Contingency Plan Read Online Free PDF Page B

triumph, as if I had tossed it from desperation. The rush he was feeling would outweigh common sense. Despite his intelligence, he was operating on adrenaline alone. Or perhaps those pills. On the level of a wild beast.
    Just as he closed in on the straightaway, the ice broke. I went into the water, the machine sinking below me as I kicked free and swam for my life. It wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. The suit protected my core. For a moment my lungs threatened to seize. Four meters deep on the maps. Two would be more than enough. As long as he was in over his head.
    Buoyant, my face and ears stinging with cold, I clambered to the edge of the jagged hole. With the helmet gone, I wasn’t disoriented. In the panic, he might not get his off at all. I was counting on that. Straps and snaps were impossible to work with heavy mitts or frozen hands.
    Following so closely, he wouldn’t be able to stop. An experienced rider might have gunned the machine over the water like Jesus walking. Joe panicked and braked. The machine flipped 180 degrees as it slid toward 10 meters of open water. The heavy back end went in first, trapping him beneath. The windshield closed over his head as the machine dropped like a stone. It must have been like wrestling a refrigerator.
    Somehow he bobbed to the top. Joe was strong.
    As he thrashed, I pulled the picks from around my neck and hauled myself out with a groan. All the activity at the cabin had made me strong. I wasn’t the same grieving woman he’d met at the bluffs, slipping into a patch of nettle. Happy to be helped to her feet.
    One hand, another, left, right. Precious inch after inch to where the surface held. On my knees, then crawling.
    At last I struggled upright and staggered 12 meters to a safe section. A rush of energy gave me the surge I needed as I looked back at the man who had put me and my daughter through hell. My feet were icy blocks, but I kept walking. Call it the life force. Or maybe Andy’s smile was pushing me forward.
    Joe’s gloved hand flipped up his visor as he splashed.
    “Help me! For god’s s-sake, S-sandra.” City people never think about flotation suits. Or ice picks. Knowledge is power. Especially in a killer environment. He was wearing a monster down coat that had become an icy coffin. His boots were probably filled with water.
    “ God has not said a word, Joe. Don’t you find that interesting?”
    At -15°C, it wouldn’t take long for the ice to refreeze.
    In the moonlight, I walked to the edge of the lake until I couldn’t see him. Or hear his weakening screams. My teeth were chattering, but I was moving.
    I started up the snowmobile trail and noticed a set of rabbit tracks. The moon had never been so bright. A white arctic hare hopped past me to the shelter of a cedar. We’d both survived tonight.
    I retrieved a set of warm clothes and boots from the bush where I had left them in a garbage bag. I broke open several sets of hand warmers for my hands, feet, neck and groin.
    No one would blame me for saving myself. They would take it on faith that I made it to the cabin despite being soaked. Northerners did that. They had to.
    In ten minutes Joe would be dead from hypothermia. My one sorrow was that he wouldn’t suffer. His systems would shut down quickly and painlessly. I thought of his first wife.
    This was sweet revenge for Chrissie.
    I started humming “Home Sweet Home” as I began my trek. Joe, Joe, you taught me so much. But where was your contingency plan?