it off,” he shouted.
As the line flew through the air, the aluminum boat pivoted in the accelerating current. The line went high and to the side, but Rondi grabbed for it anyway. “I’ve got it.” He stood and stretched over the side.
A few feet ahead of him, Elise attempted a similar move. With both their weights shifted to the starboard rail, the boat dipped to the side, and the top of the gunnel kissed the water.
Elise tried to jump back. It was too late. The water poured in, flooding the interior, capsizing the boat.
Elise instinctively grabbed onto the boat, but it pulled her under as it sank. She let go and flailed to the surface. Gulping for air, she glimpsed Rondi rushing by, clinging to the line. With a flash of terror, she realized it was he who was stationary. She was the one speeding through the water.
With renewed panic, her heart pounding, she tried swimming away from the dam. The swift current drained her strength as she heard and felt the rumble of the falls closing in behind her.
Stroking harder, her arm slapped into something. Someone else was in the water with her. For an instant, she hoped she had reached Rondi and the line. One look above the surface told her it wasn’t so. Instead, she found the dark-haired man from the survey boat next to her.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him. Confused, she continued to kick and stroke. Then she heard his calm voice. She stopped and looked up into his face.
“Hang on tight to me and take a deep breath.” He winked at her through the greenest eyes she’d ever seen.
Adrenaline overtook analysis, and she did as he said. There was nothing else she could do, as they’d reached the edge of the falls.
He raised a finger in the air and twirled it as she wrapped her arms around him and took a last breath.
Then gravity took command and carried them over the falls.
3
Elise felt the sensation of free-falling in the river’s flow. With her eyes shut tight and her breath held, she clung in a bear hug to Pitt. His arms were wrapped around her, his legs bent and squeezed together. Amid the rushing water, Elise could feel something slipping across her legs and back.
They seemed to fall forever. She tensed for the anticipated collision with the rocks at the base of the dam. The impact didn’t arrive. Instead, she felt a jolt from Pitt that nearly ripped her from his arms. Something had stopped their descent.
She caught a fistful of his shirt and pulled herself back to him. It took a herculean effort against the water’s battering. She felt like the Empire State Building was falling on her, one floor at a time.
Pitt again pulled her close, and she clung tight against the relentless pressure.
She opened her eyes for an instant, saw only a violent froth of white water rushing past. As her racing heart slowed a beat, Elise realized she needed to breathe. It had been only seconds since they were drawn over the top, yet the exertion had been intense.
Her mind raced. What would become of them, suspended in the falls? She told herself she wasn’t going to inhale the water no matter what. She’d hold her breath until she passed out, then accept her fate.
The force of the water tore at her limbs, taking her mind off the fear of drowning. Her arms ached, but losing her grip on Pitt would mean instant death. Yet she felt no such fatigue from the sinewy man who clutched her. He felt like a statue, his arms firm around her, despite the weight of the water on them.
The water pressure jostled them about, banging them against the dam. During one collision, Elise’s leg slid against its surface. Oddly, she felt the wall fall away from her. Somehow, they seemed to be sliding up the face of the dam.
Again, she needed to breathe. Her head was pounding and her lungs ached for air. Elise began to have thoughts of simply letting go. Then her legs scuffed over the jagged top of the dam, and the tumult from the rushing water lessened.
She opened her eyes, surprised to encounter a few feet of visibility. The current was still strong, but not as heavy and not as frothy. She could now see that Pitt was grasping a small blue cable coiled around his leg, ending at a yellow tube-shaped device beneath