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Arapahoe Junction, Colorado

October 15

"I know I'm late, dammit." Alex Graham's hand clenched on her cell phone. "I'll get those pictures to you as soon as I can."

"You'd get them to me sooner if you'd stop working in the rubble and start taking pictures of those rescue workers whose job it is to do it," Jim Karak said sarcastically. "Old news is no news, Alex. That dam broke almost a week ago and the magazine goes to press in two days."

"They're still digging survivors from the landslide caused by the dam break."

"Then you should be taking warm, heroic pictures instead of manning a shovel. You're breaking one of the cardinal rules. You're becoming part of the story."

"There may be people alive beneath that-" It was no use. Karak had one priority and that was the story. "You'll get the pictures." She hung up and leaned back against the wall and rubbed her temple. God, she was tired. She'd be lucky if Karak didn't call her back and tell her to find another magazine to publish her work. She wasn't being fair and certainly not professional. If she hadn't had a decent track record before this, Karak would have dumped her days ago.

"Problems?" Sarah Logan and her dog, Monty, were standing in the doorway of the trailer.

"A few." Alex grimaced as she rose to her feet. "It seems I'm not doing my job. I'm not focusing on what's important."

"You could have fooled me." Sarah filled Monty's bowl with water and sat down on the floor beside him while he drank. "We found a baby alive in that hellhole this morning. I'd say that was pretty important."

"Me too." Alex smiled. "Screw Karak."

Sarah didn't return her smile. "I don't want you to lose your job, Alex. I know how much your work means to you. There are other volunteers out there helping to dig."

Alex lifted her brows. "Oh, then you have too much help?"

"You know there's no such thing in a disaster like this. We have to work fast or- Okay, we need you. I just don't want you to be hurt. God knows there's enough pain in this world."

And Sarah Logan witnessed a good deal of it, Alex thought. She and her golden retriever, Monty, were in a canine search-and-rescue team, and Alex had run across her on half a dozen disaster sites during the last five years. In the horror of natural and man-made tragedies, a strong bond of friendship had been forged. "I'll be okay."

"Your editor is right. This isn't your job." She shook her head. "Look at you. You're covered in dirt from head to toe. Your hands are bleeding from that shovel and you haven't slept in twenty-four hours."

"Have you?"

Sarah ignored the question. "And it's more than your hands that are bleeding. Take a step back, Alex. It will break you if you get too close to it. Believe me, I know."

"It's not as though I haven't been to other disaster sites."

"But then you weren't as involved. You were taking photographs and helping in the first-aid tent. You weren't uncovering the bodies of people you hoped would be alive'"

She didn't want to think of those bodies. There had been too many in the last few days. "Yet you do it all the time. You could stay home and live soft, and yet every time there's a call, you and Monty are off and running. I'm surprised your husband doesn't raise hell."

"He doesn't like it, but he understands." Sarah frowned. "But we're not talking about me. I've watched you work and there's no one more dedicated. You love what you do and you've told me a dozen times that your job is to tell the story. Don't get sidetracked."

"I'm not sidetracked. I'll get it done." She bent down and stroked Monty's soft fur. "I just can't- I'll get it done."

Sarah stared at her, troubled. "I don't think you should accept assignments like this anymore. I've seen it coming since Ground Zero, but it's getting worse. You've… changed."

Steel and concrete and that stinging smoke that seemed to cover the world like a shroud.

"Ground Zero changed all of us."

Sarah and Monty crawling among the ruins while Alex watched helplessly.

Sarah and Alex holding desperately to each other while the tears poured down their faces.

Sarah nodded. "But I had someone to go home to while I healed. I should have made you come with me."

"Life had to go on. I had to go on." She shrugged. "And if I took some baggage with me, then that's the way it had to be. I'm usually okay. This one is rough. It's brought back too many memories."

"But it's not the same," Sarah said gently. "We've found survivors here, Alex. Seventy-two so far."

"That's not enough," she whispered. "It's never enough. I can't stand by and let-" She cleared her throat and changed the subject. "Is it your rest time?"

Sarah shook her head. "I just had to get Monty some water. My canteen was empty. We still have a few hours to work until dark. It's less dangerous for Monty if he can see clearly what's out there." She paused. "But we've just had two bits of good news. The President is coming here next week."

"It's about time. Vice President Shepard was here the day after the dam break."

"Yeah, I was impressed. But it's when the President shows up that FEMA and all the aid organizations get a boost."

"That's good." She made a face. "Maybe I can convince Karak I was only waiting for Andreas to show up so that I could give him a really big story." She shook her head. "Nah, I'm no good at lying. Besides, security is so tight around the President right now that I wouldn't get within a mile of him." "I'm surprised he's coming at all. There was a bombing at the embassy in Mexico City last night."

"The same terrorist group?"

Sarah nodded. "Matanza claimed it. And an effigy of Andreas was left burning on the lawn."

"Bastards." It was the third embassy attack by the Guatemalan terrorist group in the last six months. If it wasn't the Middle East, it was Guatemala or Venezuela. Juan Cordoba and his Matanza group had always been rabid revolutionaries in their own country, but now-fueled by drug money and Al Qaeda support-they had grown powerful enough to take aim at Andreas and the administration that was trying to stabilize the party in power. It seemed impossible to Alex that there had ever been a time when her country hadn't been surrounded by terror and ugliness and threats. Yet she could remember a childhood filled with trust and innocence and the belief that nothing really bad could come knocking on her door. The memory filled her with frustration and anger and immense sadness. "I hope your second bit of good news is better than your first."

"Hey, you have to take the bitter with the sweet. At least Andreas isn't letting anyone scare him into ignoring people who need him. He should be safe enough visiting this site. All the evidence points to a natural disaster here." She smiled. "And the preliminary report on the ground on the other side of the dam says it appears to be fairly stable. They're sending some teams up there tomorrow morning to do a final check. When the landslide buried this area, they were afraid the ground on the other side might be compromised."

"Jesus. That's all these poor people need. Another landslide."

"They tried to evacuate everyone from that area just for safety's sake. But it looks like they can go back home." Sarah stroked Monty's head. "Time to go back to work, boy." She stood up and headed for the door. "And it's a good time for you to take some photographs."

"How bossy can you get?" Alex followed her and stood in the doorway, gazing out at the disaster site. Every time she looked at the devastation it made her sick. The Arapahoe Dam had broken five days earlier and the water had rushed down into the valley below, killing over a hundred and twenty people. But the series of landslides caused by the explosive force of the water on either side of the valley was the horror they were dealing with now. The rock slides had buried the homes and businesses of Arapahoe Junction under tons of rock, and the area was still so unstable the rescue had to be done painstakingly by hand, not machine. Her glance shifted across the jagged wreck of the dam to the hills on the other side. The rocky terrain looked blessedly sturdy in a shaky world.

Christ, she was glad there wasn't going to be another horror piled on top of this one.

"Stop looking at it," Sarah called back to her. "Take those photos."

Sure, take the pictures. Ignore the fact that there might be more people alive under those rocks.

"Promise me," Sarah said.

"I promise. I'll take the damn photos. I'll get them and send them out today." She grabbed her shovel, which was leaning against the trailer. As Sarah had said, there was still light and the job on this side of the gorge was monumental. "But not now. I can't do it now…"

It was late afternoon when Alex stopped working and went back to the trailer to get her camera.

She'd cut it close and she'd have to work fast to get the photos before dark. Well, if she didn't get all she needed she'd improvise.

A helicopter was descending at the first-aid tent a few hundred yards away from the trailer and she waved at Ken Nader, the pilot, as he got out of the aircraft.

He waved back and called, "I brought you that special lens to replace the one you said you damaged."

"Thanks. I don't need it right now. I'll be over later to get it." She turned and started up the hill.

The hillside was still crawling with men and women carefully picking away at the rocks. She'd gotten to know a few of them this week as they'd worked side by side. Janet Delsey was a resident of the town that had been buried beneath the landslide. She'd been in Denver when the tragedy happened. She worked in the local library, and her parents had not been found yet.

Alex focused and took the picture.

Bill Adams was a truck driver who had been passing through when he'd heard about the dam. He'd parked his rig and volunteered to help.

She snapped the picture.

Carey Melway was a college student, full of idealism and hope, who had come down from Salt Lake City. Alex had watched him change from a kid to an adult in these last few days.

She took the picture.

She took four rolls of film in the next hour. The volunteers, the canine rescue teams, the flooded gorge.

"You left it a little late." Sarah was carefully making her way down the side of the mountain, followed by Monty. "Are you going to have enough material?"

"Too much." She looked at Janet Delsey again. "Do you think she has any chance of finding her parents alive?"

"A chance, if we can get to them in time. At least this isn't a mud slide. There are pockets of air beneath those rocks." She motioned for Monty. "I have to get down and feed him his dinner and vitamins. Are you almost finished?"

Alex shook her head. "I've got most of the human-interest shots, but I need a photograph that tells the big story, the scope of the rescue operation."

She waved her hand. "Good luck. You'll need it."

Sarah was right. It was difficult to encompass the full depth of a tragedy when you were on top of it.

On top of it.

Her gaze flew across the gorge. The terrain was higher there and it probably afforded a view of both the flooded valley and the workers laboring on the landslide. Sarah had said they were ninety percent sure the ground over there was safe. If she could get across the gorge.

She couldn't walk across it or swim across it. Which left only one other means of transportation.

She turned and hurried down the slope toward the firstaid tent.

The helicopter circled and then dipped closer to the trees. "If that ground looks even a little wobbly, I'm not leaving you here," Ken Nader told Alex grimly. "You got the aerial shots. That should be enough for you. I don't know why I let you talk me into this."

"Because you're a good guy and you knew I had to have these pictures. And you can see it's safe here. The worst that can happen to me is if I fall down that slope into the floodwaters." She grinned as she stowed her camera in her backpack. "And if I'm that clumsy, then I deserve to drown. Just go back to the first-aid tent in case they have an emergency and pick me up in an hour."

"You'd better be here." He set down in a glade in the trees. "I don't like this, Alex."

"It will be fine. I'm not stupid. I don't take chances." She jumped out of the helicopter. "Thanks, Ken." She adjusted her backpack with her equipment, waved, and turned away. "One hour…"

It took her fifteen minutes before she could get out of the forest and start climbing the hill toward the huge red rock on the pinnacle she'd seen from the other side of the gorge.

The sun was going down and twilight was hovering. Hurry. Get up there before it's dark.

She was quickly loading and adjusting her camera in the last few minutes before she reached the pinnacle.

Now, if she had enough light…

Oh, my God.

The entire valley was spread before her. The tops of houses drowned in the floodwaters below. Moving lanterns and floodlights dotted the site of the landslide. Men and women looking small and helpless as ants trying to stop the death and destruction.

She drew a deep, shaky breath, raised the camera, and took the picture.

Then she took another and another.

She didn't stop until it was fully dark and she could see only the lanterns and floodlights.

How long had she been here? she wondered as she repacked her equipment and started down the hill. Probably too long, but she hadn't heard Ken's helicopter, so she still had time to get to the glade. He'd wait anyway. In spite of his threat, he wouldn't leave her there.

Her pace quickened when she heard the rotors of the helicopter. Strange, she hadn't seen the aircraft lights when she'd been looking out over the gorge. She supposed it could have been circling and come in from the east, but she couldn't

"There's Powers. Hurry up, for God's sake." A man's voice, harsh, rough, coming from around the turn on the trail ahead.

She stopped in surprise. What the hell? It couldn't be a camper in this time of crisis, but it could be one of the engineers or scientists who had been examining the remains of the dam. She slowly moved closer.

"That's it. Let's go." Another voice, deeper, guttural. "Keep your flashlight on to guide him in."

The helicopter was louder, descending, almost overhead.

Still no lights.

Something was definitely not as it should be.

She edged into the trees as she rounded the bend. Two men were standing in the clearing where Ken had dropped her, their flashlights held shoulder-high. A helicopter was now hovering close to the ground.

As it landed, a bright light pierced the darkness. Her gaze flew to the sky. Ken's helicopter. The other helicopter had been so close she hadn't noticed the sound of Ken's approach.

But she saw it now. Ken's lights beamed down on the helicopter and the men on the ground, lighting the glade with daylight clarity. It illuminated not only the men's features but the rage and the fear in their expressions.

One man was shouting at the pilot. She couldn't hear the words, but she saw the pilot lift a rifle.

My God, he was pointing

A fiery explosion lit the sky as the bullet hit Ken's helicopter's gas tank.

"No!" She didn't know she screamed the word until the taller man whirled to face the trees where she was standing.

She ran.

She heard an oath and then a crashing in the bushes behind her.

She zigzagged through the trees.

Don't go up the trail. She'd be trapped on the pinnacle.

Down the slope toward the flooded valley.

A bullet whistled by her ear.

They were closer.

Her chest was heaving as she struggled for breath.

The slope was steep here, and she lost her footing and slid ten feet down the incline.

"We don't have the time. Powers wants us out of here. Get back to the helicopter and let it bury the bitch."

She risked a look over her shoulder as she got to her feet. The men had turned and were climbing back up the slope. Then they were out of sight.

She couldn't believe that they'd just abandoned the hunt and gone back up the slope. She had to get to the bottom of the hill and try to get across the flooded valley.

But why had they left? Why had they run out of time? Let it bury the bitch.

Bury.

Let it bury- Jesus.

The ground rumbled and then moved beneath her feet.

She glanced up at the top of the hill. Huge rocks were tumbling toward her down the hill.

Landslide.

It would be on her in seconds. No time to get out ofthe way. Bury the bitch.

Bury the bitch.

She'd be damned if she'd let those bastards bury her. Screw them.

She tore off her backpack and dropped it to the ground.

She ran to the edge of the slope and jumped the thirty feet into the floodwaters below.

St. Joseph's Hospital

Denver, Colorado

She knew where she was the moment she opened her eyes. Lord, she hated hospitals. They reminded her of that night when her father

"Hey, it's about time you woke up." Sarah Logan smiled down at her. "How do you feel?"

How did she feel? She hurt all over and she was seeing Sarah through a haze. "Dizzy."

"You should be. You got clunked by some debris that washed up on that roof you were clinging to and got a dandy concussion. You've been unconscious for almost twenty-four hours."

"Water?"

"You don't remember?"

She tried to concentrate through the pain. Swimming. She had been swimming. Dirty water. She had tried to climb to the top branches of a tree jutting out of the flood, but the branch had broken. She vaguely remembered managing to clamber to the roof of one of the housetops. "Some of it. I don't remember being hit on the head. Is that all that's wrong with me?"

"Bruises everywhere. Exposure. You must have been in that water for hours before they spotted you on the roof. You're a mess." She took Alex's hand. "And you're going to have to explain to the authorities how you got that way. Ken Nader's helicopter blew up and crashed in a glade across the dam. Do you know anything about it?"

A rifle lifting, aiming at Ken s helicopter. A fiery explosion that lit the sky.

"They shot him."

Sarah stiffened. "What? Who shot him?"

"There were three men. I think… it was the pilot who shot him. They did it… I couldn't believe it." She closed her eyes. Running. Slipping and sliding down the slope.

Bury the bitch.

Her lids flew open. "Landslide. There was a landslide, wasn't there? Was anyone else hurt?"

Sarah shook her head. "But the entire area is buried under a mountain of rock."

"They wanted it buried. They did something…"

"What?"

"I don't know. Dynamite? No, it wasn't an explosion. I heard a low rumble and then the rocks- I don't know what they did."

"No one heard an explosion. Not after the helicopter crashed."

"They did it. I know they did it."

"I'm not saying they didn't. I'm saying no one heard it." "You believe me?"

"I'm scared to believe you. I hope you'll go back to sleep and when you wake up you'll tell me this was a bad dream. If you don't, then, yes, I'll believe you." She patted Alex's hand. "I've got to go back to the site. It's time for my shift. You get some rest. After this is over, I want you to come home with me and recuperate. You'll like our place. It's on the ocean and it's very peaceful."

"How's the rescue operation going?"

"Okay. Three more canine rescue teams arrived yesterday, and they're a big help." She paused. "We found Janet Delsey's parents. They're both dead."

"Damn." She felt the tears sting her eyes. "God, I'm sorry." "We all are."

She swallowed hard to ease the tightness of her throat. "I need to get back. When can I get out of here?"

"A day or two. You'll have to talk to the police first. They want to make out a report on the helicopter crash."

"Murder. It was murder."

"Then tell them that." She leaned forward and brushed a kiss on Alex's forehead. "I'm glad you're still in one piece. You scared me."

"I want to see the police now."

"I'll call them when I leave. Though I think you should give it a few hours."

"It's been too long already." Her lips tightened. "Ken would be alive now if I hadn't asked him to take me over that gorge and pick me up. I want those bastards caught. I can't let them-" She inhaled sharply as a thought occurred to her. "If they set off that landslide, couldn't they have started the other one that buried the entire town?"

Sarah nodded grimly. "A very nasty possibility. But no one's found traces of any sabotage. I hope to hell you're wrong."

"I do too. Why would anyone…" She shook her head. "I can't think. Nothing makes sense."

"Rest. You're still pretty woozy. Just tell the police what happened and let them put the pieces together."

She didn't know if she could do anything else, Alex thought wearily. Her head was pounding and all she could see was Ken's helicopter exploding "Thanks for coming,

Sarah."

"Hey, we're friends. You'd have been here for me. May I do anything else for you?"

"Camera… Lost my camera… Could you get me a replacement and special lenses until I'm able to choose one for myself?"

"Sure. I know what you use. And I may do such a good job of choosing one for you that you'll decide to keep it." Sarah moved toward the door. "Now I've got to go collect Monty from the security guard in the gift shop downstairs before he's spoiled rotten. Everyone in the gift shop was giving him belly rubs." She glanced back over her shoulder. "I'll be back tomorrow morning. If you need me, call me on my cell phone."

"I know what kind of pressure you're under. You don't have to come back here."

Sarah grinned. "I don't have to do anything. I'll see you tomorrow."

"It's quite a story," Detective Dan Leopold said. "Is that all, Ms. Graham?"

"Isn't it enough?" The detective had been polite but totally noncommittal as Alex told him what had happened at the dam. "For God's sake, they murdered Ken Nader. They may have been responsible for that landslide that buried the town. Don't you believe me?"

"Easy. I didn't mean to upset you." He added earnestly, "And I think there's every chance there's substance to your story. You're a photojournalist who's been in some rough spots, and you're used to accurately reporting what you see. It's just that we'll have a few problems verifying."

"What problems?"

"First, no one saw a second helicopter in the area." "I told you, there were no lights."

"Two, Nader's helicopter crashed in the glade, and if there was any evidence of a second helicopter being there, the resulting fire must have destroyed it. Three, we haven't found a conclusive cause for the explosion." He paused. "No bullet was found."

"Were you looking for one?"

"Na, good point. But our forensic team isn't stupid. They look for everything. Naturally, I'll tell them to go back and see if they can find anything that would corroborate what you've told me."

"Dammit, I saw it."

He nodded. "You also thought the same perpetrators started the landslides. Why would they do that?"

"How the hell do I know?"

"We've been told by the experts that the slide was probably caused by an aftershock to an area that was already unstable."

"What? They just issued a report that there was a ninety percent chance the area was stable."

"But not a hundred percent chance. They said they could have been wrong. We found no trace of explosive devices."

"Look again. And look at Arapahoe Junction."

"We will. I'm just telling you how it is." His lips tightened grimly. "There's no way we wouldn't delve as deep as we can when it concerns a tragedy of that magnitude. Since the World Trade Center catastrophe, everyone is being damn careful. But there have been FBI, politicians, engineers, and scientists by the carload all over that site, trying to find out what happened to cause that dam break and the ensuing landslide. No one found any signs of sabotage. There were readings on the seismograph machines in San Francisco indicating a possible four-point-two earthquake in this area the night the dam broke."

"It happened," she said through her teeth. "I don't know about the dam or Arapahoe Junction, but I know that second landslide was caused by the same men who killed Ken Nader."

"Then I'm sure we'll find some evidence to prove it. You said they called the pilot Powers? We'll try to trace him. I'll check out everything you've told me." He stood up. "I'll do my best. I'd like you to come to the precinct tomorrow and look through the mug books and databases of suspected terrorists. Will you do that?"

"You bet I will."

"Don't get your hopes up. You'll have to get lucky to find them."

"I have to try." She met his gaze. "You have to try too. You can't let them get away with it. You're not even sure I'm telling the truth, are you?"

"I'm sure you think you are." He wearily shook his head. "Look at it from my point of view. You've been in the hospital for two days suffering from concussion. Isn't it possible that you might not remember things exactly as they occurred? It's happened before with head-injury victims."

"No, it's not possible."

He smiled. "Okay. It wouldn't have made any difference anyway. I'd still do my job. Come on, Jerry, let's get out of here."

The lanky young sergeant in the corner, who'd been silent throughout the interview, rose to his feet. "Good night, Ms. Graham, I hope you feel better."

"Thank you."

"I'll see you tomorrow at the precinct," Detective Leopold said.

"Oh, I'll be there."

"Pretty crazy stuff," Jerry Tedworth said to Leopold as soon as they'd left the hospital room. "Do you believe her?"

"She makes it hard for me not to. She's smart and she's strong and she absolutely believes what she's telling us."

"Like you said, she's had a bad knock on the head."

"Wishful thinking. I hope to hell she didn't get it right." "Why not?"

"Because if Arapahoe Junction and the dam were also targets, that would mean mass murder. Who commits mass murder? It takes a special kind of criminal. Nuts. Sociopaths. Terrorists. We don't want to have to deal with a case like that." He punched the button at the elevator. "We'd better hope she's just having hallucinations."

Breathe deep. Calm down.

Her head was pounding and Alex forced herself to unclench her fists. All this emotion wasn't going to help anything. Leopold hadn't been out of line in suspecting she might not have all her marbles at present. At least he had listened and promised he'd check into everything she'd told him. But it didn't stop the anger and frustration she was feeling.

Anger and frustration and this haunting antiseptic smell of a hospital room.

Dad…

She quickly blocked the memory. Don't think about her father. Jesus, she had to get out of here. She didn't need that wound ripped open. Well, tomorrow she'd go to the police station and see if she could identify any pictures in the mug books.

If they were there, she'd know them. Every feature of those faces was engraved permanently on her memory.

"She's being discharged tomorrow," Lester said as soon as Powers answered the phone. "Two police detectives were there to see her tonight."

Powers muttered an oath. "You should have gotten to her while she was unconscious."

"I told you, her room's right next to the nurses' station. I couldn't do it without being noticed. I'll find a way to put her down tomorrow."

"You'd better. If you'd been on time, I wouldn't have had to take down that helicopter. And, dammit, she can recognize me."

He didn't care that the woman could also recognize both him and Decker, Lester thought. "Maybe you shouldn't have come along."

"And trust the two of you to do the job right? I had to be sure. It's too important. I'm the one who has to report to Betworth."

Bastard. "Well, you can trust me to do this one. I'll let you know when she's no longer a problem." He hung up.

He leaned back against the brick wall and looked up at the seventh floor of St. Joseph's Hospital. Too bad he hadn't been able to reach Graham before she talked to the police.

Oh, well, he was used to doing damage control.

Sarah was waiting for Alex when she came out of the police station late the next afternoon. She was still wearing her work clothes and had obviously come straight from the site. "Any luck?"

Alex wearily shook her head. "It seemed as if there were thousands of faces… They were all blurring together. But I'll be coming back."

"I know you will." Sarah unlocked her car door and motioned for Monty to get in the backseat. "That's a given. When?"

"Tomorrow." She got into the passenger seat. "I'll need to pick up my rental car at Arapahoe Junction so that I'll be mobile. May I go back with you?"

Sarah nodded. "That's why I'm here. I thought you'd want to go back." She pulled away from the curb. "Why don't you try to nap on the way up there? You probably shouldn't even be out of the hospital yet."

"You're the one who should be sleeping." Alex glanced back at the golden retriever, who was stretched out on the backseat. "Like Monty."

"He needs it. Monty's the one who does the work. I just go along for the ride."

"Yeah, sure." Alex stared unseeingly out the window. "Leopold isn't sure that I'm not imagining everything. He says there's no proof. Do you believe me, Sarah?"

"Damn straight I do. I called John after I left you last night. He's going to try to light a fire under the FBI team who's doing the investigation at the dam."

If anyone could do that, it was Sarah's husband, John Logan, Alex thought. He was a billionaire whose influence stretched from the political elite of Washington to Wall Street. "Good. Though I don't know what the hell they're going to find at the dam that they didn't before. They went over that entire area with a fine-tooth comb." She rubbed her temple. "But maybe they'll be able to find the helicopter and pilot."

"That's possible." Sarah gave her a sideways glance. "Now stop thinking and close your eyes, dammit."

"What else did Logan say?"

"Quite a bit." She made a face. "He said for me to go home.

He said it was bad enough that he had to worry about me on disaster sites, but he wasn't about to let me run around with scumbags blowing up dams."

"And you said?"

"Nothing. He didn't expect me to cave. I told him I'd be home when the job was done." Her expression became shadowed. "Which may be pretty soon. I think they're going to change the status at Arapahoe from rescue to recovery tomorrow. They say there's not much chance of there being anyone left alive."

"Shit."

"Right." She drew a deep breath. "But even if the job is done, I'm not leaving you alone here. If you won't come home with me, I'm staying with you."

"No, I can't blame your husband for being worried. He's right. You have enough on your plate without worrying about me."

"Shut up," Sarah said. "We've discussed this before." "I'm not your responsibility."

Sarah didn't answer.

God, she was stubborn.

Stubborn, loyal, and brave, and the best friend a woman could have. All good reasons to get her to go home to her husband and leave Alex to solve her own problems. But Alex couldn't argue with her right now. She was so exhausted she could barely put two sentences together. She leaned her head back against the seat rest. "We'll talk later."

Sarah chuckled. "That's what John said, and in exactly that tone." She switched on the headlights as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. "And I'll tell you what I told him. Don't mess with me or I'll sic my dog on you."

Alex found herself smiling as she repeated, "We'll talk later."

"Go to sleep. It's going to be another hour or so before we get to the site."

Alex doubted she could sleep, but she fell silent, gazing out at the rolling foothills through which they were driving. This was wonderful country. Purple shadows, white peaks in the distance, such a beautiful place. Terrible things shouldn't happen in beautiful places like this…