Chapter 7 - OPERATION NIGHT BEACON III didn't hesitate. I dropped the rifle, launched myself across the muddy cliff edge, and dove straight into the darkness!
The freezing salt water hit me like a wall of ice. White waves crashed violently against the sharp granite boulders at the base of the cliff. The current was brutal, spinning me around in the pitch-black sea.
Visual search. Primary target: Madison.
A flash of lightning illuminated the froth. Fifty feet out, Madison’s yellow raincoat surfaced. She was flailing, being pulled down by the weight of her heavy tactical vest and waterlogged clothes!
I kicked hard through the white-water surge, fighting the pull of the undertow. My scarred arm throbbed with a burning ache—the exact same sensation from eleven years ago when the steel cable shredded my skin.
I reached her just as she went under again. I wrapped my left arm around her chest, pulling her face above the surface.
"I’ve got you!" I yelled over the roar of the surf. "Breathe, Maddy! Breathe!"
She coughed violently, holding onto my neck for dear life. "Avery... Dad... he's..."
Ten feet away, Gordon was clinging frantically to a jagged, slippery rock. The tide was slamming him against the stone, cracking his ribs with every wave. He couldn't swim; he had never learned.
"AVERY!" Gordon shrieked, his hands slipping off the wet rock. "HELP ME! SAVE ME! I'S YOUR FATHER!"
Ethan and Agent Vance appeared on the cliff edge above, shining high-powered searchlights down onto the water and throwing down rescue lines.
"MAJOR! CATCH THE LINE!" Ethan’s voice boomed down through a megaphone.
A thick nylon rescue rope slammed into the water next to us. I grabbed it with my right hand, securing it around Madison’s waist.
"TOW HER UP!" I yelled to the team above.
"Avery, don't leave him!" Madison cried as the winch line began pulling her upward toward the cliff safety.
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I turned back toward the rocks. Gordon was losing his grip. A massive swell smashed into him, washing him off the rock and dragging him into the undertow channel.
I took a deep breath and plunged under the violent waves.
