People squealed and ran like frightened pigs trapped in a pen. This couldn’t be happening. I shot up to my feet again, just in time to see a group of my father’s men moving towards me. I had to help! I threw myself at them, but I couldn’t get through. My eyes flashed back to the tank. Ryder’s dark form floated in the water. If the sharks didn’t kill her, she would drown.
‘Ricky!’ I screamed.
I couldn’t tell if he heard my voice above the panicked din of the crowd, but he bent to his knees on the platform, watching Ryder struggle.
‘Ricky!’ I tried again. Unbelievably, this time, his face snapped in my direction.
‘Help her!’
He hesitated a moment longer, then he reached his hand down. She was too far out. I flailed again at the men holding me. ‘Help him! God! Somebody help him!’
Ricky leaned out farther, slapping the water, trying to get Ryder to come to.
He was so focused on her … so focused …
… He couldn’t see the shark.
‘No!
The rim of the aquarium blocked some of the view, but I watched Ricky’s body jerk against the floor of the platform. He disappeared for a second, maybe less; then his body rocketed back away from the lip. His arm flew into the air, arcing blood from the stump where his hand should have been.
The sharks tightened their frenzied circles, maddened with instinctual bloodlust.
I whipped my eyes to my father. A smile touched the corner of his mouth.
I felt my lips peel back into a snarl. ‘I will kill you for this.’
I heard a man scream close by. My eyes snapped back to Jenny. She was fighting with the men surrounding her … but she wasn’t fighting alone anymore.
Disbelief washed over me.
It couldn’t be. It didn’t make sense.
She was fighting with …
Another pained screamed tore through the air, forcing my attention back to the aquarium. Ricky was on his stomach, dragging himself once again to the lip of the aquarium. Oh God, he was going to try again! A few of his entourage rushed to drag him to back.
Just then, Jenny shot up towards the ceiling. The men beneath her screamed and cowered as the blast of the jets that propelled her skyward covered them in fiery air.
I dropped my gaze back down just in time to see a woman, teeth bared, exploding through the smoke … headed straight for my father.
Ryder.