Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

“It was you,” she whispered in horror.

Molly clutched the iron railing behind her with tighter fingers. Her horrified gaze lingered on him while her heart fell to her knees. She had no idea why she should feel so emotionally battered by the thought of him being so cold-bloodied. She felt as though she had lost something, but that was foolish because this man before her was nothing to her. He had appeared out of nowhere roughly around the same time as the thug, and that was suspicious enough in its own right.

I mustn’t forget that. He did appear at the same time that the thug tried to drag me off the streets.

“I am not going anywhere with either of you. I don’t care who you are, what you want with me, or why you are here, but I am not going to just blindly follow either of you. Do you understand me?”

“Molly. I am not going to hurt you,” Jasper assured her again.

“So why do you know all about the kidnappings?” she shouted, flailing her arms wildly when she released the iron railing only to lose her balance.

Jasper couldn’t tell her that without telling her about his work for the Star Elite. Thankfully, his other colleagues had found them, and were now steadily approaching from Molly’s left, but that only seemed to unnerve her more.

“Look, let’s get you somewhere warm and dry. I can even take you to the magistrate’s office if that helps to ease your suspicions,” Jasper reasoned.

Molly was already shaking her head again. “I am not going anywhere with any of you.”

Her terrified gaze darted to the men who were walking toward them. They all had taken a severe beating. Their blood-stained shirts, torn clothing, battered and bruised faces was enough to make anybody who saw them take a wary step backward. Before she could even turn her gaze back to Jasper, he darted forward.

Molly, determined to fight for her freedom, immediately clambered over the railing, only had forgotten how slippery it was, and how cold she was. Her numbed fingers couldn’t hold on and she found herself struggling to retain a grip on the icy iron. She hung perilously over the river for a few seconds before she plunged into its icy depths.

CHAPTER FOUR

Molly gasped when the first shock of icy water hit her. She opened her mouth to scream. It was the worst thing she could do because all she managed to draw in was the chilly fluid of the deadly Thames. It engulfed her already cold skin and stole what remained of her warmth. Her mind went blank. All she could do was feel the pain that coursed through her. It felt like a thousand tiny needles slamming into her all at once. It pierced every inch of her tender flesh, threatening to suck the soul right out of her.

A part of her wondered if this was what death felt like, this helpless void of blackness that was suffocating. She couldn’t breathe, even though she had already been spat out onto the surface of the tumultuous water. It was its icy grip that rendered her helpless to the tumbling fury of the raging current which dragged her away from the dubious safety of the riverbank and the men on it. It engulfed her numbed limbs and clawed her into the steady flow of seawater heading back out to the ocean. Molly looked helplessly at the riverbank fading rapidly and could do little but look pleadingly at Jasper. She wished she could call out to him, but each time she tried the raging motion of the tide sucked her under. Flailing her arms, Molly began to fight to break free of the tormenting river and prayed that she would live to see another day.

Jasper raced to the railing. He cursed bitterly when he saw her disappear beneath the surface of the water but not reappear.

“She is drowning,” he growled to Niall.

“Do you want me to go?” Niall offered.

Jasper shook his head. He was already yanking his jacket off. He tugged his boots off and threw one long, lithe leg over the rail. Without even glancing at his colleagues, he dived head first into the water. The shock of it was enough to take his breath, even though he was braced for it. Within seconds he struggled to think beyond how cold and how painful it was to be surrounded by such frigidity, but there was little he could do now.

Jasper forced himself to kick until he broke free of the surface. He scoured the capped peaks for sign of her, but Molly still hadn’t reappeared. Around his legs, the Thames continued to tug him to his doom, but he refused to surrender. Panic slammed into him when he realised just how much danger he was in, and he wasn’t encumbered by skirts like Molly was.

“Can you see her?” he shouted to Niall.

“She is further down,” Niall called.

Jasper shook water out of his eyes and looked in the direction Niall was pointing. He struggled to remain above the surface long enough to focus, but eventually saw her several feet away.

“Down there,” Callum shouted when Jasper surfaced once more.

Jasper flopped onto his back, shook water out of his eyes and looked in the direction of Callum’s pointed finger. He flopped back over and began to swim and kick his way over to her. It was mostly the tide that dragged him to her side, but it didn’t matter. What mattered most to Jasper was that he did eventually reach her. Just as she was about to be sucked under again, he hauled her back to the surface and clamped one long arm around her waist. When he tried to kick, though, his lack of ability to feel anything made it impossible. His strength had started to evaporate in the warehouse yard because of the ferocity of the battle he had fought. There just wasn’t the strength left to get them both through the strong current to the safety of the riverbank where they needed to be.

“I need rope,” Jasper shouted before the current tugged him beneath the surface once more.

Molly clung to his arm and tried to kick only to wince when their knees slammed together. Jasper tugged her closer and was shouting something to his friends on the bank, but she had no idea what it was. Everything passed by her in a blur of confusion she couldn’t find a way out of. It was as though the notorious London smog had taken route in her brain and refused to budge. She struggled to remember who she was. She struggled to remember who he was, and her life lay in his hands right now because he seemed to know what to do more than she did.

“We are going to die,” she choked in horror.

“No. We are not,” Jasper bit out. “Just keep hold of me. I can’t get us out of here, but the others will help.”

“It’s on its way,” Niall shouted.

“I need something now,” Jasper yelled.