Time passed. It could have been ten minutes, it could have been ten hours. I was too scared to tell the difference, to be truthful.

I knew enough, however, to know when we were finally close to our destination, especially when the headlights of our purloined car lit up a long copse of trees indicating a water source in the near vicinity.

"Left at the crossroads up ahead, right?" Pony asked.

"Yeah. Then go an eighth of a mile. There's a small loop there. Go around it and park. Rio should be waiting for us there."

"Are they still following us?" I asked, not daring to turn around. A shootout was the last thing I wanted to be a part of, though if it came down to that, I'd be right there at my lover's side, doing whatever I could to keep us whole.

"We're clear for the moment," Ice replied. "Get ready to run the minute this car stops, though."

"You don't have to ask me twice."

Following Ice's directions to the letter, Pony turned on a sharp, if ill defined, hairpin curve and pulled off onto an unpaved path which was surrounded by tall, thick trees on all sides. As soon as the car stopped rolling, the four of us opened our doors and hopped out. Critter and I ran in the direction of Ice's pointing finger, down toward the river, while Pony stayed behind to help Ice with Cavallo and the small amount of possessions we'd managed to accumulate during our stay south of the border. Rio jumped from behind a large tree, and brushed by me on her way to help Pony and Ice.

Hearing a rustling in the bushes to my left, I turned that way, to see a white-faced Nia peering out. "Hey," I whispered. "It's just us."

"Oh thank god," she half-sobbed. Standing up, she came out of the bush and wrapped me in a desperate hug. "I never want to go through that again. I've been so scared, waiting for everyone, thinking that the border patrol was coming down the road any minute. And Rio wasn't any help at all."

"It's alright. We're here now," I replied, hugging her tightly to me. "And we're getting ready to go home."

"God, that sounds so good to me right now."

Pulling away, I smiled at her. "Yeah. Me too."

Grabbing my hand, she led me down the short path to the river. "C'mon. We got a boat. Not very much of a boat, but as long as it floats, I'm not gonna complain."

The river was wide, black, and silent as death. It also stank of decay, and I was quite glad that I would be crossing it in the dark, because I had absolutely no desire to see what, exactly, was causing such a stench.

"Ta-da!" Nia sang, throwing out her arm in a dramatic gesture. "There it is."

I looked. Then squinted. Then cocked my head. Well, I supposed, technically what I was looking at could be called a boat. Course, I'd seen larger beds, but Nia was right. As long as it floated....

"Um...are all of us going to fit in there?"

Was my first question.

"Who's going to row?"

Would have been my second, had I time to ask it. Which I didn't.

Ice led the way down to the shore, and after gesturing Nia and Critter to the very back, she dumped Cavallo's still unconscious bulk in the middle. Pony came behind her and tossed the duffel bag with our gear in it on top of him. "Now what?"

Ice's answer was interrupted by several soft 'popping' sounds coming from behind us. "Angel, Pony, get in the boat! Now!" Reaching behind her, Ice pulled her gun from the waistband of her jeans. "I said now!"

Before I could even think to move, Pony grabbed my wrist and all but threw me into the boat, which rocked wildly with the action and almost capsized. Then she jumped in, pinning me inside with no chance to escape.

"Get outta here!"

"No!" I screamed. "Not without you!!"

"Go!!"

Reaching forward, Critter grabbed the oars and began rowing the second Ice kicked the boat away from the shoreline.

"Ice!!!"

More popping sounds, and Ice turned away and ran up the embankment toward the sounds of shooting.

"Goddamn you, Critter! Stop!" I grabbed for the oars at the same time as Pony grabbed me, and the resulting flailing almost caused the boat to tip once again.

Critter regained her grip on the wooden oars, and we began moving again as I struggled against Pony's tight hold.

"Let me go, goddamnit!"

"Stop struggling, Angel! I'll knock you the fuck out, I swear I will!"

"Try it, you son of a bitch! Ice!!!"

Two small splashes sounded to our immediate left. It didn't take a genius to know they came from bullets attempting to halt our getaway.

"Critter! Faster! C'mon! Row!!!"

Grunting with effort, Critter put her back into it and I could feel the boat pick up speed beneath me as Pony shielded my body with her own, still taking care to hold me so tightly I feared my ribs would shatter.

"Let. Me. Go!!" My teeth were so tightly gritted, I thought sure they'd break off at the gumline.

"I won't warn you again, Angel." Pony's breath was hot on my cheek. "Keep struggling and you'll tip us. Critter can't swim and neither can Nia, so you'd best be still or I'll crack you one. I swear it by any fucking god you wanna name."

"Well throw me overboard, then, because I... ."

The rest of my words were cut off as I heard Pony give a soft groan and felt the weight of her body collapse over me, bearing me right off the wooden seat and to the floor of the boat.

"Pony!!" I could hear Critter's muffled scream as I tried to struggle from beneath her lover's limp, full weight "Keep rowing!" Nia's voice was pitched high with terror. "Oh god! Keep rowing!!"

"Pony!!!"

I could tell Pony was still alive by the movement of her chest against my back and the soft moan of pain near my ear, but I didn't know how to tell Critter that from my position.

Then I heard splashes, loud ones, and suddenly our boat was moving again, twice as fast as it had before. We hit the riverbank hard, and Pony's weight drove into me, causing my face to slide against the splintered wood of the boat's bottom, the resulting sting bringing tears of pain to my eyes.

Then, like a blessing from on high, the weight was lifted from my chest, hips and head, and when I looked up, I met the concerned expressions of people I knew.

Like some sort of modern-day cavalry, the Amazons had come over the hill once again.

Montana and Cowgirl quickly, but gently, grabbed Pony, while others hauled Cavallo from the bottom of the boat and onto dry land, none being particularly careful with where or how hard he landed.

I scrambled to a sitting position just as Cheeto stepped forward and offered me a hand. "C'mon, Angel."

"Not a chance," I growled, moving up so that I was sitting on one of the benches and grabbing the oars.

"Angel! Don't!!"

"Watch me."

With swift, sure strokes, I pulled away from the bank, determined to make it back to the other side as quickly as I could. Some of the Amazons jumped back into the river in an attempt to halt my progress, but I made sure that their efforts were futile in the extreme.

Nothing, not heaven nor hell nor anything else was going to stop me from getting back to Ice.

Halfway across, I bumped into...something...hard enough to rock the boat. When that something grabbed onto the side with a bloodied hand, I almost tipped it over myself scrabbling to get away.

"It's me!" came a harsh whisper from below.

I froze for a split second, then scrabbled back the way I'd come. "Ice? Ice, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Oh, thank you God! Wait a second. I'll try and pull you in."

"Can't. Rio got hit. Just row back for shore as fast as you can."

"Where is she?"

"I've got her."

"Where are the others?"

"Taken care of. Just row."

"Ok. Let me turn around on the seat."

It's amazing how fast and how easily you can move when you've a mind to. Switching positions quickly, I grabbed the oars and began rowing. Ice's hand disappeared for one heart-stopping second, before reappearing over the stern.

Then I rowed for all I was worth, the extra weight I was towing slowing me down not at all.

Once again, the Amazons met the boat in the shallows and helped pull it onto shore. Ice lifted Rio and carried her onto the bank before laying her gently down on her back. I scrambled out of the boat and knelt down next to her.

It was bad.

Very bad.

Rio's normally deeply tanned face was white as a newly-laundered sheet, except for the wide streams of blood which drained from her nose and mouth.

"Ice?" I whispered, looking up into the stone mask she'd pulled on to hide her emotions.

Ignoring me, she ripped Rio's shirt open to expose a vastly muscled chest and torso which was marred by three tiny holes, no larger than American dimes, if that. The two in her belly were oozing a slow, but steady stream of blood. The third, in her upper right chest, was bubbling with pink froth with every breath she took.

Tearing her own shirt off, Ice quickly folded it, and pressed it hard over the chest wound. "C'mon, Rio," she murmured as she reached with her free hand to the side of Rio's neck, searching for a pulse. "C'mon. Fight."

At the touch of Ice's gentle fingers, Rio's dark eyes fluttered open. They were painfully aware, and my heart seized in my chest. "Hey," I whispered, smiling as best I could.

"Aaaaaa... ." One hand lifted from her side and hung there, trembling. "Aaaannnn... ."

Grasping it, I pulled it up to my cheek and held it there, the tears starting to fall freely down my face. "I'm here, Rio. I'm here."

"Ssssooo." She coughed and dark blood streamed from her mouth, but her eyes never wavered. "Sorrrrry."

I choked out a sob. "Don't be sorry, Rio. You saved our lives. You just concentrate on pulling through this, alright?"

"Sorrrry!" she said again, her hand curling to a fist in my own.

Taking in a shuddering breath, I nodded. "I know," I whispered. "I know. I forgive you."

Her hand relaxing in mine, the faintest ghost of a smile twitched her bloodied lips. "Thaaank youu."

Then she turned her head, just slightly. Her other hand lifted, and Ice caught it and held it tight. "Aaam... ?" She coughed again and her eyes rolled briefly up in her head, before returning their intense stare to my lover. "Aaamazon?"

Ice's lips pursed, and I knew she was holding back tears by sheer force of her formidable will. Her eyes, though, were bright and shiny. "Yes," she replied, her whisper harsh with unshed tears. "Yes, you're an Amazon."

With those words, Rio relaxed, seeming to fold back into herself. Her chest lifted once more, then fell and didn't rise again. Her eyes became doll's eyes which stared blankly into the canopy of trees overhead.

"Rio! Rio, no! Oh, no, please!" I turned to my lover in time to see one single tear roll silently down her cheek. "Ice! Do something!"

Lifting her free hand from the makeshift pressure dressing, Ice reached up and gently closed Rio's eyes. "Goodbye, my friend," she whispered.

"No! No! It's not goodbye! It's not! Damnit, Ice! Do something! Save her like you saved me!"

Soft hands descended on my shoulders. I tried to shake them off, but their grip was iron. "It's over, Angel," Corinne's voice whispered from the darkness surrounding us. "Let her go."

"No! I won't let her go!" Moving quickly forward, I dropped Rio's still hand in an attempt to start some sort of CPR on her.

But Ice was quicker still, and stopped me with a forearm to my chest.

I looked up at her, eyes full of fire, but the look in her own stopped me cold.

I collapsed into Rio's unmoving body and sobbed into her chest until Corinne gently gathered me up and pulled me into a firm, gentle embrace.

I sobbed like a child in her mother's arms as the rest of the Amazons surrounded us, their faces somber and grieving.

Behind me, Ice stood, lifted Rio into her arms, and headed silently away.

PART 10.