Chapter 20 #2
She offered him a tight-lipped smile as he acknowledged the best plan they had. When he finished with the harness, he tugged a foldable blade from his pocket and handed it to her, then pulled her closer to him, kissing the top of her forehead. “For God’s sake, Julia be careful.”
She nodded at him before she flicked her gaze to Grant. He looked helpless, worried, and paralyzed with fear. “Julia…”
She pulled him into an embrace. He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her close to him.
She leaned back, squeezing his shoulder. “I’ll be fine.”
“You’d better be. Please be careful.”
She nodded. “I’ll bring her back safe.”
“And you.”
She gave him another nod before she stepped toward the edge of the cliff and spun backward.
“Get down there, get her, and get back up here as fast as you can, okay?”
Julia blew out a steadying breath as she flicked her gaze over her shoulder at the long descent and the rope blowing wildly below her. “Believe me, I’m not planning on dallying.”
After another deep breath to steady her pounding heart, she lifted a foot and took her first step backward. Her feet slipped against the slick rock, sending her spiraling as she descended to Sierra.
“Julia!” Luke called over the cliff.
“I’m okay,” she said as she steadied herself before she continued her descent.
The wet rope burned her hand as she tried to lower herself to Sierra as quickly as possible.
“Julia!” Sierra cried as she pulled level with her.
Julia held out a hand as she stopped her descent with her rappel device. “Don’t move, Sierra. Try to stay still.”
Sierra’s features twisted as tears slid down her cheeks. “But I thought you were going to take me up.”
“I am. But I need to get a little closer so you can grab onto me. I don’t want you to slip, okay?”
“Please hurry.”
Julia nodded as she worked her way closer, her feet slipping with every sidestep on the slippery rock face.
“Hey, Julia,” Luke called from above her. “The anchor’s slipping.”
“I’m almost to her.”
“Julia, you can’t–”
“No!” Sierra shouted. “Please don’t leave me!”
“I’m not leaving you, Sierra. That’s not happening. I’m almost there.”
Pebbles skittered down as the tree Sierra clung to shifted. A worried moan escaped Sierra and she shot Julia a panicked glance. “Julia!”
“It’s okay,” Julia said as she reached for Sierra. “I’m going to wrap my arms around you, okay? I want you to grab onto me as tight as you can, okay?”
“Okay,” Sierra said, her head bobbing up and down with nervous energy.
Julia shifted forward, keeping on hand on her rope as she reached for Sierra’s waist. “Okay, when I tell you, I want you to grab onto me, okay?”
Sierra’s voice trembled as she said, “Okay.”
Julia braced herself against the rocks as she tightened her arm around Sierra. “Now, Sierra.”
Sierra pushed away from the tree and grabbed onto Julia, flinging her arms around Julia’s neck and wrapping her legs around her waist as she sobbed.
The force sent them spinning in a circle. The tree Sierra had been clinging to fell from the rock face, tumbling the long distance down to the trees below. The pair of them slipped further down the cliff as Sierra’s extra weight tugged on the rope.
Shouts resounded from above them. Julia clung to her stepdaughter, stroking her wet hair. “I’ve got you. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
They slipped another few feet before the rope jerked to a stop.
Luke called to her. “Julia, this isn’t going to hold. You’ve got to get back up here.”
She lifted her eyes up to the edge where Grant and Luke peered down, trying to hold back the building tears.
She’d known from the first slip that she’d never make it back up.
She’d barely made it over to Sierra without slipping a few times.
“We’re not going to make it up there. The rocks are way too slick for me to move that fast.”
“Julia–” Luke said.
“Luke, there’s no way.” They slid another few inches.
“Julia, what’s happening?” Sierra cried.
“We’re going to go for a little ride.”
“What?!” Sierra screeched in her ear.
“Julia, you can’t,” Luke shouted.
“There’s no choice. We’re never going to make it back up there before this thing lets loose.”
“You’ve got to try. We can pull you,” Luke said.
“That’s not going to work and you know it,” Julia said with a shake of her head as the rain pelted her, each drop stinging Julia’s skin like icy needles. Thunder rolled ominously, a deep rumble that seemed to shake the rocks she braced against.
“Wh-what’s she saying?” Grant asked, the fear raw in his voice.
“Julia…” Luke tilted his head in warning. “Please.”
“It’s a quick drop or a fall, Luke. You know where we are. You can find us.”
“No,” he said. “It’s too dangerous.”
“So is waiting,” she said as tears filled her eyes. She swallowed hard and firmed her voice. “Every second counts now.”
“No,” he said, his voice filled with a sob.
“What does she mean? What’s happening?”
“We’re going to be okay, Grant. Go with Luke. Sierra, I need you to hang on tight.”
“What?” His voice was filled with raw emotion, his features pinched.
Julia trained her eyes on them as she blinked away the tears filling them. Fear choked her heart and formed a lump in her throat. “I’m going to open the lever. I’ll see you on the flip side.”
She hesitated, her hand hovering over the device. The world seemed to pause, the rain’s drumming the only sound. She took a deep, steadying breath, aware of every heartbeat.
“Wh–” was the last sound she heard before she released the brake on her rappel device, sending her and Sierra plunging at a frightening speed toward the earth below.
She squeezed her stepdaughter closer as the ground rushed toward them, a surge of fear ripping her heart in half.