How could he have let this happen? He’d wanted to keep Piper safe, had wanted it so desperately he’d sacrificed maybe the only chance he’d had of a happily-ever-after with her.
He’d been wrong to make decisions for her, wrong to refuse to discuss his fears with her. He loved her. He trusted her with his life. Surely he should have had enough faith to trust her with her own.
He should have loved her better. Then maybe she wouldn’t have left. Maybe she wouldn’t be in danger right now.
Judah’s stomach felt ill. He had to find her. Had to.
“Judah!” he heard again.
From below. Judah blinked and then took off running to where he could access the river’s shoreline. He made the hundred-yard-or-so run as quickly as he could, his mind working all the way. If he remembered correctly, a thin strip of beach ran along most of this side, under the rocks. Was it possible Piper was down there?
When he was beside the river he looked up, his gaze going up the cliffside. The car wreck was somewhere near the highest point of that. It was good they hadn’t rolled any farther. That was something he didn’t even want to think about.
A recovery mission for Piper would have been more than he could handle. His chest hurt just thinking about it, so he shoved the thought out of his mind and did his best to focus on what was actually happening.
There. What was that on the cliffside? There was a small ledge, twenty feet or so from the top of the cliff, maybe two feet in depth, and that looked like the crumpled form of a person.
Oh, please. His heart clenched. She had to be alive. Had to be.
Please, God.
Judah sprinted in that direction until he ran out of sandy beach, then looked up. She was to his right and above him, probably fifteen feet farther than he was able to walk on the riverbank, and thirty-five feet up, on that ledge. He’d heard her voice calling to him five minutes ago, so he didn’t know what to think about the fact that she’d stopped calling for him. Had she fallen and lost consciousness after she called his name?
Or...
No. He couldn’t think that way. Could. Not.
But he had to get to her and he didn’t have time to waste. He didn’t have his harness, and even if he did, he hadn’t brought what he needed to safely belay himself.
The rock was good for Alaska, big holds. But there was always the danger of some coming loose. Judah hadn’t climbed here before, mostly because he preferred sport climbing and this wall wasn’t bolted yet.
But it looked easy enough. He thought he could see a climbable line, one that was well within his range of abilities. Still, all of that was figuring on him having a harness on. And before he could even climb that, he’d have to traverse over, climbing sideways over the river. If he fell from there, the options ranged from becoming paralyzed if he hit a rock on the bottom of the river wrong, to drowning.
Either way, death seemed likely.
So, while the climbing looked well within his skills, maybe 5.8, he’d rate it an R for danger. Climbers tended to tack on ratings like movies. PG-13 meant you’d get seriously hurt. R usually meant death was likely if you fell.
In a case like that, there was only one option.
Don’t fall.
Judah lifted his hands to the rock and hoped he wasn’t overestimating his skills. He wouldn’t be helping Piper if he got himself killed. She was counting on him. And more than anything, Judah didn’t want to let her down.
* * *
His forearms were pumped, the blood flowing to them so much they were almost past the point of use. If Judah were climbing for fun right now, he would call it quits. But this wasn’t just any climb and it wasn’t for fun. Piper was depending on him. He still didn’t know for sure what kind of shape she was in, and he knew that in a situation like she was in, time mattered. She could have injuries that needed attention. There was no way of knowing until he was up there.
Had backup arrived? He hadn’t seen any signs of her would-be killers when he’d started the climb, but right now he wasn’t able to look around much. Honestly, he couldn’t even think much about the case or Piper. Helping her right now meant sending this climb, and that could only be done by focusing on his movements, his breathing, and the rock.
He reached up with his left hand, pressed his thumb into the rough surface enough to hold himself on and lifted his right leg high. He adjusted his toes, shifted his weight slightly on his foot and took a deep breath. He’d made it through that move, but his arms were starting to quiver. Judah looked up. Ten feet left. Maybe eight. It was difficult to judge distances and they really didn’t matter. Right now all he needed was to get there, get his hands up on the ledge and mantle up to where Piper was. And pray she didn’t move when he was climbing up and knock him down.
Had he passed the crux of the route? Also not something he needed to think about, he reminded himself, focusing on the gray-brown rock, the rough texture. Not as smooth as granite, but smoother than some of the unstable, jagged rock farther north in the state. Shiny bits of something, maybe mica in it, he thought as he moved. Left arm to that jug, switch his feet, move right, reach with the right hand. There, that hold.
Two feet. He made the moves with confidence, knowing that hesitation on a hold could mean failure. For him, moving was the best way to ensure he climbed a route. If he hesitated too long, he often made mistakes. Finally, finally, Judah reached up to the ledge and mantled up to it. Piper was lying there, eyes closed. She had several scrapes on her arms. No wounds on her head that he could see, but those weren’t always visible.
She was lying there, so still.
For a second, he was afraid he would stop breathing.
But no, he kept on inhaling, his lungs burning from the exertion of the climb, arms aching, heart pounding in his chest. He was exhausted but he was fully, gloriously alive, and he wanted Piper to be, too.
She had to be.
Judah knelt beside her. “Piper.” He laid a hand on her arm, moved her gently. No response. Realizing he had no choice, he reached for her wrist to feel for a pulse, his chest tightening with every second that went by. He waited, adjusted his grip because he’d never been that good at finding a pulse on someone else.
There was her heartbeat, strong in her wrist.
Judah felt his shoulders relax immediately.
Except that they were still up on a ledge with no easy way down. He’d kept that in the back of his mind during the climb up and had tried to assess whether or not they could get down the same way. Judah thought they could, but it wasn’t a foolproof plan. It certainly had its hazards.
And it wasn’t what he needed to be thinking through right now. At the moment, he needed to figure out how to wake Piper up. Whoever had pushed her to the ledge, presumably the killer, could be coming back at any moment. They weren’t safe here.
“Piper,” he said again, his voice urgent.
Please, God, wake her up. We have to get down.
For a second he wondered if it was coincidence, before he realized that no, God deserved the credit. Because no sooner had he finished praying than Piper’s eyelids fluttered open.
“You found me,” she said and his heart broke and healed all in those three words. Because yes, he had. He’d found her—the one he hadn’t been looking for in life but that God knew he’d needed.
And because of God he’d found her right now also, literally.
“What happened? Are you hurt?” It was a dumb question because she clearly had a head injury. The passing out seemed to indicate that pretty clearly. But he needed to know and he needed something to keep her talking, keep her awake.
“I’m okay,” she said, blinking like she didn’t quite believe her own words. “I’m okay. I think. My head hurts.” She sat up, reached her arms out, moved around a little. “Nothing else hurts any more than it should.”
“What happened?
”
Piper shook her head. “We got into a wreck. Judging by how fast the man pulled me out of the car and hauled me away, I have to believe it was intentional.”
“Did you get a look at who it was?” If so, she might have the knowledge to end this right now, and he could arrest whoever had been responsible for the killings and attempted murder. Judah would sleep so much better when the man or woman was in jail.
“I didn’t.” She shook her head. “He had on a mask.”
“He?”
“The person was a man, I’m sure from the build. Anyway, he was pulling me this way and then I started fighting. I guess we got too close to the edge. While we were fighting, I got in one good hit, unprotected. It was enough to make him cry out, but it also meant that I got close enough that he grabbed my wrist and threw me this direction. I went over the side of the cliff and fell here.” She frowned. “I might have blacked out at first, but I woke up and called for you.”
“I heard you. That’s how I found you,” he said.
She smiled a little. “I knew you would.”
There was so much he wanted to say, so many things he had avoided talking about that he wanted to address now. He could see that he’d done the same thing with their relationship that he’d done with the case. Judah was so afraid of Piper getting hurt that he wanted to protect her, but making decisions for her didn’t make her feel protected.
He’d messed up. He’d really messed up. And he probably would again, many times. But he wanted to talk to Piper and see if she wanted to give “them” a chance.
However, there was nothing romantic or practical about having that conversation on the side of a cliff. And they had to hurry to shelter, because he wasn’t giving the killer another chance at Piper.
“But you’re really okay?” he confirmed again.
“Yes, why?”
“Well...” Judah trailed off.
“Oh. We have to get down somehow.”
“The SAR team could probably rappel down to us, if they hadn’t just been in a wreck. And they may be okay...”
“But as it stands you want to try to find another way,” she said, understanding. “Okay.” She leaned over the edge slightly. Judah understood what she was doing, just trying to see, but it was too much leaning for him. He pushed her back.
Rather than looking annoyed, she smiled at him. “Sorry, I was just thinking. So we’re forty feet up?”
“Maybe a little less. I guessed thirty-five. You fell about twenty feet earlier, and it was enough to knock you unconscious.”
“So if we can downclimb even half of it successfully, we won’t die. Oh, well, I guess we would fall in the river.” Piper frowned and looked back at Judah. “Did you have to traverse to get up here?”
“Yeah, I came from that little strip of beach down there.” He pointed.
“Then we’ll go back down there.”
“You sure you can do it?” He was concerned about staying up here, completely exposed on the rock, but he was concerned about pushing them to do something dangerous also.
How could both options feel so dangerous and foolish? Didn’t there have to be a right answer? Apparently not; at least, that was the way life felt.
“I can.” She grinned, just a little, but enough to reassure Judah she was really okay. “The question is, can you?”
“Okay, easy there, tiger. Let’s not give me a complex.” He laughed. If she was joking, that had to be a good sign, didn’t it?
“Sorry.”
But she didn’t look like it and Judah was thankful. He needed her in this kind of mood, lighthearted and apparently ready to conquer the world. Later there would be time to be serious, look at how to identify the man who had abducted her and pushed her over the edge. There might even be time for him to tell her how he really felt about her.
I love you, Piper, he thought to himself, wishing he could say the words, hear them come out of his mouth.
Not yet. It wasn’t time.
Judah was so tired of being afraid.
“All right, for the down climb, here’s the line I think will work best.” Judah motioned to the rock below them and pointed out some of the features to Piper that she could use to make her way down.
“It’s got good holds,” she said. “Nice and big, just a little chunky. Did anything pull out of the rock when you climbed up? Is it chossy and breakable at all?”
“I didn’t have any problems.”
She nodded. “Okay, let’s do this. Who first?”
“Me,” Judah said, not because he wanted to leave her alone on the ledge for another second, but because he wanted to be below her. If anyone was going to catch anyone else’s fall, it was going to be him catching hers.
Because love wasn’t about making decisions for someone or taking away their voice. It was protecting them where you could, sacrificing for them, living out your love in little everyday acts.
Maybe...maybe now was the time.
“Piper?” Judah started before he could lose his nerve.
“Yeah?” Her eyes searched his.
“We’ll talk later, but...I love you.”
Judah moved backward, felt with his heel for the holds as he lowered himself down by his arms. His biceps protested, but he ignored them, and within seconds, he was positioned well on the wall. Okay, so far so good. If he could just go back down the way he’d come up...
“You coming?” he asked Piper when he was about ten feet down, with plenty of room above him for her to lower herself.
“On my way. And, Judah? I love you, too,” she said in a voice so confident Judah could have kissed her right then. How could one woman be so many things? Confident and uncertain, bold and brave and still willing to be taken care of?
God had done a fantastic job of creating Piper McAdams. Judah would be thankful for her every single day of his life if he had his choice.
He loved her. He still couldn’t get over that.
But before he could start thinking about what it would be like to love her for the rest of his life, he needed to get her down from this ledge, make sure they took care of the threat against her. Then they could move on. Discuss having a future.
Please help us get down safely and catch him fast, Judah prayed, meaning every word.
SEVENTEEN
Piper felt breathless but didn’t know if it was from Judah or the climb. Oh, Judah. She couldn’t think about him right now—she had to stay focused—but she had no idea how she was supposed to when he’d said that to her right before their down climb. He loved her? Truly?
That was bigger than a couple of incredible kisses, better than putting himself in danger every day to keep her safe. That was words that backed up so many actions she’d seen him take in relation to her. And Piper had no idea how much it would mean for her to hear them.
Focus, Piper. Her arm muscles were screaming at her. They’d been tired enough from their climbing yesterday and now they were being asked to do one of the hardest climbing skills—downclimbing—when she was already past the post of exhaustion. Her head throbbed from her fall. She needed a hot shower and a nap.
Still, she put one foot ahead of the other, slowly feeling her way down the wall. Judah was right below her, and Piper knew it was because he had decided he would rather break her fall than let her break his. Well, he should know she wasn’t going to fall. Not now.
“Now you’re going to move left along the wall. You should like this part—it has little crimpy holds.”
Judah was right, that was her preferred style, but Piper hadn’t done much downclimbing. She usually just rappelled. She certainly didn’t downclimb free soloing.
“Hey, wait.”
Judah stopped.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean literally. I just realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“You free soloed for me. You literally did the riskiest thing in climbing, just to save me.” The man who was so careful, who valued safety so much, had completely ignored his own in order to ensure hers.
Yes, his motivations for taking her off the case, for being overbearing, were honorable. She still wished he hadn’t done it and wished he’d talked to her about it, but...
She could believe him when he said he loved her. Judah meant it. He showed it in so many ways.
He smiled at her. Kept traversing.
Piper followed, ignoring her aching muscles. Finally, finally they were almost down. When she made it to sand, she let go and let herself collapse onto the ground. She needed a minute, two minutes, to catch her breath.
“You okay?” Judah asked.
Piper nodded. “I’m fine.”
Movement caught her attention. It wasn’t much, just a slight shift in something in her peripheral vision. Behind Judah.
“Not for long, though.”
Piper recognized the voice. It was male. Maybe midthirties. She’d heard it earlier today when her attacker had said something to her as he dragged her away from the search and rescue vehicle.
And now she realized she had heard it before that, when she and Judah had gone to talk to Randy Walcott.
She turned.
“Randy?”
The man standing behind them pulled his mask off, apparently deciding it wasn’t doing any good anymore. It was Randy, standing there behind them. He must have been watching them climb and been waiting on the beach.
She looked over at Judah. She couldn’t see a weapon on him, but it was possible he had concealed one.
Although, would he climb with a gun on him? Not likely. Piper felt helpless, which she hated, but she was aching, exhausted and not up for a fight for her life. She’d just worked things out with Judah. Please. It couldn’t end like this.
Alaskan Mountain Attack Page 16