Ryan swung at her, feeling the satisfying force of the impact as the woman’s cheekbone splintered, the force of the punch knocking her down against the rocks, the back of her head cut and bleeding. Her bright eyes half closed for a moment.
“Get the fuck up, bitch,” he whispered, inaudible above the thunderous roaring. “I’m going to beat you to a bloody pulp and then drop you over the edge. One way all the way down. Pay a fraction the price. Then Straub.”
Her eyes blinked open, and he stooped and swung her up, gripping the torn material of her dress, holding her balanced while he measured the next punch.
Krysty was in sight, and she stopped and cupped her hands. “Ryan! Hey, Ryan!”
Ryan started to turn, disbelief stark on his face, his mouth sagging open. He blinked through the driving rain, seeing a blurred vision of a tall woman with a shock of bright, fiery hair. Another figure, hair like snow, was at her side. Three others were farther back, staring at him.
“Krysty” he whispered, a rush of knowledge paralyzing him for a moment.
Katya Beausoleil pushed against him with all her failing strength, catching him off balance, pushing him hard into the frail fencing. He heard rusting iron creak and snap, and he was staggering backward, feet brushing air, falling away.
Krysty screamed once.
He was over, pushing the limp body of the countess from him, rolling onto a steep slope of treacherous mud.
Ryan’s fingers reached, grasped, failing to find any grip. He spread himself, arms and legs wide, hopeless, around and around, head down, somersaulting over and over.
He glimpsed the white dress below him, vanishing over the last sheer brink and tumbling into the water, vanishing from his sight.
Ryan reached the final frontier himself, skidding over, hopelessly out of control.
Flying, falling, spinning, hitting the surface of the flooded river with a fearsome impact, trying to keep his body straight, blacking out. The shock of the icy, raging torrent brought him around for a snatched moment.
The force of the current was unimaginable, filled with sucking maelstroms and murderous smooth boulders. Ryan was sucked under and spit out into the air, then drawn deep under once more, into the welcoming darkness.
His eye closed.