Cut and Run 2 - Sticks and Stones

Zane could ponder the dangers any further, Ty dove headfirst into the water, disappearing under the little whitecaps and the sticks and other debris that floated past.
    “Goddamnit, Ty!” Zane yelled, even though he knew Ty wouldn’t hear him. He turned and kicked the ATV’s tire before running a hand over his head and beginning to pace. He looked back out over the water, every part of him tense. He hadn’t thought it could be worse than watching his partner wade across the river. But not being able to see him at all? That was so much worse.
    He knew they should be doing something—securing the ATV so it wouldn’t slide, packing up their equipment into the ponchos to keep it dry as they crossed, manning the winch in case Ty got washed downstream—but he couldn’t. He had to watch for Ty.
    The blue coil of rope on the ground in front of the ATV unwound steadily, whether because Ty was actually making progress across the river or because the water was pulling it in was hard to tell. Zane found himself counting the seconds, wondering how long Ty could hold his breath. A few minutes at least, give or take.
    After a full minute had passed, they caught sight of Ty’s hand breaking the water much further downstream. It was the only glimpse of him, though. He didn’t come up for air.
    “He’s going down instead of across!” Zane said over the river noise.
    “Current’s gonna take him that way,” Earl yelled as he worked hard at packing everything he could fit into the packs to be carried across. “He’ll correct it,” he said with utmost confidence.
    Zane spared a moment to wish Earl would say things like that when Ty could actually hear him. The confidence he had in his son bordered on blind faith sometimes. Zane wondered suddenly if Ty knew it and that was why he took everything his father said in stride. Be quick about it , his father had said. It implied complete confidence that Ty could make it across, didn’t it? But it was also a fairly common psychological device, Zane knew, impressing onto others your belief of what should—and thus would —happen to achieve an end. He glanced at Earl, hoping that confidence was real and seeing their relationship in a slightly different light.
    All their eyes snapped to the rope when the coil suddenly started rolling out far too quickly for Ty’s progress. Deuce stood up on the seat of the ATV, trying to look downriver and find any telltale signs of his brother.
    Something had to have snagged him for him to be moving that quickly. The rope was swiftly playing out. It would hit its end far too soon for them to do anything but hope Ty wasn’t crushed by whatever had hit him and he could free himself without assistance.
    But they were coming up on three minutes that Ty had been without air.
    Zane wasn’t watching anymore. Something was wrong. He jerked into motion around the ATV, skidded over the rocks and mud to get down to the water’s edge, and went splashing in after the rope. He was up to his knees before Earl got him by the arm, hauling him back toward the bank with surprising strength. As Earl pulled him out of the freezing water, Zane glanced over to see Deuce gripping the winch controls until his knuckles turned white, trying to give Ty as much time as he could before pulling him back. They all knew the more attempts he had to make at crossing, the less likely he was to make it at all.
    Just as Zane was about to get away from Earl and wade back into the river along the rope, Ty’s head broke the surface of the water, much closer than Zane thought he would be. Deuce shouted as soon as he saw him and pointed.
    Ty gasped for air and took a few strong strokes through the water, but he didn’t go anywhere as the current beat him back. He ducked back under the water again, disappearing from view to use the rocks along the river’s bottom to pull himself across.
    Zane shook Earl off but didn’t go any deeper; he watched where Ty had been, willing him to surface again, looking back and forth between there and the ATV, checking the rope, oblivious to the water splashing up his thighs and soaking his jeans.
    After what seemed an eternity, Zane caught sight of Ty dragging himself out of the frigid water on the far side of the river, and the vise around his chest let loose so he could breathe again. Earl stood there staring at his son for a long moment before turning to get himself out of the cold water. He began taking his soaked shoes and socks off, his