Just when I thought the only way I was going to get my friend off the ledge was to miraculously grow wings and fly her down, I heard a loud whistle that shrieked through the quiet of the woods surrounding us.

Cautiously, I peeked my head over the edge of the hunting stand and felt my eyes go wide when I saw Webb standing below. He was holding his injured shoulder in one hand, but other than that he looked no the worse for wear. “I circled around and ran into Cy as he was heading back into the camp. He told me where he stashed the girl. I came to help her.”

I blinked at him stupidly for a second. I was relieved to see him alive and in one piece. I forgot for a split second that other people I had grown to care a lot about were still in immediate danger and that the DEA was seconds away from laying the hurt down on everyone.

“I saw your brother, Webb. He’s alive and he’s headed to the camp with Ten.” I wanted to smile at him but my mouth wouldn’t move upwards. It was locked in a tense frown as I looked between Webb and Emrys. “He said a DEA strike team is on the way to raid the camp. He didn’t have any way to tell them that Cy and Grady are on the ground trying to get Sutton out of there.” I swallowed hard and shifted my gaze away from Em’s fragile form. “Cy’s brother was hurt really badly. There is no way he’s going to leave him there.”

Webb looked at the dangling ladder then back at me with a scowl. He let go of his shoulder and shook out his arm. “A couple of Wyatt’s spooks ran across me in the forest when I was leading the shooters away from the camp. They pulled their weapons on me but realized pretty quickly I was running from the bad guys and wasn’t one of them. They held me when Ten started returning fire but once the bullets stopped flying, they let me go. I think they just wanted me out of the way. They told me Wyatt had given them the intel on the camp, and that he was the one dropping the bodies in the river. I told them there were civilians in the camp. Fortunately, one of the guys who stopped me worked with Grady in the past, so he knew exactly who I was talking about. We need to figure out a way to get you girls down and back to the camp. The spooks have a copter flying in for extraction.” He pointed at his arm. “I think they called it for me but it sounds like your girl and Warner need the evac more than I do.”

I blew out a frustrated breath and shifted so that my legs were dangling over the edge of the tree stand. “I don’t know how Cy muscled her up here, but I can’t figure out a way to get her down. She’s pretty banged up and half her face is being held together by nothing more than a makeshift bandage. I’m scared to move her.”

He swore and put his hands on his hips looking every bit the forest rogue. I could easily picture him robbing the rich and giving the goods to the poor, while running around with a merry band of misfits.

“I don’t think my busted wing is up to hauling both my weight and hers down that ladder, if it even holds up long enough for me to get up there.” That was exactly what I was afraid of. We weren’t getting down unless Emrys rallied and helped me help her.

I crawled back over to her and reached out to put the backs of my fingers against her uncovered cheek. She cringed at the touch, like my fingers were throwing flames and burned her.

“Em, you’ve got to get up. I’ll help you down the ladder and get you to help, but you’ve got to move. You can’t stay here.”

She lifted a hand and let it fall. “Just go without me.” She sounded pathetic and forlorn.

“We both know there isn’t a chance in hell that I’m doing that. If you stay, I stay. But if you stay and they hold that helicopter when it gets here, you could be delaying Sutton getting medical help.” That was a dirty card to play but I was getting desperate and needed something that would break through her despondency.

“There is no help. He’s dead, Leo. They put a hole right through the center of him and let him bleed forever. Sutton is dead.” She opened her eye and looked right at me. “He died trying to save me.”

“Hey, gorgeous!” Webb’s deep voice carried up to us and I saw Em’s eyebrow twitch in reaction. “When you care about someone, you don’t give up on them no matter what. That body in the sheriff’s morgue could very well have been my brother . . . but it wasn’t. The cowboy put up a fight for you and you need to do the same for him. Let Leo help you down here and let’s get this show on the road. I think we’ve all had enough adventure to last a lifetime.”

Her eye welled with tears again and new tracks streaked through the blood on her battered face. “I can’t.”

I bit back my impatience and tried to be as gentle with her as I could. “Em, you have to. I’m going to make you. I’m going to save you, just like you always save me.”

It took longer than I wanted it to, but eventually, she started to move. Each movement was slow and deliberate, the pain etched on her features clear and haunting, as she let me guide her and maneuver her toward the ladder. I went down first. No thought or fear allowed as she crawled at a snail’s pace above me rung by rung. Her grip was weak and there were a couple of times I thought she was simply going to let go and take us both to the ground, but step by agonizing step, we made our way to the ground.

Once her feet touched the ground, she collapsed in a heap that Webb wildly lunged for. He kept her from hitting her knees and cuddled her to his chest like she was an injured animal. My heart broke for my best friend and I wanted to storm into the grow camp and lay waste to everything and everyone who had made her hurt like this.