Every Second

73

Coyote Mountains, New York

Lori hung on to Billy as they shot along the rushing river.

They rolled and turned in the furious water as she struggled to keep Billy’s head above the churning surface.

They slid over smooth stones, banged against jutting rocks. The river bounced them mercilessly from one boulder to another, faster and faster. At times they were on a collision course with massive rocks rising directly before them. It took every last bit of Lori’s dwindling strength to raise her feet and avert impact.

Managing a glance at Billy, she saw that he was bleeding from the side of his head.

Has he been shot, or has he banged his head on the rocks?

She was hurting, her wounded arm nearly useless as the unrelenting river carried them still farther. Surely they were beyond the reach of the killers, she thought, growing dizzy, searching for calm water and a safe place. Above the roar she thought she’d heard a helicopter, but she couldn’t tell whether it was real or a hallucination, as the sound faded along with her hope.

Most of the feeling in her body was ebbing. Her strength was all but gone, her eyes closing just as the river delivered them to a section of flat, slick rocks and tranquil, shallow water. Lori lay for a moment praying. Then she summoned the last of her strength. Struggling with her numb, wounded arm, she untied Billy’s bound hands and ripped off a section of her shredded shirt. Gritting through her pain, she tore it into strips and used them to wrap the wounds she found on Billy’s stomach and head, then took a moment to tend to her own.

Cradling her son’s body, she could see that his lips had turned blue. Panic flared inside her again.

“No! Stay with Mommy!”

She bent over his still body, starting mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

I can’t lose you, too!

Breathing her last breaths into him, she collapsed while voices screamed in the back of her head.

Don’t give up! You’ve got to hang on! I’ll be right behind you!