Page 79 of A Rebel's Shot

“Wait.” He put his hand on her shoulder to stop her just before the entrance to a mangled opening, then held up a finger to her as he ducked inside.

She waited, her heart thumping in her chest. The seconds stretched into an eternity as the wind whipped around her. Why would he need her to wait? Was there an animal already inside?

She flinched as a loud bang echoed from the debris. Then Tiikâan’s head popped out of the opening.

“Clear.” He grinned and held out his hand for her.

She scrambled to his side, her fingers intertwining with his. He held tight as he led her through the wreckage, guiding her over twisted metal and broken glass.

The interior of the plane was a mess, filled with debris andcoated in a thick layer of dust. The few seats left were torn and ripped. Cargo boxes littered the floor.

They made their way through the small plane to reach the back of the fuselage. The floor was intact, offering a flat, if narrow, space to stretch out.

“Okay, it’s not the Taj Mahal, but it’ll do for tonight.” Tiikâan kicked debris off to the side and set his bag down.

She scanned the narrow space, relief washing over her. The roof was still relatively intact, offering protection from the elements.

“Yeah, I’m thinking it’ll be five-star accommodations compared to sleeping in the open on that ridge,” she replied, a small laugh escaping her lips.

“Okay, let’s get a fire going and heat up some food.” Tiikâan grabbed her pack’s strap and helped her out of it. “We might even be able to find food in the crates.”

“What about a radio?” Hope of rescue battled for dominance against the hope of more food.

“If we can find the cockpit tomorrow, yes.” Tiikâan cringed. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” She looked up from a crate she was reading.

“Ifwe can find the cockpit andifthe radio still works.” He shook his head and bent to open his pack. “It’s a lot of ifs to place our hopes on.”

TWENTY-NINE

The mountains hated him. Without a doubt. He shook his head at the rest of the fuselage from the crashed 208 Caravan in the bottom of the ravine and rubbed the pain in his ribs.

Scaling the rock face was the only way to it.

He sucked at climbing.

Even without being injured.

Every family trip where they’d gone climbing, he’d been the slowest, taking twice as long as his siblings to scale up. Didn’t matter what line they went. There was nothing about climbing he’d ever enjoyed.

“We found it.” Merritt trembled as she wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into him.

“Yeah.” The word was hard to choke out through the numb, hollow feeling in his chest.

“I was really hoping we’d catch a break.”

She leaned further into him with a sigh. The cockpit was their only chance at radioing for help. The onlychance to get Merritt to safety before her uncle could do any more harm.

And he wasn’t even going to try?

Heck, no.

He was a Rebel.

His dad didn’t raise no quitter.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed his shoulders back and kissed the top of Merritt’s head. “I’m going to climb down, and I’ll need your help.”

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