Julie tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
“Looky, Superman fell through the ice,” Raines hissed. “Ooh, poor Superman.” He pulled the gun away from Julie and aimed at Nic as he came up for air.
“It’s Batman, you bastard.”
Julie’s heel came down on Raines’ foot. Then she shoved back with her whole body as hard as she could. Raines’ gun flew from his hand and skittered down the slippery rock. With a curse, he lunged for it. Julie kicked him again, hard enough that he lost his footing and went over the edge.
Everything was in slow motion. Was he gone? Dead? Still a threat? If she leaned over the edge to see…
Without her hands to balance her, Julie turned and sat down, afraid she too would fall. She looked out to the pond, to the hole through which Nic had disappeared. There was no movement. But as she watched, what had just been scenery before, came to life.
Bravo Squad.
And even as she uttered a prayer, there in her chapel, hoping God was listening, the six foot four angel Gabriel tied a rope to his waist and made his way toward the hole. Another camo dressed squad member, one she’d never met, took up the other end of the rope. Cruz emerged from the trees and charged toward her along the edge of the pond.
“Stay put. Don’t move,” he shouted.
Once at the rocks, he scrambled up effortlessly and moved to her side. After releasing the cuffs, he sat next to her, pulling her close.
“You okay, Julie?”
Julie couldn’t answer, she could only stare at the silent hole in the ice, at Gabe making his way toward it. Couldn’t he go any faster? Why didn’t Nic come up for air? He was a PJ. They trained for this stuff, didn’t they?
How could one train for his body’s reaction to that kind of cold?
“Hurry, Gabe.”
“Julie, look at me.” Cruz’s voice broke through to her but she couldn’t pull her eyes away.
“Julie!” He took her arm, shaking her slightly. “Julie!”
“Shut up, Eric.” Julie pulled her arm away and stood up. “C’mon, Nic,” she whispered. “Please.”
Cruz stood beside her, his hands again on her shoulders.
It was too much. She had to get down, had to get closer, had to reach out to him.
She started to move toward the edge.
“Julie, no.” He tightened his grip on her.
Quickly she looked at him, afraid to take her eyes from the ice for long. “Let me go, Cruz.” It came out between clenched teeth.
“It’s slick. At least, let me help you down.”
“I don’t need any help,” she spat and headed down. She’d been up here a bazillion times, even when it was slick. Her dad had called her a mountain goat. She’d called Jenn a chicken.
She found the spot she needed. It brought her down on the other side of the rock outcropping, the side away from the pond. She stepped over Raines’ broken body and ran around front.
By the time she made it around the rocks, Gabe was to the hole. He was reaching into the water. The others gathered around the edge of the pond, as much willing Nic up as she was. The lieutenant stood behind the kid holding the rope. Both men’s eyes riveted to the drama on the ice.
“Got him.” Gabe had only spoken but the quiet amplified his words.
Cruz stepped up behind her.
“Julie. Go stoke up the fire. Get all the blankets you can find.”
At her hesitation, he turned her.
“Just do it, Julie. Now.”
Julie paused on the porch to look back.
The rope crew hauled Nic’s limp form, hooked directly to Gabe’s rope, across the ice.
She raced to do what she could.
If she’d expected shouting and chaos when they got inside, she’d been wrong. They were quiet. They laid Nic, dripping wet, on the floor, as if he might break.
Someone asked for towels.
Nic’s eyes were open. He looked around slowly, dazed.
Will left the cabin and came back shortly with a ruck sack which he laid on the kitchen table. He began pulling things out, a stethoscope and B/P cuff, hot packs.
The others stripped Nic and dried him with the same gentle touch. By the time they moved him to the bed, Nic was mumbling through teeth gritted with shivering.
The kid, the one she hadn’t met, came to stand beside her.
“He’s shivering. That’s a good sign.”
“It is?”
“Yes.”
Nic was soon bundled to the chin. They’d put hot packs under his arms and on his pelvis. Each of the men had pulled an IV bag from somewhere under their parkas, warmed and ready to start the drip.
Someone made tea. Julie hadn’t noticed who. When Will set a cup in front of her at the table, she pulled her eyes from the bed. Across the table Gabe sat, wrapped in a blanket himself, hovering over his own steaming mug. He, too, shivered. But a smile lit up his face when he caught her eye.
“He’s tough,”--Gabe winked--“even though he doesn’t look it. Besides, look at all his mothers.”
Julie nodded and tried to smile back. Her lip trembled though. Chris Gabriel was the most genuinely carefree person she’d ever met. Not in the devil-may-care way Cruz was. Nonetheless, he’d forever be her angel.
“I saw the Wizard,” Nic’s voice. Just a whisper.
Was he hallucinating?
Gabe laughed out loud. Then, he turned back to Julie.
“The Wonderful Wizard of Wig. When we drown-proof in training, the Wiz is the guy you see right before you pass out. Not to worry.”
Before she could make sense of what he’d said, Nic croaked her name.
The crowd parted for her when she approached. His dark eyes were now clear, his face more relaxed. He still shivered but not violently.
“You scared me,” he said hoarsely.
“I scared you! Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Nic. What on earth possessed you to run across the pond? Are you nuts?” Her voice began to shake. “You and your Batman complex! Look where it got you.”
He just smiled.
“She loves me,” he said to the men hovering nearby.
“That’s beside the point.”
“No, baby, that is the point.” Again, he turned to his friends. “On top of that, she’s going to marry me.”
What did he just say? Marry him? Elation. Knees all weak. Marry him?
Cruz blew out his breath, rolled his eyes, “Seriously, D? That’s how you ask? Geez.”
He turned to leave, pulling the others with his look. Even Gabe tugged his blanket up and stepped outside, taking his tea with him.
Nic was suddenly tired. So tired. But he’d just blurted out the most important thing in his life. He needed to get his mouth to work again.
Julie had watched the others leave. Now she watched him, her eyes wide.
“You will, won’t you?”
It came out nearly slurred. He had to hang on for an answer. Minutes passed, hours. Trying to keep his eyes open.
Finally, she smiled. The smiled that saved his life.
“Yes, Batman, I’ll marry you.”
“Wicked good. I need to sleep. Will you kiss me, please? I can’t move.”
Epilogue
After putting in a call to Colonel McIntire, the LT took command of the entire situation, calling the authorities, reporting the incident. By the time the sheriff arrived, every man wore flannel shirts and jeans and no war paint. Just a bunch of normal, everyday, guys.
Uh-huh.
Quillen did most of the talking. When questions arose which only Julie could answer, he was quiet.
Hard to believe that Nic could sleep through the commotion of the next few hours. But he did. Even as Sheriff Graff interviewed her, her gaze drifted more than once to the bed, to make sure he was still alive. She wasn’t the only one.
Cruz stood guard over Nic, daring anyone to wake him. She, too, had a guardian. Gabe loomed behind her, a constant reminder that she was safe.
It was three hours before al
l the questions were answered to Graff’s satisfaction and the coroner left with Raines’ body. Nic slept the whole time. If the others had not been there, Julie would have crawled up and lay beside him. She was totally wrung out.
Will and Matt, the kid she hadn’t met before today, asked quietly if they could scrounge up food for everyone. When she offered to do it herself, they shooed her away. With her blessing, they began sorting through cupboards, and she escaped to the back porch.
It wasn’t until she sucked in the frosty air that she realized how stuffy it had gotten inside. Warming up their patient, no doubt. But it felt so good outside. Julie lowered herself to the top step, intent on not moving for a while.
When the door opened and closed behind her, she half expected Chris to insist she come inside.
It wasn’t Chris.
“Scoot down one step.” Nic lowered himself onto the step right behind her. His arms, along with the blanket came around her, pulling her close between his knees.
They sat quietly for a time, Julie drinking in his presence.
Finally, he cleared his throat. “Um, did I fall asleep before you answered my question?”
“No, you didn’t.” Julie laid her cheek against his arm. “Seems like you’d remember that,” she added, teasing.
He was quiet for a long moment. She felt bad about teasing him.
“What was your answer?”
“What was the question?” She laughed.
He squeezed her tight. “Something about us getting married, I think.”
“And never was there a more romantic proposal.”
“What was the answer?”
“Something like yes, I think.”
Nic leaned down and kissed her cheek, trailing his lips down her neck.
When he spoke, his voice was intense. “I’ll quit the team if you want to keep your job.”
Wow. What that must have taken! He was willing to put Batman away in order to be with her. But without Batman, Nic wouldn’t be Nic, would he?
“I can probably find something to do in Merced,” she said.
Tension drained from his arms.
“But,” his arms tightened again at the but, “I’m not living in the cul-de-sac.”
Nic laughed and kissed the top of her head.
As the sun set behind the chapel of rocks, Nic smiled. He was so bushed he could barely form thoughts. He wanted to talk about their future. He couldn’t wait to bring their children here, to teach them to climb, to swim.
Maybe even to fish.
Joey would like that.
Shrugging, he pushed to his feet and held his hand out for hers.
Their future could start in the morning.
Look for Book Two in the
True Heroes series…
True Courage