Caught in the Crosshair Read Online Free PDF Page B

things or people?”
    Compared to young Max, Superman was just a silly-looking guy in a cape. “People. It’s the reason I came.”
    “Don’t worry. We’ll get to him. I promise.” Jaden’s hand went up, his expression set with more determination than ever. “The direction of the wind should blow us ashore —”
    “Which way is that?”
    Jaden pointed, seemed sure of himself, but how he could tell was anybody’s guess.
    “It looks too far. And the current is tugging us out to sea.”
    Too weak to move, all Lauren could do was watch as Jaden pulled a knife from its sheath. After cutting the line, he took one end, and using a bowline, attached the line to a clip on his buoyancy control device. He moved to Lauren and tucked the other end of the line through the buckle of her vest.
    “This way we won’t get separated.”
    A sinking feeling swelled inside Lauren’s stomach causing her muscles to heave at the sound of the word
separated
. The thought of the words
at sea
next to it was even worse. Especially when Max needed her most. If she’d had any idea he was in this much trouble, she wouldn’t have hesitated to help him.
    At least her wetsuit, although nothing more than a short sleeved shirt and shorts made of a thin layer of mesh, provided some measure of insulation against the elements. But without the sun, even seventy-degree water caused a chill to goose bump both of her arms.
    Jaden set his jaw. “We can swim at right angles to the wind to bring us closer to shore.”
    “How far is it?” Lauren wasn’t sure she wanted the answer to that question. The chilly wind was already causing a reaction in her body. Her nerves were shot.
    “Hard to tell.”
    Maybe he didn’t want to say.
    “I need you to trust me. We’ll be okay.”
    Trust him? Trust a man with a gun who’d forced her out to sea? A man who made her body quiver with the mere brush of his hand?
    To be fair, he had kept them alive so far. He’d rescued her from the grip of a cartel member. He seemed determined to help her find Max. He’d lost a buddy today. She could risk a little trust.
    “Drop your weights,” he said.
    “What?” She was already scouting for a rescue boat. There had to be one. She listened for a plane or helicopter through the howling wind. Nothing. Just the distant roar of a boat engine.
    “Your weights. Let them go,” Jaden said, his voice was milder and more reassuring.
    Right again. They’d make it harder to swim against the current.
    Taking the lead, Jaden placed his facemask back on and folded forward.
    Lauren did her best to keep up, allowing some slack in the line, but careful not to create drag. After nearly twenty minutes of swimming, a waterspout bobbing up and down in the surf caught her attention. She tugged on the line to get Jaden’s attention. “There. Look there. A boat.”
    Jaden stopped swimming and turned. The wrinkle in his brow and tension lines across his face shot a warning to Lauren.
    Were they good guys or bad guys in the boat?
    Icy fingers of panic squeezed around her chest like an invisible band.
    Another light drizzle had begun, and it became immediately clear the boat was pushing toward shore.
    After a few minutes, the sky seemed to dump truckloads of rain, causing her to completely lose sight of the vessel. A fresh wave of anxiety hit.
    What ifs assaulted her.
    What if Jaden would have been able to overtake the men in the boat?
    What if he could take command and drive them back to shore safely?
    What if they just lost their only chance of rescue?
    Out here, they had nothing but angry seas.
    “Can you still see it?” Lauren tried to stop her voice from shaking. Ripples of chilling current ran from her skin to her core. She’d been so focused on doing whatever it took to find shore and save her brother that she’d totally forgotten where she was.
    This was the deep, home of the great white, the hammerhead, and who knew what other species of shark. She was in their territory now. Small