Page 21

Carter gripped the steering wheel as the ute bounced over a pothole the size of K’gari and the engine groaned. He crunched down to second.

‘I thought you said you could drive a manual,’ Ethan said, holding onto the handle above the window.

‘I didn’t say I could drive it well,’ Carter retorted, squinting through the windscreen as the wipers performed a quickstep with the rain. ‘Especially when the clutch is so worn and I can barely see five feet in front of me.’

Ethan held up his phone. The screen was zoomed in on the photo he’d snapped of the map Nova had laid out on the table. ‘We’re still on the right road, but I don’t know how much good it’ll do unless Mara’s lying in the middle of it. Maybe Jonathan was right.’

‘About us not coming out? I’ll turn around and drop you off if you don’t want to be here.’

‘Cool your jets, I’m here to help. I just meant about waiting until the storm’s over. I’m really worried we’ll drive straight past her.’

He had a point, even if Carter didn’t want to admit it.

Ethan suddenly chuckled. ‘I’ve never seen the coach look so surprised when everyone backed you about coming out here to look for her.’

‘They were only free to agree with me because Beau and his followers weren’t there. As if they’d volunteer to help out.’

‘Why don’t you just tell them what actually happened?’

Carter scowled. ‘Why haven’t they asked me? They’ve only made assumptions about it.’

‘Nova? Nova, it’s Emery. Can you hear me?’

The voice came from the UHF that sat beneath the radio in the ute. Carter hit the brakes while Ethan twisted the volume knob.

‘Got you, Emery. What’s wrong?’

‘We found her. We found Mara, but we need help stat. We’re along the ridge line in the second top paddock five clicks up the mountain track from the old shearing shed.’

A clap of thunder shook the ute as Carter grabbed Ethan’s arm so he could see the map on the phone screen. ‘We’re close to them!’

‘Emery, it’s Ethan Gray. Carter and I are close to you. We’ll be there as soon as we can,’ Ethan said as Carter put the ute into gear and took off, spinning the wheels.

‘Hurry! I don’t know how much longer Indy can hold on.’

Indy! Carter’s foot pushed the accelerator closer to the floor. The protective beast in his chest growled. Ethan didn’t say anything as the bouncing became harsher, just gripped the handle tighter.

Finally, they drove through the open gate.

‘This is the paddock we got those giant logs in,’ Carter murmured, trying to remember the layout of the land from that day. He turned the wheel.

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ Ethan said, and Carter hit the brakes, stopping only a couple of metres from where two saddled horses stood. Killing the engine, he yanked out the keys, cursed, then shoved them back in. He didn’t want to be searching for lost keys in this weather.

He opened the door against the raging wind and pulled the collar of his polo up as the raindrops hit him.

‘Over here!’

Carter glanced around, unsure where the call came from.

Luck was on their side when the rain eased briefly and he caught sight of Emery beckoning them.

He ran over. Indy was lying on her stomach with her arms and head hanging over the side of the drop-off.

Carter’s heart beat faster. He rushed forwards.

‘Not too close,’ Emery said, putting her hand on his chest.

Carter nodded then stepped around her more slowly to crouch beside Indy. His knee hit the grass and he peered over. Indy was linked with Mara, their arms gripping each other. Mara was standing on the thinnest ledge, fear tattooed in her eyes.

The rain was coming in waves but he couldn’t feel it.

‘We tried lifting her up,’ Emery said, leaning in but still talking loudly. ‘But we couldn’t hold her weight. The ledge crumbled away when she landed back on it. Indy’s been holding her ever since.’

Carter dropped to his stomach alongside Indy.

The wet grass was cold and immediately saturated whatever parts of his shirt were dry, sending a shiver through his body.

He glanced at Indy’s face. Rain ran down the defined line of her jaw, which was set with determination, and her eyes stayed on Mara.

She didn’t move. Her concentration her powerhouse.

‘I got her,’ he said, running his hand down their limbs and gripping Mara’s arm close to her elbow. Mara let out a strangled squeal as she released her grip on Indy’s arm and grasped his. He held her tightly with both hands and Indy moved her free hand to Mara’s other arm.

‘Ethan,’ he yelled over his shoulder. ‘Take her other hand from Indy and we’ll pull her up.’

‘No!’ Mara screamed and her arm shook. Carter gripped it tighter. ‘No, no, no.’ The sobs that erupted from her were full of terror. ‘Don’t drop me, please don’t drop me. I don’t want to die.’ She sobbed harder.

‘We won’t,’ he assured her, but thunder hit at the same time. It wasn’t as loud. Was the storm moving past them? ‘We won’t drop you. You’re not going to die. Hey, Mara! Look at me.’

She tilted her head back up, meeting his gaze.

‘I won’t let you die. We’ll come up with another way.’

She nodded almost compulsively as her body trembled. How the hell had Indy held onto her for so long? Her cold skin was slippery, but there wasn’t time to worry about the bruises he might be leaving.

‘Rope.’ Indy turned to him. ‘There’s rope behind the seat in the ute. We can tie it around her waist.’

‘No!’ Mara screamed, her sobbing ceasing momentarily. ‘You can’t pull me up with rope. It won’t work. Don’t let me go, please I’ll fall. I’m going to die!’

‘Mara!’ Indy yelled back. ‘You’re not dying today! I’ll tie one end of the rope around your waist and the other to the bullbar of the ute. The rope will secure you and not let you fall any further. Do you understand?’

Carter took her resounding sob as a yes. Too bad if it wasn’t— they needed to get her off the cliff before her terror consumed her and she passed out.

‘Emery, get the rope from the ute. Ethan, take her other arm to free up Indy.’

Everyone moved, but Carter held Indy’s eyes. He could read the exhaustion and fear in them, but there was something else, something he couldn’t put his finger on. Something he desperately wanted to understand.

Their connection was broken when Ethan jostled her, taking Mara’s arm.

Indy brought her arms back from over the cliff slowly.

Her face tightened and he could imagine the pain of the blood rushing back into them, her joints stiff from holding on for so long.

The rain eased again, giving Carter back some of his hearing.

Emery handed the rope to Indy, who unravelled it, finding the end. She stretched it out between her hands, gaining a length that looked as if it would fit around Mara’s waist. She shu?ed back towards the edge, her arms disappearing down the cliff face. Then her head and neck. Then her shoulders.

‘Be careful,’ Carter couldn’t help but warn. ‘You’ll go over.’

‘Just a little further.’

She shu?ed.

Then she slid.

Carter’s heart lurched into his throat and his left hand released Mara to grab at Indy.

Dread overwhelmed him as his fingers slipped along Indy’s back, desperate for something to grab.

He couldn’t breathe. His other hand loosened on Mara’s arm just before smaller hands gripped onto Indy’s belt.

Emery landed on Indy’s thighs as she folded over the ridge line at her hips. Carter held tightly onto her leg.

‘You right, Indy?’ Emery yelled.

‘Just wanted to feel what Mara did when she fell.’

Carter closed his eyes against the sarcasm in her voice, the suffocating feeling of his panic fading. She’s okay. She’s okay . He repeated it over and over in his head, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to rip her back up, crush her to his chest and never let her go again.

‘Rope’s tied,’ Indy called.

Ethan freed one of his hands to mimic Carter’s grip between the two girls and the three of them pulled her up on Emery’s count.

Carter frowned at Indy’s red face. Mara, who’d been jostled along the thin ledge while they’d brought Indy up, started sobbing loudly.

The wind changed direction, slamming into them from the flats below, and Carter grabbed Mara’s arm with both hands again.

‘Shhh, it’s going to be okay, Mara,’ he tried consoling her, but another gust brought the sting of raindrops that felt like pellets with it.

Indy dropped to her knees after handing off the rope to Emery, who backed up with it, hopefully to tie it off. She peered over the cliff and down to Mara. ‘Eyes on me,’ she directed. ‘I’ve got you, Bonnie.’

Bonnie?

‘Rope’s secure,’ Emery yelled. ‘Bring her up.’

‘On three,’ Ethan said. ‘One … two … three!’

They hoisted Mara as evenly and quickly as if she were a bag of footballs.

‘Oh, Mara!’ Emery wrapped her up in a hug, pulling her away from the cliff’s edge and helping her out of the rope. The young girl clung to her, her sobs mixing with the rain that was still falling, but holding the comforting sound of relief.

‘Let’s get her in the ute and out of here,’ Ethan said, climbing to his feet and offering Carter a hand.

Carter glanced around for Indy and found her already opening the passenger door of the ute.

He jogged over to the driver’s seat and slid in, turning the key and cranking the heater for Mara, who was still visibly shaking.

Emery helped her into the passenger side and slid her into the middle of the bench seat.

‘Wait!’ Mara cried when Ethan went to sit in next to her. ‘Indy … who’s Bonnie?’

Carter held his breath as indecision, pain and … grief crossed Indy’s beautiful face. That was the look he hadn’t been able to place before. Whoever Bonnie was, she mustn’t be around anymore.

‘Just someone I knew before I came here.’

She stood back to let Ethan get in. As Carter turned the ute back to the gate and the windscreen wipers resumed their quickstep rhythm, he glanced in the rear-view mirror, looking for the outline of his beautiful blue-eyed girl.

The girl who’d almost slipped through his fingers, literally.

The girl he didn’t want to be driving away from.