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"Are you all right?" he whispered

"Fine You?" Her voice sounded strained and he knew it had to have hurt her when he shoved her to the ground

"I’reat, thanks to you How the hell did you do that?"

"I don’t know," she admitted "I just reacted"

"Well, you saved both our asses," Rio said gried now"

He very nearly grasped her splinted aret just how injured she hen she was keeping up his grueling pace and saving his ass in the process

"How ested just how , and he also sensed just how close she was to her limit

He retrieved the GPS that he’d been consulting and studied the path they were taking His lips pressed into a thin line and he stared into the night

"We have to keep ood If we can keep this pace, we should meet up with my team at dawn If we slow or you can’t ht and hope to hell we don’t have to engage"

He could feel the quiet despair e a balloon deflate But then she squared her shoulders, her chin came up a

nd she cha the safety on the pistol once o," she said in a quiet, firm voice

CHAPTER 6

ONE foot in front of the other Block the pain Focus

Over and over, Grace repeated the sa since lost count of the hted herself, deter by rote, and only sheer grit was keeping her upright and ame with herself Each tiet over the next one Finally she stopped pretending at all and she clenched her jaw and blanked herthat next step

She retreated deep inside herself, where there was no pain, no exhaustion and no fear Only the knowledge that if she stopped, she died They died And thisbecause of a promise he’d made to her sister She wouldn’t let hi

Finally Rio stopped, pulled out another handheld device and studied it ahis head to stare into the distance Her knees locked Crah her calves Rio started forward and her finger slid fro to for the last few hours

He pulled up and turned, co back to her instantly He put his hands on her shoulders and tilted her face to look into her eyes

"Grace?"

She rab for his arms just as her knees buckled She would have fallen hard if he hadn’t held her up She bit her lip to keep fro into her feet and toes Both legs were one gigantic cramp

"I can’t," she whispered brokenly "I’m sorry I can’t Go on without ," Rio demanded

"Cramps Oh God, they’re everywhere"

He eased her down onto the ground and then took both her legs, bending thes He pushed forward, stretching her calves War the tense muscles

At his side, he fumbled for a canteen and handed it down to her "Drink," he ordered "You’re not hydrated enough I should have had you drinking all along Stupid of "

She drank thirstily, but the longer he stood there, open, exposed and vulnerable as he s, the more she panicked

"You can’t stay here like this," she said desperately "Go, Rio You can’t be far Go find your team Leave me here and coo where I go I’ you so shut up"

Even the words so rudely said slid over her like the best kind of comfort His tone told her that she was safe with hi her Even as she knehat he should do, she was relieved that he had no intention of doing so

He retrieved the canteen and then bent down to grip her free hand "On your feet, Grace Get off your ass and let’s getYou can do this Put the pain behind you, just like you’ve been doing We have an hour at most until dawn Don’t quit on me now"

His words should have infuriated her She should have dissolved into tears and refused She should have rolled over and given up She did none of those things The harsh resolve in his tone didn’t fool her for a moment There orry and respect in his eyes, and she knew in that instant that if she didn’t get up, he would simply pick her up and carry her the rest of the way

She wrapped her hand around his and allowed his screa her feet The strips binding the splint on her broken arm had unraveled and one of the sticks slipped out The sudden h her wrist and into her fingers, but she ignored it, ripped away the rest of the splint and tossed it aside

Later, she’d never kno she h the aspen forest or forging a cold streahs at one point She only rehtened in the east and that daas ioal

The sky was a soft lavender and the ainst velvet The trees took shape around her and she could ht

She staggered along, tripping and then righting herself before Rio could reach back It had become important to her not to distract him He slowed and it irritated her because she kneas for her he had decreased his pace

Not now Not when they were so close She could taste it Could feel the sweetness of freedom and safety Rio had promised to take her away He’d promised he’d keep her safe For that, she could fly

She pushed at hi to force him to walk faster, but he halted and slowly turned, his hands fraentle, his touch even more so

"It’s okay now, Grace," he said softly "We’ve made it Mywhat he’d said Then she saw movement over his shoulder, Khis as saw Terrence step froo and she couldn’t bring to mind the names of the others

As they neared, it was as if the last of her h her body, asp as the full shock of it hit her with ferocity

she was unprepared for

She heard Rio bite out a curse as her knees buckled She went down hard, blackness wrapping itself around her like a war blanket