Seconds later Logan and Marshall headed for their respective destinations. At the back door Marshall found a window with no covering and he peered into the lunch box size kitchen. No sign of anyone. Weapon at the ready, Marshall reached for the doorknob. When he tested it he found it locked.
He wondered if at any moment he would hear the sound of gunfire as Jenny took out her father. While Marshall had no driving reason to suspect that Jenny would harm him, in a situation like this, he wouldn’t rule out anything.
A shadow passed over the doorway from the living room to the kitchen. Seconds later Pizer strode through the kitchen and waved at him.
Pizer unlocked the back door. “They’re not here.”
Marshall’s gut rippled with uneasiness and a despair he refused to acknowledge. He cursed as he stepped inside the cabin. “Any sign other than the lights that they’ve been here?”
Logan stepped into the kitchen from the living room. “No sign of them outside.”
With a sigh, Pizer said, “Nothing is moved around, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t here. I found blood on the floor near one wall, and a bloody handprint near the front door.”
A new curse issued from Marshall’s lips as he strode by them and into the living area. He looked over the bloodstains. “Dana might be hurt. I hope Jenny hasn’t shot her.”
Pizer’s lips thinned in apparent disapproval. He shifted and his leather gun belt crackled. “I don’t really think she’d do that. Like I said, she’s no killer.”
Marshall didn’t have time for conjecture. He started for the front door. “Come on. We’ve got to start tracking them. There’s no time to waste.”
Something cold and wet ran down Dana’s face. Dazed, she blinked. Where am I? She groaned as water splattered her cheek. Shudders wracked her body, cold seeping as far into her bones as it could get. So freaking cold. I am so cold. Pain lanced through her right side as a cruel reminder of what had occurred. She gasped.
“Get up, bitch.”
A jab in the side sent an ache radiating through her. She couldn’t stifle a moan as she struggled to her feet. Mud clung to the front of her and dripped off her chin. Water ran down the back of her neck and sent a deep shiver through her body. As she struggled to focus, she saw Jenny’s silhouette in the darkness.
Jenny reached up to touch her wound. “You stabbed me, you bitch. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you now.”
A cold, dark feeling ran over Dana; she knew without a doubt that her good luck had expired. Seconds later a strange calmness settled on her, chasing after the fear. “Because you don’t want to hurt Marshall.”
“What’s he got to do with it?”
“You love him, don’t you?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“If you kill yourself and me, it will hurt him. And that isn’t what you want. He’s innocent in all this. He doesn’t want either of us to die.”
Jenny stayed silent, for quite some time, as if she might reconsider.
Finally Jenny whispered, “I don’t care. I just don’t care anymore.”
Ice gripped Dana’s heart as Jenny grabbed her arm and marched her through the dark. Think. Keep her talking. “Where are we going?”
“To the cliff.”
“How did…how did you find me?”
Jenny let out a derisive noise. “I spent a lot of time up here with my parents. I know these woods even in the dark.”
“Jenny, if you don’t care about me, think of your parents. They love you. They don’t want you to die. It will hurt them so much.”
Jenny marched on, her grip tightening. “They’ve never cared.”
“I don’t believe that. And even if it were true, you’re the only one who can rule your life. Stop right here. Right now. You can change everything. Don’t waste your life.”
Jenny seemed to hesitate the slightest bit, as if she might take the bait, but the pause lasted only a millimeter before she plunged onward.
Desperate, Dana said, “Do you really want everyone else to win? Don’t you see if you give up, they win?”
Stopping, Jenny loosened her grip. “You didn’t care when you stabbed me.”
“I’m sorry. You understand why I tried to get away, don’t you?” Dana swallowed hard, her breath rasping in her throat. “Please think about your missed opportunities. You have so much to live for, Jenny. Let me help you.”
Jenny yanked Dana’s arm and she almost fell. Jenny cursed. “Give me a break, bitch.”
Dana tripped over a rock and pain shot through her side as she struggled to keep upright. She hissed in a breath. “Let me go. We’ll go back to the cabin and get help for both of us. I’ll tell the authorities that you changed your mind. They’ll go easier on you.”
Dana could see the outline of the cliff not far away, and a small part of her brain screamed that she would die. Fate had thrown her a nasty curve she couldn’t escape. Her heart pumped like mad, thumping in her ears and quickening her breath. A wave of nausea curled through her. A litany ran through her head.
I love you, Marshall. No matter what happens, I love you.
They came to a stop several yards from the cliff, and Jenny kept her fingers clutched tight around Dana’s arm. “It’s time.”
“Jenny—”
“Shut up.”
Fight, Dana. Fight. It’s your last chance.
Dana moved, throwing all her weight against Jenny. Jenny let out a screech of rage and brought the gun up as she staggered. Dana grabbed Jenny’s wrist, shoving it skyward. She brought up her knee, aiming for Jenny’s gut. She connected. Jenny grunted with pain. A shot rang out, then two.
Dana thought she heard a man shouting.
Jenny recovered and leaned toward the cliff edge.
A cracking noise assaulted Dana’s ears and her gut clenched in wild fear even as Jenny’s grip on the gun loosened and the weapon fell to the ground. The earth beneath Dana’s feet shifted as if a hole had opened in the world.
“No!” She cried out again as soaked earth broke away and Jenny took her over the cliff.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“No!” A cry broke from Marshall’s lips as a piece of cliff gave way under the struggling women. He started running before the figures disappeared over the edge. “God, no!”
Pizer might have cried out when the women went over the edge, but Marshall didn’t remember hearing him and he didn’t care. Marshall sprinted, pack and all, toward the place they’d disappeared.
If Dana died…oh God.
As they rushed to the edge of the cliff, Logan shouted, “Take it easy. We don’t know how much more will give way.”
“I think it was just a few rocks at the edge,” Pizer said, his voice harsh and filled with stunned disbelief. “Jenny.”
Nothing but wind answered his cry. Harsh lightning showed the rocky ground before them and dazzled Marshall’s eyes. Marshall edged toward the cliff. Logan followed behind.
Pizer’s voice came out like a sob as he arrived at the edge before them. “They’re dead. Oh, sweet Jesus.”
Marshall didn’t have time for the man’s grief. As his own heart tightened with horror, another part of him refused to give up on Dana. She was too tough. And he loved her too much to let her go.
He recalled the snowy day when he’d rappelled down to the car crash that held Eva and Tabitha. Then he remembered finding Kerrie’s husband’s dead body at the bottom of a cliff not far from here. Marshall’s body seemed to freeze, a dread deeper than anything he’d experienced gripping his soul.
Had he fallen into a nightmare?
Logan grabbed Marshall’s arm. “Don’t go any closer without a rope. You don’t know if the rest of the cliff is stable.”
Marshall swore. “You think I care about that?” He took his flashlight and aimed the beam downward. There he saw something that staggered him and gave him hope. “Oh God. Oh God.”
“What is it?” Logan asked.
“I see her. She’s on a ledge. D
ana is on a ledge.”
“Is Jenny there?” Pizer asked.
“No,” Logan said softly.
With his heart careening with sudden hope that Dana might still be alive, Marshall dumped his pack and pulled out equipment. “Help me, Logan.”
Logan responded without hesitation, helping Marshall put on a waist harness with a carabiner, a steel shackle with a click-on attached. Marshall retrieved steel-cored nylon rope from the pack, more than twice the length of the drop he would need to reach Dana.
Once they had the equipment put together, they attached the rope to a sturdy pine. Marshall took the doubled rope and put it behind one shoulder, through the carabiner and then held it in front with one hand to act as a brake. He slipped on gloves.
“Be careful,” Logan said grimly. “That’s a damn long way to the bottom.”
Within minutes Marshall jumped off, his feet bouncing on the rock face with each lurch down. And as he moved closer to his destination, he hoped with all his heart that he’d find Dana alive.
Am I dead?
At first Dana couldn’t be sure. Was there pain in heaven? Her head throbbed, but it had hurt before the cliff gave way and she sailed over the edge with Jenny.
Dana’s entire body felt numb. Oh, my God. Am I paralyzed?
She didn’t know which thought terrified her more. Death or being unable to move for the rest of her life. She also couldn’t remember what happened after she’d fallen off the cliff. Perhaps the panic ripping through her heart had made her pass out.
Had someone cried out her name as she’d pitched over the edge. Marshall?
Water. She felt water hitting her face. Would it never stop? Dana struggled to open her eyes and succeeded. Her vision cleared and she moved her arm, reaching up to wipe her face. Good. Not paralyzed. At least not entirely. Then she saw something moving far above her. A black shape dangled over the precipice.
Perhaps she’d hit bottom and somehow not broken every bone in her body?
It made no sense.
She shifted her limbs slowly and surely, bracing for agony that never came. Her side throbbed but it didn’t feel any worse than it had earlier. When her fingers slid off the ground and dangled in air, she sucked in a terrified breath.
I’m on a ledge. I’m on a ledge.
Dana stiffened. She didn’t dare lift her head, and she almost didn’t breathe. New fear slashed through her body like the lightning that continued to brighten the heavens. A light shone in Dana’s eyes, blinding her for a second before she saw a man rappelling down the cliff face. Marshall. As he got closer she saw his dark hair matted against his face…a face filled with desperation, determination and fear.
Hope made her breathe. Marshall would save her.
An overjoyed smile creased his face when he looked down on her. Dana thought she’d never seen something so wonderful in all her life. She thought she heard him whisper a thank you over and over.
“Dana? Sweetheart, I’ll be right there. Don’t move.”
She did as told, too afraid that one wrong twitch would spell disaster.
“Marshall?” she croaked the question, her throat dusty and dry as desert.
“It’s all right. Are you hurt?”
“No. I mean, I don’t think so.” The last part slipped out as a sob. “Please get me out of here.”
“I love you, Dana. I love you,” he said raggedly.
Joy filled her and stifled the fear for a second out of time. Tears flooded her eyes. “I love you too.”
A smile, fleeting and filled with emotion, touched his lips.
“I’m almost there. Hang on.” He hovered above the ledge. “I’m not going to put my weight on the ledge.” He held out a length of rope that looked like it was attached to him. A big loop. “You’re going to have to slip this over your shoulders. Move very, very slowly.”
A shudder rolled through her body, and she held her breath as she inched her arms up and caught hold of the rough rope. “Got it.”
“Now slip it over your head and around your waist.”
Dana heard a cracking noise and for one terrified moment thought that was it.
The ledge was breaking.
“Get the rope over you now.” Marshall’s voice held a note of fright she never would have imagined hearing in his voice.
Please don’t let the ledge go now. Not now when I’m almost there. Almost in Marshall’s arms.
Frantic, she slipped the rope over her head and under her arms. “I’m in.”
Seconds later the rope drew tight around her waist, almost painfully. Marshall pulled upward. “I’ve got you.”
Her feet left the ledge and she hung in mid air. A strange mingling of panic and relief surged through her. Marshall had her. She would be all right. He began to climb and they went up, up as two figures above worked to lever them to safety.
“Dana, I need you to help me. Crawl up. Use your feet and hands so you can reach me.”
She reached for the rocks. Her hands trembled and refused to take hold. “I can’t.”
Immediately she hated herself for uttering the words.
“You can,” Marshall said.
I can.
She clawed and crawled and then he grasped her arm. “Climb onto my back.”
“I’m too heavy.”
“No. Trust me.”
She did trust him. With her life. He helped her onto his back, and they started to ascend. Dana clung to Marshall, arms around his neck, legs clutching his waist, trembling with cold and shock. The pain she’d ignored for some time came back. Dana decided she wouldn’t think about it. Wouldn’t care. Nothing mattered but Marshall’s warm body and the security she felt now that he was here.
Their progress seemed to take forever. Inch by inch, moment by moment. Logan urged them onward; she recognized his voice. As they reached the top, Logan and Sheriff Pizer dragged them up and over. Dana fell from Marshall’s back and lay on the muddy ground shaking and shuddering.
“Is she hurt?” Logan said as Marshall struggled out of his climbing gear.
Dana cleared her throat. “No.”
Marshall stood and slipped his gear off, then reached for the rope around her waist. “You’re bleeding.”
“She shot me when I got away,” Dana said, her voice warbling. “It’s not that bad.”
Logan fumbled in his pack and drew out a first aid kit, and when he squatted next to her she saw Sheriff Pizer standing off to the side, his face a mask of shock and disbelief. A wave of sympathy overcame her. At the same time she realized the rain had stopped.
Marshall removed the rope from her waist and she sat up. “Sheriff Pizer?”
He turned toward her, his eyes glassy.
“I tried to stop her,” Dana said, her throat so tight it ached. “I tried.”
Pizer nodded, his expression never changing as he turned away.
Marshall cupped her face, and she looked into the dearest, most loving eyes she’d ever seen. Tears slid down his face. “I thought I’d lost you. I love you. I love you so damned much.”
That did it. She crumpled, sobbing in earnest. He gathered her tight against him. “Marshall, I—”
“It’s all right. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
She buried her face in his soggy rain gear and let the terror of the last few hours escape in much needed release. “I…I…thought…I’d never see you again.”
He buried his hands in her wet hair and tilted her face up. “Marry me.”
Logan chuckled. “Fine time for a proposal, Marshall.”
Marshall released a descriptive expletive and threw his friend a look that said ‘screw you’ and yet conveyed his joy at the same time. “I don’t care.” He gazed at her again. “Marry me.”
She smiled and the tears came harder. “You just try and get away from me, Brennan Marshall.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” Then she kissed him.
Epilogue
Two weeks later
Dana grinned as she read over the last line of the chapter she’d completed in longhand. It felt good. Really excellent. Like most writers, she knew when she’d produced something that worked well.
She’d spent the last three hours writing like hounds snapped at her heels. The first draft of her new horror and romance creation was almost three fourths finished. Since the horrible night she almost lost her life, Dana hadn’t taken one thing for granted. New inspiration seemed to fire her imagination in to high gear. She’d never written anything this fast before, and it felt fantastic.
Her aunt hovered over her the last two weeks, but Dana knew that Aunt Lucille needed time to get over the shock of everything that had happened. Gregory and Neal left Macon after giving evidence about their involvement with Jenny. Dana had a feeling things would never be the same between Aunt Lucille and her two stepsons.
Sheriff Pizer resigned his office. Rumor said that during the upcoming election Marshall would be voted in as the new sheriff.
Dana winced as her side let her know that not that much time had gone by since she had struggled for her life on the mountain. She’d spent a couple of days in the hospital recovering from her minor injuries; the bullet wound had amounted to a small crease along her ribs. At Marshall’s insistence she moved into his house once she’d left the hospital. He’d become mushy lately, and she loved it. A silly grin tugged at her mouth as she thought about how he asked her to live with him.
He’d leaned over her hospital bed and kissed her until she nearly melted into the bed frame. Then he’d looked deep into her eyes. “The second Eric says you can leave the hospital, you’re moving in with me.”
“Is that an order, Marshall?” she asked with a grin.
Warm and soft, his eyes had burned with a longing and passion that still stirred her heart. “Damn straight. I want you in my arms day and night. Every chance I get. Any chance I can get.”
While he went to work during the day, Aunt Lucille popped over to visit and often stayed most of the day, reporting back to Dana’s anxious mother. Mother wanted her to come home, but Dana didn’t want to be parted from Marshall. When she’d told her to expect a wedding invitation in the mail any day, her mother almost had a heart attack. Still, she’d sounded overjoyed.
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