Page 69 of Raven's Curse
He rolled his eyes. “And now, you’ve jinxed it.”
She smiled. She had to hand it to him, the old coot was ice under pressure. Calm. Steady, despite his obvious injuries. The pink froth he tried to hide when he coughed, sputtered flecks of blood across his shirt. Or how his shivering had eased from violent to barely there. A sure sign that hypothermia scenario was already in full effect.
Atticus shifted his gaze toward her. “I’m fine. Worry about how we’re getting off this rock.”
“I’d try calling for backup, but I gave Buck my radio. And my cell’s smashed.”
“They’ll be here.”
“I’m not sure they even know where here is. We tried, but… Coverage sucks.”
“Buck’s a bag full of crazy, but he’s a good man. Did you know he’s ex-military?”
Greer coughed. “Buck Landry? The guy who thinks I’m secretly harboring aliens? And not the kind who simply need papers. That Buck?”
Atticus nodded, holding his side. “He wasn’t always… He was a Marine, ordinance specialist by trade before he joined the Raiders, became part of MARSOC. He was deployed mostly in Special Reconnaissance missions — where he picked up all those uncanny tracking skills — until he got on the wrong side of car bomb. Damn thing rattled more than just his nerves. Wasn’t the same after that. Sees danger everywhere but has trouble processing it. Realizing what’s real and what’s ghosts from the past. He doesn’t like to talk about it, tends to set him off, so I’ve never mentioned it to anyone. But, he’s still got those instincts, and I doubt he simply stood there, watching us get swept downstream.”
“Let’s hope I owe him an apology, then.”
A crack.
Sharp. Deep.
Like the sniper shot that day on the cliff.
Greer turned. Stilled. Stared at the top half of the tower as it barreled down the river, punching through overhanging logs and decimating boulders. It surged up, looming black against the next flicker of light.
No time to think. She just grabbed Atticus and rolled them to the edge, hooked her arm around a stabbing branch wedged on the side. She curled over him, bracing for impact as the wreckage slammed the rear end, nearly knocking them loose. The boulder scraped across the bottom, tilting off to the left as it shifted with the force, plunging them waist-deep into the river.
The steep angle slipped them farther over, the rock jutting out at a forty-five, beams and wood still trying to shove it downstream. She held on, judging when she’d have to give up — let the current take them before the rock fully flipped and pinned them to the bottom — when a beam tunneled through the rain and the fog, catching them in a wide circle.
The helicopter appeared out of the mist, rotors bending the trees, kicking up white caps across the river. The machine steadied, then a blast of light as the doors opened, a lone figure descending out of the gray sky.
Greer closed her eyes, focused on not letting go, until Kash landed on the rock, a couple harnesses strapped to his vest.
He shook his head, pulled some slack, then went to work, securing the first harness around Atticus. Hands flying, everything calm. Steady. He checked the attachments, gave the other man a wink, then jumped into the water, bobbing in front of her as if it was nothing. She swallowed, slipping a bit when the branch cracked — dropped her another foot.
Kash inched closer, somehow countering the current as he grabbed her jacket — held firm. “I’ve got you.”
She nodded. Way too fast, more like a bobblehead on a dirt road, but he played along. Kept working that harness until it circled her chest. She groaned at the increased pressure, all those bruises burning to life before he yelled into his mic.
A blast of downwash as the rotors took the load, then they popped free, rising above the water just as the rock gave way, tumbling down the river before slowly sinking beneath the surface, the raging torrent quickly closing over top.
They spun, every rotation threatening to hurl what little coffee she’d had that morning across Kash’s chest before they cleared the skid — got yanked inside.
She hit the floor, a dull thud echoing through the cabin as Kash stepped inside, looking every inch the warrior he’d been.
Jordan loomed over her, offering a hand before pulling her to her feet. “I’m starting to think this is some kind of competition. See who can pull the most outrageous stunt because that…” She whistled. “That looked insane.”
Greer collapsed on the seat, wrapping the blanket Jordan handed her around her shoulders. “All I did was jump in the water. Everything else was the river.”
“Right. Nothing heroic at all.”
Greer nodded at Atticus. “You okay? Hodges didn’t give you anything, did he? Some kind of injection?”
Atticus batted Kash’s hands away. “Hell, no. The bastard was too busy rambling on about Chase and his teammates. Not that he wasn’t batshit crazy before, but whatever screws he still had busted lose during the drive to that tower.”
Greer inhaled. “Chase. Wait. He went after Hodges. He?—”
