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“Help me,” came the hoarse reply. “Don’t let me go.” She sounded almost hysterical, and Lacey didn’t blame her. She was facing out into a great abyss, with nothing but the clasp of Lacey’s hand to keep her from hanging by the neck, or a two-hundred foot fall to her death. Even just glancing over the edge gave Lacey a sense of vertigo. But Lacey was in the uncanny position of knowing exactly how scared this poor woman must be, and she needed to help her overcome her fear.
“I’m not going to drop you,” Lacey said calmly. “But I need you to help me, because I can’t pull you up on my own. Can you move? Do you think we can swivel you around so you can grab a handhold? Or a foothold?”
“I don’t know.” Teresa’s wail came out thin and raspy from her damaged throat and Lacey’s heart went out to her. But there was no time for compassion. Her arm wasn’t going to last all day. There was no time to even wonder where Nico was. She couldn’t count on his help; she’d have to rescue Teresa on her own.
“I’m going to turn you slowly, and you need to grab hold of a rock, anything, that will help support your weight.”
“Okay.” Teresa’s reply was tremulous, but Lacey began to rotate her wrist, swinging Teresa to the left so the girl could bring her free arm around and use it to hold on. Lacey was thinking quickly, even as her shoulder screamed in pain at the extra work involved in turning Teresa and then hanging on as the girl wriggled, striving to find a foothold. If she could hang on long enough, perhaps Teresa could move the rope from around her neck to her waist. At least then if she slipped, or Lacey could no longer hold on, the rope would keep her from falling. But that might not be possible with no slack in the line. It also depended on how Sandra had constructed the noose. Lacey prayed it was the same as the other two girls. In both of those cases, she hadn’t constructed a proper hangman’s knot, which was designed to tighten around the neck if there was any movement. Sandra had merely made a loop and tied it with three or four square knots so it didn’t come loose, and then she’d slipped it over the girls’ heads. When Sandra had slung Sukey and Zoya up from the tree, the girls had already been unconscious, so all she was doing was cutting off their air supply until they died of asphyxiation.
Suddenly, some of the tension in her arm eased slightly.
“I’ve found a small ledge to stand on,” Teresa called up, her voice still croaky and being blown away by the wind.
“Good girl. Now see if you can grab a rock or another ledge with your other hand,” Lacey coaxed. Teresa was an outdoor guide. She should have basic rock climbing skills, at the very least, as well as being healthy and extremely fit. With that added advantage, Lacey realized they could do this. She could help get this girl off the cliff face.
“I’ve got my fingers in a crack,” Teresa called up a few seconds later, and Lacey felt the strain ease off a little more. She almost wept with relief, as the knife edge of the rock face was no longer threatening to cut her arm off under the shoulder.
“That’s great,” Lacey called down. “You’re doing great.” She could still see the top of Teresa’s dark head, and finally, the other woman looked up at her, dark eyes wide and full of fear. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot, her lips blue from lack of oxygen, and there were red abrasions on her neck where the rope had cut in, but Lacey could’ve reached down and kissed her right at that moment. She was alive. The worst part was over, now they just needed her to climb the few feet up to safety.
“Do you think you can climb up from there?”
Teresa considered her question for a few seconds before shaking her head. “I’m not sure. I can’t see any handholds farther up, and my legs are like jelly, I don’t know if my muscles have enough strength to push me up. It’s all I can do to hold my own weight.”
Not good. But at least Teresa was lucid and thinking logically, her training clearly kicking in.
“Okay. What about if we move the rope from around your neck? Maybe you could use that as a handhold and I could lift you up using that?” There wouldn’t be enough length for Teresa to tie it around her waist, but if she—
“Let go of her, and put your hands up where I can see them.” The voice took Lacey completely by surprise and she looked up, squinting into the rain to see where it’d come from. Sandra stood on a rock that jutted out over the cliff edge around thirty feet away. Sandra. She’d completely forgotten about the villain in her attempt at a rescue.
Nico stood next to her.
It took her a few seconds to work out what was going on. Sandra held a gun jammed into Nico’s side. She hadn’t heard them approach because of the storm. They must’ve come from somewhere over on the northern side of the bluff.
Lacey froze.
“Let her go, or I’ll shoot lover boy.” Sandra’s face was forbidding, her mouth a dark slash against her pale skin, and her voice pitched so low Lacey almost couldn’t hear it. But she could hear the grim determination in her tone. Sandra meant business.
Was that blood on Nico’s shirt? Lacey tilted her head trying to make out the dark patch, hidden beneath the fall of his rain jacket, which was unzipped and gaped open at the front. Was Nico hurt? Had he been shot?
She searched his eyes, but it was hard to see clearly through the rain. He seemed to be tilted to the left slightly. And now she looked closer, there was pain in the way he hunched over. Oh God. Sandra had shot him.
“I told you to let her go,” Sandra’s voice boomed out over the bluff, no longer quiet, but still authoritative. She was a formidable woman, and Lacey felt an ounce of something a little like respect for this lady who let nothing get in her way. Not even two armed cops. She was a daunting opponent.
“Don’t listen to her,” Nico shouted. “I’m—”
“Shut up. Shut up,” Sandra yelled, brandishing the gun in Nico’s face. “I told you not to speak. I will shoot you again. And this time I’ll shoot to kill.” She rammed Nico in the stomach with the butt of her gun and Nico doubled over in pain. But his face remained defiant. Nico wouldn’t give up without a fight. And that was the part that scared Lacey the most. He was bound to do something heroic or downright dangerous just to save the victim. And her. And she couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t let him die.
A million different scenarios flashed through Lacey’s mind. Her gun was still tucked into the waistband of her shorts. But she wasn’t going to let go of Teresa, and if she relinquished her hold on the small shrub while she teetered precariously on the edge, she may well end up going over herself. Which left her with no hands free to go for her weapon.
“What’s going on?” Teresa called up, and Lacey realized she couldn’t see Sandra or Nico from her position. Did that mean that Sandra couldn’t see Teresa either? She could obviously tell that Lacey was holding her up by her hand, but maybe she couldn’t see that Teresa was now facing the wall, rather than dangling out in free space.
“The woman who tried to kill you is here, and she’s got a gun,” Lacey whispered through the side of her mouth, hoping her words were loud enough for Teresa to hear, but not to carry to where Sandra stood.
“I mean it.” Sandra lifted the gun and pointed it at Nico’s head, releasing the safety catch with a loud click at the same time.
There was no way Lacey was going to let Teresa go. But she also couldn’t let Sandra shoot Nico.
Nico.
