"Trust me."I adjust the straps on my safety harness."They'll feel something all right."
As I approach the cliff's edge, I glance at Gretchen one last time.Her face is pale in the moonlight, her features taut with worry.Something shifts inside my chest---a feeling I'm not used to.For the first time in my career, I'm not doing this strictly for the thrill or the paycheck.I'm doing it to return safely to someone who matters.
I pull the blindfold from my pocket and tie it securely around my eyes.The world goes black, and instantly my other senses sharpen.The bite of the Highland wind against my cheeks.The cold, hard rock beneath my boots.The distant rumble of the pyro team making their final preparations.
"Three!"Eli shouts, beginning the countdown.
I steady my breathing, centering myself in the darkness.My fingertips brush against the familiar rock face, finding the first handhold I've committed to memory.
"Two!"
I flex my fingers and roll my shoulders one last time.The harness feels snug around my thighs and chest---a safety precaution that most audiences will never know about.The real danger isn't falling.It's miscalculating and slamming into the rock face.
"One!"
My heart pounds, the familiar surge of adrenaline flooding my system.This is living---standing on the edge of oblivion with nothing but skill and nerve between me and disaster.
"Action!"
I drop over the edge, my body moving on muscle memory alone as I've practiced countless times.The world is black behind my blindfold, but I don't need my eyes.My hands find each crevice perfectly, and my feet land exactly where they should.
As the first ledge approaches, I feel it more than know it's there.Then I pause for the prescribed three seconds.Right on cue, the first explosion erupts somewhere to my left.Heat washes over me as the blast illuminates the mountainside.I can sense the brightness even through the blindfold.
The crowd below gasps.Good.That's what they're paying me for.
I continue my descent, counting steps and handholds in my mind.Left hand here, right foot there.The rock feels cold and rough beneath my fingertips.Thirty meters down, I reach for the blindfold and tear it away, blinking as my vision adjusts to the floodlights.
The second explosion comes right on time, blasting through the night air with a concussive boom that reverberates in my chest.Heat rushes over me as I hang suspended against the rock face.Perfect timing.The pyro crew knows their business.
I glance down to see Gretchen's face illuminated by the orange glow of the dying explosion.Even from this height, I can see her hand pressed to her mouth, her eyes fixed on me as if she could keep me safe through sheer force of will.Something twists in my chest---not fear, but something deeper.I've never had someone watch me like that before, like my safety is the most important thing in the world.
Time to give her something to really worry about.
I launch myself into a controlled fall, dropping ten feet before catching another handhold, my body slamming against the rock with practiced precision.The impact sends a jarring shock through my body, but it's all calculated.The audience will see a death-defying drop.The crew knows it's a carefully choreographed move.
The third explosion goes off, closer this time.The heat singes my eyebrows, the concussive force stronger than I anticipated.For a split second, my right hand slips in a genuine moment of peril that sends a spike of adrenaline through my system.I recover swiftly, my fingers finding purchase on a narrow ledge.But my heart hammers against my ribs.
That wasn't planned.
Below, I hear shouts from the crew.Someone's voice rises above the others.It's Gretchen.Even blind and deaf, I would recognize out her American accent and her lovely voice.
I adjust my trajectory, compensating for the unexpected blast intensity.The Eli wanted authentic fear.Well, he's got it now.My muscles burn as I strain to regain complete control, feeling the sharp edge of the rock bite into my palm as I cling to it.The next explosion is scheduled in fifteen seconds, and I need to be in position or risk getting caught in the full force of the blast.
"Keep moving, Balfour!"Eli shouts through his megaphone, his voice barely audible over the ringing in my ears.
I push off with my legs and swing my body to the right, catching a jutting outcrop with practiced precision.My feet find purchase on a narrow ledge, and I press my body against the cold stone, feeling its solidity against my chest.The mountain doesn't lie.It doesn't pretend.Every handhold is exactly where it should be.It's the explosions that have gone off script.
The fourth blast comes early, erupting from below with a thunderous crack that vibrates through the rock face.The force knocks me sideways, and for a heart-stopping moment I'm airborne---not the controlled, calculated kind, but the dangerous, unplanned sort that ends careers.
Or lives.
I twist my body mid-air, my training kicking in as I desperately reach for any handhold.My fingers scrape against rock.I find nothing but smooth surface until...There!My left hand catches a narrow ledge, my momentum slamming my body against the cliff face with enough force to drive the air from my lungs.
Pain shoots through my shoulder, hot and sharp.Something's wrong.The blast was too close, too powerful.The pyro crew has miscalculated.
"Abort!"I hear someone shout from below."The charges are misaligned!"
Chapter Twenty-Seven
