Leopard's Prey

and rocks pouring down on top of her. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if he fell. She’d managed to keep him on the narrow ledge the last time he’d come plummeting down, but she’d wrenched her shoulder and nearly hadn’t held him safe. It was a nightmare. The sun was thinking about sinking, and no one had come along to investigate. Maybe her car had been stolen and there was no evidence they were even there.
    “No worries.” As usual, Arnaud’s voice was mild, no panic. “We can’t just sit out here all night. We’ve waited for someone to come along, but no one has. This has to be done.” There was absolute conviction—and resolution—in his voice.
    The man wasn’t human. She was panicking—trying not to—but she couldn’t figure out what to do next. Clearly climbing to the top was not feasible, even with the rope and equipment and Arnaud’s excellent climbing abilities. Every foot- and toehold he found disintegrated beneath him. Mini avalanches trickled dirt continually and if he moved, more fell along with rocks. The root he had clipped his carabiner to slowly inched outward, as if that too would fall, and with it the small tree leaning over the embankment. The SUV must have grazed the tree as it tumbled over, and now that too was precarious.
    Even as she thought it, with a horrible roaring sound, the tree tipped over in what looked like slow motion. Dirt and debris pounded down on her. She covered her head, grateful for the helmet, trying to stay as close to the bank as possible and make herself small. The sounds above her were horrible, grating and cracking, the tree groaning and then a terrible, ominous whoosh as the tree began to fall over the side. For a moment it teetered, and then the weight pulled the roots from the bank.
    Bijou instinctively grabbed her flashlight and turned it on, sticking it in her mouth to leave her hands free as she turned from facing the bank, still crouching low and covering her head as more stones and dirt poured down. There was no time for Arnaud to get himself free of the root system. The tree dragged him over the edge and into the murky waters of the bayou. She held firmly to the rope, hoping to feel him come up.
    When he didn’t and there was tension on the rope, she knew he was trapped and she didn’t have much time. She jumped in after him. The water was cold, the odor disgusting, but when her feet didn’t hit bottom, she took her flashlight out of her mouth, drew a deep breath and followed the tree down. She strained to see more than a few inches in front of her. Debris floated all around her, sometimes brushing up against her. Using the rope, she rapidly dragged it toward her, looping it over her arm as she followed it down toward the tree, the tangle of branches and Arnaud.
    Her heart pounded so hard in her chest, she feared it might explode. Going underwater with such poor vision was terrifying. Alligators lurked, and only God knew what else was in that awful cesspool of bacteria. Something solid touched her foot and she whirled around, afraid she might faint from sheer terror. The knobby broken trunk of a cypress tree rose from the floor, one of the branches reaching out with greedy fingers for her.
    Bijou forced herself to keep swimming, looking right and left, trying to find Arnaud in the underworld grove of broken trees. The rope jerked and she kicked harder, following that trail. She swam deeper until she spotted the rope tangled in tree limbs. She struggled through the branches, wondering how Arnaud had ended up
under
the tree instead of on top of it. Her lungs began to burn and she worried she’d have to go back up for air and Arnaud would drown.
    She spotted him thrashing, fighting to get himself free. His hands were at the harness, trying to get it off when the tangle of rope and the branch pinning him to the soft muddy floor prevented him from unlinking the carabiner. She swam fast, now that she had a location, using the rope to help pull her along. The moment she got to him, she pulled the knife from her tool belt and cut him free. Arnaud continued to thrash. His foot was pinned beneath the tree trunk.
    She could see that the rope had wrapped around the tree as it rolled, which had pulled Arnaud beneath it as it sank. She signaled to him and he went still, his gaze wide, clinging to hers. A calm descended over her as she swam to the bottom and examined the problem. She only had seconds now and she would be forced to