"How do you get yourself into these things?" He runs a hand through his hair, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. But if he can't get her out of here, and fast, things are about to get really, really bad.
She shrugs, her smile never wavering, if a little sheepish. "I just wanted to know if Thompson's story checked out. If everything he said was true, he walked his property back to front in less than two minutes. Now, I tried it, and I couldn't make it in less than three; this place is huge. And he walks two point five times slower than I do. No way he was telling the truth!" She's aglow with delight, beyond proud of how she's cracked the case wide open, and he almost wants to smile back.
Except, of course, for one tiny detail. "Right, but now you're stuck."
"Stuck on the property of a man who's lying about his alibi, the alibi for, you know, a murder!" He sighs, forcing himself to take a deep breath and try to think. At least she missed the bear trap, but now she's trapped in a hole in the ground, a hole the creep had apparently concealed with leaves, and he has no idea how to reach her. "Why didn't you call for backup?"
Finally, her smile falters. "I called you. I knew you'd help me if I needed it."
Right. She called him. The academy dropout, the guy who can't even save his phone from dying half the time because he can't find his charger. The guy who doesn't belong here, and everybody knows it.
But he's the one who's here, and he can't let her die. Even if he called the bosses right now (and oh, they'd be furious with both of them), there's no way they'd make it in time. Thompson should be back any minute.
Fine then. "Okay. Everything's going to be okay." That's what people say, right, when they're trying to sound calm? "I promise."
Just like that, her smile's back. "I know."
Simple. Steady. Unafraid. She shouldn't believe in him like that, but she does, and it twists inside him in ways he can't explain. Drawing in a breath, he looks around, and his gaze lands on a rope a stone's throw away, up by the house.
In the distance, he hears tires squeal.
He's never been much of a runner, but he starts now, pushing off and launching toward the house without a word. There's no way he can make it, but she needs him to try, and so he forces himself to move. His heart is racing in his chest, and he struggles to keep from looking back. Every step takes-he's sure of it-a lifetime.
At last, he reaches the house, stumbling over the last few steps, and grabs onto the rope. As he turns to run back to her, his gaze catches on the headlights: still far enough away that Thompson may not have seen them, at least, but that won't last long.
He nearly steps on the bear trap himself in his rush back to her side, only barely missing it. Then, he drops one end of the rope, and holds it as tightly as he can as she climbs up.
There's a rush of of relief when she reaches the top, but no time to savor it; the car has almost reached the house, and it won't take Thompson long to notice them. So together they run, as fast as they possibly can, into the nearby woods. At the treeline they hear a startled cry-"Hey, who's there?"-but they don't pause for even a second.
(Later, when they're safely back at the office, she leans back against the wall, gracing him with another one of her beautiful smiles. "Thank you. That was really brave of you."
"I wasn't brave," he protests before he can stop himself. "I was terrified."
"Well, I wasn't." She steps toward him, and for a moment he thinks-well-he's not sure, but his heart is racing once more. She reaches out, gently pushing his glasses back into place, and releases him, walking away with a spring in her step.)
