“Cisco,” Hilly rasped, but frustratingly, she couldn’t manage to get any volume behind her cry.

It didn’t help that Cottins was still spewing vitriol.

“She’s dead,” the developer chortled from above, “and she did it herself. She threw herself over the edge because she thought you burned.”

“I’ll kill you, you bastard.” Cisco’s cold voice wasn’t one she’d heard before. It was filled with grief, anger, and the dark promise of pain.

The sound of Cisco’s renewed punches carried down to her, and she worried for him. If he killed Cottins, he’d go to jail. The developer wasn’t worth it. She had to stop him.

And seriously, Hilly didn’t actually want Cottins dead. That would be too easy an out for the vile man. She wanted the asshole to stand trial; get locked up for a very long time over everything he’d done.

Hilly drew in a pained breath and tried again. “Cisco!”

Her voice emerged a little louder, but the beating Cisco was administering above, clearly had him oblivious to everything else.

She was about to try again, when⁠—

“Cisco. Stop.” Mason’s strong order rang out in the dark. “That’s enough.” There was an immediate cessation of blows. “You’ve done enough. He’s not going anywhere.”

“But…Hilly,” Cisco’s distraught lament, howled from the depths of his soul, filled Hilly’s eyes with tears.

Mason growled. “Mike. JD. Deal with Cottins.” His tone gentled. “Cisco, we’ll find her. I promise.”

“She…fell, or he pushed her,” Cisco moaned. “She… He said she’s…”

No.

Hilly would not let the man she loved suffer another second.

With everything left in her, she raised her voice and cried to the heavens.

“Cisco!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“Hilly?” Cisco whispered, staggering on his feet. Mason’s hands supported him, keeping him from collapsing again after he heard his name.

Cisco didn’t know what to think. He was either delusional with grief and was hearing voices, or Hilly had just called to him.

“Is that…? Did you…?” He couldn’t get the words out.

Nel was whining by his side, then spinning abruptly on her back legs, she made a run for the overhang. Mike made a dive and caught the determined pup at the last minute before she threw herself over the edge.

Mason held up a hand. “Everybody quiet,” he demanded. “Hilly?” he called out. “Where are you?”

“On a ledge,” came the raw reply from somewhere down below them.

Cisco threw off Mason’s grasp, and dropped to his belly, his head hanging over the side of the precipice. “Flashlight,” he barked frantically.

Someone handed him a light, and he flashed it down; first into the depths of the gorge, then quickly refocusing his aim back toward the cliff wall, and…

“There!”

Hilly’s small form lay huddled on a five-foot-wide shelf of rock, at least a dozen feet below.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Cisco called out, his voice breaking. Dammit. He’d been undone, thinking she was…

Nel whined from somewhere behind him.

“I’m…hurting,” she answered in a tiny, strained voice. “I…don’t think I can stand.”

“Stay still. We’re coming to get you,” Cisco promised.

Mason was already on his mic, alerting the team members they’d left behind to bring climbing gear, a Stokes litter, and to call for an ambulance. They’d learned from Doug—who knew this section of forest well—that there was an old logging/fire road only a few hundred yards to the north that would give the emergency crews access. It must have been how Cottins had made it onto the property, and where he’d stashed his truck.

“Cold,” Hilly called up the one word.

Even though the temperature was in the low seventies, Cisco knew Hilly was probably in shock.

“We’ll get you a blanket,” he promised. Still on his belly, he turned his head to Mason and Alvi, both of whom had squatted next to him. Alvi was already digging in his ever-present medic’s pack.

“I’m going down,” Cisco told his boss.

Nel let out a pained howl as Mike continued to hold her back.

“No,” Mason barked. “You’ll wait for our gear. I’m not having two rescues here. And if you miss the ledge and fall into the ravine, you won’t be doing Hilly any favors.”

Fuck. Mason made sense, but Cisco couldn’t just lay there and do nothing…

Alvi thrust a small bundle at Cisco. It was a lightweight, thermal rescue blanket. “Throw this down,” he said. “It’ll keep her warm while we wait.”

Cisco took it and leaned as far over the edge as he could. “I’m sending down a blanket, Hilly. Wrap yourself up in it until our climbing stuff gets here and we can make it down to you.”

“Okay,” she agreed shakily. Her voice was losing what little strength it had.

Cisco didn’t want the blanket dropping into the void, or even out of her reach. He needed to get closer, and the thermal covering would be his excuse

“Hold my ankles and lower me down,” he told his team members who were standing over him.

“Fuck, Cisco,” Welker huffed. “What if we drop you?”

“You won’t,” he answered with certainty. He trusted his team with every molecule in his body.

Mason must have agreed. “Let’s get some light over here, people,” he ordered.

Almost immediately, eight or ten flashlights were illuminating the area. “Welk, you and Moira get on his right leg,” Mason clipped, thankfully not trying to dissuade Cisco. “Talia, you’re with me on the left.”

Cisco felt hands gripping his calves and thighs, and wiggled his center of gravity forward until he reached his tipping point, then…