High Risk

CHAPTER 33

Her brother?

Becki snatched the phone from Marcus. “Colin?”

A slight static buzz echoed over the line. “Bec. I need help. I called Mr. Landers from the school and he put me through to you. He’s sending a team to pick you up. We’re trapped, and Rob’s hurt.”

Confusion rushed her. Last she’d heard, her brother was back home in Saskatchewan. “Where are you? Why are you calling me?”

“It was a surprise—I’m coming to SAR school this summer. My buddy and I figured we’d get in a climb before we have to settle in. It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, just a lark, but it’s socked in so hard I can’t see a thing. Rob slipped and fell—I think his leg is broken.”

The confusion was still there, but Becki pulled herself back into routine. Somewhere in the background Marcus was moving, but all her focus was on the phone call and what they needed here and now. “Colin, I need you to give me short answers. Are you hurt?”

“No. Rob is.”

“Where are you?” How he’d tracked her down didn’t matter at this point.

“In the Needles. I told Mr. Landers that, and I gave him our GPS location. You brought me here, remember? The summer after you graduated?”

Oh God. That area was fabulous on a clear day, a hellish maze when the weather turned. Becki swallowed her fears, strode to the door, and jerked it open. Here in the cabin they were above the clouds, the peaks opposite them clearly visible, but everything below them was shrouded in thick cloud cover. It must have crept in over the past hour.

“Is Rob okay?”

“I made him as comfortable as I can, but I don’t want to move him too much. We’re on a narrow lip, Bec. He was heading out on second lead and slipped before he set his first anchor.”

“Enough. Is your platform solid?”

He hesitated, and her heart tightened. “I think so.”

If David was sending the chopper, the soonest it could arrive at the cabin was thirty minutes. Adding travel time to the drop site, and hiking in? “Colin, you’ve got at least a two-hour wait for us to come get you.”

She didn’t even mention the trouble they might have finding the boys. In the distance the wind stirred the clouds like some witches’ brew and she shivered, terror creeping up her spine.

“We’ll wait. Anything else I should do?”

Becki wanted to tell him something to reassure him, but she was losing control. Standard rescue responses—those she could do. Thinking this was her kid brother buried in the fog on the side of a mountain? That was enough to make her nauseated.

Focus on facts. “Set a couple of anchors. Rope both you and Rob up tight.”

“I can try to lower him—”

“No,” she shouted. Oh my God, no. She forced herself to dial her panic down a notch. “Don’t try to climb up or down, just tie yourself to the rock right where you are. Got it?”

“Okay.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise. Becki? Thank you.” All his usual cocky arrogance had vanished.

Sheer panic loomed, but she didn’t let any of it sound in her voice. “You’re so much trouble, brat. Now give me your number, then stay off the line. We’ll call you when we get close enough that you can guide us in.”

She hung up the phone and twirled to face Marcus. “How much did you catch?”

“Your brother is lost somewhere in the Palliser Range and David’s contacted my team. They’re on their way here.”

Becki swallowed hard. “Erin won’t be able to fly them directly to the site, not with these conditions. How well does the squad know the Needles?”

“Shit.” He obviously knew the issues with the area, as his face tightened with concern. “Some. Not that well.”

Family rescuing family was a recipe for disaster at the best of times, and this was far from an ideal situation. “Then I’m going to have to lead them in.”

The minute the phone had gone off, Marcus had snapped into prepared mode. No one that keen to get in touch with them could possibly have a good reason. Out of all the possible people who could have phoned, though, her brother wasn’t even on the radar. Now they had a situation going from bad to worse fast.

Because she was right. If she knew the climbing area, she had to go along—a guide would get his team there as quickly as possible. They could do the rescue without her, but if one of the climbers was hurt, time counted.

He stopped her for a moment, though, hand resting on her shoulder. “You can do this. I know you can.”

Her face was still far paler than it should be, but she nodded. “I have no choice.”

“Get dressed. I’ll contact the team and check their ETA. Did you bring your harness?”

“Full gear. We were going to train, remember?” Becki glanced out the window, and her entire body quaked. “What if . . .”

“No ‘what if.’ You will do this. You are capable,” Marcus insisted.

She shook her head. “I don’t care if I get sick in the chopper. What if I freeze, though? What if I black out and end up doing something that endangers my brother, or your team?” Becki caught him by the arms, her fingers going white as she clutched him tight. “Please. Come with me. I . . . I need you.”

As if he had ever intended to do anything else. Marcus dragged her against him and hugged her tightly. “I’ll be there.”

They met for a brief, desperate kiss before splitting apart and heading into their separate preparations. Marcus pulled on his prosthesis, going for the claw end—chances were the first thing they’d be doing would be going down, not up.

Fifteen minutes and he was dressed, call through to his team.

Erin answered. “Roger base. You ready for a splash and dash?”

“As ready as we can be. Who’s on board?”

“Nearly full crew. We’re missing Tripp.”

Winch and paramedic, though, two less things to worry about. “What’s the airspace look like on the satellite?”

“Choices are a kilometer up or three more on level. We’ll do a flyby, but that’s my best guess.”

Becki was back at his side, pulling her coat over her long-sleeved shirt. Marcus flipped the phone to speaker. “Becki and I are on the line—we’ll wait for pickup and discuss the rest on approach. Any questions right now?”

“It’s Devon. No questions, but hey, Becki? It’ll be okay. I met your bro a couple of nights ago. He’s a great kid. Good head on his shoulders. We’ll get him out.”

She had her fingers over her mouth, nodding slowly as she pulled them away. “Thanks for that. Over and out.”

The radio went silent and she blinked hard, reaching for her pack that lay on the floor. Silently, as a team they gathered the rest of their things from the truck before walking a few meters down the road to the clearing in the trees. They turned to face the mountains.

He grabbed her hand with his. She didn’t change her focus, but she held on, wrapping her fingers around his tightly.

“Give me the rundown,” Becki breathed out slowly. “I’ll have to lead on the ground once we hit the maze, but keep your team consistent until then.”

“I’m along for the ride. I won’t be in charge. Anders calls the shots in the bay.” A faint rumble in the air warned that the chopper was approaching. “We’ll see who’s calling ground when we crawl in. Tripp usually does, and since he’s not there, it’s a potshot. They’re all qualified.”

“They’re the best,” she stated firmly.

“They are, and so are you.”

She nodded, concentration focused forward.

Time slipped into that eerie blend between going far too quick and far too slow that was so common during a rescue.

The chopper was down, wind batting them as they ran with heads lowered across the field to the door. Hands reached to pull them in, Becki first, Marcus caught up behind. Both of them settled into the nearest seats. They hadn’t even buckled in before Erin lifted off.

Becki fought with the top snap, all her concentration on the webbing. Ignoring the air passing the windows as the helicopter tilted, Erin pivoted tight to head over the Kananaskis Range into the second ridge of mountains and their destination.

Marcus checked his team. Alert faces stared back, waiting in expectation. He tugged on his headset, then paused until Becki had done the same.

“Good job. Ready for this?”

Four heads nodded. Becki’s jaw was locked firmly shut as she stared at the floor. He ignored her for the moment. Everyone’s coping strategies were different, and he wasn’t about to tell her to try something new. Not when she was clinging to her control.

Devon clicked on. “Erin said she’d fly by the Needles, but with the cloud cover, chances are we’ll be coming in from the north or the east. I vote for the north—it’s a shorter land approach, only it calls for a long rappel to the trails. Becki, any idea where in the maze they might be?”

“If they went to where I brought Colin before, yes. About twenty minutes from the entrance to the canyon. Three short climbs—none more technical than a 5.7—will get us to the main wall.”

“We can do those in our sleep,” Xavier offered. “I want to know which way we’re coming out. Any way to send someone on a climb and get a drop line from Erin to avoid the long haul with a stretcher?”

Becki shook her head, then squeezed her eyes shut as the chopper wiggled in the changing air currents. Marcus held his breath for her, but she managed to pull herself back under control. “In and out, the only possibility unless the clouds clear.”

Marcus cut in. “Colin’s got a phone. We can call him as we get into the canyon to get him making noise. He’ll have a whistle or something, right, Becki?”

“If he doesn’t, I’m going to kick his ass once we find it.”

Grins appeared around him, tension settling into that peak range for an operation. Too much adrenaline and things went to hell fast. It was impossible to maintain a high for hours, especially when they needed to do the actual grunt work to get in and out.

Marcus checked his team one by one as the buzz over the headset went back to random discussion, just keeping loose as they moved closer to the drop point. He saved Becki for the last, even though he was completely aware of her the entire time.

She was staring past him wearing a do-or-die expression. Her lips moved, only he missed the words. He switched to channel two and her voice cut in.

“. . . trust your team. Give one hundred percent. Be patient until it’s time to move, then move decisively. Trust your team. . . .”

She was repeating it like a mantra.

He nodded and flipped his speaker on. “One hundred percent. Give it all you’ve got and even a little more.”

Her focus changed off the wall and onto his face, and a tentative smile appeared. Her expression was still serious, still scared, but there was something extra she gave just for him. “Thank you. For everything.”

They were surrounded by his team, dropping toward a rescue, and all he could think about was her. “Together. We’ll do it together.”

What he wanted to say was he never intended to let her go.