“It was nothing really. Tuesday one of the custodians was changing a fluorescent tube over my monitoring station. He lost his balance, and he and the ladder fell on top of me.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. It knocked me out for a few minutes, but other than a bad headache, a small cut on my back, and a few bruises, I’m fine.” She looked up at him and smiled. “After a mother grizzly bear, a man with a ladder is hardly worth talking about.”

“Good.”

He picked up the bolt cutters. “Hold out your arm.”

“What are you doing?”

“Nicky, we’re leaving tonight. You’re coming with us. It’s getting too dangerous.”

“But—you said you needed me in Central Control. Hasn’t the information I’ve been sending you been valuable?”

“Extremely so. But we’re pulling out now. The lives of too many people are at stake, yours included.”

As he stepped toward her, raising the cutters, she grabbed his arm. “Now more than ever you need someone in Central Control. Isn’t that true?”

“No. We need you with—”

“It is true. I’m terrified every moment, but if that’s where you need me, that’s where I’ll stay.”

Eric stared at her for a long moment, set the cutters on a chair, and took her by the shoulders. “Nicky, I wish there was time to say all this just right, but there’s not. So here it is, straight out. I want you to come with me. I don’t care how much we need you in Central Control—I can’t leave you there any longer. I won’t risk losing you. Do you understand that?”

Nicole’s lips parted softly as she looked up into his face, wanting so much to believe what she thought she was hearing. “Eric, I—”

He shook his head, then put his arms around her and gently pulled her to him. “I’m saying I want you with me. Okay? I want to sit with you in the mountains again, talk about trivial things, throw pebbles in the river. I don’t want to take any chances of that not happening.”

She tipped her head back and looked up into his face. “I’d like that too, Eric. Very much.”

A sudden urgent knock behind them spun Eric around and brought a sharp bark from Cricket. He unlocked the door and yanked it open, and Clayne Robertson thrust his head in.

“Eric, we’ve got to get out of here. They’re coming!”

“What?”

“The radio’s gone wild. They know you’re here. Every available unit is on its way here right now. Let’s go!”

Nicole stood rooted in place. “Clayne?” she cried in shocked surprise.