She let out a sob as the locks clicked, and she yanked the door open, diving into the seat. As soon as she pulled the door closed behind her, some of the pressure eased, and she felt like she could breathe again. At least enough to keep herself from passing out.
She lay there, head wrapped in her arms as she tried to reclaim actual reality,realreality, not the dizzying blend of past and present and hell.
When she could finally control herself enough to pull into the garage and lower the door behind her, she looked down at her watch. It had automatically stopped timing when she’d gotten back inside the car. Surely she had made it to close to five minutes.
Fifty-eight seconds.
All that and she hadn’t even made it a minute.
Jenna put her head on the steering wheel and began to cry.
Chapter 2
“Do you remember that time I had my face buried in your ass right here on this very cliff wall?”
Mark Outlawson didn’t even try to stop his bark of laughter at Baby Bollinger’s words. Baby had a grin on his face as he said it. Of course, Baby always had a grin on his face. He was one of the most charming and good-natured guys Mark had ever known.
Not that the face/ass situation Baby was referring to had been very funny. Baby had almost plummeted to his death when someone sabotaged his rappelling gear during an obstacle race.
“I recall you asking me to tell you if I was going to pass gas so that you could just let go and die,” Riley responded with a grin of his own.
“Can you blame me?” Baby asked. “I’ve camped enough with you now, I know I would never survive up-close contact with one of your SBDs.”
“SBD?” Riley asked.
Baby chuckled. “Silent but deadly. I’d take my chances with plummeting three stories straight down.”
“Smart man,” Mark muttered.
Riley Harrison, known to most of the world as daredevil television sensationPhoenix. If it hadn’t been for Riley’s exceptional reflexes and coordination, not to mention sheer determination to get his friend down to the ground safely, Baby would’ve died that day.
“Belay on,” Ian DeRose called from a few yards above them. “Unless you’d rather stay down there and hear the story of the greatest bromance there never was.”
Mark chuckled again. “I think I’ll pass. Climbing!”
Mark had rock climbed with Ian, his friend and boss at Zodiac Tactical, more than once. A traditional belay would be from beneath the climber, but Mark knew Ian could more than handle it from above.
He trusted his friend enough to take a more difficult path up the cliff wall. If he fell, Ian would catch him. Mark hoisted himself up foot by foot, finding finger- and toeholds until he made it up to Ian.
They sat on a slight edge, still able to hear Baby and Riley joking below them. Mark looked out at the beautiful mountains and skies surrounding him. He’d missed being here in Wyoming.
“You took a more difficult route up.” Ian’s eyes were also on the stunning view.
“Worried you weren’t going to be able to stop me if I fell?”
“Hell no. But maybe a little worried I’d have to explain to Dumb and Dumber down there why I had to.”
Mark gritted his teeth, some of the beauty around him dimming. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
Ian raised an eyebrow at him. “You and I have been friends for too many years and you’ve saved my ass way too many times for me to ever be your babysitter. But you can’t ignore what’s happening.”
Mark scrubbed a hand down his face. “Yeah, but it’s not affecting this. Not today.”
“Fair enough, Outlaw.”
Outlaw. What a joke that was becoming. Everyone at Zodiac Tactical had a code name, and Outlaw was his. Partially because of his last name being Outlawson, but mostly because it had always been Mark’s mantra.
He’d always been able to think outside the box, to see different ways of handling a problem than just the obvious—even back when he was in the Special Forces. Outlaw suggested rebel, but that wasn’t so much the case. Mark was willing to follow orders, but he was also willing to fight with less conventional measures when needed.