“Crap,” she sighed. She looked, realized the door was still locked, and reached up. She had to work to get the push-button lock to release. She tried the door handle again and this time she heard a click. She twisted until she rested on her back and pushed with one hand while gripping the door handle. The door moved open a few inches before it jammed into the ground outside. “Double crap.”

“Hey, Doc.” Slade leaned down to peer inside the wreckage at her from the passenger window. “Do you want out? I don’t see any of those ass**les coming down here after us so far.”

“Can you get the door open?”

Slade lifted his head to study it instead of her. “I don’t know. I’m going to have to push against the side to see if I can lift it a few inches because the dirt is loose here and it’s stuck on it.” He paused. “Maybe. Get ready to feel some movement.”

It sunk in what he meant to do when she saw him turn around and plant his feet by the back passenger door. His back pressed against the side of the SUV. She opened her mouth to tell him he wasn’t strong enough to move the SUV even an inch but then the vehicle shifted a little under her. He pushed back enough to tip the SUV away from the ground.

“Push the door,” Slade groaned. “This bitch is heavy.”

Trisha used both hands to shove hard on the door that was a good half inch off the ground. It skidded on the grass and dirt to open another foot. She pushed harder and got another inch maybe. The ground inclined higher. Slade groaned and the SUV shifted again. The door dug hard into the earth under it.

Slade crouched next to the opening and put his head inside between the door and the frame.

“Give me your hands and I’ll pull you out.”

It was only just over a foot of space, maybe sixteen inches at most. She cursed. “I don’t think I’ll fit.”

“I was kidding about thinking you need a diet. Let’s try, sweet thing. I think you can make it. You women always think you are bigger than you really are. It’s more space than you think. Go out sideways.”

Trisha grasped both of Slade’s hands. He slowly started to pull her toward him with her twisting onto her side. Her knees hung up on the front seats but when she bucked a little, it moved her lower legs. Slade pulled on her again. Her head fit through the tight space as she turned it sideways and then her br**sts and back were squeezed. She realized she was stuck. Her br**sts were hanging her up.

“This wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t have such nice boobs,” Slade chuckled. “A flat-chested woman would have slid right through there.”

Trisha shot him a dirty look as she stared at him. “Just pull me out! This isn’t comfy.”

“Take a deep breath and exhale all your air. On the count of three. One. Two. Three.”

Trisha exhaled until her lungs felt as though they were being crushed inside her chest. Slade pulled her free. She gasped in a gulp of air as Slade dragged her a few feet from the SUV.

Slade released her hands before he reached for her again as she lay on the ground. He grabbed her arms just above her elbows and slowly helped her to her feet. He studied her critically before his gaze met hers.

“Can you stand on your own?”

Testing her legs, Trisha nodded. “I’m good.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t say that if you had a mirror. Stay here and let me see if I can get Mouth over there free.”

“His left hand is crushed and his wrist is broken,” Trisha warned. “Try not to touch it or have him put weight on it.”

Trisha looked down since her knee throbbed and saw a tear in her slacks. She bent, fought a moment of dizziness, but it passed. She touched the torn material, stained with blood. She gripped her pants with her fingers and pulled the hole bigger. The material splitting sounded loud to Trisha.

She looked closely at her knee, finding redness and a small laceration that her fingers probed. It was a little bloody but it didn’t need stitches. She straightened to limp around the SUV and knew she would suffer from deep bruising.

The SUV appeared in really bad shape. She assessed the crushed side panels and the dented-down roof. The back of the SUV had taken the worst of it on the crushed roof. There was a large tear near the front driver’s side door and the engine compartment in the front corner had been mangled badly.

She stared at it while Slade opened up the driver’s door. It looked as though they’d smashed into something in the front of the SUV on the way down. Trisha’s guess was a tree, maybe even a few of them from the damage to the entire front section of the vehicle. It was a miracle they were all alive.

She turned her head and stared up the mountain. She couldn’t see the road from where she stood but she could tell where the SUV had rolled before the debris disappeared into dense trees. Broken glass, ripped-off parts of the SUV, and some clothes were scattered in the path of the crash.

She saw her broken suitcase near a tree. It was smashed and torn as if someone had taken an ax to it. She shivered. That could have been her or Slade if either of them had been thrown from the vehicle.

“No!” Bart screamed.

“Be a man,” Slade snarled at him. “You can’t hang there all day. On the count of three I’m going to slice your belt and pull you out. Your ass will fall but I have your head. One. Two—”

“Don’t,” Bart screamed, sounding panicked.

“Three!”

Slade sliced the belt and dragged a howling Bart out of the vehicle. Trisha limped the remaining few feet to the man crying on the ground as Slade released him and stepped back. The look Slade flashed toward Trisha showed pure disgust. Slade shook his head, clenched his teeth, and stormed away.