Page 121 of Ned

She screamed, splashing the water, watching it go down.

Ned’s voice came back to her, the bit about the rope connecting the raft to the lifeboat.

And how if it sank, it would detach.

She waited, watching the ghost of the boat vanish under the waves.

Ned—

She had to get him.

Not a victim. Not a victim—

The life jacket would keep her afloat. She unsnapped it, about to go over the edge.

Stay alive.

Ned’s voice practically rumbled through her, to her bones.

No! But after everything he’d done for her—

Then the line drew taut. The raft started to fight it, to drag in the water.

No—what?

And this was it—survive or be dragged down with the lifeboat.

Wait—her spoon.

She unzipped her jumpsuit, grabbed the spoon, and used it to slice at the rope. Not a thick rope—just enough to hold the raft in an emergency. Her body wracked with tears as she sawed.

“I’m sorry, Ned, I’m sorry!”

The rope continued to pull.

“No!”

The rope broke from the raft.

“Shae!”

She looked up, and somehowthere he was. Ned, floating away in the water from the broken line.

“Swim!” She practically launched herself out of the boat, hooking her feet into the straps along the edges. “Swim!”

Ned wore a life jacket and fought the waves. He caught her hand, nearly pulling her down, let go.

She grabbed him. “Hold on!”

He turned his hand, grabbed hers. Then she hauled him toward her, all the way to the edge of the raft.

She fell back, then scrambled to the edge, leaned over, and helped haul him in. He’d grabbed the straps inside, gave a massive scissor kick, and in a moment, had launched himself, breach, into the doorway.

He rolled to the middle, breathing hard. “Zip…the…”

She zipped the door panel shut.

They lay in a good two inches of water, but the life raft bobbed in the waves, fairly waterproof. “Gotcha,” she said.