the left. Ahead and to the right, the cliff dropped thirty feet to a small bay. If she tried to make the turn, they’d roll. She knew it. They’d roll down the embankment and most likely die.
She had only a split second to make a decision.
Chapter Twenty
“Julia, hold on.”
Kate gunned the engine. The car sailed off the cliff toward the water. Julia screamed again in the backseat, and for one terrifying moment, it was as if they were flying.
The car hit the water; the airbag deployed. Kate’s head smashed forward and back, hit something hard. The car bobbed for a few minutes before it took on water and the weight of the engine started to pull them down.
Cold water seeping in at her feet brought Kate around. Her head pounded. Every muscle in her body ached. With frantic fingers she unbuckled her seatbelt, swore frantically when she couldn’t get out of it.
They weren’t dead. They weren’t dead, yet.
“Julia!” Kate tried to shake the fuzziness from her mind. She climbed into the backseat where Julia’s head lay against the window, her eyes closed. “No, no, no.”
Julia’s head moved to the side, and she slowly opened her eyes. “What…what happened?”
“Oh, thank God,” Kate exclaimed. “Come on, we have to get out of here.”
Kate pushed against the back door, tried the windows. They wouldn’t budge. Shifting back to the front seat as water continued to spill into the vehicle, she found the windows there were stuck as well.
“They won’t open. They won’t open!” Julia shrieked.
Using her foot, Kate tried to bust the front windshield at the corner, but it wouldn’t move.
Darkness tried to draw her down. Kate shook her head, blinked and forced herself to stay awake. She was having trouble thinking and seeing clearly. Everything in front of her was blurry. “Okay, just relax, Julia. Listen to me.” She grasped Julia’s shoulders as the ice-cold water reached their bellies. “Listen. We have to wait for the water to fill the car. Once it does, it’ll equal out the pressure. We can’t open the doors right now because there’s too much pressure pushing on them. Once the car fills, the doors will open.”
“No, they won’t!” Julia hollered, cradling her arm against her stomach. “We’re going to drown!”
“Listen to me. They will. Trust me. Don’t panic, baby.”
“I’m scared,” Julia whispered, grasping Kate’s hand.
“I know. It’s okay. We’re not going to die in here, you hear me?” Julia nodded as the car continued to fill. “We’re going to make it. Just think good thoughts, okay? Think about Daddy and Reed and what you want to do tomorrow.” Kate’s vision blurred again, and she shook her head to clear it.
She had to stay awake. She had to stay coherent.
When the water level reached their necks, Julia’s fingers tightened.
“Just a little more, baby,” Kate murmured and lifted her chin. She took one last deep breath, gestured for Julia to do the same, then tried the door again. When it didn’t budge, her heart dropped.
Icy tentacles of fear wrapped around Kate’s throat.
Don’t panic. Try again.
This time Kate put her back into it. With one good thrust of her body, the driver-side door opened. She grasped Julia’s hand and pulled her out of the sinking vehicle. Light flickered at the surface above. Kate kicked as hard as she could.
They broke the surface together, gasped for air. Kate treaded water, gripped Julia’s shoulders, and checked her face for signs of shock. “You’re okay,” she told her. “We’re okay. Kick your legs, Julia.”
Julia spit water and tried to breathe deep.
“Can you swim?” Kate asked.
With a shaky nod, Julia tried to kick for land. Kate wrapped an arm around her when she realized Julia was having trouble. Gentle waves lapped at the shore of the bay. Crashing water pounded rocks on the other side of the spit. Kate’s energy waned as she dragged Julia out of the water.
Sirens blared in the distance. Kate dropped to her knees next to Julia and sucked in air. Water dripped around her, sending shivers down her spine, but all she could focus on was her daughter.
Julia lay on her back, her eyes closed, her chest fighting for air as she cradled her arm against herself. Kate grabbed her hand. “Stay with me. Hold on, baby.”
Relief bubbled through Kate when voices echoed from the road above. Help. They’d made it.
Julia’s hand slipped out of hers.
Kate glanced down sharply only to realize Julia wasn’t moving anymore.
Thrusting bills at the cab driver, Ryan sprinted from the yellow taxi. The automatic emergency room doors opened, and he dashed into the reception area. A woman holding a sick baby stood in line at the front desk, rocking back and forth. A man with a blood-tinged bandage draped over his hand waited behind her.
Ryan pushed his way to the front of the line.
“Sir, you’re just going to have to wait your turn.” The receptionist sent him a wicked glare.
Fear clenched its icy hand around his heart. “My wife and daughter were in a car accident.”
The receptionist’s face softened. “Last name?”
“Harrison.” He shook his head. “And Alexander.”
Time ticked by second after miserably long second while she checked her computer. The baby behind him screamed. Ryan raked a frustrated hand through his hair and was ready to climb over the counter to check the screen himself when the receptionist finally said, “Room five. Go through the double doors—”
He turned and waited for her to buzz him though. Pungent institutional cleaners cut through the hallway air. A crash cart was pushed up against a wall. Medical staff chatted around the nurse’s station.
Terror clawed through him as he checked doors, frantically searching for room five. When he finally found it, the muscles in his chest tightened, and he whipped around, heading for the nurse’s station.
A blonde intern leaning against the counter looked up. “Can I help you, sir?”
“Room five’s empty.” Panic made his voice crack.
The blonde looked over at a redhead in blue hospital scrubs seated behind the counter. “Didn’t they take her up to surgery?”
Surgery? No, no, no. Ryan caught his breath.
The redhead checked a chart. “I think so. Car accident, right?”
“Where?”
“Um, let me see.” She flipped papers on a chart.
Good God, couldn’t they see he was dying here?
“Wait,” the redhead said. “That was the woman in six. Five’s in X-ray.”
Sweet Jesus, did they take classes on how to torture family members? “Where’s that?”
The blonde pointed down the hall. “Take the first left, go all the way to the end and turn right. You can’t miss it.”
He was already jogging down the hall before she finished talking.
The air choked in his throat when he rounded the last corner. Kate was seated on a chair in the hall, bent over at the waist, her head in her hands.
“Oh, my God, baby.” He dragged her out of the chair and pulled her tight against him. His heart thumped out of control when her hands slid around his waist.
Grasping her face, he pulled back enough to look down. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, her cheeks streaked with tears. A square bandage covered a wound above her left eyebrow.
He swallowed, his eyes locking on the bandage. “Are you…?”
“I’m okay,” she said, gripping his elbows. “It’s just a scratch. I hit my head. I’m okay.”