Darius could understand why Team members called it The Cave. The space was massive, with an enormous vehicle bay that housed two rescue trucks, aptly named Rescue One and Rescue Two. There was more gear upstairs, as well as records of every rescue the Team had ever done.
Darius was impressed. He’d done a little rock climbing, but he had no idea what most of this stuff was or what purpose it served. “This must be a fortune in equipment.”
Megs nodded. “It’s expensive to run an SAR team. We’re funded entirely through donations, so we do what we can to keep costs down. Everyone who works for the Team is a volunteer, even our accountant and web manager.”
That surprised him. “No salaries or bonuses?”
“None.” Megs motioned to the walls. “As for the gear, we’ve donated some of it ourselves. One of our volunteers, Chaska Belcourt, is an engineer and has developed specialized equipment for our use.”
Megs told him how she and Mitch had started the Team after a friend of theirs had died of hypothermia when a broken ankle had stranded him on a mountainside during a snowstorm. “No one was prepared to undertake a high-risk rescue in the dark, and that included the two of us. After that, we left professional climbing and started the Team, hoping to prevent other needless deaths. We get toned out dozens of times each month during the summer. It tapers off in the fall.”
Nicole walked in, her brown hair damp. “Sorry. I was in the shower.”
“Nicole has been with the Team for … eight years?”
Nicole nodded, clearly happy that Megs remembered. “Yeah. Eight years.”
Megs motioned toward a closed door. “Let’s sit in the ops room.”
Darius and Deputy Marcs followed Megs and Nicole into what looked like an ordinary conference room, apart from the radio setup on a nearby table and the massive topographic map of Colorado hanging from the far wall. Radio traffic murmured in the background, punctuated by bursts of static.
Megs gestured toward several chairs. “Sit wherever you like. We’ve got bottled water in the kitchen.”
Darius sat. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
“I brought my own.” Deputy Marcs held up a water bottle and sat beside him.
“How can I help you, detective?”
Darius opened his mouth to answer, but Deputy Marcs beat him to it.
“I told Detective Silva that if Sasha had been getting death threats or had any angry ex-boyfriends or stalkers, she would have told you and Nicole. He wanted to ask Sasha, but she had a panic attack before he got to it. They had to sedate her, and Ellie shooed us out.”
Nicole looked distressed. “Poor Sasha. I’m going to visit her after this.”
Megs met Darius’ gaze. “Sasha is one of the kindest, most genuine people you’ll ever meet. She’s also attractive, as I’m sure you noticed.”
Darius had noticed, but he wasn’t about to admit that. Even with a black eye and swollen lip, she was beautiful.
Megs went on. “She gets lots of hate mail. All women athletes do.”
“Let’s start with past boyfriends or lovers. Has she had any conflict with the people she used to date?”
Nicole shook her head. “She has two ex-boyfriends, but they’re still friends. They didn’t break up because they hated each other. They just took different paths. It’s more the online harassment that worries me.”
Megs seemed to agree. “I’ve seen some of the online comments and emails she gets. It’s awful stuff—dick pics, rape threats, death threats, twisted sexual stuff.”
“Has she reported any of it to law enforcement?”
Nicole shook her head.
“Not to law enforcement,” Megs said, “but she did out one of them to the climbing community. Last spring, a fellow sports climber started posting explicit images of women from porn videos with Sasha’s face on them all over social media using fake accounts. As soon as one of his accounts was taken down, another would pop up.”
Darius had seen this before. “He sounds like a winner.”
“Yeah, well, he got sloppy.” If the look of disgust on her face was any indication, Nicole couldn’t stand the guy. “One of the posts said, ‘She climbs like a man, but … but she fucks like an animal.’ Sorry for the language.”
Megs put a hand on Nicole’s knee. “I’m sure he’s heard much worse.”
