“Dangerous. It’s a risk you’ll have to assess. The rope then loops into a three-wheels in your system: Two ropes run under the bins and attach to the wheel above the third wheel is for the foot loop.”
“I can see it,” Creed said. “We’re floating the bins?”
“We’re relieving some of the downward force by using the water. But this isn’t a boat. The current has its own force, which complicates the calculations. My suggestion is that Sheelah go first. Creed and Auralia position her on the stretcher in the water, the rope and the pulley wheels in place. Then Creed uses his descent rope to get up to the bridge. Creed, you can’t use the surface of the bridge to get across, but looking at the structure, you should be able to get across using the structure. It’s either that or swim. I suggest you try climbing first. I’d attach Rou to your pack.”
“Copy.”
“You have the main rope, and you have a second rope with you. The second rope is attached to the front handle of the stretcher. You need to set up a block and tackle pulley system. I noticed that you have a stop capture device. That’ll enable you to pull the weight through toward you without losing ground.”
Auralia sat there staring at the width of the river. She wasn’t blinking. Blood was throbbing at her temple.
“Once you’re ready, Auralia uses her legs to shove the bins into the water, and Creed pulls Sheelah across. Creed gets the mother off the system. Auralia has a rope tied to the back handle, and she pulls the stretcher back to her.”
“Okay,” she sighed.
“Auralia gets Brandy onto the bins.”
“This is like the game of river when we were kids, when you have to go back and forth to get everyone across.”
“I don’t like that Auralia’s there alone.”
“She gets on the bins third, and you pull her across, and you’re done. The river is reading twenty-five feet across.”
“She’ll be coming in the dark,” Creed said. “No.”
“To Creed’s point, that sounds doable on paper,” Auralia said. “But is it impossible, given our time frame?”
“Push comes to shove, Creed has orders to get you, Rou, and himself to safety. If you don’t believe this scenario is possible,” Javier said, “you need to adjust accordingly.”
“Do you have any other options?” Auralia asked.
“I do. This is the only one that the AI’s predictive outcome gives a yellow light,” Javier said.
Creed hovered his thumb over the disconnect button. “We’d better get on it. Out.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Auralia
Creed took her breath away—the steel of his muscles, the ease of his movements, the application of his intelligence, the bigness of his heart.
For the last five years, Auralia had been in dangerous situations all over the world. She had seen how people behave. They might extend a hand, give a helpful push, throw down a line, but there were few who could or would do more.
Creed had never once said, “Let’s save ourselves.” And Auralia could only imagine him saying that in circumstances where significant harm would come to his friends or family, then he’d insist on protecting them. Protecting her.
As he moved like an orangutan, hand over hand, his legs dangling and kicking below him to give him momentum, trailing his ropes like vines in a jungle, Creed must believe they could be successful. He wouldn’t allow anything bad to happen to her. She trusted in her heart that he wouldn’t.
Maybe that was part of his calculus. Perhaps he didn’t believe this mission was possible as much as he thought that she was so invested in the outcome that she wouldn’t walk away, and he decided not to take up time trying to argue.
He might think that they’d do what they could, but, in the end, he had a command that superseded his own choices.
He would drop everything and everyone and save her.
There was a little dark angel that whispered in Auralia’s ear that this was a futile task. That dark angel wanted Auralia to remember that both of these women were tied to one evil, cold-hearted man. Had the women known that all along? Hadthey participated? Had they turned a blind eye because they benefited from Morrison’s exploitation of Marine veterans?
Would it matter?
Auralia imagined turning her head to the dark angel and saying, “Shut the hell up.”
