“They pulled it Thursday, and I know they’re looking through it. I’m hoping they’ll have an answer for you tomorrow. I wish I could remember more, but—“
A pager went off in Taylor’s pocket.
He fished it out. “The Team is being toned out. We’ve got a car off the road in the canyon. Children inside. The driver has injuries.”
In the distance, Darius heard sirens.
Taylor jammed the pager back into his pocket, carried the shovel to the back porch. “Want to come see the Team in action? You can toss your bag in the back.”
That was one invitation Darius couldn’t resist.
Taylor jogged back to the truck, opened the liftgate, and yanked a yellow T-shirt out of a bag of gear. “I keep everything ready.”
“Smart.” Darius tossed his duffel inside.
Austin pulled the T-shirt, which readRocky Mountain Search & Rescue, over his parka. “Let’s roll.”
Sasha rodewith Nicole to the scene of the accident. She couldn’t help with the rescue, but she hated being sidelined. Sheriff Pella stood in the middle of the road ahead of them, directing traffic, the highway closed to all vehicles apart from rescuers.
Nicole slowed down, rolled down her window. “Hey, Sheriff.”
“Hey, Nicole, Sasha.” He waved them through.
Sasha saw that Eric had brought one of his rescue trucks. There were also two ambulances, lights flashing.
“I hate it when rescues involve little children.”
“I hate it when a rescue involves my best friend.” Nicole squeezed Sasha’s hand. “You were our last rescue.”
Sasha hadn’t realized that.
Nicole pulled up behind Rescue One and parked. “I’ll leave the door unlocked. If you get cold, I’ve got a blanket and hand warmers in the backseat.”
“Thanks, Nic.”
While Sasha unbuckled her seat belt, Nicole walked around to the rear of her SUV and opened the liftgate. “Stay away from the edge. It’s slippery as hell out here.”
“I’ll be careful.” Sasha climbed out into the cold wind.
A white Honda Accord lay on its roof in the creek twenty feet below them. Fortunately, the creek was shallow this time of year, the water a mere trickle. A long string of vehicles sat parked along the edge, most of them belonging to Team members, who were already hard at work, yellow Team T-shirts over their parkas.
Nicole joined them, first checking in with Megs, who stood near Rescue One directing the operation, a man in a hooded blue parka beside her.
“Sasha!” Megs motioned her over.
Huddled against the wind, Sasha walked toward Megs, pulse spiking when she recognized the man next to her. “Darius! What are you doing here?”
His cheeks were red from the wind and the cold. “Taylor and I were talking when his pager went off, and he invited me to come along.”
“Why don’t you explain to Darius what’s going on? I’m Incident Command at the moment.” Megs stepped away, then responded to a call on her radio. “Canyon Command. Affirm. We do have EMS on scene.”
“You’ll be out of the wind over here.” Darius motioned her toward the front end of Eric’s rescue truck. “I just asked Megs whether you have specialized jobs.”
“We don’t. We’re an all-volunteer organization, so we can never be sure who will show up. Everyone has to learn how to do everything. All of us are certified as EMTs or paramedics, and we’re all expert climbers. Most of us are trained in search and rescue, too. We’ve all worked together for years, so we know what to do. As we arrive at the scene, we just fall in and get the job done.”
“It must take a lot of training.”
“It does. Eric is inside the vehicle giving first aid to the driver. He’ll decide the safest way to get her out. But before we can move her or the kids, we need an anchor. That’s what Chaska is constructing.”
