Page 97 of Ground Truth

“You’re insane!” Brand roared like an outraged lion as he lunged forward and shoved Flint forcefully toward the cliff’s edge.

Off balance, dizzy, head pounding, Flint scrambled to keep his footing on the slippery gravel.

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Chapter 47

Drake grabbed Brand, trying to hold him back.

Frenzied, Brand whipped around faster than a dive-bombing falcon and pounded Drake’s temple with the flat of his fist in an explosive full-force strike.

The blow dropped Drake to his knees, leaving him dazed.

While he struggled to get back on his feet, Brand delivered a swift, solid kick to his chin. Drake fell backward, hitting the back of his head on a boulder, and slumped to the ground.

With Drake down and unconscious, Brand returned his frenzied rage to Flint.

Flint’s headache pounded in tempo with his pulse. He was dizzy and nauseous.

He gathered his focus, attempting to control the lingering concussion symptoms while defending against Brand’s furious attack.

Flint’s reaction time proved too slow.

Brand gave Flint one final heave, shoving him sideways while he was standing awkwardly on the uneven gravel. Gravity did the rest.

Flint felt himself falling down and over the edge of the cliff.

He windmilled his arms, attempting to stay upright.

At the same time, he tried to bend forward and change his center of gravity, seeking to avoid tumbling down the mountainside and becoming impaled on the sharp limestone pillars below.

Brand was a raging bull. He bellowed as his footing floundered and advanced once more, determined to force Flint to his death.

Flint managed to bend forward at the waist and grasp a small bush growing on the cliffside. He held the bush in his right hand as he pressed the soles of his boots into the gravel slope to stop his downward slide.

It worked. He slowed his momentum and stopped falling.

Barely hanging on, Flint paused for a steadying breath.

Once again he heard Brand’s enraged bellowing ten feet above.

He glanced upward.

Brand was balancing on his heels, descending rapidly, intending to kick away Flint’s tenuous hold on the shrub.

Flint saw the strategy developing but was powerless to stop it.

He set his feet as firmly as possible into the loose gravel on the cliff side, prepared to block Brand’s full-frontal attack.

Loose gravel flew in every direction as Brand continued his rush toward Flint, picking up speed.

Flint closed his eyes briefly to avoid the blinding sun and spewing gravel as Brand attacked from above.

Flint had been in tough spots before. Many times. He’d been trained by Uncle Sam to be the best he could possibly be. He knew what he had to do to save Drake and himself.

When the options were kill or be killed, he had only one choice.

He blocked every distraction from his mind as he slowed his sense of time to a manageable speed.

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