With no other way to relieve my fear and anger, I smash the phone’s receiver on the desk before ripping the cord from the wall and throwing it against Stone’s office door.
My heart’s about to explode as pain and anger combine to light my insides on fire.
I rip one of the few remaining sets of keys off the wall, prepared to follow their tracks. Come hell, high water, or another godforsaken avalanche, Iwillget to Stone.
A hand grips my biceps, and I try to shake it off. I’m not in the mood to be consoled, but then it’s joinedby another, and Logan is shaking me violently.
“Hanlon!” My eyes swim into focus as he pulls his headset off. “You can’t go out there. It’s a suicide mission at this point.”
Rage boils in my veins, drawing my muscles tight and making it hard to breathe. My diaphragm isn’t strong enough to deal with this kind of adrenaline dump.
“I WON’T JUST LEAVE HIM!”
“Come get some air with me,” Logan says calmly, pissing me off.
I’m about to push him away from me, but he mouths,Trust me, and the look in his eyes has me following him out the door.
Except he doesn’t stop there.
He’s walking toward…
Oh God.There’s a reason the chopper was grounded, but I want to get to Stone more than I want anything in the world.
“You understand we probably won’t survive this, right? We also probably won’t find him, and if wedo, the chances of him…” he trails off, obviously choked up. “If we do, we probably won’t like what we see. I just need you to understand the reality of what we’re facing.”
I grit my teeth. “If he’s dying today, then so am I, so you might as well give me a shot at finding him.”
Logan nods, and in this moment, through the haze of fear, I understand that Logan is willing to risk not just his career, but hislifefor Stone. Just like me. No wonder it bothers him so much to see us together.
I climb into the helicopter as he starts the engine.
Rick tears out the door behind us. It’s clear from his facial expressions that he’s mad as a hornet and yelling, but it’s so loud I can’t hear a thing other than Logan’s voice in my helmet.
“Hold on, Sweetcheeks. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”
The helicopter begins to lift from the ground, and the wind immediately blows us sideways.
Logan is already fightingfor control, but I’m not worried. His determination to get to Stone is as strong as mine, so if Mother Nature wants to dance, we’ll dance.
I’m in the back, knowing I’m going to have to repel to my target, which ought to be loads of fun since I’ve gone repelling exactly once in my life...when it was sunny, the winds were calm, and it was off the side of a stable mountain,nota swaying helicopter.
Logan flies as low as he dares, giving us our best chance of seeing the team’s tracks.
When he crests the ridge, his voice sends ice skittering down my spine.
“Oh my God.”
Looking out the window, I can see the path the snow tore down the mountain despite the darkness.
“Christ,” I echo in my headset.
You’d think snow covering more snow wouldn’t look so terrifying, but you’d be wrong. Avalanches have the power to decimate everything in their path, creating an entirely new landscape on the face of a mountain.
“Hanlon, I can’t get any closer, and I can’t land, or I risk setting off another one. Strap into the harness. Clip it onto the metal O-ring in the floor. I’ll get you as close as I can, but you’ll have to lower yourself down.”
Now that the moment is here, my heart rate is too high, and I’m getting tunnel vision. Being dropped alone into the darkness in such a hostile environment is less than ideal, but then I think about never holding Stone in my arms again, and I force myself into the harness.
“I’ll move away from the mountain and try to give you light,” Logan offers.
