Looks even worse from down here.
Loose shale.
Steep incline.
One bad shift and the entire thing slides.
Perfect.
“Can you climb?”
Olivia studies the slope.
Then looks at me.
“Yeah.”
Lie.
Not important right now.
I step closer and hook an arm carefully around her waist.
“We do it together.”
Something flickers across her face at that.
Relief maybe.
Or fear.
Probably both.
Then she nods once.
And we climb.
19
Russ
We don’t make it ten feet.
“CONTACT LEFT!”
Clay’s warning explodes through the canyon.
Gunfire erupts instantly from above and below, bullets tearing into the rocks around us before I can even fully react.
Ambush.
They knew exactly where we’d come out.
“MOVE!” I roar.
Everything detonates into chaos.
I shove Olivia ahead of me hard enough to keep her moving uphill while bullets hammer the canyon walls around us.
