“Then you and Jake should try to climb up Smalling’s Wall and head to the ledge. If he looks to have a firearm, you retreat. Do not, and I repeat do not, put yourselves at any more risk than climbing in these conditions. You hear me? Over.”
“Understood.” He put the radio away and looked at Jake. “Let’s go.”
The rocks were slippery, but the conditions no worse than what they had faced before. Scott had grown up spending Sundays climbing with his father and uncle, the rest of the kid Maynards joining in when they were old enough, but for him maybe more than any of them – except possibly Alex – this was where he found his solace. Here and with Keren.
He thought about her as he climbed, not wanting to focus on what was happening above them. He could still see the figure of the man with the girl, but the rain and thunder were blocking out any noise that they might be making. Keren would be wondering what was happening. She’d be with Lena, he imagined, hopefully somewhere dry. Somewhere safe. When he got home he was finalising their plans for an offer on the house, and then they could decide how they were going to remodel it, including some fucking huge bathtub they could both fit in easily. He thought about running her a bath when he got home, something she was loving since being pregnant, and then getting in with her. Maybe getting in her.
They reached the ledge that led out to just below where the man and Lois were. Behind him, Jake had frozen still.
“What’s up, cuz?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about Jake’s words still, wasn’t sure if he believed that Jake didn’t still have feelings for Keren. But he knew that Jake would never act on them if he did. And he knew that Keren didn’t return them.
“He’s seen us.”
“How do you know?” Scott had been lost in his own thoughts, trying not to think about what they were moving towards, what they might face when they got there.
“His body language. How he was standing, the direction he was stood in. He knows we’re heading up towards him.”
“But all we are to him at the moment are just climbers.” They started to move along the ledge, which after an initial few feet began to broaden out, making it easier to navigate.
And then it happened.
A scream broke through the sound of the driving rain, high pitched and terrified. Every hair on Scott’s neck stood up, electrified. He planted his feet on the rocky ledge and looked up. Fifteen feet above him, the girl hung from the top of the edge, whimpering and crying.
“Drop!” Jake shouted from besides him. “We can catch you!”
They could. She was slight and her weight was unlikely to take them off balance. She’d be scraped and bruised from the rocks that jutted out, but it would not be a plummet that led to her death. As long as they caught her. As long as she had heard Jake.
Still she clung. The man with her was crouching down and Scott saw the glint of metal as lightning struck nearby.
“I think he’s got a knife.” He had to shout so Jake could hear him above the sudden clap of thunder. The storm was right above them. There was no way the ‘copter would be able to get near. If she dropped – when she dropped – they’d have to climb back up with her.
A scream followed the thunder and then she started to fall, losing her grip, slipping down the side of the rocks towards them.
But she wasn’t alone.
The man fell too, a loud scream coming from him, his body toppling awkwardly, not feet first like Lois, but sideways. He rolled to them, his head striking rocks with a sickening crack, audible as the rain subsided.
Scott braced himself in the split seconds they had. Jake was placed to be able to catch Lois, but he was standing on the narrowest part of the ledge. A step backwards would result in him falling and beneath them was a thirty-foot drop, pretty much sheer, with just a few shrubs to break the rush down.
She fell, sliding in between the rocks and Jake’s body. He was immovable, the power of her fall not even needing him to brace as he caught her. Scott would’ve assessed how she looked if it wasn’t for the tumbling man heading straight towards him. He couldn’t make out whether he was conscious or not, although his brain registered the that the glint of metal was a knife
There wasn’t time to brace himself properly as the man fell like a meteor. He was aware of Jake’s yell and then the pain of weight and pressure hitting him. Automatically, his knees bent but it wasn’t enough to stabilise himself. Realising he was about to fall over the edge he forced his body to curl, the man toppling before him.
Scott felt pain as his back slammed down. He knew there was little he could do, except brace himself until he hit the shrubbery, then try to catch hold of a branch or something. He heard Jake shouting and then Alex’s voice, but his brain couldn’t process what they were actually saying.
He didn’t feel the pain anymore. Something had kicked in, a physiological response maybe. The couple of large bushes came closer quickly. He reached out to grab one, clutching for its trunk, his palms making contact, but he fell further, hearing a snap and just about registering what was about to happen.
Then everything went blank.
24
Jake gripped the girl to him, watching as his cousin rocketed down, the shrubs not breaking his fall. It was a steep slope that lead to a sheer drop of around thirty feet. A deadly drop. He heard his voice but didn’t understand the words, then he heard others’ voices: Alex, Zack, Ludd…
“Give me Lois, Jake.”
He passed the sobbing teen to someone, turning his head to Alex who was somehow beside him, holding climbing equipment but it didn’t register with Jake.
“We need to go down. Quickly. Get ready.”
