Fucker.
I let out the breath I’m holding and nod. Bastian grabs a flat rock and starts digging out my arm first and then my leg. With both arms free, I can help with the last part. Once I can stand again, Bastian pushes against my shoulder, and it pops back into the socket as I wince.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’m good.” I look him over as my whole arm throbs. I know the pain he’s feeling is much worse. “Your leg is a mess.”
He glances down, and I wonder if there is any chance he’ll be able to keep the leg. It looks completely crushed.
“How are you going to climb?” I ask.
“I’ll manage. How are you going to get out of here?”
“I’ll manage.” I give him a smile and a raised eyebrow. He laughs and looks down the mountainside.
“Keep out of sight,” he says, surprising me with his concern.
“I’m pretty good at that.” I lick my lips and stare at him. “You’re going to tell them I’m dead, right?”
“That’s the plan,” he says. “I don’t think they’re going to spend much time looking for you.”
“They won’t,” I agree. I think about my Barrett sniper rifle, abandoned at the bottom of the cliff. “Rinaldo knows me too well.”
Bastian looks as if he’s about to ask what I mean, but his attention is directed at his leg again. He tries to set it on the ground and lean into it, but he nearly falls. Balancing himself, he reaches for his waist, and I tense as he brings out a long bolt. He must have retrieved it from the dude with the crossbow.
I relax as he holds it up against his leg, checking the length. It will make a pretty decent splint.
“I can do that,” I say as he starts looking for something to hold the bolt to his leg. He looks at me suspiciously, and I shrug. “I do have some training as a medic.”
I set his leg with the bolt and the wire he’d tried to garrote me with a few hours ago. It works better than I expect, and I think it will at least give him a fighting chance. That’s all he seems to require.
“It’s going to have to be reset,” I tell him. “A few more hours, and it’ll have to be broken again to get it to heal right.”
“I’ll deal with that when I get to the bottom of the mountain.”
“Yeah, I was wondering how you were going to do that,” I say as I look down the steep slope. “I’m going up and over, away from where they might try to land a helicopter.”
“You know there’s no other way off this island,” he says. “It’s not like you can swim it.”
“I have an idea,” I respond. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I’m not,” he says. “I don’t give a shit about you, but I do have a vested interest in your survival now.”
Again, I am tempted to tell him about our relationship. I’m curious as to how he will react. His eyes narrow at me, as if he’s trying to figure out what I’m thinking. He’s paranoid, but with good reason, I suppose. My brother and I have that in common, too.
I will get off this island, and I will kill Franks for him. I think I’d do it even if we hadn’t made a deal.
“I’m going now,” I tell him.
“You’re not going to make it,” he states as he looks up the side of the mountain.
“Yeah, I will,” I say, making a promise to myself as well as him. “You’ll know it, too—as soon as you hear the news about Franks.”
He nods, but there’s still mistrust in his eyes.
I want to tell him. I want him to know. Just as I have myself convinced, I realize there is no way he’ll believe me.
Instead, I reach out and shake my brother’s hand before I turn and walk away.