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CHAPTER 50

The water enveloped hie Fighting his natural instinct to surface for air, Sam instead did the opposite With the , he rolled over, flipped his legs straight up, and kicked, driving them deeper The man was stunned, and with his shattered nose he’d hopefully been unable to snatch a last-second breath

The ht arm Sam took the blows and held on TheSah the dark water and froth he saw theunder his jacket The hand carabbed the forearm, tried to shove it sideways The knife arced upward Sah his shirt; he felt a sting as it sliced across his abdorip on the man’s other wrist, clamped it around thehis throat He jerked his head back, turned it to one side The tip of the knife skipped over the point of his jawline beneath his earlobe, pierced the upper curve of his ear, and sliced cleanly through

A dozen years of judo had taught Sa extended his ht arm above his head, was at that e pass Left hand still gripping the rip, cupped the back of the man’s hand, then jerked down and twisted at the same time With a dull pop, the man’s ulna tore free from his wrist The man’s mouth flew open and he let out a , heard the grating of bone on bone The knife fell away and dropped out of sight

Saain, kicked doard They thumped into the bottom The man clawed at Sam’s eyes with his left hand Sam clenched his eyes shut, turned his head away, then drove his right hand up and palm-butted the man in the chin Thecrunch The man jerked once, twice, then went still Sam opened his eyes The man’s own eyes, fixed and lifeless, stared back Behind the ular-shaped rock jutted froo and he floated away, trailing tendrils of blood as he bu the bottoloom

Sas and pushed himself off the bottom He broke the surface beneath one of the plank ays and laid his head back and gulped air until his vision began to clear

“Sam!” Remi called “Here, this w

ay, come on!”

Sam paddled toward her voice Draped in soaked clothes, his arh unwale and let her help hi Remi knelt beside him

“Oh, God, Sam, your face”

“Looks worse than it is A few stitches and I’ll be back to my devilishly handsome self”

“Your ear is split You look like a dog who just lost a squabble”

“Let’s call it a dueling scar”

She turned his head this way and that, inspecting his face and neck and probing with her fingers until Sa squeeze “I’et ”

“Right” She lifted the nearest seat cushion and dug around until she found a rag, which Saestured tentatively toward the water Is he”