Chapter Eleven
Xavier sucked in a long breath, trying to ground himself as the SUV finally came to a halt in the river several feet from shore. It was upside-down in the water, the sunroof smashed, and the freezing, dark liquid was starting to inch in through the gap between the doors and the roof.
“Xavier…” Hannah whimpered, and he reached over to squeeze her hand.
“It’s going to be okay,” he told her, as calmly as he could. “Just unbuckle your belt. We can get out of here.”
She reached down to hit the button to release her seat belt, but it didn’t budge. She stabbed at it a few more times, growing increasingly desperate, and then turned to him, eyes wide. “It’s stuck,” she told him.
Xavier grimaced and reached for the glove box where he kept a small blade.
It would be enough to free her if he could get to it.
But he couldn’t reach the compartment from his side, restricted by his own belt.
In order to help Hannah, he had no choice but to unclip it and let himself fall into the rapidly rising water below.
“Just hold on, I’m going to get you out,” he promised her, and he unclipped his belt. Thankfully his wasn’t stuck, and he landed with a grunt on the roof of the SUV. No matter what it took, he was going to get them both out before the vehicle completely filled with water.
The ends of Hannah’s dark brown hair were already dangling into the freezing water, making them look more black than brown. In a few minutes, it would reach her face as the SUV continued to slide deeper into the river as more water rushed inside.
He grabbed the door handle and heaved himself up toward the dashboard, pressing the button to release the small compartment where he kept his knife. It didn’t budge. Damn. Was anything still working in this thing?
“What are you doing?” Hannah asked. He could hear the terror in her voice, and he wished he could stop to comfort her, but he knew he needed to keep focused on the task at hand before it was too late.
“I’m getting a knife to cut you free,” he told her through chattering teeth.
He could feel the chill of the water starting to set into his bones, and he knew they wouldn’t last long out here without some help—but he could deal with that when the time came.
What mattered now was getting that blade, cutting Hannah out of her seat belt and getting them out of this vehicle before it filled up or moved farther into the river.
He slammed his fist into the glove box a couple of times, until he felt the spring lock break, and it fell open.
A bunch of stuff dumped out—maps, pens, a notepad, a granola bar—and he managed to catch the small knife before it dropped into the water below.
Wrapping his hand around the handle, he turned to Hannah. “Can you pull the belt taut?”
The water was inching higher now, reaching her hairline, but she nodded, shivering. Taking the belt in her hand, she pulled it hard to create an easy surface for him to cut into.
“P-p-lea-se hurry,” she begged him through her own chattering teeth, as though he would have done anything else.
He brought the blade to the thick fabric of the belt and started to saw at it, all too aware of how quickly the water was inching up her face. “It’s going to be okay.”
She let out another whimper as the water reached her eyes. She squeezed them shut, and her grip tightened on the belt. The fabric was starting to fray now, and he knew it was only going to be a few more seconds until it—
It snapped. Xavier dropped the blade and reached out to catch her before she fell into the roof of the vehicle, pulling her into his arms.
She gasped, wiping the water from her eyes, clinging on to him for dear life.
“You okay?” he asked her, and she managed to nod, though he could tell she was having a hard time pulling herself together. She gripped him tightly.
“We need to get out of here,” she told him, voice shaking. “Are the doors stuck?”
He tried the handle on her side, but it wouldn’t move. The SUV had sunk too far, and the water pressure on the doors was too great.
“Looks like it,” he replied. “Here, go over toward the driver side—get back as far as you can.”
He set her down next to the driver seat, and she wrapped her arms around the back of it for purchase as he pulled back to slam his foot into the opposite door.
It didn’t budge, but he could hear the metal groaning underneath the pressure.
Going again, he mustered up all the force he had in him—not that there was much of it left.
He was running on pure adrenaline now, doing his best to ignore the shock of the accident and the cold water.
But it was just a matter of time before his body shut down.
He kicked again, and again.
Thankfully, on the fourth kick, the door finally came loose, leaving a gap large enough for him to get his hands in between the door and the frame.
Unfortunately, the opening also gave enough room for the frigid river to come rushing in as well.
The SUV started filling faster, the water no longer held at bay.
Reaching back for Hannah’s hand, Xavier continued to push against the force of the icy river, using his shoulder and dragging Hannah out behind him.
The water they were in was only about chest deep for him, a little more for Hannah, but they struggled to trudge back to dry land through the freezing, mucky water.
“Thank God,” Hannah breathed as soon as they were out of the water. They collapsed on the riverbank, and Xavier shot a look up to the road to make sure the person who had done this to them wasn’t still there.
But it was totally quiet.
Whoever had taken them out had made a run for it already. A good thing, because even though Xavier was exhausted and fighting off hypothermia, he thought he probably could have mustered the strength to kill them with his bare hands for almost ending Hannah’s life.
Did they think they had finished her and Xavier off? Or was this just meant to be a warning, a sign for them to keep their heads down and out of whatever trouble these people didn’t want them knowing about?
He didn’t know, but he was definitely going to get to the bottom of it.
Xavier wrapped a protective arm around Hannah, squeezing her in close.
He could feel her shivering from the icy water as well as the cooler temperature, and he wished there was something he could do to make it better.
He was wearing a jacket, but it wouldn’t provide her any warmth because it was soaking wet.
Their best bet was to get back to Warrior Peak Sanctuary as soon as possible and into dry clothes.
“How f-f-far are we from the lodge?” Hannah asked, and he looked over at her. There was a bloody mark on her head, just below her hairline.
“You’re bleeding,” he murmured.
She reached up to touch her head and pulled her hand away with a smear of blood on her fingers. Her eyes widened.
“Do you feel dizzy?” Xavier asked. “Nauseous?”
She shook her head. “N-no, nothing l-l-like that,” she stuttered, but she winced. “I do have a bit of a headache, though.”
“Okay, we need to get you checked out,” he replied, and he steered her up toward the road. “Once we get back to the lodge, we’ll get you looked over.”
“And how a-are we going to g-get back there?” she asked, her voice laced with panic. “I mean, it’s too far to walk, and it’s too cold this time of the year, plus we’re soaking wet, and we’ll probably freeze to death…”
“I’ll flag down a car,” he replied before she spiraled any further. He was doing his best to keep her calm, though he could tell that she was on the brink of losing it completely. He smoothed a hand over her back, trying to soothe her. “You stay here,” he told her. “I’ll find someone. I promise.”
She parted her lips to protest, but the fight seemed to leave her just as soon as she had thought of it.
He knew as well as she did that there weren’t many cars that came around this way at this time of year, and they would have to get seriously lucky to run into one.
But he had to believe they would. The thought of being trapped out here, in the cold, with her bleeding head wound…
No, he couldn’t even consider it. He had to get them out of there as quickly as possible.
He could feel the chill start to settle in his bones and slow down his movements, but he tried to ignore it. He had dealt with worse.
He looked up and down the road, trying to make out any oncoming headlights that might indicate someone coming to help them, but there was nothing.
What if the people who had driven them off the road came back to finish the job?
He would fight with everything he had if he needed to, but he wasn’t sure how much of a chance he stood against them, especially if they were armed.
Silence filled the air around him, and fear started to tug at the corners of his mind. He couldn’t let anything happen to Hannah. He had lost too much already, and he wasn’t going to lose her. He would do anything in his power to protect her.
Glancing back down the bank to check on her, he could see her eyes starting to droop as the shock and adrenaline wore off. He was about to run down to keep her awake when the sound of an engine drew his attention.
He spun around to see a car coming up the road toward them. He stepped out on to the pavement, lifting his hands above his head to flag it down. There was no way the driver would be able to ignore him, standing right in the middle of the road.
The car screeched to a halt in front of him, sliding slightly on the icy road.
When an older man stepped out, Xavier lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the headlights and recognized Mr. Barkley, one of the local farmers he occasionally saw at a bar in Blue Ridge when he went to grab a drink.
Mr. Barkley s walked to the front of the car, and stopped a few feet in front of Xavier and frowned when he realized who was standing in the road.
“Thank God,” Xavier breathed. “We need your help. I’ll be right back.”
“Xavier?” the farmer asked his retreating form. “What are you…?”
But Xavier rushed down the bank, pulled Hannah into his arms and carried her up to the car. She might have been able to walk, but he didn’t want her wasting any more of her energy.
“We need a lift,” he told Mr. Barkley quickly. “Do you have any blankets in there? She’s frozen.”
The man nodded, and he pulled a couple of scratchy woolen blankets from the trunk of the car while Xavier helped Hannah into the back seat. Xavier shook the second blanket out before sliding in behind her, then pulled her close and wrapped it around them both.
Hannah’s grip on him was firm, as though she didn’t want to let go, and he shifted more into the seat to pull her tighter against him.
“What happened?” Mr. Barkley asked, clearly confused as he climbed into the driver seat once more.
Xavier guided Hannah’s head to rest on his shoulder, not caring about her damp hair.
He just wanted her close, where he could keep an eye on her.
“We had an accident,” he lied swiftly. He had no reason to think the farmer was in on anything, but there wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to risk it.
“You want me to take you to the police station?” Mr. Barkley asked, putting the car in Drive.
Xavier shook his head. “Up to Warrior Peak Sanctuary, please,” he told him, and the old man started driving up the mountain.
Xavier carefully stroked Hannah’s hair and checked her wound again.
It didn’t look too bad from where he was sitting, but it was still bleeding some.
He wanted to get her back and looked at by a medical professional.
If anything had happened to her, if she had really gotten hurt while she had been with him…
He would never forgive himself.
More to the point, he would never forgive the people who had done this to her.
He was going to make them pay in any way he could.