“If you prefer, I can shoot you in the leg and you can suffer in agony, but you’ll still be with me. I’ll keep you alive until I no longer need you.”

Grimacing, she climbed into the helicopter, which was no easy task with bound wrists.

Marcus piloted the helicopter, which lifted straight up, then started west toward Stone Wolf Mountain’s silhouette, dark against a moonlit sky. Terra could only bide her time. When he landed at the airport, she would refuse to get on that plane. Others would be nearby. Even if he shot her for resisting, she could get help there. But her father was far from emergency services.

But please, God, oh, God, save my dad.

A warning signal blared, joining a blinking red light. The engine sputtered.

“What’s that?” Terra asked, a new fear winding around her heart.

Expletives poured from the man’s mouth. “We’re losing altitude.”

The rotors slowed. “What’s going on?”

“Shut up!”

“Engine failure? We’re going to crash?”

“Not if I can help it. Now shut up!” He pointed the nose of the helicopter downward.

Terra yelped.

They sped toward the ground, rotating as they went. At the last minute, would he pull the helicopter upward to land it?

Except there was no flat ground on which to land.

Only trees below them.

Terra glanced out the side window and looked at the starry night. Were these the last moments of her life? She took in the view below, barely illuminated by the helicopter’s lights. The trees, the ground, were much too close.

She twisted until she was able to open the door with her still-bound hands.

“What are you doing?” Marcus grabbed her. “You have a better chance of surviving inside.”

“But the trees. There’s no place to land.”

“Whatever happens, a crash is survivable. You hear me? I know from experience. I’ve survived both a helicopter crash and a plane crash, so don’t worry. This helicopter was designed to absorb the impact and protect you. That said, you need to brace yourself for a hard landing.”

This man who’d forced her here at gunpoint, who’d shot her father, who thought himself invincible suddenly had a heart?

The helicopter dipped until the rotors chopped trees and a path through them to the ground, screaming and twisting all the way down. Terra squeezed her eyes shut, gritted her teeth, and prayed under her breath, her heart pounding like it would escape her chest.

The impact jarred her. Then she felt nothing. Saw nothing.

“Wake up. Get up.”

Terra fought off the words, the pain. Someone shook her.

She groaned, then opened her eyes. Marcus stood over her. She’d hoped that it had all been a bad dream.

“I told you it was survivable. Now get up.”

“Why do you care if I survive?”

“I need you more than ever now.” He took a step back.