Liam lifted his hands in surrender, the gun now pointing toward the sky. “All right,” he said, keeping eye contact with Roman. Keeping the man talking while Jaz finished anchoring herself into the mountain with an expertise Liam hadn’t given her enough credit for. “What do you want?”
“Everyone climbs. Even you. Everyone on the mountain is going up to the top. That’s where the media is waiting. No gear. No toys. No partners.” Roman’s hands shook as he spoke. “Everyone goes up! The press covers it. Or I detonate the other charge. Have your pilot relay that to everyone.”
“Where should we all go?” Liam asked. “The original routes ended in different places.”
Roman hesitated.
“How about the summit?” Liam suggested before the man could get agitated from the indecision. “We could all go there. A clear winner. What do you think?”
As Roman considered the suggestion, Jaz detached the helicopter tether from her harness and clipped it to Roman’s. Now she was connected to the mountain and Roman to the chopper, but the detonator and knife were still in Roman’s hold. Her gaze found Liam’s. Darted to the gun. Shoot him, she mouthed.
Liam didn’t hesitate. Twisting the weapon back into his grip, he found the front sight and depressed the trigger in a single smooth motion. The Sig Sauer went bump in his hand, the sound of the discharge echoing over the mountaintops as blood spilled from Roman’s wrist and covered his fingers.
The detonator fell first. Then Roman staggered backward, the knife falling from his hand. As he went over the edge, however, he still took Jaz with him—until the two tethers pulled their bodies apart from each other.
Liam rushed to the edge, grabbing Jaz’s rope to haul her back up. His pulse pounded as he ran his hands over her, the number of things that could have gone wrong now replaying themselves in his mind. In his blood. “You are insane,” he breathed.
“And you’re a decent shot.” She let out a staggered breath. “I didn’t think you’d be able to get his hand without at least grazing me.”
Liam swallowed, brushing her hair from her face, though the wind kept swinging the locks right back onto her sun-kissed skin. “Well, going through you would have been an easier shot, but I just figured we still need to rescue Corey, and I’m certainly not climbing down this thing. So, you know…”
Jaz laughed. He’d just offered that she risk her life again, and she laughed, because she was Jaz, and he finally understood her.
41
Jaz
Jaz shivered in Liam’s arms as all the climbers were evacuated to the base point, where the Clash of the Titans had started only hours ago. The majestic mountains in the background no longer gave off a peaceful feel, and despite her app’s assurance that the temperature was holding steady, she felt cold to the bone. Fortunately, the shivering hadn’t started until Corey was safely airlifted to the trauma center, but now that it had taken hold, it refused to leave her in peace.
She’d started this morning, with one goal: to win a climbing competition. And then, before the sun had fully reached its zenith, she’d just wanted to end the day alive. To ensure that others did too. Even Roman, who, so far as she knew, was now being kept on a psych observation hold. But now that it was over, now that it hit her just how easily things could have gone in the other direction, she was…cold.
Getting ahold of herself, she twisted up to see Liam’s face. They were sitting on the ground, a blanket beneath them, while the climbers with greater injuries were herded toward the waiting ambulance. Checking in with her body, Jaz knew she too was hurt, but it wasn’t terrible. And she didn’t want to deal with it just now. Especially since, in all the excitement, she was yet to find out what the hell Liam had been doing in a chopper to begin with.
“So, want to give me some background to this cinematic rescue?” she asked. “And since when do you wear business suits when jumping out of helicopters?”
“Since I was wearing one while having a chat with Lucius.” Liam picked at the ruined Armani. “The good colonel confirmed that Obsidian Ops blew up my truck, but everything pointed to Roman posing the real danger. So when Lucius told me Roman was your climbing partner, I decided a wardrobe change wasn’t worth the time.”
“So you’re saying you came because Lucius told you to.”
Liam snorted. “Maybe I should put him back on my Christmas card list.” The hint of humor faded from his face. “You have no idea how scared I was that you might get hurt. Hell, I had no idea I could be that scared.”
She bit her lip as everything fell back into place. Liam had pushed her away when he thought it best and then reversed course when new intelligence came in. Despite everything that had happened, nothing had changed between them, even if—for that brief time on the mountain—she’d imagined it had.
Stop moping like a lost puppy… Liam’s voice called in her memories. I’m not the man you need, and you’re certainly not the woman I want.
She pulled away from him, returning herself to reality. To common sense. Liam was doing exactly what he’d promised Kyan he would—trying to protect her. He hadn’t come here for her, he’d come to neutralize a threat. And absent Roman’s antics, he’d still be in Denton Valley.
So if Jaz didn’t want another stab in the heart like she’d received in Liam’s conference room, she needed to put some distance between them.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
“I’m glad you got the word in time,” she said as she stood, straightened her dirt-and-blood-smeared climbing jacket. “Without you, the day would have ended differently. I’m going to go see whether they need anything else from me today and then head back to the hotel.”
Liam rose to stand beside her. “I’ll go with you.”
“You should stay here.” She held out a hand to stop him. “Someone will certainly have more questions for you, and I imagine whose-ever chopper you borrowed will want their toy back.”
“Jaz—” He reached for her, his arms dropping to his sides when she stepped out of reach. “I’m sorry for what I said before. I really am. I thought being near me would put you in danger, so I said whatever I could to make you leave. It wasn’t true. I want to be with you. Like I’ve never wanted to be with anyone.”
“No.” She took another step back from him, gently shaking her head. “What you want is a damsel in distress.”
A devastated look crossed Liam’s face, but Jaz knew better than to fall for that beautiful heart-wrenching gaze again. Liam was who he was. And she was grown up enough now to accept it.
“Do you mind telling Kyan that I’m all right?” she asked briskly. All business. It was the only way of keeping the stinging in her eyes from spilling free. “I know he’s worried, but I’m just not up for reliving everything with him over the phone—and you know he won’t stop pressing until he’s evaluated every detail.”
“Of course.”
“Great.” Jaz made herself smile and held her hand out to shake his, trying not to savor the steady, reliable feel of his palm. “I’ll see you later, then. Thank you again for all you did. Truly. If there’s a way I can repay you, just… Just have someone from Trident Security reach out.”