Page 10 of Eden

Now!

He grunted as he pressed his fingers into the rock, willing them not to slip, and launched himself up.

It felt like ice water ran through his veins as he fumbled, grasping for the cliff edge. He got two fingers on and exhaled a shaky breath. His breaths were short and labored. Panicked.

He refused to look down. That would not be his fate.

With a violent grunt, he pushed his other hand off the cliff and reached up, grabbing the cliff edge and hauling his body up. He rolled onto the cliff, his body coated in a sheen of sweat, rain, and mud. He felt heavy and weightless all at once.

“Thank you, Lord,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut for a minute.

But only for a minute, because he needed to get back to Bethenny.

He rolled onto all fours and then pushed up onto his trembling legs.

He inched closer to the edge and allowed himself to look down now.

Water pummeled over the edge, spraying as high as the cliffs.

He exhaled a long breath, shaking his head.

That was close. Too close.

He wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt and scanned the water and the banks of the rapids, but he couldn’t see the body of the hooded figure. He took confidence in the fact that he was certain no one could survive that fall.

It wasn’t the ideal outcome for catching the shooter, but it worked.

He put his hand into an empty pocket then looked back at the woods with a sinking feeling.

His phone was no longer in his pocket, his radio no longer attached to his hip, and his pistol no longer in his hand. He assumed that they were all now at the bottom of the waterfall, and he had no idea which way to run to get down there safely.

Lachlan tilted his head back, groaning.

Trudging forward, he supposed a long walk would give him time to think about this case.

Lachlan chewed on his cheek as he started his walk back. He set a fast pace, needing to get back to Bethenny and make sure she was okay. They also had a crime scene to deal with.

He sighed heavily as he all but ran forward. He’d been off duty today, hoping for a quiet day to hit the gym, watch a movie, and then take a nap.

Instead, he was lost in a forest with no water, no food, and no way to communicate in the middle of a roaring storm.

He swore under his breath, annoyed he’d made such a stupid mistake. Granted, the cliff had dropped off without warning, as cliffs did, but even if there had been a warning, Lachlan wasn’t sure he would’ve seen it. He’d had one focus only: taking down the hooded shooter.

But that wasn’t enough, not in this job. And it wasn’t a mistake he would’ve made in his past career. If he’d been that careless, he would’ve been killed years ago. But he’d gotten sloppy over the past few years because he’d been allowed to. Working homicide was very different than his role as a CIA operative.

His saving grace, though, was that he’d been chasing the shooter alone. It was one thing for his mistake to take his own life, but if it had taken Bethenny’s... he’d never forgive himself for that. He had enough death on his hands already.

At the thought of her, he moved into a jog, looking for anything that seemed familiar—but in a forest of similar-looking trees, there wasn’t much that stood out to guide him. And anyway, he hadn’t been paying much attention as he’d run through them.

He looked at his watch, noting the time. If he walked for more than an hour without reaching the crime scene, he knew he was going in the wrong direction.

It was going to be a long afternoon, and an even longer, cold, wet night if he didn’t get back to Bethenny before darkness settled in.

BETHENNY

The distant sound of an engine made her heart beat a little faster. She wanted to jump up and down and scream for help like a castaway on a deserted island, but instead her eyes were scanning the woods in search of Lachlan.

Where was he?

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