And even though she was the nurse, Sommer couldn’t force herself around to the tent opening to look.
She gripped Gabriel’s arm tightly. And he turned to her. Tipping her chin up, he gently brushed the damp hair from her face. “I’m going to take a look. Stay here for me.” Then he kissed her forehead, and it was the solace that she needed.
Gabriel pressed Whiskey’s lead into her hand, then slid his pack off.
Moving reverently over the open space, she knew that he believed they were too late.
But murmurings from their direction had Sommer in motion.
Any thought of fatigue was by the wayside.
She grabbed Gabriel’s pack and sprinted onto the scene.
Gabriel stood. “We need a plan.”
“Plan one. Don’t go near them,” Sommer said, pulling on her N95 and tugging her gloves from the front pocket of her hiking pants. “You don’t have protection, and this is the worst I’ve ever seen. I shouldn’t have let you do that.”
His brow furrowed. “You know what you’re doing. So I’ll be your errand boy. Dump my pack out, use anything you need. I’m going to call my friend, Reaper Hamilton, at Cerberus. He’s tracking our mission. He was developing extraction resources if they were required.”
“They’re required.”
Gabriel started off, but Sommer clung to his hand. “Can you please ask him to call my sister? Sloane is in agony over this.”
“Yeah, that’s about how I’d describe it. I’ll ask him to do that.”
Gabriel and Whiskey sat on the other side of the clearing while Sommer got to work cleaning and changing, medicating and spooning drips of electrolytes into Abbie and Marna’s mouths.
When they were off the mountain, Sommer didn’t think either friend would remember anything that happened.
They were delirious and limp. Just this side of consciousness.
Gabriel said that the search for the family in the swamps had concluded successfully and that they had already rerouted their helicopter toward Cerberus Headquarters. He’d have them reroute again.
A forty-five-minute ETA.
Prepare for touchdown.
“What does that mean, prepare for touchdown?” Sommer asked.
Medivac helicopters landed at her hospital all the time. A flat surface was all she knew they needed.
“The rotor wash is strong, and it throws rocks and debris in the air. Reaper said with the weather system that’s moving in, our window is short. They’ll land. We’ll need to move Abbie and Marna and our gear and take off again immediately.”
“Is there a chance they won’t be able to come?” Panic clutched Sommer’s heart.
“Sommer, listen to me. We’re getting Abbie and Marna down. I promise you.”
“Promise?” Sommer asked again because there was something big in what he’d just said; if Sommer weren’t so tired and distraught, she’d know what it was.
“Sommer,” Gabriel said, pronouncing his words clearly. “I’ve got you. We’ve got this. I promise.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sommer
Friday, Close to midnight
Sommer was used to emergencies; that was how she made her living.
