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Paradise followed Clark back toward the parking lot and prayed Blake had seen her flick the lights on and off on his truck,

but the angle and the rain made her doubt he’d seen it. She’d intended to give him hope that help was on the way.

But how? She couldn’t crash the truck through the gate to get to him without releasing the hyenas into the wild. Rounding

them up before they harmed someone might not be possible. Blake wouldn’t want her to try that. There had to be another way.

She parked behind Clark and got out into the storm. He rushed to her side. “Someone’s shooting a rifle!”

She turned and tried to see through the darkness. “Where?”

“On top of the barn.” He reached into his truck and pulled out his rifle. “He’s shooting toward Blake but missing. I think

he’s trying to knock him into the hyenas. I’ll try to knock him off the barn, or at least distract him.”

Thunder rumbled overhead and she looked around for another vehicle. “How’d he get in here?”

“Hard to say. Someone else dropped him off? Maybe a neighbor and he walked?”

Clark started toward the barn and she followed. “Hey, I thought of something,” Paradise said. “Blake has night-vision binoculars in his apartment above the garage. There’s a line of sight to the barn from the window up there too. I’ll go fetch them. It will just take a minute.”

“You go ahead. I gotta stop him from knocking Blake down.”

She nodded and ran for the house. The side door to the garage was unlocked, and she threw it open and raced for the steps

at the back. The sandbags hadn’t kept the flooding from the garage, and she splashed through six-inch-deep water. The house

might be as bad.

She pounded up the steps and used her phone to find the flashlight Blake kept by the door at the apartment. Its beam pushed

back the dark, and the cone of light swept the room and landed on the binoculars where she’d last seen them by the back window.

She snatched them up and pressed them to her eyes to peer out the window toward the barn.

The greenish images were sharp and she spotted the figure on the barn. She adjusted the view and gasped when the man turned.

Owen Shaw held a rifle in his hand and aimed it toward the tree.

When she lowered the binoculars to go back out and help Clark, another movement by the barn door caught her attention. She

brought the binoculars back to her face and focused them. Lacey’s face jumped into view. Behind her through the open barn

door was a pickup. They’d hidden the vehicle.

Paradise took the binoculars and flashlight with her and went back outside to find Clark. When she reached him in the shelter

of the overhang of a shed, he was aiming the rifle at the barn roof.

“It’s Owen, the vet from town. And his girlfriend is waiting in the barn with a truck for it to all be over.” She brought the binoculars up to her eyes and found Owen again. He didn’t seem to know anyone had spotted him and was aiming the rifle again.

“They’re both about to get a big surprise.” The rifle gave a small kick against Clark’s shoulder.

Through the binoculars Paradise saw Owen turn and slip. He caught his balance and brought the rifle around toward where they

stood. “He’s seen us.”

“Don’t matter.” Clark aimed the rifle again and fired.

The bullet plowed into the roof by Owen’s feet, and he teetered again. This time he fell onto his backside and slid down.

His arms and legs flailed as he tried to catch his descent, but the roof was too slick from the rain. He plunged off the edge

of the barn and landed in the water near Lacey, who ran to him. Owen didn’t move. She lifted his head out of the water and

held it.

Paradise swept the focus of the binoculars to the tree where Blake hunkered beside the pole. His head hung low and he shivered

violently. She lowered the binoculars. “Let’s get over there and make sure they’re no longer a problem. We’ve got to get Blake

out of there as quickly as possible. I don’t know how much longer he can hang on.”

Clark nodded and led the way toward where Lacey squatted beside Owen. The vet tech huddled in her yellow slicker, but her

jeans and shoes stood in six inches of water.

Lacey’s shoulders were slumped. “You killed him.”

Paradise knelt and touched his neck. His pulse was strong. “He’s not dead, just unconscious. Clark, I’ll grab rope if you

can drag him into the barn. We’ll tie them both up until the police arrive.”

There would be time to ask questions after Blake was rescued. She found the rope and Clark helped her tie up Blake’s attackers. Paradise turned toward the doorway and made sure Blake was still clinging to the platform.

“How we gonna get him?” Clark asked. “We can’t get in the gate without lettin’ out the hyenas.”

The platform . Paradise gasped. “I know how we can get him out. Come with me. I’ll need help.”

***

The rain began to lessen as Paradise led Clark up the wooden steps to the high platform of the new zip line. She pointed out

Blake’s platform anchored to a big live oak in the middle of the hyena enclosure. “That’s the first stop. The next one is

over the tigers, and the next is at the wolf enclosure. The final stop is across the lion enclosure.”

She focused the flashlight on Blake’s figure, and he turned his head. His dejected posture straightened, and he struggled

to stand on the platform. At least he knew help had arrived and they were working on getting him out of there.

Clark opened the small shed next to the launching pad. “Lucky for Blake the platform was built. The hyenas aren’t in a hurry

to leave the area.” He eyed the harnesses and setup. “We have a problem. There won’t be anyone to catch you guys once you

leave the first platform. There are three more to navigate, and you could miss the platform. If you do, you may not have enough

velocity to reach the next one and will be left dangling between stands.”

Oh no . Paradise let go of the harness in her hand. She’d been about to climb into it. “What do I need to do?”

“Have you ever been on a zip line? You know how to operate this thing, Miss Paradise?”

“I get enough thrills with the wild animals. I just hang on, right? And make sure I can stop on the platform?”

“Yep.” He wove the line of the harness next to hers through her harness. “Gotta keep it near you so it doesn’t slide away.

The harness has to be in your reach, so hang on to it here.” He showed her the line to hold. “I’m going to attach a line to

slow you down at Blake’s stand, but it isn’t long enough to go all the way. Once you proceed to the others, you’re on your

own.”

“We have to try.”

The rain picked up again and started its incessant drumming on the wood and the shed. “Gotta hurry. Even if the rain stopped

now, the flooding is just startin’, I think.”

Her pulse leaped into overdrive, but she had to do this. Help wasn’t coming. They were the rescue team. “Ready.”

He led her to the edge of the platform and attached the line to slow her down at the right time. “Here ya go.”

His shove into the middle of her back took her breath away. Then she was soaring over the flood below. The wind and rain buffeted

her face and every inch of her body. She wanted to scream, “Too fast, too fast!” but fear kept her mouth shut. Blake’s face

grew closer, and she kept her gaze locked with his. She was almost above the platform. A few more feet would be perfect.

Then she was traveling faster again. Clark must be having a tough time hanging on to the wet cable. She let go of her hold

on the doohickey on the cable and grabbed the cable itself with gloved hands to slow it down. Her rate of travel slowed slightly.

“Catch me!” She screamed the words out into the wind and rain and prayed Blake heard her. “We took out the shooter.”

Blake’s white face was turned up toward her, and he caught her in the middle of the platform. He was as cold as granite, and

his teeth chattered. She clung to him. “Are you all right?”

“I will be once we’re both out of here.”

“There won’t be anyone to catch us on the other platforms. I’m not experienced enough to know how to land. Do you know how?”

“I’ve done it a few times. I’ll wing it.”

She helped him into the second harness. “Ready?”

“Past ready.” He put his arms around her waist from behind and pushed them off.

The rain pummeled both of them as they zipped to the next platform. She prepared to plant her feet and stop them from falling

off the other end as best as she could. Two white tigers noticed them and splashed through the water to follow along. One

leaped and gave a playful swipe of its great paw, but it was far below them. The other one watched while standing still.

Then they were over the wolf enclosure, but it was empty of animals. The platform loomed ahead, and she braced for impact.

She’d seen pictures of how it was done and prepared to run along a few steps and stop the forward motion. She bent her knees

a little and they were there. Her feet slipped on the slick surface, and she grabbed the hold above her head to keep from

falling.

Blake felt like a deadweight behind her, and his bulk propelled her along the platform. “Blake!” Her shout roused him from

his stupor, and he planted his feet. Together they managed to stop at the edge of the platform.

She unlatched the harness and turned around. He tottered on his feet. How was she going to get him down the steps to safety? She hugged him to her. “You’re okay, you’re okay.”

His closed eyes fluttered and managed to open. “I always knew waking up to Paradise would be a good thing,” he muttered.