And Hope to Die (Prologue Crime) by Richard Powell

Author:Richard Powell [Powell, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781440555589
Publisher: F+W Media, Inc.
Published: 2012-08-01T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

FOR a few seconds everything seemed unreal and fantastic as events in a nightmare. There was the same feeling of being pursued by horror but of being unable to escape from it because I couldn’t run fast. The warm black water helped the illusion. It was almost body temperature and except for the way it turned my struggles into slow motion I might just as well have been lolling in a hammock. When I first hit I went under, salt water stinging my throat and lungs. I touched bottom. The water wasn’t five feet deep. I shoved upward and gulped air and flailed away from the skiff. The light in Harry’s cap swept across the water, glared at me briefly, turned back to the bow of the boat.

As I glanced back I saw what had saved me so far. The head of the gig had sunk deeply into wood, and Harry was still trying to free it, I swam harder. I had flopped out of the skiff on the side away from shore and my blind flailing had taken me out farther. The nearest point of land was a hundred feet away, with the skiff between shore and me. I started toward shore on a long angle. The cap light turned from the bow, leaving the prongs still locked in wood, and touched me again. Then the light made a wild jump and the engine roared and the boat skittered toward me. I yelled. I didn’t know what good it would do with nobody within a couple of miles; I just wanted to yell. The light flashed on an oar blade poised to lash at me. I dove, made a squirming turn underwater. In three strokes I saw it was no use. As my right hand reached for a stroke it stirred pale greenish sparks. He wouldn’t even need the light. My whole body was outlined by phosphorus.

The battering of the exhaust got horribly loud. Coming through the water, it hit my skull like small hammers. The skiff was close. I tried to swerve. Something snicked into water above me and caromed off my right shoulder. The blow drove me down and sideways. My shoulder numbed. I reached out frantically and clutched something and hung on and felt a sharp tug at my arm. My body jerked forward through the water. I had grabbed the narrow keel.

If Harry had not moved, or if he had gunned the engine for a few seconds, he would have had me. The fingers of my right hand had no power and my left hand was weakening. I needed air. I guess Harry thought he had me no matter what he did. The sudden drag on the boat must have told him what happened. His feet banged overhead and the engine stopped. I eased back toward the stern, let my head come up quietly beside the rudder. I almost expected light to blind me and to feel the oar blade crunching into my face

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.