Explosive Attraction Read Free Page B

leading into the surrounding marsh.
    Looking over at the two men, Darby was relieved to see that Rafe’s largersize and strength had finally won the fight. The detective pinned the other man facedown and handcuffed his hands behind his back.
    Darby turned back around to try to stand so she could steer the boat. She gasped in horror and lunged for the steering wheel.
    Too late.
    The shallow marsh rushed up to meet them. The hull of the boat hit the muddy ground with a sickening crunch and stuck,tossing the back of the boat skyward. The force of the impact catapulted Darby, Rafe and the other man into the air. Darby screamed and threw her hands out, bracing for impact. She landed with a squishy thud, her momentum rolling her over onto her back. Her head hit the ground so hard she thought she heard her teeth rattle.
    She lay for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes,blinking up at the light blue sky above her. A gray-and-white seagull flew overhead, giving a sharp cry as if it were mocking her. Every bone and muscle in Darby’s body hurt, from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head. But she took that as a good sign. If she could feel this much pain, at least that meant she was still alive.
    The rotten smell of the mud and long brownish-green marshgrass filled her nostrils, making her shiver with revulsion. She gingerly tried to move her arms. Not broken, or at least, she could still move them. She tried to sit up, but the foul-smelling mud was like glue, holding her in place. With a great shove, she pushed herself sideways. The mud made a sucking noise, reluctantly releasing its hold. She rolled onto her stomach, gathered her knees beneathher, and tried to push herself up.
    A menacing noise had her stomach clenching with dread. She slowly lifted her head, already knowing what she would see. A dull vibrating roar, like a lion, but more ominous and deep, sounded again. Fifteen feet away, directly in front of her, its jaws opened wide as it hissed, was the biggest alligator she’d ever seen.
    * * *
    R AFE ARMY - CRAWLED throughthe mud and grabbed Darby before she could jerk back and make the gator charge at her. He lay half on top of her, his head pressed next to hers, his left hand clamped over her mouth. Without taking his gaze off the enormous reptile hissing across from them, he whispered, “Don’t move.”
    She gave her head a tiny jerk in what he thought was a nod.
    He lowered his hand.
    “What do we do?”she whispered.
    The fear in her voice had him looking at her face. She was deathly pale beneath the splotches of mud smeared across her skin, but she wasn’t falling apart in a sea of tears as he would have expected. She was tougher than she looked.
    “I’ll have to shoot it,” he whispered back, already hating what he had to do. They were both in this gator’s territory and she was probablyjust as scared as Darby.
    He snaked his right arm beneath him in the mud to his holster. Empty. He swore. “My gun’s gone.” He could only hope it was lost in the marsh, not in the hands of the man he’d handcuffed seconds before the crash.
    “Can you call for help?” Darby whispered, her terrified gaze locked on the gator.
    “My phone’s waterlogged. Already tried. How bad are you hurt?”
    “I think I can run, if that’s your real question.”
    “Then I guess we’re going to run. Not straight, though. That gator is faster than we are, but only in a straight line. We’ll have to zigzag to have any chance at outrunning her.”
    “Her?”
    “Most likely. That mound of mud she’s on looks like a nest. She’s protecting her young.”
    The gator hissed again, and swished her massivetail as if preparing to charge. Rafe circled his left arm around Darby’s waist and braced his right hand beneath him. The gator was too close to give them time to stand and run. This was going to be close, very close.
    “We’re going to roll to the right on the count of three. No matter what we hit or roll