The gully was shallower farther down. I really should have looked before trying to scale the damned cliff.
I ran, pain jolting through my body with each stride. I was still exhausted from the fever, and climbing the cliff had me panting already.
I saw a path heading up the gully. Just another twenty feet. Ten--
There was blood on the cliff side. A patch of bright red, just ahead. My feet skidded to a halt as my brain processed the sight.
Not blood. Poppies. Growing on the cliff.
I whirled back toward Gabriel.
A dark shape rose from behind a bush.
I hit the ground. Even as I dropped, my brain said, What the hell are you doing? But I dropped anyway, and a bullet hit the cliff beside me, dirt exploding.
My gun. Where was--?
In my purse. With my cell phone. And my switchblade.
God-fucking-damn it! I armed myself and then stuck it all in my purse like I was still a goddamn socialite.
I dove behind a boulder as the second shot fired. As I did, I thought of Gabriel. Unconscious. Defenseless. With a killer between us.
I dashed to the next boulder. Then the next. Drawing the shooter away from Gabriel.
Yet as I ran, no shots rang out. Instead, a voice called, "Stop."
It was a woman's voice. Macy's.
I darted to the next source of cover, a sofa, dumped over the cliff.
"Do you think I won't shoot you?" She fired a bullet into the sofa as I dropped behind it. "You're not going to make it to the road, Eden, and even if you did, do you have any idea how long it would take for someone to find you? I was behind that billboard for twenty minutes and yours was the first car I saw. I could have killed you, you know. We're both lucky that fancy car has side air bags."
"We're both lucky?" I croaked a laugh. "I could have sworn you were trying to kill me."
"No. I thought he'd be driving. The lawyer. It's his car."
She sounded put out, as if I'd deliberately thwarted her plans.
"I bet you're wondering how I intercepted you so fast," she continued.
Um, no. Last thing on my mind, really.
"I was at a motel off the next exit," she said. "Trying to figure out how to talk to you. How to make you listen to me. Then Kendrick called."
"And you decided the best way to talk to me was to run me off the road?"
"No, I realized we were past the point of talking. You'd figured everything out. It was time to cut a deal. Or kill you."
"I'd prefer a deal."
She laughed. "I'm sure you would."
I shifted behind the couch. As I did, I swore I smelled cat pee, as I had hiding behind the sofa at Will Ev
ans's house, the odor triggering some hidden memory that started my gut twisting.
There weren't enough cover spots for me to dodge my way to safety. My best bet was to stall and hope Gabriel woke up. Which, given that he hadn't done so before now, seemed unlikely. Failing that, maybe if I talked long enough, I'd actually come up with a plan.