The Prison-Made Queen novel Chapter 860

By the time the second group launched, the morning sun was already blazing above the canopy.

Leilani and Callahan stepped into the final boat, the wooden deck rocking unsteadily beneath their boots as it hit the current.

Gripping the damp edge of the boat, Leilani looked back at the receding shoreline, letting out a soft, heavy sigh as the figures of Tate and Konrad shrank into the distance.

"Worried about them?" Callahan asked, his large, warm hand covering her cold fingers.

She nodded, her eyes lingering on the bank. "I just hope the medevac team gets there in time."

Logically, she knew Konrad should pull through. But the jungle was wildly unpredictable, and finding a needle-in-a-haystack drop zone in this dense canopy was a nightmare for any pilot. They had done everything they could; the rest was up to fate.

Konrad’s near-death experience was a brutal wake-up call, reminding everyone just how quickly this jungle could kill them.

Despite their horrifying appearance, the battered boats held up surprisingly well under the mercenaries' expert handling.

For hours, they drifted down the winding river, rocked into a dull lull by the rhythmic swaying.

But as they hit a wide, central stretch of the river, the current suddenly turned vicious.

The boat violently lurched. Leilani lost her footing and pitched backward, only to be caught securely against Callahan’s chest as his arm clamped around her waist.

"Brace yourselves!" the mercenary manning the pole roared over the rushing water. "We've got hidden rocks beneath us! Hold onto the sides and don't fall out!"

The fragile boat groaned and shuddered against the brutal rapids, every foot forward feeling like a battle against nature. The dense tree line on the far shore seemed to warp and sway with the violent rocking, and the wood beneath their feet shrieked in protest.

"Something hit us from below!" Shaun yelled, immediately diagnosing the fatal blow.

"Dammit! The hull is breached!"

Panic erupted as the dark water surged into the boat, completely out of control. The biting cold sent a jolt of pure adrenaline through Leilani, and she instinctively dug her fingers into Callahan's arm, clinging to him for dear life.

From the safety of the adjacent boat, Abel saw the disaster unfolding and screamed over the roaring rapids.

"You're going down! Abandon ship! Swim over to us or make for the bank!" he yelled, intending to pick them up once he secured his own boat.

"Absolutely not!" Bason roared back, his voice tearing through the panic with ironclad authority. "The current is a meat grinder, and we don't know what the hell is under the surface! Do not abandon ship! It's a death sentence!"