The pressure in Zeke’s head and chest was building, the need to pull in a breath or pop out of the water increasing. Zeke didn’t move, didn’t react. He released a tiny string of bubbles out of his mouth to release some pressure, but he’d have to allow himself even that small luxury in small increments.
He felt the slight movement of water and a brush at his back. His eyes popped open. Arms encircled his neck, and he jolted. The chokehold Lewis put on him was effective and took him enough by surprise he pulled in a little bit of water before he clamped his mouth shut and ignored the feeling of drowning. He not only had the water in his mouth, tickling at his throat and making him want to gag or cough, but his airway was completely closed off by the clamp Lewis had on his neck and no oxygen was getting through to or from his heart or lungs.
Normally Zeke could use his weight and strength to fling himself backward, bring his full weight down on the person and break their grip that way. Instinct made him want to claw at Lewis’s arms. He had little time to make a move and he had to make the right one. He was already depleted, almost completely out of oxygen and energy.
He elbowed Lewis as hard as he could in the gut. The water slowed his strength and speed, but he could feel Lewis’s breath being expelled, and the man’s grip eased slightly. But not enough.
The dim sounds of splashing and yelling reached him and he instantly worried about Mia, but he had to focus on this fight and not let Lewis kill him. The Deltas would take care of Mia. He knew they would. He trusted that family as much as his own team.
Zeke flung his shoulders, chest, and head forward, dropping to the bottom of the lake and using his hands to grasp Lewis’s waist and flip the guy over the top of him. The man’s hold slipped to his chin. Zeke ripped Lewis’s arms off his neck and shoved him up out of the water.
He surfaced shortly after, gasping for air and seeing black spots in his vision.
“Cap!” Thor yelled, far too close.
He looked over and saw Thor and Klein both plunging through the water toward him. It would take more than those two to keep him from taking Lewis to within an inch of death.
“What were you thinking?” he yelled in Lewis’s face.
The man finally had the good sense to look concerned as Zeke wrapped him up and shoved him back underwater. Lewis flailed and tried to get free, but he was depleted as well. Zeke would answer the question of whose Navy was superior once and for all.
“Cap!” he heard multiple voices call. Thor and Klein’s voices were far too close, but he felt ripples behind him. He whipped around, and what he saw made the blood freeze in his veins faster than the lake ever could.
Mia’s head was barely above water and her brown eyes were full of fear as she struggled. “Rambo,” she squeaked out, then she went under again.
Zeke shoved away from Lewis and dove for Mia. He reached her in four strokes, lifting her up so she could get a full breath. What had happened? Why was she in the water fully clothed?
Thor and Klein reached them as Lewis came up gasping for air.
Zeke ignored everyone else as he swept Mia against his chest.
“Z-Zeke,” she gasped, coughing out water. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stared up at him with those brown eyes that captured him heart and soul.
Zeke knew one thing at that moment: Mia was the most important person in the world to him. He would take on anyone and anything to keep her safe. He couldn’t believe he’d endangered her by letting Lewis distract him. Thankfully she was breathing and only coughing out some water.
He plunged toward the beach with her cuddled close. How long had she been in the water? How hypothermic was she? If a person didn’t have a tolerance for cold water like he did, the drop in temperature could be dangerous. He had to get her warm.
“You okay?” Klein asked as he passed them. “Mia screamed that Blaine was choking you before she jumped off the dock.”
“I’m fine,” Zeke murmured. “Worried about Mia.”
“Take care of Mia. We’ve got him,” Thor reassured him, grasping Lewis’s arm in his grip. His blue eyes looked like Thor’s in the Avengers movie when they were full of lightning and thunder. Good. Lewis deserved more than Zeke had done to him. He should’ve drowned the loser, but all that mattered was Mia. He didn’t even look at Lewis, didn’t care what the guy was thinking or doing.
He heard a lot of other chatter, but he kept moving through the water, pushing against the ice chunks until he finally reached the shore. Mia’s teeth chattered and she clung to him, but he could tell her fingers were slipping and she was barely holding on to his neck.
He was chilled, but fine. He’d been trained to fight and survive in every kind of temperature and situation, especially in water. Mia was not fine. She would be in trouble if he didn’t get her warm. Quick.
Joseph and Keith were right there. “Are you okay?” Joseph asked.
“I’m fine. Why did you let her go in?” he demanded, pushing through the trampled path through snow in his bare feet. He might have some frostbite. Who cared?
“We were distracted trying to figure out what you and the Commander were doing moving around so much under there,” Keith said. “Nobody saw Mia until she was at the end of the dock and then she screamed he was choking you and jumped in. Thor and Klein went after her. I can’t believe the commander would …”
“He’s an idiot,” Zeke gritted out. It was one thing that Lewis had tried to kill him, but now he had endangered Mia. Zeke was calling himself an idiot right along with Lewis. How had he let that loser distract him from Mia? “I want him off this detail immediately. I don’t care what the duke thinks. What about Sheriff Reed and his men? They’re good guys. Can we get one of them temporarily? I’ll get Chaos. Lieutenant Udy,” he clarified, “on the next flight here.”
Mia’s lips were blue, and Zeke realized the rest of the details could wait. She couldn’t. It worried him how quiet she was. He wanted her to say something cute and tease him.
“Okay, we’ll figure it out.” Joseph slapped him on the shoulder as they finally cleared the snow and reached Papa’s back patio. Zeke stiffened, and Joseph’s eyes widened. “Sorry. I forget. How are you carrying …?”