Jack shrugged. “Uphill or downhill, the bullet hits high. My guess is they know this, considering their chosen profession as poachers.”
“Any way we can use that to our advantage? Maybe go higher in the rocks?” She gestured behind her, where the rocks kept climbing. “Higher and put more rocks between us. Stay out of sight.”
He looked at the approach. She watched him assess it the way she’d watched him assess terrain all night—fast and thorough, arriving at a conclusion without wasted motion. “Maybe. It’s a steep angle, but they can adjust. My guess is Rick will stay down there, but he’ll send Graham up and around. On foot.”
“Instead of hiding, we make a stand.” She met his eyes.
He nodded. “Might be the best choice.”
“And there’s only one good way up.”
He looked at the rifle. Then back at her. Something moved across his face that wasn’t fear or hesitation, the same thing she’d seen at the tree line before the culvert, the part of him that was steady when the situation required it.
“We only have one rifle, so we need to stay together. Work together.”
Through the trees, she caught sight of a headlight bobbing up and down.
Chapter 36
Jack
Jack understood that what they were doing was a long shot, but they were out of options.
“Go ahead. Stay low. Get to good cover. Let me know you’re there, and I’ll follow.”
Steph met his gaze and gave a nod. He reached for her, taking hold of her mittened hand and squeezing. “Get as high up as you can while still having cover.”
She flipped her hand over and wrapped it around his, giving it a quick squeeze before releasing it and taking off.
Jack stayed in position, the rifle trained on the tree line where the snowmobile’s headlight would pop into view every few seconds.
He was starting to wonder what was taking Steph so long when her voice came through as a soft whisper. “I’m here.”
His feet protested as he moved in a hunched-over crouch, staying low and close to the rocks. Bits of scree cut into the soles of his feet as he moved. The pain was real and encouraging. If they could get out of this alive, his feet and toes might not be as bad as he once feared.
Big if there.
He rounded a large boulder and found Steph.
“We can still go up,” she said. “But I’m wondering if maybe going to the side might not be better.” She gestured toward what looked more like a sheer cliff than anything. “If we get deeper into the rocks, they won’t have a line of sight, right? They can’t shoot at us from the base.”
“It looks too open.”
“It only looks that way...I think, anyway. We should be able to weave around and stay behind the rocks.”
“Have you been up here before?”
“Not here, no. But these formations are often similar.”
“How many options are there?”
She studied the ground below without answering immediately. He waited. She didn’t rush assessments, and he’d learned not to push them.
“One good line. The shelf to the left. It’s the only place the grade is manageable.” She tilted her head slightly. “We could keep going up, but the loose rock might be a problem, and I think we’ll only be able to get so far before we’re exposed. That’s why I think sideways is our best bet.”
He looked at her. “Get deeper into the rock. They might not follow.”
She was quiet for a moment, her head moving as she assessed the situation. “Or if they do, it’s like you said. Making our stand here might be the only choice. The shelf might be a bottleneck.”
