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Chapter 20

We climbed down that slick, dark tree inch by fucking inch. Naked, our skin alive to the touch of bark and leave and drizzle, we tested every branch along the way. All the while, I kept feeling the prickle of eyes on my neck and spine.

It"s a psych. He can"t shoot me. He needs us alive and unhurt.

But, just in case, we were coming down anyway. "We"ve tested them enough, babe." Noah"s murmur was a kiss that tickled directly into my ear. "We always knew it was a long shot."

"Doesn"t mean I had a plan to surrender."

"It isn"t surrender. It"s being strategic."

"Is it?" What did my eyes look like in the dark when I stared deep into Noah"s? "It"s easier for them if we climb down the tree voluntarily. We"re giving this asshole exactly what he wants."

"It sticks in my craw too," Noah said. "But he isn"t lying about the big-ass tranquilizer guns. I promise you that."

"Rhino tranquilizer. No wonder we have memory gaps."

And I didn"t want to lose any more. All those kisses.

All those nights.

My toe slipped from trying to win purchase on a notch too small. I started to slide, then caught myself hard. The weight of my body jerked painfully hard on both shoulders as I dangled from an overhead branch.

Not the rotator cuffs. Not now.

I steadied myself. Tested my weight more cautiously.

You"re OK. Breathe. Don"t let that fucker hurry you.

Noah, who was coming down behind me, took care not to crowd me. He stopped the minute I stopped. "You all right?"

"I"m cool."

"Take your time. He doesn"t want you hurt."

"He"ll hurt me if he has to." In the wet dark, the ground was invisible—which made it seem very far away.

"But not if he doesn"t. Not if you"re making a show of cooperating. If you"re tranked, you"re dead weight." Noah wasn"t wrong about that.

My thoughts churned.

What did they want us for? Not just alive. Suggestible. Easy to question. But they"d had plenty of time to ask Noah their questions. Anything he knew they knew.

None of this made any sense.

Feeling around with my bare foot, I located a more secure branch. Took a deep breath and began moving down again.

Noah waited three beats, then followed.

It wasn"t just Noah who must have spilled everything. Our unknown captors had undoubtedly had plenty of time to ask me their questions too. I kept forgetting that because, well, I couldn"t remember what I didn"t remember.

The descent seemed to go on forever but eventually all good things—and all bad things too—must reach their end. Once I was about two feet from the ground, I experienced a second, deeper thrill of paranoia. This was really the danger zone. If he wanted to take me down with the trank, that was the logical place to do it. I"d collapse in a heap to the ground but not fall so far I was in any serious danger of hurting myself.

Of course, Noah would see him take me out. Any time saved by tranking me would be lost on the renewed effort it would take to coax Noah out of the tree.

You"re going to be fine. Nobody"s going to drug you, steal your memories, steal that precious time you shared with Noah.

At least not right this minute, they"re not.

And this minute was all the time I had left to freeze. To brace myself. Just in case.

Nothing.

More nothing.

Now.

I thumped more heavily than I wanted to onto the damp earth, landing on all fours. As I pushed myself to my feet, Noah landed beside me.

"I"m OK, I"m OK," he said before I could even ask.

So far so good. As I brushed off my hands by clapping them together, the guy with the trank suddenly switched off the light. It was like I"d suddenly gone blind.

"Asshole," I said. "So you wanna play?"

The long nose of what could only be the rifle poked rudely into my lower back. "I don"t come to play, fuckboy."

"I object to the language," I said.

"Fuck cares what you object to."

He wasn"t knocking us out right away. That was good, that was something. We were going to be fine. My spirits rose as he unjabbed the gun from my back.

Then, hearing the soft gasp from Noah, I realized where it was pointed now.

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