Niki screamed once, in rage and fear at the injustice of this stupid ice, then the Blazer’s wheels lost contact with the ground and she plummeted over the side.
Lolly clung to Gabriel’s wet coat, watching as the Blazer abruptly dropped out of sight. There was a brief moment of silence, then a horrible screech of metal being crushed and torn.
“Oh my God,” she said in shock, then added, “Good!” She didn’t think it made her a bad person that her first instinct was one of relief. Darwin was dead and Niki had just driven herself off the side of the mountain. For the first time in hours that had seemed as long as days, Lolly suddenly realized the terror was over. She was safe; cold to the bone, shivering, shaken in a way she hadn’t known was possible … but safe.
“Stay here,” Gabriel ordered, as he took a much larger flashlight from his coat pocket, turned it on, and stepped cautiously onto the road.
He had been her rock for the past couple of hours. Everything in her protested at being separated from him for even a few seconds, but she did as he instructed. There was no point in both of them going to look. Besides, she could barely walk, she was so cold. All she wanted was to sit down and close her eyes.
The sloping pavement was treacherous with ice. Gabriel slipped a couple of times, but both times managed to catch his balance and stay upright. Lolly breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the other side of the road and shone his light down the mountainside.
After a long moment, he made his way back across the driveway to Lolly. Turning off his powerful flashlight, he once more stowed it in his coat pocket and took out the much weaker flashlight Darwin had dropped. “The Blazer’s about a hundred and fifty feet down. It met a tree head-on. The tree won. If Niki isn’t dead she’s seriously hurt, but I can’t get down there to see.” He frowned, because he didn’t like not knowing for certain.
Lolly wouldn’t have thought it was in her nature to be relieved at the news that someone, anyone, had died; it certainly wasn’t like her to be willing to leave an injured woman in a wrecked car to freeze or bleed to death—or at least she hadn’t thought it was like her. Darwin and Niki had changed her mind about several things. “Thank God,” she whispered. She felt as if the world around her had warmed a little. Her fear of finding Niki waiting in the house, of the strung-out woman jumping out from behind a tree or springing out of a dark corner, was gone. She wanted to drop to the ground and sob in sheer relief, but she settled for a deep breath instead. It was too soon to declare victory, because she and Gabriel weren’t home free. They still had to battle the ice, and the ice wouldn’t make any stupid decisions, like trying to drive down a mountain in weather like this. The ice wouldn’t do anything, other than exist, but its very existence reshaped the world.
“Come on,” he said, “let’s go get warm.” He slid his arm around her, holding her upright as he propelled her forward. Without his aid, she couldn’t have moved. The first few steps were an exercise in pain and lack of coordination; she could barely slide one foot in front of the other. She felt as if she had frozen to the spot, as if she could do nothing other than just stop. Gabriel was shivering violently against her; he was in better shape than she was, but that wasn’t saying a lot.
“Do you need me to carry you?” Gabriel asked.
She was horrified at the idea. He could barely walk, and he thought he could carry her? “No, I’m fine,” she said.
He made a gruff noise that made it clear he didn’t think she was at all fine, but he didn’t forcefully lift her and throw her over his shoulder.
In the total darkness, with only an increasingly weak flashlight beam lighting their way, they gingerly made their way across the icy yard. What had never seemed like much distance at all now seemed almost insurmountable, but they were barely shuffling along and every inch gained was paid for in agony. Finally she could very faintly make out the dark house looming just ahead of them, and only then did she really believe they could make it. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, wondering if Gabriel would even hear her, with the wind howling as it was.
He glanced down at her. “Sorry for what?” he asked matter of factly as they negotiated the last few yards, maneuvering around her ice-coated Mercedes. The steps loomed like Mount Everest. She honestly wasn’t certain she could go up them. “Sorry you got caught up in this mess. Sorry you had to kill a man. Sorry you’re stuck here with me when I know you’d much rather be at your parents’ house, with your son.”
“You know about Sam?” he asked, surprised. His voice was breathless. Somehow he hadn’t expected her to know anything about his life after he’d graduated from high school and joined the military.
“I’ve kept up with the news from here.”
They reached the steps, and Gabriel gripped the railing with his left hand. His right arm tightened around her, and he physically hauled her up the steps, groaning in pain as he did. Then they were on the porch, but the howling wind was still blowing the rain in on them so there wasn’t much improvement.
“I’m not sorry,” he said, releasing her to bend over and catch his breath, gather his strength.
Without his support Lolly almost collapsed on the porch, but she wrapped one arm around a column and forced herself to remain upright. “I don’t believe you.” She even managed a credible snort.
“Seriously, Lollipop, do you think I’d be happy sitting in a nice warm house with my kid, eating soup and drinking coffee by the fire, when I could be up here freezing to death with you while we run from two crazy-ass meth addicts? Where’s your sense of adventure?”