Author's Note: That's right, folks. I've got another story. Hopefully, it's a good one, so please enjoy. :)

Chapter One

"Top!" Jaz screamed, already raising her weapon.

But it was too late.

And in an instant, reality seemed to explode.

Five weapons went off all at once. Six gunshots echoed over the quiet expanse of trees. Four bullets tore through the enemy shooter, dropping him immediately.

And two hit Adam directly in the chest plate.

The blow propelled him over the edge of the balcony, his expression a mix of alarm, pain, and breathlessness.

"Top!" Jaz yelled, already running to the railing. She peered over the edge, staring down into the dark, murky water of the lake. It was only one story up.

But Adam had just taken two to the chest.

She looked back at her teammates, seeing the raw, worried fear in their eyes. They knew what a hit to the chest plate did to a person. It knocked every puff of air out of you, and for a moment, your lungs forgot what it meant to breathe.

And when they finally remember how, all you can do is inhale heavy lungfuls of air.

Air, not water.

Adam had just fallen into a lake.

Without saying a word, the four of them rushed down the side steps of the building, sprinting desperately toward the private dock. Jaz and McG were already ripping off their heavy gear, boots, and jackets by the time they were running across the wet wood surface. Frantic, Jaz adjusted her headlamp and jumped right into the freezing water of the lake.

Tiny, chilled needles poked into every pore of her body, and she had to fight the tight gasp in her throat. It was already fairly cold outside, but the immense change in temperature was a shock to the system.

Hastily pushing past the painful ache all over her body, she tried to focus on the task at hand: Top. He was worth the icy prickles and numb appendages. They had to find him, frostbite be damned.

She forced her stiff limbs to swim downward, her headlamp streaming light into the cloudy depths. How could she find Top in this? She could hardly see four feet in front of her.

Determined, she swam further toward the bottom, scouring the muddy floor of the lake. He had to be here. He had to be close.

Then she saw it. A familiar, tightly laced boot in the dark.

And attached to it was an unmoving Adam Dalton.

Running out of air, Jaz quickly kicked to the surface, hungrily gulping oxygen before diving under again. Without a thought, she swam to the bottom, rushing to his side. Immediately, she started pulling off the heavier gear to prep him for the trip to the surface. She had to hurry, but she couldn't risk being pulled back down by too much weight.

As she finished pulling off his chest plate, another light fell over the team leader. Jaz looked up. McG.

Relieved to have the extra muscle, she grabbed one of Adam's arms as he did the same on the other side. Without another wasted moment, they kicked off the bottom, tugging Adam along with them.

And as they broke the surface coughing and spluttering, Adam didn't move. He flopped lifelessly in their arms, frozen and unresponsive.

Jaz could feel her heart stutter as she watched Preach and Amir pull the blond onto the dock. Top's lips were blue. An unnatural shade of blue.

"He's not breathing," Preach reported, his fingers already checking for a pulse.

McG hoisted himself out of the water, shivering in the chill of the evening. "Start chest compressions."

Amir didn't need to be told twice. Immediately, he placed his hands over Adam's breastbone and pressed down, following a practiced rhythm as he counted urgently under his breath.

Jaz swiftly swam toward one side of the dock, looking up at a lifeless hand hanging over the wooden edge. It flopped with every compression, limp and pale. Eager to have eyes on her team leader, she clamped frozen fingers on the dock surface, determined to pull herself up.

Seeing her struggle, Preach quickly came to her aid, helping her out of the cold water and onto the dock. Her body seized in the chilling open air, but she forced her head to the side to watch Amir work tirelessly to bring Adam back to life.

So far, there was nothing. Just a lifeless body moving with each compression. Adam wasn't here. Not really. Just the ragdoll he left behind.

This couldn't be happening.

"Come on, Top," Amir pleaded angrily, huffing with each press of his hands. "You can't do this."

Vaguely, Jaz heard Preach muttering a hasty report to the team in DC. But not in her ear, like usual. Her comm must've malfunctioned in the water.

She dared to lose hope. She wondered if maybe it had been too long. Too long without oxygen. Maybe this was it.

Then there was a wet cough, muffled by suffocating lake water.

A splutter.

She stiffened, eyes snapping to Adam's face.

His eyes screwed shut tighter as he hacked water from his lungs, trying desperately to clear the offending liquid.

He was alive.

Alive.

Amir quickly turned the blond to his side, gently patting the man on the back. "That's it, Top. Let it out."

Adam weakly coughed out lungfuls of water, the liquid slipping through the cracks in the dock.

And Adam's first desperate gasp was like music to Jaz's ears.

Once he'd coughed out everything he could, he curled in toward his chest, shivering violently. She could only imagine how he felt. Two bullets right in the chest plate were enough. Adding chest compressions, near-drowning, and freezing temperatures to the whole of it . . . that had to be much, much worse. Broken ribs were sure to be involved.

Shivering alone would be excruciating.

Jaz pulled on her dry jacket, eyes glued to the drenched and shivering team leader. He was out of it; she could tell. His body had taken more trauma than it could ever account for. And keeping a clear head through that much pain, exhaustion, and discomfort was nigh impossible. Even for someone as strong and driven as Top himself.

She watched Preach give up his own jacket, attempting to pull Adam's chilled arms through the sleeves.

But something wasn't right. She could hear something, hidden behind whispering trees and the faint lap of water at the shoreline.

Jaz listened intently, her brow furrowed.

Engines. That's what it was. She could hear vehicles rolling over gravelly dirt roads.

The team wouldn't be alone for long.

"We have to go," she urged hoarsely. "We'll have company soon if we don't move now."

McG looked up at her announcement, alarmed. He was in the middle of wrapping a wool blanket around the frozen blond, his own frigid fingers still trembling.

"Preach, Amir. Grab Top. He's going to need some help out of here." McG's voice shook, overtaken by cold. Jaz could relate.

McG rushed to put on his coat and boots, the other two men pulling the frozen team leader off the dock. Adam was still majorly disoriented, coughing weakly as he stumbled heavily over his feet. His eyes fluttered as he shivered violently, barely able to move on his own. To be honest, they were impressed he could even manage this much.

As they rushed off the dock and into the safety of the dark forest, Adam's heavy breaths turned to heaving wheezes, painful and raw. They tried to take it easy on hilly terrain, but the hike quickly took a toll on the team leader.

"Top, I hate to say it, but you've got to be a little quieter," McG whispered, glancing back at the lake house.

Partly more aware than before, Adam offered a tired nod as he forcefully suppressed the hoarse gasps of air. It was painful to watch. They could only guess how much pain he was in already with injured ribs and the ache of a freezing near-drowning. Having to fight his lungs' desperate pumping for air seemed like torture.

Amir and Preach dragged Adam between them, wary that the blond was rapidly losing his strength over the short trek. Jaz and McG were struggling as it was, and they had less excuses.

"He's not doing great, McG," Preach reported quietly, his whispers hidden by the rustle of tree leaves. Adam's head was starting to droop, succumbing to unconsciousness.

McG glanced back, pushing his own stiff limbs onward. But he didn't say anything.

Beside him, Jaz pulled her jacket tighter, looking over her shoulder as she shook in the shadows. Adam looked awful. Shivering, pale, exhausted. He looked like a lukewarm corpse. She turned her eyes to McG.

"Is he going to be okay?"

The medic pursed his lips, staring into the trees, a steady tremble running through his body. "I think so. I'll know more when I can actually examine him. He needs warmth. And probably some decent rest."

She nodded, pulling her collar higher for extra warmth.

They hiked along for another ten minutes, the four of them listening to Top's boots continuously scuff the forest floor as his lungs struggled to keep up. It was unbearable.

But it was better than what they'd seen on the dock. At least he was here. Alive. Doing something.

The old SUV they were using came into view, far enough away from the lake house to not pose a threat. McG pointed at the front of the car, looking directly at Preach and Amir. "Front passenger."

Obediently, the two helped Adam into the passenger seat, Preach pulling the coat and blanket tighter around the blond. Preach volunteered to drive, climbing in and turning on the engine immediately as the rest of them piled in the back of the SUV.

Settling into the middle seat, Jaz rubbed at her freezing arms. Preach cranked up the heat as high as it would go, putting it on full blast. It already felt like heaven on her frigid fingers. In the front, Adam was listing to the side, nearly resting on the passenger door. It wasn't going to be an easy ride back to their hideout. The road was bumpy, littered with potholes and tree roots. Jaz could only wince in sympathy.

The car started its journey across rough terrain, and the heat of the cab licked at Jaz's skin. Even now, she was cold. And she hadn't even inhaled lungfuls of ice water. Pulling her knees to her chest and crossing her arms, she looked over at McG. He was still quivering, like her. Probably would until they got a hot shower and some dry clothes. So . . . probably not anytime soon. At least as far as the hot shower went.

Besides, Top was the priority.

She looked at their leader. He was fully leaning against the door now, passed out. The SUV bounced over divots and bumps, slowly crawling its way through the expanse of trees. Adam's body jerked with each movement, slack with unconsciousness.

What she would give to see him stand strong. To hear him congratulate them on another job well done.

But even though this mission was officially a success, was it really a win?

No. It wasn't. At least not yet.

"We're heading back to our hideout, and we made it out safely," Amir reported, clearly talking to Control. "We'll know more about Top's condition when we get there."

Jaz looked at Amir as he finished his verbal report. In the many minutes it took to hike to the SUV, she'd already forgotten about the DC team. Without a working comm, it was easy to get distracted by the present. She could imagine the hidden worry in the deputy director's normally professional tone. Top was more than an operative to Patricia. He was a friend.

So as far as fear went, she was right there with them.

But it didn't make any of this better.