Jake's Choice

Jake Morrison's POV

Jake Morrison watched the helicopter burst in the sky, his heart stopping as two bodies fell through the flames.

"Emma!" he screamed. "Maya!"

He was driving the stolen police car as fast as it would go, racing down the forest road while trying to follow the helicopter's path. His injured leg throbbed with every action, but he didn't care about the pain.

The two people he loved most in the world were falling from the sky.

Through the trees, Jake saw one body hit the river with a huge splash. The other disappeared into the tree canopy.

"No, no, no," Jake whispered, his hands squeezing the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white.

He couldn't save both of them. The river and the forest were in opposite ways.

Jake had to make a choice. His sister or the woman he loved.

His foot hovered over the brake pedal as his mind raced. Emma was fifteen, just a kid. She needed him. But Maya had risked everything to save Emma in the first place. Could he let her drown after all her bravery?

A memory flashed through Jake's thoughts. His father Thomas, making the choice to save strangers instead of his own brother. Choosing what was right over what was easy.

Jake's father had died for that choice.

But he'd died a hero.

Jake turned the car toward the river.

"Forgive me, Emma," he whispered.

He crashed through the guardrail and drove straight down the slope. The car bounced and slid on the muddy slope, trees whipping past on both sides.

The river was coming up fast.

Jake didn't slow down.

The car hit the water like a bomb, the force throwing Jake against the seatbelt. Water exploded through the broken window, filling the car in seconds.

Jake took a big breath just before the water covered his head. The car sank fast, the current already pulling it downstream.

He kicked out through the window and swam up toward the surface. His lungs were burning by the time his head broke through the water.

"Maya!" he shouted, looking around frantically.

The river was dark and fast, full of debris from the blast. Pieces of burning helicopter were spread across the water, making it hard to see.

Then Jake saw her. Maya was floating face-down about thirty feet away, not moving, being carried quickly downstream.

Jake swam harder than he'd ever swam in his life. His damaged leg felt like it was on fire, but he forced himself to keep going.

He grabbed Maya's jacket just as she was about to go over a small stream.

"I've got you," Jake gasped, pulling her head above water.

Maya wasn't moving.

Jake dragged her to the riverbank and pulled her onto the wet shore. His hands shook as he started CPR, counting compressions the way he'd learned in a first aid class years ago.

"Don't you dare die on me," Jake said between compressions. "We've been through too much."

Thirty compressions. Two breaths. Nothing.

Thirty more compressions. Two more breaths.

Maya's body stayed limp.

"Please," Jake begged, tears mixed with river water on his face. "Maya, please."

He pressed down on her chest again, harder this time.

Maya suddenly coughed, water spraying from her mouth. Her eyes opened, confused and scared.

"Jake?" she whispered.

Relief flooded through Jake so strongly that he almost collapsed. "You're okay. You're going to be okay."

Maya tried to sit up but groaned with pain. "Emma. Where's Emma?"

Jake's comfort turned back to fear. "She went into the forest. I couldn't save both of you. I had to choose."

"Then go!" Maya pushed him away. "Your sister needs you!"

"I can't leave you here alone—"

"I'm living. She might not be. Go!"

Jake looked at Maya, then at the dark forest where Emma had fallen. His heart was being ripped in two.

But Maya was right. Emma needed him now.

Jake started to stand, but Maya grabbed his arm. "Wait. I found something when I was fighting Webb in the chopper."

She pulled a small electrical device from her pocket. It was wet and broken, but still blinking with a faint red light.

"What is that?" Jake asked.

"Webb's phone. I grabbed it when we were fighting. Maybe it has information about where he was going to run."

Jake took the phone, but it was too water-damaged to turn on. "It's dead."

"No." Maya pointed to a small spot on the phone's case. "There's something in there."

Jake opened the pocket and found a tiny memory card. "His backup data."

"If we can read that card, we might find out where Webb has safe houses, bank accounts, everything."

It was good news, but Jake couldn't party. Not when Emma was still missing.

He helped Maya to her feet. "Can you walk?"

"I think so." Maya took a few painful steps. "I'll make it back to the road and flag down the state cops. You go find Emma."

Jake hugged her quickly, then turned and ran back up the embankment toward the trees. Every step sent pain shooting through his damaged leg, but he ignored it.

He had to find his sister.

The forest was dark and thick with smoke from the chopper crash. Jake used his phone's torch to search the ground for any sign of Emma.

"Emma!" he shouted. "Where are you?"

No answer.

Jake pushed through bushes and climbed over fallen logs, his heart beating with fear. Emma could be hurt, asleep, or worse.

Then Jake's flashlight caught something pink hanging from a tree branch. Emma's bag.

He grabbed it and looked inside. Emma's phone was there, cracked but still working. Her bag. Her keys.

And something else.

A small gadget clipped to the backpack's strap. Jake pulled it off and inspected it in the flashlight beam.

A GPS tracker.

Jake's mind raced. Why would Emma have a GPS tag on her backpack?

Then he realized—she didn't put it there. Someone else did.

Webb must have attached it when he kidnapped her, possibly planning to use it to track her if she tried to escape.

Which meant Jake could use it to find her now.

Jake opened the tracker's app on Emma's phone. The screen showed a map with a blinking red dot moving through the bush.

Emma was living and moving.

But she wasn't alone.

There was a second dot on the map, moving right beside her.

Webb had survived the crash too.

And according to the tracker, they were heading toward the old mining caves on the mountain—the same caves where Webb had hidden his stolen money and fake papers.

Webb was taking Emma to his final hiding place.

Jake started running, following the GPS signal deeper into the forest. His leg screamed with pain, but he didn't slow down.

Then Emma's dot stopped moving.

Jake looked at the phone screen, his blood turning cold.

The dot wasn't just stopped. It was getting fainter, like the signal was being stopped.

Emma had gone underground into the caves.

And Jake knew something terrible about those caves that made his stomach twist with fear.

Twenty years ago, part of the mining system had collapsed, leaving a maze of unstable tunnels that could cave in at any time. The entry had been sealed with warning signs.

If Webb took Emma down there and the tunnels fell, they'd be buried alive.

Jake would never find them in time.

He had maybe ten minutes before the tracker signal died totally.

Ten minutes to find the cave opening.

Ten minutes to save his sister.

Jake looked at the phone one more time and saw something that made his heart stop.

A text message notice from an unknown number, sent just before the signal started fading.

It was from Emma.

The message had only two words, but they changed everything.

"He's dying."