Jesse rolled over and sat up. There was a frantic expression in his eyes.
“You’re okay,” Bowie said. “It was just a tire going flat.”
But Talia’s situation was no longer okay. The blowout had caused the car to shift position. Bowie could see it beginning to move, and waiting to get her out from the other side was no longer an option.
He made a split-second decision. It was this or risk losing her for good.
He grabbed his pocket knife, slashed the seat belt holding her in place, then leaned in the window and slid his hands beneath her shoulders.
The moment he shifted her weight the car moved some more.
Please, God, no.
He planted the heel of his boot on the slope to keep from going with the car and began to pull.
All of a sudden there was a loud thud. The car vibrated, rocked once, and then the slide suddenly stalled.
Bowie looked up to see Jesse spread-eagled on the trunk of the car, putting all his weight on the back end to steady it.
“Hurry, Bowie!” Jesse yelled.
Bowie took him at his word and pulled her free. He fell backward with her in his arms just as the car began to slide again.
“Jump, Jesse!” Bowie yelled.
Jesse pushed himself backward as the car slid out from under him. He grabbed on to a tree as the car continued to slide before catching in more trees farther down.
Jesse crawled over to where Bowie was lying with Talia in his arms and threw his arms around his brother’s neck.
“You’re okay, Bowie. You’re okay,” Jesse said, then looked at Talia and gently patted her on the arm.
Bowie held on to Talia with one arm and grabbed his brother with the other.
“Jesse Youngblood, you are one awesome dude,” he said softly, hugging him tight.
“I have sharp eyes,” Jesse said.
Bowie started crying and hugged him again.
“You sure as hell do, little brother. You helped me save Talia’s life.”
Aidan was shouting at them from above, but Bowie couldn’t hear what he was saying. Moments later he heard a siren in the distance. And then another, and another.
Bowie looked at Jesse. “Help is coming,” he said. “Do you hear the sirens?”
Jesse nodded, then looked down at the knees of his jeans, and frowned at the dirt and tears.
“Mama’s gonna be mad I tore my jeans,” he muttered.
“No, she won’t. Not this time,” Bowie said. “I promise you, she won’t be mad.”
*
Leigh was pacing the floor. She had a bad feeling about what might have happened to Talia, and when she began to hear sirens, she ran outside.
The sirens were close, which wasn’t good, considering the short time her boys had been gone. She grabbed her cell phone from the hip pocket and was about to make a call when it rang in her hand. She jumped, saw it was from Aidan and was officially scared. She didn’t bother with hello.
“What’s wrong?” she cried.
“We found Talia. Her car went over the side of the cliff. Bowie went down to the wreck site, and before I could stop him, Jesse went, too.”
“Oh my God!” Leigh groaned. “Is Talia alive? Are the boys okay?”
“Talia is alive, but I don’t know how badly she’s hurt. Her car was partway down, hung up in some trees. While Bowie was pulling her out the window the car began to slide again. Jesse threw himself on top of the trunk to slow it down so Bowie had time to pull her free. I never saw anything like it, Mama. He may be slow, but in times of danger, his soldier instincts kick in. They’re still down there waiting for rescue to get to them.”
Leigh could hardly believe what she was hearing.
“I’m coming down. I won’t get in the way, but those are my children hanging on to the side of the mountain, and I need to be there.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Aidan said, and then saw the first rescue truck appear around the curve. “Oh, thank God. The first rescue unit is here. Gotta go.”
Leigh ran inside the house for her purse, tossed in the phone and pulled out her car keys. Moments later she was in her Jeep and heading for the main road. Never had she felt Stanton’s absence as strongly as she was feeling it now. They were all under attack, and it was turning into a blood feud.
“Oh, Stanton, this is just more of the madness related to your murder. I don’t know how this is going to turn out, but I’ll go down fighting for you and our children,” she said, and kept driving until she came up on the rescue vehicles blocking the road.
She got out, trying not to be overwhelmed by the panic she was feeling, and began moving through the crowd of men and vehicles looking for Aidan. When she saw him talking to Constable Riordan she headed straight toward them.
Aidan saw her coming.
“Mama’s here. You can ask her about all this.”
Riordan saw the look on her face as he turned around. She looked upset, bordering on enraged. Just as he thought she would stop to talk, she walked right past him and all the way to the edge of the road.
Aidan ran to catch up with her.
“Mama?”