Take that, Gilmont. Trust Harry to improvise.

Elise continued to search the vegetation for her Glock, never once taking her eyes off Gilmont. Her leg throbbed. She was losing a lot of blood. And she couldn’t find her gun.

Taking her for the easier target, Gilmont refocused on her. Elise grasped a stick and rose to her knees. It was better than nothing. She swung at him and hit him in the chest.

Thrown off guard, Gilmont tripped. He flung both arms out to his sides but kept a firm grip on the blade.

Awkwardly, Harry progressed in their direction, tottering drunkenly by the force of his thrusters. Gilmont bared his teeth in a cruel travesty of a smile, then rushed toward Elise, knife raised.

Heart thumping, Elise scrambled on all fours behind a boulder, hastily putting it between herself and Gilmont. Light-headed, she withdrew her sgian dubh and balanced her grandfather’s blade in her hand, feeling its weight and measure.

Taking aim, Elise let the blade fly, just as Harry raised his arms and blasted Gilmont with his full thrusters. Gilmont dropped the dagger, and both hands grasped his chest where her blade had caught him.

The side of Gilmont’s coat burst into flames from the jet blast. He screamed, a soundless concoction escaping his lips. Tripping on the uneven granite, he fell slowly, end over end, into the gorge and disappeared, his clothes a ball of flame.

With her heart banging like a jackhammer, Elise scrambled on her hands and knees to the edge. Oh please, dear Lord, don’t let Sammy see this.

Twenty-odd meters below, Gilmont lay on a granite ledge, unmoving. After a fall like that, Elise assumed he had died on impact. She sat abruptly and scanned the deep chasm. Where was Sammy? Had he fallen as well?

Elise scooted back and straightened her throbbing leg. The bleeding had slowed somewhat.

Harry turned off his jets and came up beside her, planting his boots shoulder width apart. Drained of energy, Elise gazed up at him. Harry lifted his visor and motioned for her to unbuckle him and remove the arm mounts. He knelt at her side to accommodate her.

Elise rose to her knees and did as he asked. When the jet suit dropped away, Harry crouched beside her and gathered her into his arms. She leaned into his chest and expelled a long, shuddering breath. For the first time since Nigel’s call, she felt safe.

“How bad are you hurt?” Harry asked, speaking into her ear to be heard. He kissed her, a brief peck, before he unlaced her boot to check her leg. “It’s fairly deep,” he mouthed.

Like she didn’t know that. Her blood had saturated the inside of her shoe. Tugging on his arm, she pulled him down next to her so they could communicate more easily.