“Cassie,”he bellowed, progressing through high snow drifts—his steps deliberate, his legs shaking.
Other voices chimed in, calling Cassie’s name—the crew spreading out and upward.
“We have a starting point,” Izzy hollered.
He halted and turned to face her. “We do?” Hope lanced his soul.
“Yes, but we have to keep in mind how far the avalanche may have carried her,” Iz said.
“I know.” The thudding of his racing heart whooshed through his ears, making everyone’s voices sound distant and echoed.
Please letme find heralive.
He couldn’t imagine a world without Cassie, even if she was never to be his.
The thought of losing Cassie to the avalanche reverberated through his distressed mind.
“Joel.” Iz tugged his elbow.
“What?” he snapped. “Sorry.”
She shook it off. “Jayce made up a search grid by sections.”
He swept his gaze over the crew systematically forming into a grid formation, all beginning to search their sector for Cassie with their lancing probes.
“What about her beacon?” What was wrong with him? He should have thought of that first. “Her balloon?” Why hadn’t she pulled it? Was she unconscious?
Please,Lord,let herbe awake.
He hated the thought of her awake and terrified under the snow, but she’d have an air hole if she was conscious.
“I’m getting no signal from her,” Talbot said.
Had the weight of the avalanche crushed it? Was her balloon malfunctioning? It didn’t matter why both weren’t working. Just that they weren’t.
He grabbed his lancing probe from his pack. “Where’s my grid?”
Talbot walked it out for him.
He swallowed, his throat raw. Snow drove sideways lashing Joel in the face, the encroaching blizzard picking up speed. Only a short window existed to locate Cassie before she’d suffocated under the snow. An air pocket only lasted so long, and with fresh snow piling on...
He tightened his jaw, unwilling to go there.They’d find her. He wouldn’t stop until they did.
Twenty minutes later, he moved to the next unsearched grid, his arms heated and trembling, his steps staggering, his legs listless.
Please,Father,let this gridbe the one.“Please,” he breathed. The ferocious blizzard growled in the oncoming night, swallowing the light.
A thousand different scenarios raced through his mind. He worked from the bottom left edge of the grid. Across the delineated space, his heart sinking with each empty quadrant. Their chance of finding Cassie—of her surviving until they found her ... Time was swallowed in an endless void.
Five
DARKNESS OOZEDOVERHEAD,slipping through the white snow.
Stay calm. They’llfind you. He’ll find you.
Joel wouldn’t stop until he did, but would it be too late? Her hope of being found alive dwindled as time slipped by—both too fast and too slow. Her heart raced.
How long had she been under? Long enough she couldn’t feel her feet.Frostbite. She swallowed.Please,let them findme—whole.
