Page 43 of Shephard

He was a strong motherfucker, but not nearly as much as I was. I managed to jerk the shaft, returning the point toward his face.

But he rolled me over, even as I ripped the knife from his hand, nicking his face. Somehow, he managed to swing from my hold, jerking up and issuing a hard kick.

We were on a slippery slope, the light showing on one side we were close to an edge of a sharp drop-off. I had no clue the distance to the bottom, but I wasn’t going to find out.

The jerk bounded toward her and it took me a few seconds to realize what he was doing. There was no chance he could grab his weapon in time and I had his knife.

He was going for Denise.

She’d ruffled some feathers.

I pulled out my weapon, but he anticipated the move, swerving to the right. The shot rang out at the same time the ugliness finally registered in my mind.

“No!” I yelled, almost slipping on the heavy debris as I struggled to stand. The light was kicked, the beam twisting in an arc. It was just enough light to see as she bounded to the side, taking aim but as soon as she got off a shot, her foot slipped. At the same time, I grabbed the assault rifle, preventing the assailant from killing both of us.

Although in the back of my mind, I only prayed my instinct was right and the hired gun just wanted to get away. If I was wrong, we were both dead anyway.

Her sharp cry indicated she was going down fast.

As before, there was no time to waste or second guess any decision. I flew toward her, immediately dropping to the ground, my weapon tossed from my hand. She was hanging on by a goddamn root to a tree. How the hell had either one of us gotten into this position?

“Denise. Stop moving,” I instructed, my voice deep and hopefully authoritative enough she’d stop fighting. I was no tree expert either, but given the sharp angle and her weight, the root wasn’t going to hold forever.

“I can’t. I… Where is he?” She was breathless, Pepper already whimpering as she hung her head over the ravine.

“It doesn’t matter. Listen to me. We might have one shot at this. You need to trust me.”

I’ll be damned if the woman didn’t snort. “I don’t.” She almost lost her footing, swearing as she was jerked down by the weight and inertia.

“Stay the fuck still so I can grab you.” The woman wasn’t going to make this easy. On my belly, I stretched out as far as possible. In the best scenario, I could grab a rope from her duffle bag, but this wasn’t a perfect world or scenario.

She was determined not to listen to me, daring to swing her leg to try to position her foot on something solid.

“Do. Not. Move.”

Pepper issued a growl in unison. When dirt and rocks tumbled in her direction, she finally stopped moving. The dim lighting was just enough to allow me to see real fear in her eyes.

I had about another six inches before my position became precarious. “Give me your hand. Just keep looking at me.”

Denise opened her mouth, another flash of fear giving me a slight indication she was finally listening. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.” More rocks slipped off the edge. Fuck. “Do it.”

Maybe she knew she had to trust me, or her life would be lost. She slowly eased her arm toward me, stretching as much as possible.

Not enough.

I resisted making any noise so as not to terrify her more than she was. With one more push, I slid closer. When she managed to grab my arm, I wrapped my fingers around her wrist. She weighed a hell of a lot less than I did, but with her hanging, it would take all my strength to bring her to safety.

If that was possible.

“Work with me, sweetheart. You can do it.” I wasn’t the kind of man to encourage anyone, but she needed to listen to what I was saying.

She nodded, managing to stick her foot in something. As I pulled, she kept her other arm twisted around the root.

I sensed it was giving way, not much earth left to hold it. At this point, I was holding my breath.

Pull. Pull. Pull.