Free Saving You by Jessie Evans Page B

through a treacherous stand of trees before they left the
floodplain and entered the river proper—she’d been sure it was the
right move. She would have sworn she could sense Faith to the
south, much farther than the other search and rescue boats had
ventured, but not so far their team wouldn’t be able to reach her
before nightfall.
    Twenty minutes ago, Lucy’s entire body had
been buzzing with the certainty that they were getting closer and
would find Faith before the hour was up.
    But now…
    She forced herself to
release her death grip on Brandon’s hand and place both palms over
the tee shirt in her lap. It was Faith’s, pulled from her locker at
the firehouse when Lucy said she needed something that belonged to
Faith to help focus her energy. A random tee shirt wasn’t the best
choice—a tracking talisman worked better if it was something that
meant a lot to the lost person—but it was the best Lucy could do on
short notice. And there was energy coming off the shirt, not a lot, but
hopefully enough.
    Hopefully…
    Lucy closed her eyes, focusing with
everything in her. She ignored the hungry sound of the river
churning around the boat, she ignored the slimy strands of her own
hair lying heavy and damp against her neck, she ignored everything
but the gentle buzz of awareness that flowed into her fingertips
through the shirt and shot out through her chest like a laser beam
pointing the way.
    There! Lucy felt Faith again, the other
woman’s energy much closer than it had been before.
    “ We should see her any
minute,” Lucy said, lids flying open as she reached out to squeeze
Brandon’s arm. “I’ll take the right bank, you take the
left.”
    Brandon nodded and turned his narrowed eyes
toward the opposite shoreline, sending gratitude surging inside
Lucy’s chest. She was so grateful that Brandon had believed in her,
that he’d put his reputation at the firehouse on the line to insist
that Lucy should help with the search.
    She could tell Neil was skeptical about
being sent out with “the psychic,” but Brandon hadn’t questioned
her instincts for a second. He’d simply sat solidly beside her,
nodding in silent encouragement each time Lucy felt her confidence
flagging.
    It was as if he knew what she was feeling,
making her think he might have a touch of empath in him. It
wouldn’t surprise her, really. Judging from their first encounter
in the bedroom, Lucy could tell Brandon was more attuned to his
partner than the average man, especially the average
twenty-one-year old. He was special, and she meant to tell him so,
as soon as they got Faith in the boat and were on their way to
safety.
    No sooner had the thought passed through her
mind than Lucy saw a flash of bright yellow in the tree branches
twenty feet away, maybe a yard above the rushing water.
    “ There!” she shouted,
pointing. “In those trees!”
    “ Shit, you’re right,” Neil
said, excitement clear in his voice as he steered the boat toward
the right bank.
    The closer they got, the more obvious it
became that the person in the tree was Faith. The brightly colored
suit the S.F.D. officers wore for water rescues made it easy to see
where her legs dangled on either side of one large limb. She was
leaning back against another limb, her eyes closed and her muddy
blonde hair glued to either side of her face. She looked like she
was sleeping, but she couldn’t be, because her arms were wrapped
tight around a golden retriever, holding the dog safe on the limb
in front of her.
    Brandon called Faith’s name once…twice.
Finally, when he shouted a third time, Faith’s lids flew open, the
surprise in her eyes morphing instantly to relief as she spotted
the boat.
    “ Thank God,” she said,
sucking in a breath as she hugged the dog tight to her chest, a sob
escaping her throat as the boat puttered beneath her perch. “I
didn’t think anyone was coming. We got sucked so far
downstream.”
    “ I’m going to reach up and
get the dog, okay?”