"Dammit!" Demanski struck the trailer's side with the heel of his hand.

After a few minutes more of struggling with the vents, Tavak went still. "We're slowing down."

Everyone listened as the tractor-trailer downshifted. Gravel kicked from the tires.

Rachel peered through the thin vent slits. "We're off the highway. It's a gravel road. Whatever they're going to do, it's going to happen soon."

Tavak threw open the door of the driver's side door of the Escalade.

"Keys in the ignition?" Allie said.

"No." Tavak ran around to the rear door, opened it, and burrowed into the spare tire compartment. He came up with a tire iron. "I don't know what use this is going to be against those AK-47s." His gaze became suddenly speculative. "But maybe I can find a use for it in another way."

The truck stopped. Then they were almost thrown from their feet when it lurched into reverse.

"What's happening?" Tavak yelled at Rachel.

She peered through the vent and fear tightened her chest.

Water.

Water everywhere.

"It's a lake, a pond, or something." She whirled back toward Tavak. "They're going to drown us."

Tavak nodded. "They'll submerge the trailer, drown us like rats, pull us out, and set up their accident scene. They'll roll the SUV off a bridge or something."

"With us inside," Allie said. "And the autopsies will show that we drowned just like we would from that staged accident."

Demanski shook his head in disbelief. "Can that tractor really pull out a trailer full of water?"

"It's a beefy rig," Tavak said. "It's possible, especially if they pull it out slowly enough for the water to drain from these vents."

The tractor-trailer slowed.

The crunching of gravel gave way to a sloshing sound, and water poured in through the lowest row of vents as the trailer entered the water.

"Shit." Tavak's grip tightened on the tire iron, then turned to the driver's side of the Escalade.

But Allie was ahead of him. She was already slipping underneath the wheel. "Give me that tire iron."

Tavak frowned. "What?"

"We don't have time for arguments. You were going to try to hot-wire this baby. I can do it faster. You and Demanski try to get those doors open. Give me that iron. Now!"

He thrust the tire iron into her hand. She braced herself against the front seat and pried loose the panel beneath the steering column.

Rachel leaned into the open door. "What are you doing?"

"You're blocking my light!"

Rachel stepped back.

Allie grabbed a cluster of wires and examined them. She tore two wires free and stripped the edges with her teeth.

"Can I help?" Water was now sloshing around Rachel's ankles. Allie shook her head, and Rachel turned to see that Tavak and Demanski were now pushing hard on the trailer's rear doors. The large chains held them closed tight.

"Can she do it?" Tavak asked Rachel over his shoulder.

"If she says she can," Rachel said. "She completely rebuilt a Jeep Cherokee when she was seventeen." She was watching Allie, who was moving with the efficiency of a master car thief. Lord, she was scared.

Come on, Allie, she prayed.

The trailer submerged even farther. Water poured in from the higher side vents.

Allie picked up the tire iron, pried apart the starter assembly, and pushed the bar forward.

The Escalade roared to life.

"Get behind me!" Allie yelled as she slipped on the seat belt. "All of you. Get behind the car."

Tavak and Demanski scrambled through the calf-deep water. Demanski yelled, "Let me take the wheel!"

"No time. If the water hits the intake, we're finished!" Allie jerked her thumb back. "Get behind me. Don't argue!"

"Dammit." But Demanski turned and waded back to Tavak and Rachel behind the Escalade.

Allie gunned the engine.

Still more water poured in.

The Escalade's engine roared in Rachel's ears as the vehicle hurtled toward the locked doors.

Boom.

The doors exploded outward, and thousands of gallons of water suddenly filled the compartment. In an instant, all gravity appeared to have been suspended, and Rachel was aware of the Escalade floating in space next to her.

Allie.

Rachel kicked her feet. The still-rushing water made it impossible to move toward the door.

The Escalade's monstrous rear end swung wide, and Rachel realized it might pin her against the trailer's inside wall.

She kicked furiously. Get around it. No, not around. Normal rules didn't apply. Over. Get on top of it.

She pushed upward with her legs, and in a moment found her head above water, almost touching the roof of the trailer.

Allie. Must get to Allie.

Rachel moved over the Escalade's roof and thrust her face back into the water.

She opened her eyes.

Through the Escalade's windshield, there was the deployed airbag and something else. It almost looked like…

Allie's hair.

Shit.

Rachel reached inside the Escalade and struggled to find the seat-belt catch.

Come on, Allie. Help me.

The airbag and the rushing water were fighting her, jabbing and blocking with her every lunge.

Tavak was suddenly back beside her, pushing the airbag down and to one side.

Then a thin, strong hand clasped Rachel's wrist.

Allie. Thank goodness.

The seat belt loosened, and Tavak helped Rachel pull Allie out from behind the airbag.

Allie gave Rachel the thumbs-up sign, and they swam out of the trailer.

They broke the surface seconds later. Tavak came up an instant behind them.

"Thank God!" Demanski was swimming toward them.

"No." Tavak immediately grabbed Rachel. "Swim. Get as far away from here as you can. All of you." He pointed toward the middle of the lake as he gave Rachel a push and motioned for Allie and Demanski to follow her. "Stay as close to the bottom as you can. Only come up when you absolutely need to." Tavak swam back toward the shore.

"Wait." Rachel asked, "Where are you going?" But he'd disappeared beneath the surface, slicing the water with barely a ripple.

There were shouts from the truck, and Rachel spun around to see that Dawson's men were out of the cab. They lifted their rifles and opened fire.

A bullet broke the water not a foot from where Allie was treading water.

"Move!" Rachel yelled.

Rachel, Allie, and Demanski dove to the bottom as more bullets pelted the lake's surface.

SEVENTEEN

On the shore, the kid, Hannigan, turned toward Weitz. "Did we get 'em?"

"No. Keep looking."

Weitz muttered a curse as his gaze searched the waters. Kilcher would tear his ass if any of Tavak's people got away. The old man was already pissed about the casualties in St. Petersburg, and that bastard Dawson didn't seem as if he was one to tolerate failure.

"I don't see anyone. I think we got them," Hannigan said.

Weitz tried to hide his disgust. Why had Kilcher teamed him with this moron? The kid loaded himself with weapons and thought they took the place of brains. "Use your eyes, dammit. Look!"

A woman's head, hair plastered flat, broke the surface about thirty yards away.

Weitz and Hannigan opened fire.

Damn. She was gone again.

"Stay here." Weitz started down the bank at a trot. "Watch the area and see if any of them break the surface. I'll head downstream and see if they pop up there."