I didn’t care. I had to see how   
far down it was, and if it wasn’t too  
far, I could jump.                     
     I slowed down a little to look    
over the side, but no way. It was over 
forty to fifty feet, and I was right   
over the riverbank, with big boulders  
everywhere.                            
     Out of the corner of my eye, I saw
four guys closing in on  me, and took  
off running again. I wasn’t running be-
cause I was afraid of being beat up. I 
had a better reason.                   
     Twenty-four seconds, twenty-five  
seconds, twenty-six seconds.           
     While running, I had this irre-   
sistible impulse to just dive over the 
side and take my chances, but thank    
God, because that’s when I saw both a  
tree to the left and a cop car up ahead
* on my right.                             
     I put on some extra speed and     
raced full blast towards the cop car,  
weaving in and out of a couple other   
cars that were between us.             
     The cop was just getting out when 
I pulled up.                           
     While breathing hard and counting 
in my head, I gave him my wallet,      
pointed to the guys chasing me and in  
between gasp, told him, “I saw one of  
those guys... throw a burlap bag into  
the river... something alive,” I       
gasped.                                
     “That was twenty-eight, twenty-   
nine seconds ago... I think... I think 
I can save what’s in the bag,” I final-
ly finished.                           
     He didn’t even think about it.    



CHAPTER 1: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15th
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