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I twisted as we went down and took the brunt of the fall on my forearms and shoulder, so my weight wouldn’t crush her. One knee settled beside her hip and the other between her legs.

“Stay still,” I whispered near her ear. “He’s close.”

Isabella nodded beneath me.

Her breath quickened, brushing against my throat. Fear shuddered through her, but she stayed still beneath me.

“Easy,” I murmured. “Slow breath in. Then let it out.”

She matched the next one to mine.

The searcher moved closer.

His boots scraped through dry leaves, moving close enough that I could hear him breathing. A small rock shifted beneath his weight and clicked down the slope past the opening.

Then he stopped.

Isabella’s fingers closed around my upper arm.

I stayed over her, braced on one forearm while I drew Ciro’s pistol with my free hand and kept it tucked close against my side.

The man remained there long enough that I wondered whether he had noticed the hollow.

Then his weight shifted.

One step.

Another.

The brush rustled as he continued downhill.

I stayed still until his footsteps disappeared completely, then eased off Isabella and crawled toward the opening.

The last of the daylight had faded under the trees, leaving the slope in heavy gray shadow.

“We’re staying here for tonight,” I said.

Isabella pushed herself upright and studied the hollow. “Here?”

“Unless you spotted a hotel farther down.”

“I must have missed it while I was running toward the cliff.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

The recess was deeper than it had appeared, but not by much. The rock shelf protected us from the wind; the ground inside was mostly dry, and the opening would be difficult to see unless someone came directly across it.

I’d slept in worse places.

More importantly, continuing down an unfamiliar mountain in the dark would give the terrain another chance to finish what the cliff had started.

I moved deeper beneath the rock next to Isabella, pulled Rafael’s pistol from my waistband, then set both within easy reach. She removed the backpack and unzipped it between us.

Inside were two bottles of water, a package of crackers, peanuts, butter cookies, and a cloth she had packed for the escape.

She held out one of the bottles. “You first.”

I drank several swallows and handed it back.