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Out of the corner of my eye, a dark shape caught my attention.
I had no doubt who it was, and my heart rate increased as I watched Arden make his way over the top of the ridge two hundred yards from where I remained hidden between the rocks. The assault rifle was slung over his shoulder and held in one hand as he used the other to steady his passage across the unstable rocks. He looked back and forth down the side of the cliff as if he was searching for a way down.
It was the best chance I’d had all day.
I backed through the rock formation, keeping my eye on him the whole time. I couldn’t risk losing sight of him. Slipping to just over the edge of the ridge, I held on with my hands as I moved from right to left across the narrow ledge, counting the hand-over-hand motions until I reached two hundred. Flexing, I brought myself high enough to peer over the ledge but had to quickly drop down again, careful not to make a sound as I did.
He was right in front of me.
I closed my eyes and counted to five, breathing deeply to center myself. Bending my knee, I found a stable rock ready to take my weight, and then launched myself to the top of the ridge.
Arden turned toward the sound, but I was already jumping down on top of him. He tried to swing the AR in front of him as we collided, but the shot he fired went far off to my right. We landed in the snow with him on his back and me straddling him.
My first punch went straight into his chest, the second into the side of his head. I could have gone for the piano wire at my waist, or even the Busse I’d taken from Dytalov’s body, but I didn’t. I wanted to hit him. In that instant, I blamed him for everything that had occurred over the last month.
Arden was as slippery as the ice near the shoreline. Every punch I threw at him made contact but not in a vital place. He had one hand on my chest, grasping at the front of my parka. The AR was still gripped in his other hand, but he couldn’t maneuver it into position to fire.
He could, however, hit me with it, which is exactly what he did.
In the back of my head, I registered how good a hit it was. It takes a lot of strength to hit someone from a supine position, and he managed a sharp blow into my hip with the barrel of the weapon. It jarred me, and I started to fall to the side. Grabbing for his face, I tore off the mask protecting him from the wind as he shoved upward with both hands on my chest, and we rolled right into the base of the ridge.
We were both on our sides, each of us fighting to get on top of the other. I was bigger than he and more muscled, but he still managed to keep me at bay. He jammed the AR up against my side, and I barely managed to shove it away before he fired.
The blast went into the rock, showering us both with debris. The noise made my ears ring, and my body reacted by sending blood pounding through my head. My vision blurred, and I could feel my grip on him beginning to slip. As I ran out of options, I slammed my forehead into his.
It wasn’t as sharp a blow with all the cold-weather padding we each wore, but it was enough to send him to his back. The rifle fired off into the rock again, and the whole mountain rumbled in protest.
Arden pulled his legs up and jabbed at my abdomen with both feet. The blow wasn’t enough to knock the wind out of me, but his momentum was enough to send him rolling out of my reach. He was on his feet before I could do the same. By the time I had taken two steps closer to him, he was over the edge of the cliff.
I looked over the ledge and watched him slide down the steep incline through the snow. He was only barely in control of his descent and nearly hit an outcrop of rocks, but he had achieved his objective—to get the fuck away from me. Distance was his only advantage.
“Pussy,” I mumbled down the slope. “You think that’s going to save you?”
Speaking the words just made the answer obvious to me—yeah, that could save him. I had very few options in front of me: head down the mountain after him; look for a better way down; let him get away and start all over again.
“Fuck it,” I grumbled. I knelt near the ledge and launched myself over. I had to catch up to him before he found a stable place to regroup and properly aim.
Rocks and snow cascaded down the cliff along with me. I ran parallel to the snow as it broke away, keeping myself to the edge of the small snowslide. Arden was far below me, trying to slow his descent and get his footing. As the sliding snow stopped, I turned and began to gain on him quickly, pulling the garrote from the loop at my belt as I descended upon him.
Arden stopped, placed his foot against a rock jutting out from the snow, and wheeled about. The AR came up to his shoulder, and I could see directly down the barrel.
I leapt into the air, heard the shot, and felt the impact against my side. The Kevlar stopped it from entering my body, but the blow put me off balance. I careened into Arden’s side, grabbed hold of his arm, and we both began to roll down the mountain as snow slid around us.
With a grunt, my body stopped abruptly as I hit a patch of rocks. Arden’s fist was in my face a second later, and as I lay stunned, he brought the rifl
e up to my face. We were too close for him to use such a long weapon effectively. I punched his arm as he tried to get the rifle in position and pulled up my knee to slam into his side at the same time. The blast rang through my ears as the bullet hit the rock next to me.
We struggled to make contact with each other and with the rifle itself, but neither of us was able to get the advantage. I took a couple blows from the barrel of the weapon and also landed a few into Arden’s side and face. He took every hit with barely a grunt.
Desperate to gain advantage, I let go of the rifle and grabbed hold of the piano wire with both hands. I looped it over his head and pulled his face to my chest with the garrote. I couldn’t get it around the front of his neck, but he was at least unable to move enough to bring the rifle into position.
Growling, Arden swung the AR around and fired three shots in quick succession into the rock right below my face. He couldn’t have actually been trying to hit me, but I knew immediately what he was trying to accomplish.
It worked, too.
My head throbbed as the blast so close to my ear left me deaf. I couldn’t hear anything, but I could feel the ground beneath me as it rumbled.
A dozen things seemed to happen at once.
