She did better than Creed expected. She didn’t fight the current. Instead she worked her way slowly, sometimes walking, sometimes floating. Once she capsized and Creed reeled her in so she wouldn’t be swept downstream. She waved her thanks and started again, holding the branch to steady herself.
By the time she reached Bolo he was wagging, excited and ready to join her in the water. Then she did something that Creed did not expect, that they had not discussed. She took the dangling leash and weaved it around her waist, knotting it tight. If she lost her grip on the big dog he’d still be attached to her. But he could also yank her down the stream with him.
Creed fisted the rope in his hands, wrapping it around his wrists. He checked the knot on the other end that circled the tree trunk. It was still secure. The mud was slick underneath his shoes. It wouldn’t take much of a jerk to knock him off his feet. He bent his knees and squatted when he felt the current suck at Maggie. She had Bolo in the water now.
It looked like it was taking considerable effort for her to convince Bolo to go slow. He had to be exhausted and yet what pent-up energy was left made him want to swim like the dickens and get to his owner. But Maggie held him alongside her.
The branch, her balance pole, had been swept away when she helped Bolo off the rock. She couldn’t keep her feet on the bottom and finally gave up. Instead she dog-paddled with Bolo, letting Creed reel them in.
She used her other hand to push off the debris, anticipating it even when Creed couldn’t see it. She was maneuvering around the obstacles she had already encountered and noted on her way to get to Bolo.
When he finally had them at the riverbank, he gestured for her to hold on a minute. He kept the rope taut as he moved to the tree, adjusting the slack and retying it so it would hold Maggie in place at the ledge while he helped them up.
She untangled the dog’s leash from her waist. Bolo clawed up the muddy bank while Creed pulled and Maggie pushed. On land the big dog slobbered Creed’s face with kisses.
“Hold on, buddy. We need to get Maggie up.”
And Bolo joined Creed at the ledge. He went down on his belly, paws over the edge, as if he was ready to help. Creed gave him a section of the rope and the dog took it in his teeth. As he pulled Maggie up, Bolo pulled, too. Creed wrapped his arms around her and fell to the ground.
Finally safe, he tried to catch his breath. Maggie’s weight was crushing his chest but he didn’t care. He still held her tight against him. His lips found her cheek, then her ear. His voice was hoarse when he said, “You did it!”
She pulled up, careful to put her hands on the ground instead of pushing against his chest. She was smiling and breathing hard, pleased with herself, but he also saw relief. Incredible relief.
Bolo was ready to play. He head-butted Maggie, knocking her off Creed and into the mud. She grabbed his big wet body and pulled him in for a hug.
Creed tried to pull himself to his knees, and that’s when the pain stopped him. He lay back down, this time facedown in the mud, and he closed his eyes.
54.
Washington, D.C.
Ellie had tried to listen carefully to Frank Sadowski’s testimony. She jotted notes to stay focused, and yet her mind kept returning to those photographs of schoolchildren. She couldn’t shake the image of her father smiling as he posed with them.
She loved and respected her father more than anyone else in her life. Her ex-husband had said many times how difficult it was to compete with the man who had died a hero to his daughter when she was only twenty-two years old. She had worshipped her father. Now she had to shove down all the conflicting emotions battling inside her. She needed to deal with the facts—all of them—even those facts that countless government officials and elected representatives had conveniently swept away over and over again for the past fifty years.
Sometime between last night and today’s testimony, Ellie had come to the conclusion that Senator Quincy had always planned for her to be on this committee. She remembered that it was Carter, her chief of staff, who set the bait, making her want to be a part of these hearings by making it sound like a smart PR move. It was Carter who had suggested she cast herself as a sympathetic listener to the many veteran constituents who’d be deciding her reelection.