her throat and stopped between her breasts. She was holding a hand to her left side, favoring the ribs. Her dress was??lashed right down the middle, flapping in the wind and exposing her pale, trembling body.
Noah's blood pressure soared, the rage raking in his chest uncontainable. Blood surged through his veins, pounded his head. He lifted his gun. "You fucking son of a bitch! What did you do to her?"
Max stepped behind him and wrapped a beefy arm around Noah, caging his arms. "Wait. Think. We move and his gun goes off."
Breaths soughing, Noah nodded. Max released him and moved back into position.
The sirens were right behind them, at the base of the hill. Red and blue lights swirled against the snow. Car doors slammed. Feet crunched and, in his peripheral, Noah caught several flashes of black as officers joined them.
"No one moves unless I say," McCannon barked, never taking his eyes from Soreno.
Noah lifted his gaze to Raven's. Behind the fear, resolve filled her eyes. A tear slipped from her open eye and traced a path through the mascara smudges.
Her throat worked a swallow. I love you, she mouthed.
Tears clogged his throat. The gun in his hand wavered. He sucked in a breath and mouthed the words back to her.
The whirring blades of a helicopter rent the air, kicking up wind and snow. A spotlight shown down on Raven and Soreno, so close to the water.
"Give it up," McCannon yelled over the noise of the propellers.
Soreno??rinned. "We both know how this ends, Caldwell." He shrugged. "How do you want her to die? Bullet to the brain? Or?? The fucking bastard lowered the gun to her chest. "How about the heart? Poetic, don't you think?"
Noah couldn't suck in any air. "She has nothing to do with you. Come take me. I'm who you really want. I'm the one who gave the feds evidence to lock Rizzoli away, not her."
"You think I give a shit about Rizzoli? This was a job." Soreno dragged her by the hair to his side, and for a fleeting moment, Noah thought the asshole would take him up on his offer. But he pressed the barrel to her chest, his soulless eyes narrowing on Noah. "I always preferred poetry myself."
No. Christ, no.
At the last second, Raven cried out and twisted her body.
Noah lunged forward just as the gun went off. The boom from the discharge cracked the air, so powerful the reverberation rattled his teeth. He froze mid-step. The wind punched from his chest.
Raven's eyes widened, locking on Noah. Mouth open, she stumbled back. She pressed a hand to the right side of her chest, just over her breast, and looked down. Blood seeped from between her fingers. Confusion wrinkled her forehead. And then??he stumbled off the edge.
"Noooo??
Gunfire rang out, muting the helicopter blades, the roar of the ocean, his own screaming.
Soreno jerked, fell to his knees, and flopped face-first in the snow.
Noah dropped his gun and ran forward, hindered by the deep drifts of snow. Tears burned his eyes, blinding him. Losing his footing, he went down. Crawling, he reached the edge and peered over. Raven was within reach, not yet carried out by the current. Her motionless body floated between the rocks, face up. Her eyes were closed.
Max sank down by his side. "Get the medics," he yelled over his shoulder.
Noah wasn't waiting. Every second she was in the water brought her farther from him, closer to death. Except...Fucking hell. She wasn't moving.
Vaulting over the drop off, he jumped in the waist-deep water and snagged a boulder with one arm so the current couldn't pull him. Needles spiked his skin, the freezing temperature already stealing his breath and numbing his limbs. He reached out for Raven, grabbing her around the waist.
"Drag her closer," Max called. "I'll haul her up."
Fighting the violent shudders, he braced his feet between two boulders. He slid his arms under hers and yanked her up, her back against his chest.
Max lifted Raven from his arms, disappeared from view, and came back to offer both hands. Noah couldn't move. His breaths rasped in his lungs. Ice weighed down on him, the cold stabbing and biting as if he was being filleted alive.
Hands grabbed his shoulders, fisting his suit coat. And then he was back on solid ground, staring up at the stars fighting the Northern Lights for beauty. With the little strength he had left in reserve, he rolled to his side to get to Raven.
Medics had swarmed her, were taking