He blinked innocently. “About Walker getting out of that mine.”
She raised her brows in doubt. “Who are you?”
“I’m Scott Mason. Best firefighter this side of the Alamo and rescuer of damsels in distress.”
Seriously? Without warning she jammed her cowboy boot onto the arch of his foot.
“Ow, now why’d you do that. Here I thought we were getting along so well.”
Frustrated she hadn’t done more damage to the football firefighter holding her, she yelled. “Cole!”
Cole strode to where she stood, “Mason, let her go.”
“As you wish, Cap.” And just like that she was released. She glared at the big man before turning on Cole. She studied him. He didn’t look nervous at all. He looked like he was in his element. “Is Garrett alive?”
“Yes. He yelled from inside that he’s okay. If he was hurt, he’d let us know. He knows how important it is to our operation.”
Operation? For the first time she scanned the area outside the mine. There was one fire engine, one ambulance, a front loader, and a bunch of ATVs. Her gaze moved back to the fire engine where a firefighter was giving Copper some water. Domino? She scanned what looked like a town instead of the empty desert she’d ridden to. “My horse?”
Cole shook his head. “She’s the strangest horse I think we have had on Last Chance.”
“But is she okay?” Why couldn’t these men just answer a question?
“She’s fine. From what we can tell, she used my barn for shelter and water. When I came home, she wouldn’t let us near her. She kept running out into the desert, so I hopped on Samson and followed her. It wasn’t until she came to this spot that she let me close. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”
The driver of the front loader yelled to Cole who held up his hand. “I need to get Garrett out now. Can I trust you to stay here and out of the way?”
She nodded. Copper and Domino were going to be fine. Now she just needed Garrett.
As Cole strode to the wall of dirt, she held her hand over the sunglasses. The light still hurt her eyes, and she wanted to see the minute Garrett was free. Only then could she relax. Only then could she leave.
It took another set of bracing before they were able to dig far enough into the mountain to expose the hole again. She held her breath as Cole approached it and yelled inside. Then he signaled Mason and the two of them stood on either side.
It took a few minutes, but finally Garrett’s head could be seen. As soon as Cole and Mason pulled him out to stand, she turned and went back to the ambulance. “I’m ready to leave now.”
Alvarez helped her into the back and had her lie down. “Don’t worry. Cole will make sure Garrett makes it to the hospital.”
“My dog?”
“Clark will check him over, give him so electrolytes, and leave him with Cole, if that’s okay.”
She nodded, too worn out to speak. It wasn’t the mine or the physical hardship that had exhausted her. It was Garrett. She’d thought she’d been very careful not to make any connections with anyone, but when the hole disappeared, she knew that sickening feeling of losing someone all over again.
She’d felt it when they received word her dad had die and again when her mother passed. Though she never understood her mother, the woman was her family. She hadn’t been able to help her mom or her own sister. Then it had been her unit members. She knew then it was too much. She couldn’t lose anyone else. If Garrett had died after coming so close to escaping…
She closed her eyes. Never again.
*****
Garrett pulled his truck to a stop in front of the Last Chance Ranch main house. He needed to talk to Riley. By the time he’d made it to the hospital to be checked out, she’d been released and then his family had descended upon him.
He didn’t blame Cole for alerting them that he was missing, and he was happy to see them. He had hoped to see Riley for himself since Mason had told him that she had an infection in her arm. He’d been afraid of that, but it had been over twenty-four hours since they’d escaped from the mine.
Striding to the front porch and up the steps, he almost collided with the man coming outside. “Hello, Wyatt.”
The black-haired, tanned cowboy halted. “Garrett. I heard yours and Riley’s rescue. You okay?”
“I’m fine. I understand we have you to thank for taking care of all the horses.”
