SIXTY-THREE
Heart pounding, eyes squeezed shut, Terra clung to the tree root bursting from the bedrock. Her breaths quickened as fear snaked around her throat and tightened.
She forced back the screams that threatened to erupt. The whimpers from her anguished soul.
Just hang on. You can do this.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Briggs’s aim had been off, and she hadn’t taken a bullet. She was still alive. But she could very well die anyway. The root she clung to for dear life hung precariously over a drop of hundreds of feet.
Terra tried again to calm her breaths—she needed to think clearly.
When I am weak, you are strong, God. I couldn’t be any weaker than I am at this moment. Be strong for me.
Terra worked to stave off the panic. She waited and listened. The only sound other than her pounding heart was the river’s roar from below as it echoed against the granite-faced cliff. But the sound failed to soothe her nerves.
Her arms started cramping. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold on to the root. Had Jack been shot? Owen hurt?
Terra would have to get herself out of this. She attempted to climb up the root, but it shifted as if it would break away from the bedrock. Dirt and pebbles poured over her. Squeezing her eyes shut again, she pressed her forehead against the root.
A few minutes had passed already, though it seemed like hours, and she knew she couldn’t stay like this forever—the root wasn’t going to last much longer, even if she could.
God, where are you?
“It’s okay, Terra. I’m here.” Jack’s calm voice washed over her from a few feet above.
She opened her eyes, and he shined a light down on her. “Jack!” she gasped, relief flooding her. Thank you, God. “Jack ... this root isn’t going to hold. I don’t know what to do.”
And it wasn’t like Jack could help her. He had a bum arm. Owen wasn’t a climber. She was going to die.
“Take deep breaths. Just remain calm and still,” he said.
Jack shouted over his shoulder to someone behind him, but she couldn’t make out the words. Her pulse ticked up, roaring in her ears, and her palms started sweating, making her grip on the root slippery.
She repositioned her hold and was rewarded with more dirt. One more shift on her part, and the root might give way completely.
Oh, God, I don’t want to die on this mountain. I don’t want to die like my mother. If I die here, it wouldn’t even be to give my life for someone else like she did.
A gust whipped over and around her. She was exposed out here. Even as sweat beaded on her temples and back, the bitter wind made her shiver. Her hands trembled.
She was slipping.
Terra squeezed her eyes shut again, hoping to keep the tears from sliding down her cheeks. She was stronger than this, wasn’t she?
A noise from above drew her attention.
A form slipped from the edge. “I’m coming for you, Terra.”
“You can’t, Jack. Your arm! Just lower the rope to me.”
He was next to her before she finished the sentence. “I’ll do better than that. Grab on to me and hold on. I brought a rescue tether, but you can’t get it on without risking a fall. With my bum arm, I risk losing us both. But hold on tight, okay?”
Using his legs, he pushed closer to her. She reached over and climbed onto his back. She held on with her life, for her life. She felt the strength of his toned physique, the muscles ridged in his back. “Are you sure I’m not hurting you?”
“Seriously?”
“Your arm, Jack. You were shot yesterday. You’re still weak.”