Rafferty stared at the canyon wall, pondering the best way to get back to the top. She was still pondering when a black rope snaked out of the fog, and landed in front of her. The other end would be attached to the grappling hook. The one she'd said they didn't need.

Great.

Somewhere above her, Trevor was feeling pretty pleased with himself.

I guess I should be glad he's still alive.

Rafferty grabbed the rope, and started the climb. On the way up, she could hear the arguments.

"You hurt Jason."

"He shouldn't have stood so close. Besides, he's a big boy. I don't hear him complaining."

"Yeah, but maybe if you hadn't just been slashing all willy-nilly then all three of us might have been able to fight together!"

"We still won our fight. If it weren't for Brianna, Sheridan would be in tiny little pieces."

"Why aren't we discussing the obvious?"

"Is Rafferty dead? Are we totally sure she's not dead?"

"I said we couldn't fight in this. I can't even see who I'm arguing with, let alone who I was shooting at!"

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"This was obviously a trap. Even Alex with Malice can't possibly drive around with an exploding decoy van all the time. We need to be talking about this."

"Two of the tires are flat on the pickup. The car's totally unusable."

"You're bitching a lot for someone who didn't even get hurt. My arm is hanging by a thread here."

"I sure didn't tell you two to just go running off!"

"And a lot of help you three were!"

"Hey, it was your Roughcoat buddies who told us to stay in reserve. Now, what do you want us to do with these two?"

"Can somebody who isn't hurt help me with this? Unless you want to stay here, that is."

"I say we chuck 'em in the canyon!"

"We can't do that!"

"Don't you think we should find out what they know?"

"They sure don't look like they know much."

"Which way did they drive? Did anyway see?"

"Hey, Rafferty's not dead!"

Rafferty's appearance briefly stopped the arguments and united the group. Everyone was more or less pleased that she hadn't fallen to her death. She supposed she should be grateful for that.

They filled her in on what happened, and it didn't take long for the arguments to start up again.

Cody and Seth had done fairly well with their van. They had even taken two of Alex's men captive, who were currently being guarded by the Jacks from B Hall. The Roughcoats were hopeful they'd be able to shed some light on Alex's plans. In her exuberance, however, Seth had slashed Jason with her claws, leaving a nasty gash. This did not sit well with Cody or Sheridan.

Sheridan had flipped the second van with a well placed concussive arrow, which had also thrown the driver free. Brianna had managed to peel back part of the roof, but it had revealed there was no one inside. Instead, a crude bomb had been rigged to explode. Because Brianna did so much of her fighting up close with just her hands, her whole outfit was fitted with protective gear. She'd seen the trap just in time, forced Sheridan to the ground, and climbed on top of her. Bits of metal and glass had shredded the back of Brianna's head and neck, but they'd survived. Thankfully, it hadn't been Alex's special explosives.

Blaspheme had found herself in a fire fight with at least six guns in the red van, and still wasn't happy about it. Just as she had found a well covered spot, and thought she might be able to take control of the fight, the van had abruptly turned and driven the other direction.

Katrin had seen Alex jump into the van as it sped off. She was confused, having seen Rafferty knock him off the cliff. She hadn't known about Rafferty's fall until later.

Both of the Hunter's vehicles had been damaged by bullets. Colin seemed to think they could get the pickup going, but it would take a while.

They would be plenty of time for arguments.

Okay. So basically, we didn't win.

Jason and Katrin are bleeding pretty good, and I'm not sure how Brianna is still standing right now.

Everyone is mad at everyone else.

And Alex with Malice is out there somewhere, laughing in the fog.