BooksBarbecue
Back Into the Storm Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Cover
  2. Book Description
  3. Books By Rachel Grant
  4. Dedication
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  43. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  44. Chapter Forty
  45. Chapter Forty-One
  46. Chapter Forty-Two
  47. Chapter Forty-Three
  48. Chapter Forty-Four
  49. Epilogue
  50. Fiona Carver Series
  51. Flashpoint Series
  52. About the Author

Jae nodded to a spot downslope that jutted out a bit and was free of trees. “Might be able to get a view from there.”

They scrambled down and planted themselves on their bellies, with binoculars pressed to their eyes, looking out over the treed hillside while keeping their exposure to a minimum.

Another crack of a bullet, and Jae zoomed in on the forest to the left and above, not far from a creek that flowed down the steepest part of the slope. Another degree or two and it would be called a waterfall, not a creek.

A person would have to be insane to climb that slope with the ground as saturated as it was. He and Luke had opted for a longer route to the north to avoid that very stretch of hillside.

“Can gunfire cause a mudslide?” Luke asked.

Jae shook his head, “Not a geologist, so not sure, but it’s not a risk factor I’ve heard of, not like an avalanche.”

After an interval, the gunshots stopped. Jae thought he caught movement on the hillside. He adjusted the distance and scanned the area. Before he could get a fix on anything, a massive boom echoed across the basin.

Jae caught the edge of the flash and scanned upward from there, seeing a man standing above and looking down. “That’s Xavier, above the blast zone.”

“I see him.”

Then there was a loud crack, followed by another. Jae watched in horror as Xavier was dragged down into the slide.

Audrey wanted more than anything to run down to Xavier. To save him. But how could she save him? She’d probably get sucked into the mud river and die with him.

Die with him.

No. She couldn’t believe he was dead. He was above the debris, not below it.

But still, she knew mudslides and exactly how deadly they could be.

NO. No. No.

She knew what Xavier would want her to do. What he did want her to do. She had to keep climbing. Head toward the destination they’d decided on last night and make the vital call.

She turned her back on the collapsed slope and let out a loud sob even as she took steps that would widen the distance between herself and the father of her unborn child.

She placed her hand on her belly and sobbed as she placed one foot in front of the other. Over the ridge and into the next drainage. Up another hill. Then, and only then, could she make the call that would end this nightmare.

But with Xavier gone, the nightmare would never be truly over.

Chapter Thirty-Five

“Holy shit. We have a mudslide on the east hillside,” Palmer said to the team gathered in the lodge.

Chris bolted to his feet. “How far from the route Rivera and Kendrick were taking?”

“Close. Possibly on the route.”

“Not a random act of nature, then.”