“Talking to you is better than spreadsheets. We both missed our breakfast date. How about the Commander’s Palace for dinner?”
“You’re teasing me.” She moaned. “My legs are cramping, and my feet are numb from all the water.”
“Sweetheart, where’s the water?” Kip chewed his lip.
“It’s in the bottom of the car.” Harper’s teeth chattered. “How’s Kodi?”
He smiled. “He’s stabilizing. You saved his life.”
“Opal told me the north wing at the Manor was turned to ash. Kip, I think Hunt will fire me.” She started to blubber.
“Harper, take a breath. Nobody is firing you.”
* * *
The Suburban stoppedat the end of the span. Josh spoke to the state police officers who were forcing traffic away. Kip was about to step out of the truck when Kyle walked past his door and handed the officer his cell phone. The officer handed it back to Kyle and waved the four Chase vehicles through the blockade.
Kip’s stomach fell when he saw Harper’s car see-sawing in the wind and rain. “Harper, I’m going to give my phone to Kyle. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She didn’t respond. “Harper?”
“Keep trying to talk to her. She stopped talking. I don’t know if the comm is dead, or if she passed out.” He looked up at her car dangling precariously.
“Kip, you are out of the rescue business,” Kyle reminded him.
“You have plausible deniability.” Kip headed over to the firefighters.
“We’ve got two guys above her. We hooked her tires with ropes to stabilize the car, but if it tips hood down, it will slip out. And this rain and wind won’t quit. It’s not even the damn hurricane,” the incident commander said.
“No offense, but what’s your plan to extricate her?”
“We will get up on that girder, pop the B posts, and pull her free,” the commander said.
Kip took a cleansing breath. “You’ll lose the ability to stabilize the vehicle. That will kill her and likely take a few men with her.”
“My job is to keep my people safe and rescue her,” the commander snapped. “We may have to wait out the storm.”
A gust of wind soared, and the car rocked. “I’ll take legal and financial responsibility if this falls apart.” Kip started to unpack his trunk.
Noah and Zayne joined him, along with Josh. “We did a bridge demolition job in Bosnia. This is a cantilever bridge. For this bridge, they counterbalanced each cantilever arm with another cantilever arm projecting the opposite direction, forming a balanced cantilever. There’s a natural give and take. The extra stress of the weight of her car and the wind will change the balance and dump the car if the wind hits just right.
“We need to get above her, lower down to hover over her and get a look at the situation. And we can go from there.” Kip’s eyes never left Harper’s car.
Noah and Zayne stood silently, watching Josh attempt to stop Kip. “Boss, please.”
Kip ignored his XO and started to give orders. A ten-minute climb later, he was lowering himself over Harper’s car from one of the girders above. “Hey, sweetheart. Harper. Harper, open your eyes.” Her head rolled as the car rocked, and panic surged through him. “Harper, don’t move.”
“This is a bad dream. I want to wake up.” She struggled, and the car shook.
“Harper, look at me,” Kip commanded.
“You said you sit behind a desk.”
The car was wedged on either side of the rear passenger compartment, the nose of the car edging down. Josh and Noah rappelled down until they hung on either side of the car. “We’re going to flatten and snare the tires,” Josh said over the comm.
Zayne dropped four ropes down. Soon the car was stabilized for the moment, but it wouldn’t hold long in the wind conditions. Kip hoped it would last long enough to get her free.
“Those are cool swings,” Harper’s voice was childlike.
Kip pressed his lips together. “Okay, pull the ropes tight on the driver’s side.” He dropped down and entered the front passenger side headfirst. He was now half in and half out of her car.
