Chapter 11 - THE COLD DEPTHS
Icy, salt-heavy water exploded into the cabin of the green sedan as the rear windshield shattered under the hydraulic impact of the fall.
"Minh! Rosy!" Linh screamed over the deafening roar of rushing water.
The car’s engine died instantly, plunging them into pitch darkness save for the ghostly green glow of the dashboard lights sinking rapidly toward the seabed. Up above, the silhouette of Pier 4 faded into the murky harbor water.
Linh unbuckled her seatbelt with frantic speed, kicking her driver's door open against the water pressure before turning to the back seat. Rosy was crying hysterically, trapped under the flooding woolen blanket.
Minh scrambled over the console, pulling a small silver knife from his pocket to slice the stuck rear seatbelt webbing, freeing his little sister.
"Out! Through the front door!" Linh pulled Minh and Rosy through the open driver's door into the freezing ocean current.
They kicked toward the shadow of the wooden pilings beneath Pier 4.
High above on the pier, gunshots cracked through the rain, bullets zipping harmlessly into the dark waves fifty yards away from where they surfaced beneath the rotting timber platform.
"Keep quiet," Linh whispered, holding Rosy’s small head above the swell as Minh clung to a barnacle-encrusted pillar, gasping for air.
Above them, on the wooden planks, Han’s shoes paced furiously.
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"Find them!" Han’s muffled voice echoed down through the floorboards. "They couldn't have survived that drop, but I want their bodies brought up before the coast guard docks!"
Linh looked at Minh, her eyes burning with fierce resolve in the shadowed darkness beneath the pier. "We swim to the mudflats. Now."
