“We move to a clearing.We’ve got fifteen minutes.I’ll be with you the whole way.”
I ease the shotgun out of her hands, check it and hand it back.
“Four men are still out there.I’ve got the tracker on them now, but the same rules apply.You see someone that isn’t me, you don’t hesitate.”
“I won’t.”
“We’re almost out.Hang on a little bit longer.You’re doing so good.”
She makes a disbelieving sound.“Good. I ran.”
“That’s okay.I found you.”
I pull her to her feet, sling the rifle, and take point.She falls in behind me, staying close.
We move faster, motivated by the pick-up.I’m navigating by terrain, cutting along the contour of the mountain.Every fifty meters I stop, listen, scan.Check the app, then we move again.
Jade keeps up.It’s the final push, I don’t slow down as long as I hear her steps right behind me.
The clearing opens at exactly twelve minutes.The mudslide scar is a pale stripe against the dark mountainside, wide enough for a bird to put down if the pilot’s got steady hands.
Thane and Colt Cardiff wouldn’t be flying with any losers.
I use the sat phone one more time and this time the number rings straight to the helicopter.“We’re at the tree line.Ready for pickup.”
“Visual on the clearing,” Thane replies, “coming in now.”
The helicopter drops from above the ridge, nose tilted, rotor wash flattening the brush at the clearing’s edge.
Debris pelts everything, but the blacked-out Robinson settles down fast, skids touching dirt, the side already open.
Thane is in the door, one hand braced on the frame, the other extended toward us.
“Go,” I tell Jade, putting my hand on her low back, just to feel her, to remind myself she’s safe and whole.“Run.Stay low.I’m right behind you.”
For a second she glances over her shoulder at me.“Promise?”
“Promise.”
She bolts.Head down, hair whipping in the rotor wash.Thane grabs her arm and pulls her inside in one motion.
Looking for any threats, I sweep the tree line one last time.Rifle up, scanning for movement.
Clear.
Thane gives me a thumbs up.The ground is uneven, rocky as I sprint into a cloud of dust and debris.
Finally the open doorway is right in front of me.
Thane slaps the frame twice before I’m all the way inside, and the ground is left behind, the engine spooling up.
Jade’s safe.Buckled in.Medic attending her.
Relief swallows me whole.God.
We survived.
The mountain drops away fast, the trees shrinking to nothing, as the dark forest becomes a black, contoured mass below us.
