The Blonde Identity: A Novel

Apparently, Zoe did know how to swim. But she was going to drown anyway. Or at least that’s how it felt as the cold sent a shock through her system, freezing water like fire on her skin, numbing her fingers and burning her toes. Her whole body wanted to curl into a tiny ball and sink to the bottom of the river. Zoe had to make herself kick. She had to make herself fight. And fight. And fight some more because she hadn’t gone over that railing alone.

The man’s fist was tangled in Zoe’s hair. She’d liked it so much better when Sawyer had done it—back when her biggest problems were no money, and no memory, and no name. She hadn’t appreciated just how much she’d gained in forty-eight hours, but Zoe didn’t even know where her next breath was coming from as the man pushed her head underwater, and she felt . . . nothing.

Not her hands or her legs, not her skin or her bones, just the overwhelming sense that she was about to explode if she couldn’t breathe.

She had to breathe!

She’d spent all afternoon learning hand-to-hand combat from an actual spy but he hadn’t covered “How to Not Drown in a Freezing River” in the intro course. Zoe wanted her money back.

So she made herself stop. And think.

The current was just as strong for him. The sky just as dark. The water every bit as cold. Zoe had nothing to stand on, but neither did he, so she pulled her legs up, twisting them around his arms and his neck, using every ounce of her strength to break his hold and surge to the surface.

She gasped for air, desperate to fill her lungs, but she couldn’t stay there. Staying there meant dying there, so she took the deepest breath she could and dove, desperate to hide, to escape.

But hands were groping in the darkness, and Zoe felt herself jerked back against the current. She couldn’t even feel him except . . . wait. He didn’t have her. He had a fistful of that skimpy nightgown. So she kicked and clawed and twisted, trying to get free. But the man was too strong and Zoe was too weak—too frail. And she was all alone. She was all alone, her broken brain said. And that was going to be what killed her.

But, suddenly, there was a hand on her shoulder. There were eyes in the dark. Sawyer, a part of her screamed. Sawyer was there, reaching for the delicate neckline of the beautiful nightie.

And ripping it right off her body.

So the good news was that she was free. The bad news was that she was also very cold and very tired and (aside from a pair of panties) very, very naked.

For a moment, they stayed there, staring into each other’s eyes, treading water in the darkness, a silent conversation taking place between them.

Well, those are my boobs.

I’m not looking.

How can you not look? They’re right there.

Nope. Not gonna look.

I mean if someone tore your pants off—

Pants don’t work that way.

But then the Russian was reaching for her again, clawing and desperate. And Sawyer gave her one last look.

Give me a minute.

She’d never seen anyone move like that. He was a blur in the night, lunging between them, arms clamping around the big man’s neck. While Zoe struggled to keep swimming, to keep breathing, Sawyer wrapped that piece of satin around the assassin’s throat and pulled. And pulled.

And pulled.

Until the man wasn’t kicking anymore.

“Zoe?” Sawyer’s hands were reaching for her as they surfaced, pulling her close. “Are you okay? Tell me you’re—”

“I’m . . . okay. I’m okay. I’m . . .” She remembered. “Cold . . . I’m so cold.”

“I know.”

They turned in unison to watch the Shimmering Sea growing smaller in the distance.

“I don’t suppose . . . they’ll . . . stop . . .”

His laugh was short and sharp. “No.”

And Zoe forced more air into her lungs. As long as she kept breathing . . . As long as she kept moving . . . As long as Sawyer was with her, she’d be okay.

“So the good news is I can swim and he’s dead.” She wondered how worried she should be that her breath was no longer white in the cold air.

They both turned to watch the body float away on the current. Then something seemed to occur to Sawyer. “What’s the bad news?”

“I’m real naked.”

He choked out a laugh and looked toward the shore, eyes scanning the terrain as if someone else might rise from the bottom of the river and try to kill them.

“Come on.”