“No, I just want you to know that I’m totally at your disposal. That’s what you’ve been telling me since you came into my life. Now the roles are reversed, and I want to make certain you’re aware of it. I’m the one who put Sasha in danger. The sensible thing would be for us to work together to save her. But if that’s not the way you want it, then I’ll handle it however you do.” The headlights were spearing the darkness ahead, and she could see both the crumbling edge of the road and the darkness of the valley five hundred feet below. “I’m not playing chicken. I just want you to understand.”

She was tempted to tell him to speed up just to see if he’d do it. But that would have been incredibly stupid. She could tell this was no bluff. He meant every word he’d said. So make the decision how to handle it.

She only waited until he’d driven around the next bend in the road before she said, “Find us a place to park that won’t mean this Land Rover might end up crunched like a tin can in that valley below. We’ll crawl into our sleeping bags and nap in the back of the van until it gets light.”

“If that’s what you want.”

She didn’t say anything else until after they were settled in the back of the van fifteen minutes later. She was huddled in her sleeping bag on her side of the van, her gaze on the darkness outside the side window. “You’re crazy, you know. They call you this renaissance man, but you’re no da Vinci, you’re just plain crazy. Why?”

“We have to trust each other. I won’t have you thinking you’re alone in this. You have to know there’s nothing I won’t do to make this right for you.”

“You’ve said that before.”

“But now I’ve taken one more step in making you believe me, haven’t I?”

“Maybe.” She suddenly chuckled. “Or maybe I was just afraid that markets would come crashing down all over the world if I was responsible for Gabe Korgan biting the dust.”

“Well, then you’ve prevented economic Armageddon. Feel proud of yourself.”

“Crazy,” she repeated.

“Hey, look, I know you’re impatient and what we’re doing seems slow and ineffective right now. But it’s not the only arrow to our bow. We have Reardon.”

“What?”