Chapter 14: The Bitter River
The sensation of weightlessness lasted only a fraction of a second before the freezing, violent waters of the river rushed up to meet them like a solid wall of concrete. The impact knocked the wind clean out of Elena’s lungs, plunging her deep beneath the surface into absolute blackness. Her grip on Mateo’s jacket slipped in the roiling current, but her maternal instinct drove her forward. Kicking upward against the crushing weight of the water, she broke the surface gasping for air, coughing violently as spray hit her face.
""Mateo! Sarah!"" Elena screamed over the roar of the rapids, treading water frantically in the churning darkness. Just a few yards away, Sarah surfaced, spluttering and wiping water from her eyes. With her right arm, Sarah was holding onto the collar of Mateo’s green t-shirt, keeping the boy’s head safely above water. ""I've got him! I've got him!"" Sarah yelled back.
Using the strong current to their advantage, the two women kicked desperately toward the rocky riverbank where a dense thicket of pine trees offered concealment from the bridge above. With burning muscles and lungs screaming for oxygen, they finally dragged themselves onto the muddy shore, collapsing onto the wet stones beneath the shelter of the evergreen canopy.
Mateo shivered violently, his teeth chattering uncontrollably as the cold mountain air hit his wet skin. Elena pulled him into her arms, rubbing his back fiercely to generate friction and warmth. ""Are you okay, my baby? Did you hit anything?"" she asked, her voice cracking with emotion. Mateo nodded weakly, his dark eyes wide in the moonlight. ""I'm cold, Mom, but I'm okay.""
Sarah collapsed beside them, completely exhausted, wringing out the hem of her wet coat. Up on the trestle bridge above, the flashlights of Marcus’s operatives swept frantically back and forth across the surface of the river. They were shining lights into the water, but the heavy tree canopy provided complete overhead cover for the trio hiding below.
May you like
""They won't search the canyon floor on foot tonight,"" Sarah panted, catching her breath. ""It's too dangerous, even for them. But by morning, they'll bring in thermal drones."" Elena looked down at her son, then out toward the dirt logging road winding up through the valley toward the Canadian border just twenty miles away. ""Then we don't wait for morning,"" Elena said, her voice steady and resolute. ""We walk.""
***
