The Family Secret

Chapter Seventeen

The sun was barely rising when I woke up. Sadly before I could even say a word, someone rams into the back of our van. "What the hell was that!" I shouted.

Tanner says, "I can't get a good visual on the driver."

"What about the passenger?" Nick asked.

I tilted my head slightly over the back seat to see if I could see anyone. "Shit!" I snapped. I told them, "It's a woman in the driver's seat, but the passenger is Ezekiel!"

A couple of gunshots came through the back window. Glass went everywhere as Tanner starts firing back. There was no way of outrunning them. A massive gorge was on our left, and water was on our right. I knew Ezekiel was looking to kill me.

Even if it meant killing my brother and his nephew.

I noticed Tanner and Nick exchange glances, which to me, was not a good sign. "What do we do?" I asked.

Nick answers, "Your gonna have to jump."

"What!" I gasped.

Tanner ducks down and places a flash bomb in my hand, "With this, you can create a diversion giving Nick and me a head start to get away."

"And so I could disappear," I added.

Tanner then replies, "Yes. They won't know what happened because they'll-?"

"Think I'm dead." I finished. By jumping out of the van and into the water while managing to throw this flash grenade high enough to blind Ezekiel's driver. I would be putting all three of us at risk. Not to mention, this swan dive could potently kill me. Although if there is any chance of this idiotic plan working in our favor.

I was going to go through with it — anything to keep Tanner and Nick safe. I told them as I was tightly securing my backpack on me, "Alright, then. Be ready to floor it once I go over the ledge."

Nick says, "Don't worry."

Once Nick opened the door, I looked down at the water and told both of them, "I love you guys."

Tanner kisses the back of my head and says, "Be safe."

With all of my strength and a big push from Tanner, I jumped out of the van and over the guard rail. As I went over the ledge, I managed to down an aerial turn in mid-jump to face the bridge as I was going over. I pulled the pinout of the grenade, and with brute force, I threw it through the window behind Ezekiel. I saw the flash from the grenade as I turned back towards the water. Be safe you two.

I took in my last breath of air just before I hit the water. Once I was in the water, I tried to swim up to the surface. The current was too strong that it kept pulling me back under. Every part of me wanted to panic, but I knew if I'd panicked. My fear alone would be my downfall.

My life right now rested in mother nature's hands. Literally!

It felt like hours had passed as this never-ending current was beating me. I kept telling myself, 'don't give in to your fear'. That slowly changed as the currents became more terrifyingly violent. I slammed up against several banks until one knocked me unconscious.

I'd finally felt myself drift up onto shore somewhere. I had no strength left in me to move. I could barely hear anything going on around me. I couldn't breathe at all from all the water built up in my lungs. I just knew that I was either going to die here or by some stroke of luck someone would find me.

I just left everything to chance.

Moments later, I felt a heavy pressure against my chest coming and going repeatedly. I tried listening to the voice I was hearing, but I couldn't make out what it was saying. I was like trying to have a conversation with someone while your the one trapped inside a fish tank. The voice says to me, "Come on." Then it got louder, "Come on!"

Just then, I felt the water slowly creeping up my throat as the voice then says, "Don't you dare give up on me."

My eyes flashed open as I quickly turned over on my side, coughing up water. Gasping for air, my heart was filled with joy to see the face of my rescuer, "Jonathan!"