He barely had time to marvel at the canyon’s beauty. Let alone fantasize about the woman beside him, her thick hair pulled back as she lay partially submerged, head up, blowing into a sleeve for all she was worth.

They had to make that shore, but a quirk of the current wheeled them around and tried to dance them closer to the river’s thread where it curled away from the alluvial fan.

“Legs over the side. Kick!” Dek called from breathless lungs. “We’ve got to get to that beach!”

Talina, sharp as ever, shifted, half supported by the chabacho log as she slipped her muscular legs into water and began kicking. Dek—almost capsizing them—did the same. Kicking like mad as he propelled their sinking raft toward the beach.

And all the while, he expected to feel that sudden sharp pain as some riverine leviathan rose from below and sank its teeth into his pumping calves or feet.

They were making it.

Closer.

Just another thirty meters. Twenty.

The sinking raft was more a hindrance to progress, the deflating coveralls acting like sea anchors. But the contraption was keeping their chests and stomachs above water.

Ten meters.

That’s when he glanced sideways, saw the shape headed toward them. Something big and coming fast enough that the water flowed smoothly up and over its back. Dek watched with growing unease. Whatever this was, fast as it was, it came to attack. Drawn to their kicking as they pushed the raft.

Do I stop? Ask Talina for her pistol?

Too late. It was on them. Through the clear water Dek had a momentary glimpse of eyes, a greenish-brown shark-like head. He could see the mouth, three jaws, lined with teeth as they parted. He braced for the . . .

Something big caught the predator from beneath, bursting up from below. Water erupted, showered Dek with spray as the two creatures battled. Dek got a fast glimpse of the shark-like attacker, its three-jawed mouth open in agony as it thrashed back and forth. Whatever had it from beneath had sunk long teeth into the thing’s sides. Blood streaked and smeared on a silver-shiny hide beneath a speckled and green-brown back. Thick muscle bulged, as the creature tried to tear free of those hideous jaws.

And with a massive flip of its body, whatever had the shark wrenched its victim down into the depths. Another fountain of spray cascaded down, and the wave it left behind came within a whisker of capsizing Dek and Talina’s sinking raft.

“What the hell?” Talina asked, having missed the entire show.

“Just get us to shore!”

Dek kicked for all he was worth, heart in his throat. He could feel the stress in his lungs, the chafing in his throat, and the burn in his legs as he gave all to the effort.

Five meters to go, and the current was carrying them past, rushing them.