But having already been buried in twisted debris and surrounded by flames, Hauk had been skittish of repeating the experience, especially since his body had still been healing from the last round of skin grafts. He hated the sound of an explosion worse than anything, and it had seemed like Keris had lined the entire mountainside with explosives. Every time he touched something on the mountain, it exploded in his face.

With a disdainful sneer, Keris had allowed himself to hangdog while Hauk ascended to tie in. Keris had shoved at him. “Go on and take lead, belay bitch. I’m tired of waiting on your pansy ass to catch up.”

Hauk had glared at him as Keris pulled out a small bottle and inhaled it. Last thing he wanted was their lives in the hands of a stoned belayer. “Give that to me.”

Jerking it away from Hauk’s reach, Keris had hit him so hard that he’d slipped and lost his hold on the mountain.

Hauk had slammed into the wall and set off another charge. Rocks had rained down all over him as he tried to find something to hold on to that wouldn’t explode when he touched it. Worse than that, the percussion of that charge loosened Keris’s anchors and belay.

One second Keris had been laughing at Hauk’s fear and in the next, he was falling, too.

Cursing, Hauk had somehow managed to catch himself, while he attempted to pull Keris up with his other hand or swing him toward a ledge or crevice. Upside down, he had one anchor still holding, but it was slipping as more rock rained over them. Worse, he hadn’t had time to properly tie in.

Keris also felt it. There was no chance the remaining anchors would hold their combined weights and the gear. Hauk’s rope was slipping from its belay device. And once those gave way, there was nothing that would stop them from free-falling. He tightened his bleeding hands on the rope.

For a full minute, they’d silently stared at each other, knowing that at this altitude death was imminent. His face grim, Keris had pulled his knife from his sling.

Hauk had stared in horror as he realized what his brother intended. “What the hell are you doing, Kerry?”

“Take care of Dari for me. Tell her I’ll always love her.”

“No! Stop!”

But it was too late. That fast, that cruelly, Keris had sliced the rope and was gone.

Unable to move or breathe, Hauk had watched as his brother plummeted, and when Keris had finally slammed into the ground, he’d landed on the controls for the charges.

In that instant, it’d seemed as if half the mountain had detonated. The blast had sent him careening down. He’d tried to grab on to any and every thing. Petrified, he’d feared he’d never stop falling.