“We’ve got company coming,” she gasped.
“Can you grab on to the cable?” he grunted.
Twisting her body, Marley realized the cables to the elevator ran about a foot behind her. Harm swung her back toward them, and her hands scrabbled.
“Got it.”
“I’m gonna disengage my claws on three. When I do, you’re going to swing down fast. I’ll come down the other side and grab you.”
Marley didn’t argue. The Hunter was gaining, his glinting eyes coming closer.
“One, two, three.”
Her body dropped in a rush. Another scream clogged her throat. Her father’s arm came fast around her, stopping her fall again.
“Grab on with both hands. Twist your good foot in the cable. Good girl.”
Her head spun as the blood rushed back out of it, but she clung to the cables as he instructed. She thought dimly of her alleged accelerated healing and wondered how long the miracle was supposed to take, wondered if it had been a one-off thing.
“Whatever you do, don’t let go,” he ordered.
Before she could reply, Harm dropped, twisting in the air with feline grace to land on the Hunter’s back. She could just make out their silhouette as he rode the assassin back to the bottom. They fought with deadly silence, the only evidence of the conflict a series of quiet thumps and thuds, the faint impression of motion below. Or maybe it was louder and she just couldn’t hear for the louder fight above and the blood roaring in her ears. The coppery scent of it clogged her nose. Her own, probably. Her hands ached, beginning to slip as sweat and blood from her abraded hands stole her grip.
Not gonna make it, she thought.
“Heads up, pretty girl. Need a hand?”
Marley blinked, sure she was hallucinating from blood loss. Corin leaned toward her from the ladder bolted to the side of the shaft.
“Anybody ever tell you your timing is impeccable?”
“The ladies say so all the time. Give me your hand.”
Curling her foot tighter in the cable, she stretched a hand toward him. Her fingertips brushed his but didn’t connect. She tried again and the hand still gripping the cable slipped. Her body jerked as she slid another foot down the cable, lost more skin from her palm.
“I can’t reach.”
He shimmied down the ladder another few feet until he was positioned below her. “If you can’t reach, you’re gonna have to jump.”
“Are you nuts?”
“Certifiable,” he agreed. “And you’re part cat. You can do this. You don’t, you’re gonna land in the middle of that fight down there.”
Marley glanced below but couldn’t make out if either man was winning. He was right. If she didn’t try, she was going to fall.
“You got this. C’mon.”
“You better catch me.”
“I am well aware that if I don’t, my own life expectancy will be cut very, very short.” He leaned out from the ladder, into the shaft.
Marley leapt, trying to kick off the cables, but her numbed limbs did nothing but flail. For a long, breathless moment, she was certain she was about to die. Then a hand closed around her wrist, and she slammed against the ladder, jarring her bones. The sudden stop wrenched her shoulders. She didn’t have the breath to grunt at the impact or to utter thanks as Corin dragged her up, fitting her between his body and the ladder.
“Can you climb?” he asked.
Her leg was little more than deadweight. But she couldn’t think of that now, couldn’t think of what permanent damage might’ve been done. If she didn’t get to her position in time to set off the charge, none of them would survive long enough for it to matter.