“But for you, the hairier the better—you love it.”
Oh my, it sounded like she was a wild adrenaline junkie. She gave him a huge grin. “Maybe I do.”
They moved silently past the darkened kitchen windows, around to the back kitchen door. No surprise, it was locked. Savich started to pick the lock, then motioned her on. He whispered next to her ear, “Dead bolt.”
They paused at two of the back windows, took quick looks, saw no movement. Then Savich saw a pinpoint flash of light. They snugged up against the window, saw a small beam of LED light cross what was probably a bedroom. They saw a door open, and a bathroom counter beyond it. The beam of light was cut off as the bathroom door closed. Time to move, fast.
Savich pried up the bedroom window with his knife and climbed in. “Stay here,” he whispered to Sherlock. “Be ready.” He walked on cat’s feet to stand beside the closed bathroom door. He knew he had to bring Armstrong down fast, and quietly. It was possible there were others in the house.
He slowed his breathing, waited. His cell vibrated in his jacket pocket.
67
* * *
EAGLE'S NEST
FRIDAY, MIDNIGHT
Griffin prayed the road wouldn’t crumble beneath them with the landslide of heavy boulders slamming onto it and bouncing over the cliff. He had no control of the Range Rover now tilting toward the edge.
The rocks continued to crash down, luckily, none hitting closer than about six yards in front of them. The Range Rover continued to slide toward the cliff edge, nothing he could do to stop it.
“We’re going to jump, Carson!”
He grabbed her arms and pulled her across the driver’s side after him. They stumbled back toward the gate and landed on their knees in the center of the narrow road. They watched from well back, frozen, as the earth beneath Griffin’s Range Rover split and crumbled.
Griffin watched his car plow down the bushes and slide over the edge. They heard the SUV bouncing against the cliff wall, heard it land with a loud boom at the base of the mountain. Griffin ran as close to the edge as he dared and looked down. He saw his beloved Range Rover crushed against rocks, one wheel slowly spinning. Suddenly, the earth beneath his feet ripped apart and he slid into an ever-widening crevasse. There was nothing to hold on to, nothing to save him. He knew he was going to die, and how to make peace with that?
“Griffin! Grab my hand!”
He flailed his arm upward and he felt her grab him, and she was pulling him up? But how? No, he would pull her over with him. He yelled, “Let me go, Carson!”
“Griffin, I’ve got this bush between my legs. Pray it holds our weight. Come on, pull yourself up. No way are you going to fall.” She managed to grab his other hand as he climbed upward, his feet scrabbling to find purchase. He managed to fit his boot against a rock that hadn’t yet pulled loose and heaved himself up, so slowly it felt like eternity. “Come on, Griffin, pull, pull,” she said over and over, her litany, until finally he reached solid ground. He fell next to her, breathing hard, his heart galloping. But only for a moment. They crawled backward until they hugged the mountain. Carson grabbed him around his chest, squeezed him hard, then pulled away, stared at him a moment, then began laughing like a loon. He pulled her back against him, his heart still kettledrumming, but he was alive, she was alive, and he was so grateful it nearly swamped him. She hiccupped and eased away from him to lean back against the mountain wall. She wasn’t laughing any longer. “I was so scared, I thought you were going to— No, forget that—we’re both all right, we both survived. I didn’t think, just acted.” She looked toward the lone bush still upright at the edge of the cliff. “May all of heaven rejoice at the strength of that precious bush. I want to take it home, take care of it, maybe add a dollop of vodka in its water.”
Griffin’s heart was slowing enough so he could catch his breath. He leaned in close, said against her tangled hair, “Thank you for my life, Carson.”
She hiccupped again, swallowed. “You’re welcome, but please, don’t ever do anything like that again. I don’t want my heart to stop. It might not reboot next time.”
If she hadn’t been with him,