if she hadn’t been such a quick thinker— No, he wouldn’t go there. He was alive, they were both alive. He hugged her once more, and turned to watch a huge boulder hurtle down the mountain, hit the road like a bomb, then bounce high like a basketball to hurl itself over the cliff.
“It’s probably going to land on top of my Range Rover.” He popped his ears. “There, that’s better. I wondered why I was having a hard time hearing you.”
Carson popped her ears. “Yes, good.”
“Are you okay, Carson? Really?”
“I—I, that is, yes, other than not having any spit in my mouth and my heart wanting to leap out of my chest, but, hey, who cares? We’re alive, Griffin, we’re alive.”
Griffin drew in a steadying breath. He finally said, “I bet Quint’s had the explosive in place for a while now.”
“That’s how he was going to handle us? Even though we were really careful, it’s gotta mean he saw us on a camera. But why did he have it already in place?”
“To take care of unwanted guests and claim it was an act of God? Still, it was sloppy, hard to time a landslide at exactly the right time, has to take some luck, which he didn’t have with us. He should have gotten out his shotgun and drilled us clean, over and done. Thank the powers that be he wanted to be cute about it, turn it into an accident, no dead bodies on his property. Still, it was close.”
He took her dirty hand and they sat quietly. The night was silent again.
“Griffin.”
He felt her hand on his forearm. He pulled her in. She was shaking, no surprise, she was overloaded with adrenaline from the shock and fear, the fight for his life, and the aftermath, finally knowing they weren’t going to die. All of it made a wicked brew. She said against his ear, “I’m sure glad you’re a crappy driver. If you’d made that first K turn, we’d be dead. Smashed really dead. Do you think Quint will come down and check?”
“I would,” he said, gave her another hug, and pulled out his cell. “I am now officially pissed.”
Savich whispered, “Griffin? What’s up? Sorry, but you’ve got to make it fast.”
And Griffin told him what had happened.
“Good, you’re both all right. I can’t talk, I’m up to my eyeballs in trouble here. Get off the mountain, Griffin, now, before Quint Bodine gets down there to see if you’re both dead. When you can, call Bettina Kraus. She’ll bring the troops.”
Griffin was shaking his head as he said, “I was going to wait until morning to call Bettina, Savich, but not now, not since Quint knows we were looking around. You know as well as I do the girls’ lives are on the line. He might kill them, bury the evidence. I can’t let him do that. I’ll call Bettina, tell her the situation. We’ll wait here for her and her troops.”
“Be careful, all right?” Before Griffin had a chance to say anything more, Savich had punched off.
Griffin said, “Savich is in trouble himself.” He immediately called Bettina Kraus, woke her up. He talked faster than he’d talked to Savich. When he rang off, he said, “She’ll be here with agents as soon as she can get everyone rounded up. Say two hours.”
“Good. No, Griffin, I know you’re going to say something stupid like I should walk to the bottom of the road and wait. No way.” She stood up, brushed the dirt from her pants. She shook a teacher’s finger at him. “Don’t even try it. Consider me your second skin until this is over.” She sighed. “To think I came to Gaffer’s Ridge to do a human interest interview, and look what happened instead. No, keep quiet. I’m not about to leave those girls. We’ll be ready for him. I’ve still got the gun.”
“You nearly died—twice.”
“And you were very close yourself. Now, we’re wasting time. What do we do?”
He got to his feet. “I doubt we have much time before Quint gets here to see what’s left of us after the landslide.”
Carson pulled the small Colt Griffin had given her from her waistband, said in a calm voice she didn’t recognize as hers, “Let’s get the murderous bastard and rescue those girls.”
They walked back toward the gate.
68
* * *
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA
The toilet flushed, the tap water ran, then stopped. Savich pictured Armstrong wiping his hands. The door opened, but there was no light this time. Armstrong