Rocky Mountain Lawman

chapter 14



Sky woke slowly, her head throbbing, but worse, when she stirred, she felt a warning grinding in the bones of her shin. Before she even opened her eyes she knew she had a broken leg.

She lay there, letting the waves of excruciating pain roll through her, hoping it wouldn’t put her into shock. She was in enough trouble now.

When at last the agony had become familiar enough that she wasn’t totally focused on it, she cussed herself for being a damned fool. What the hell had she been thinking?

Yeah, she had thought somebody was hurt. Maybe they still were, and now she was useless because she’d been stupid, stupid, stupid.

She should have guessed the rain could have loosened some of those rocks. She should have realized that any accident at all out here, with no one knowing where she was, might cost her her life. Even more damning, she had come out here without a working radio.

Wincing until her jaws hurt, she felt for the radio and tugged it off her belt. She keyed it and heard more static. Forcing her hand into the pocket of her jeans, she pulled out her cell phone. Even if there was no cell tower, maybe, just maybe they could pick up her GPS signal? But then she remembered that depended on a cell connection, too. Her phone hadn’t worked but once the entire time she’d been in these woods, and then only for a couple of seconds.

She made sure it was on anyway, then took in the rest of her situation. It was dark in this gorge because of all the overhanging trees, but the light was no longer green. Twilight was coming on, and soon after it, a very chilly night.

Pain notwithstanding, she needed to do something for herself and do it quickly. The only blessing she could see at the moment was that she hadn’t fallen into the water. Being dry might save her when the night chill moved in.

What the hell had she been trying to prove? And who had she thought she would prove it to? Craig? Herself?

She forced herself to dissect her own thinking, her own urges, in part because it distracted her from the pain in her leg that roared anew with every movement.

Even the act of sitting up was almost enough to make her pass out again. Breathing steadily, moving slowly, she propped herself on her elbows.

As long as she had some light, she needed to act. Splint the leg. Find some cover for warmth. Maybe some tree limbs to pull over herself. Maybe a niche in the rocks that would at least prevent all her body heat from escaping.

There had to be a way.

Looking around, she saw some dry tree branches. Probably brittle, but better than nothing. Unfortunately, they were about six feet away.

Turning over, even onto her side, seemed like a dangerous thing to do given the way her leg screamed at every movement. Using her good leg and her elbows, ignoring the agony, she pushed herself toward those branches while she tried to figure out what clothing she would sacrifice to tie the splint.

And wondered what the hell she had been trying to prove.

The answer that came to her was quite simple, though. She couldn’t ignore that scream. Alone or not, she had learned in tougher situations than this to rescue those who were hurt. How could the threat of the woods possibly compare to what she had faced in the army?

It couldn’t. So she had done the ingrained thing. She wouldn’t be questioning herself at all if she’d found someone who needed help.

Get on with it, she ordered herself. Just get on with it. If she survived this, there’d be plenty of opportunity to figure out whether she’d acted on training or for some other reason.

Pain exhausted her by the time she reached the scattered tree limbs. She lowered herself to her back, stared up at the boughs that darkened above her and sought some energy.

This was no time to flag.

Her groan was smothered by the rushing water as she forced herself to sit up and select some branches that might work. When she had found four of them, she pulled off her sweater, blouse and undershirt. Chilling air gave warning of the night to come. She quickly pulled everything back on except the undershirt, which she started tearing into strips. It wasn’t easy to get the rips started, but once she got them going, they tore freely.

Then, nearly blacking out, she leaned forward to move her leg until it was on top of one of the sticks with strips of cloth lying beneath it. Tying them in place was going to be just as bad. She bit her lip until it bled and set to work.

* * *

Night was moving in no faster than usual, but to Craig it seemed to be advancing like a speeding car. Various other rangers had appeared and set out to cover patterns on the search grid laid out on a map on a folding table. The helicopter overflight would probably have to end shortly. In these mountains the darkness and the dangerous drafts as day changed to night would make them useless.

Pretty soon he’d set out himself, once he made sure that everyone who arrived was assigned a grid section. He hated waiting here, he wanted to march off into those woods, but he grasped the fact that doing so would probably not be the best thing for Sky.

But with each passing hour he worried more. Her last contact with Lucy had been around midday, six hours ago. Even the long twilight wasn’t going to be much help in a few more hours. Search teams would have to come back in when night settled. Time was running out.

For the first time in a very long time, he felt terror. He kept it tamped down by focusing on the demands of getting the search going, but he hadn’t been this afraid since his early military days. It dawned on him that of all the things that mattered to him, one of the most important was that Sky be alive.

He didn’t care that she’d be leaving in a few weeks. He just needed to know that wherever she went she was still breathing and healthy.

Every wish and want he might ever have had narrowed to that one simple thing: please let Sky be okay. He’d give anything, his own life, if it would help make that so.

It chafed the hell out of him that so far he hadn’t been able to do a damn thing except organize the search. Yeah, that was essential, but it left him feeling like a caged tiger.

Just when he least needed it, Buddy and his friend Cap showed up with another guy. Craig watched their approach stonily. He didn’t need this crap now.

But Buddy surprised him. “Hey, Craig.”

“Hey.”

“I hear that painter lady is lost in the woods hereabouts. Me and these guys, we came to help look.”

For a mere instant Craig felt gratitude. Then suspicion surged. Buddy maybe, but Cap, the guy on the terrorist watch list?

“Kind of you, Buddy.”

“It’s what folks do, right? I feel bad about yelling at her. Besides, I wouldn’t feel good about myself if we didn’t do nothing.”

Craig thought Buddy looked fairly sincere, but he wasn’t so sure about the other two. Especially since they were carrying those damn rifles.

“What’s with the firepower?” he asked point-blank.

Cap shrugged. “One of my guys got raked by a bear.”

That immediately set off Craig’s alarm bells, considering the bear and cub he’d found yesterday, so oddly separated as if mama bear had been chasing off an intruder.

But could he in good conscience turn down an offer of help? And there was honestly no reason to think these guys would do anything else. No reason except for instinct, anyway.

He started to look at the map, deciding which way to send them when Cap punched his finger on a sector that didn’t have a red mark on it. “We should go this way. We know that area pretty well.”

Craig couldn’t come up with a single valid reason to tell him no, but the way Cap moved in to select part of the search grid put him on high alert. Even his fellow rangers took whatever assignment he handed out. This guy was beyond enough.

“Great,” he said, managing a smile that didn’t quite make it. “Appreciate the help. Be sure to grab one of the emergency kits to take with you, and a radio. The search team frequency is already set. And get back here by dark. We don’t need to be searching for you, too.”

He watched the three men pick up the packs containing everything from survival blankets to first-aid equipment and food, then head out to the south.

He heard footsteps behind him and pivoted to see Lucy. “Sheriff’s bringing in some people, too. Buddy, huh?”

“And his best friend Cap.”

Lucy’s face settled into a frown. “Nothing yet?”

“Not a damn thing. I can’t imagine where she would have gone. If she’s got the sense I thought she had, she should be back here by now.”

“People get lost,” she said soothingly.

“Not this woman. Army trained.”

“Oh.” Lucy’s frown deepened. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to follow those three guys. Cap was a little too eager to pick a sector.”

“He picked one?” Lucy evidently caught the possible ramifications of that. “Okay, you go. I’ll stay here to hold down the fort for you. Bring her back, Craig.”

“I sure as hell will if I can find her.” Unfortunately, he had plenty of experience that told him how long that could take. “Listen, I’m going to switch to another frequency if those guys do anything suspicious. You monitor it?”

“You bet. Use the auto distress call so I don’t miss it.”

He nodded, zipped his jacket and picked up one of the emergency kits. Then, after a moment’s hesitation he added his shotgun, slinging it on his shoulder. He was already wearing his pistol, but they had AR-15s.

“Good idea,” Lucy said. “You want me to get somebody to follow you?”

He shook his head. “I can deal with them if I need to. I’d be more worried if we didn’t do a good enough search because another one of us went haring off after these guys.”

“I know. But when the sheriff’s people get here, don’t be surprised if I send one of them along. Mark your trail.”

“Always.”

Then he was off, not wanting to lose track of Buddy and company in the darkening, dense forest.

* * *

Sky had begun to feel chilled, probably because she wasn’t moving much. She pulled a power bar out of her sweater pocket and took another bite before wrapping up the rest to save for later. She was getting thirsty, too, but dragging herself to the water seemed insane. Her plastic canteen had shattered in the fall.

Every time she moved, grinding pain nearly paralyzed her. Even with the splint reaching down beneath her heel, she hadn’t been able to completely insulate her lower leg against all movement. Sometimes when she slid along, it was tolerable agony. Other times...well, she had nearly blacked out briefly a couple of times.

At least her thirstiness wasn’t extreme, which meant she wasn’t bleeding internally. She’d been worried about that, but apparently, other than her leg, all she had was a bad goose egg on her head and a bunch of bruises. All things considered, she’d been lucky for a damn fool.

If everything weren’t so wet, she would have tried to gather wood and tinder for a fire, hoping to be able to strike a spark with her palette knife and rock. But if there was anything dry on this mountain after yesterday, she couldn’t find it. So that meant finding a way to insulate herself against the cold.

So far she’d had little luck. The stream was still engorged with runoff, but checking around persuaded her that it had probably scoured its banks pretty well yesterday. She’d been lucky to find sticks for a splint caught in cracks among a few rocks. Something as light as pine needles wouldn’t have made it, most likely, and if any leafy branches had fallen down here, they seemed to be long gone.

Conserving body heat had become her only priority. She had to get through this night. She was sure the rangers had begun to search for her, but she couldn’t afford to believe they’d find her tonight. Maybe tomorrow if she was lucky, but probably not tonight. Given the radio trouble, they might have no idea which direction she had headed, so the search area was huge.

If they didn’t run across her trail markers, it could be a long time. God, why hadn’t she thought to leave a message with her painting stuff? At least an arrow of some kind?

Because she’d been all hot to trot to the rescue. Because for some reason she had ignored some very basic principles, such as making sure someone would know where she had gone. Well, she had hoped Lucy had heard her, but it was apparent now that she hadn’t. Therefore, she’d been a fool.

Trying to prove what? She was still struggling with that. Had she been trying to prove something, or had she just kicked into high gear because she thought someone needed help? Back and forth her thoughts ran like a caged rat. Bottom line, the reason didn’t matter anymore. Now she was in trouble, she hadn’t helped anyone and she’d made her situation worse by not using her mind before giving in to the immediate rush of adrenaline and need to help.

Fools rush in... The old aphorism came back to her. Absolutely true, she thought now, but she was getting too tired to keep worrying about why she had done this. She needed to deal with the facts and save the personal debriefing for later.

Right now she had to find a way to stay warm and nothing else mattered.

Then it occurred to her she hadn’t heard that cry for help again, and even in the lousy light when she looked across the stream she could see the orange that had drawn her down here was nothing but a torn piece of cloth. One that hadn’t been here the other day. Probably washed up here by the storm.

A prickling sensation started crawling up the back of her neck as it struck her that, yes, that cloth might have washed up here yesterday, but combined with the cries for help... What if this had been an ambush?

That might have been a wild thought for most people, but not for someone who had served in the war. There ambushes had been a daily fact of life. Just because she was in the civilian world didn’t mean they couldn’t still happen. When she remembered what they had learned about Cap, maybe she had good reason to be paranoid, although she was damned if she could figure out why he’d come after her.

Stop it, she told herself, even as she looked up and surveyed the rim of the gorge as far as she could see it. You need to stay warm, get warmer if possible. Even if this hadn’t been an accident, that was the only thing that mattered now.

Once again she surveyed a depression in the wall of the gorge. It wasn’t huge, but right now it offered the only possibility of protecting at least part of her body from heat loss.

Biting her sore and swollen lip, hoping she’d make it, hoping she’d find something better to use along the way, she began to drag herself toward it. The pain in her leg had become so familiar now it merely provided a background.

* * *

Craig soon realized he had one advantage: Buddy, Cap and the other guy didn’t see any need to be surreptitious. After all, they were searching, not being hunted. So they called out from time to time and didn’t bother to be at all quiet. Scuffing along the ground, they even left quite a trail in places.

On the surface, it appeared quite natural, the way people would actually search. Distrust wouldn’t leave him alone, though. In fact, it was gnawing at him.

Local people often turned out to help with searches, especially when time started lengthening. If they didn’t find Sky tonight, he’d expect to see a lot more than sheriff’s deputies out there come morning.

So if it had just been Buddy and maybe even the other guy showing up, he wouldn’t have thought much about it. But Cap’s presence...well, Cap’s résumé didn’t exactly suggest he was the rescuing sort. Far from it.

And the way he had moved in to select the area he wanted to search raised a whole bunch of red flags. At this point, Craig would have bet a great deal that Cap had a pretty good idea where Sky was.

The thought didn’t comfort him a whole lot. In fact, it increased both his anger and his fear until his ears were damn near humming with it. If Cap knew where she was, then maybe he’d killed her.

Except that somehow that didn’t add up. If Cap had killed her, he wouldn’t want to lead them to her body. So maybe she was still alive, hurt or trapped somehow. As possibilities ran around inside his head, his senses ratcheted to the highest alert level he had felt in a long time. Sort of like entering a cave in Afghanistan.

He wanted to hear what they were saying, but periodically they’d turn and scan the whole area and he had to duck. Good practice, even when conducting a search. Nothing that could itself be called unusual.

Except that Cap was out here, and he was wondering what the hell Cap hoped to gain. Did he want to look like a hero, hoping it would divert suspicion from what he and his guys were doing? Hell, that sounded more like Buddy than a guy who’d managed to get himself on a watch list.

But why pick on Sky? She hadn’t done a damn thing except sit on the side of a mountain and paint. And take photos, which wouldn’t disappear just because she did.

Why not go for him? He was the one who had gone over there to talk to Buddy and then prowled around the perimeter of Buddy’s land. He’d be the obvious one to eliminate.

And maybe that was the problem. Maybe they figured that was too risky. Knocking out a federal ranger usually resulted in enough law enforcement presence to be like a suffocating blanket.

Okay, that made it unlikely they’d come after him or one of the other rangers. But why in the name of all that was holy had they picked Sky?

With angry, worried questions buzzing around in his head like furious wasps, he almost got too close. He dropped to the ground just in time as they paused to scan around the area again. He noted that they had stopped calling for Sky. That was about the most informative thing they’d done yet.

Certain now that they knew where she was, and that they were probably somehow involved, the question became whether to keep following them or confront them. He decided to follow, because there was no guarantee they’d simply tell him where she was. No, they’d probably deny all knowledge.

They started moving again, making no attempt to be quiet. They certainly seemed to feel they were alone out here, as he could hear laughter from time to time. That laughter scorched his soul, and a chilly, killing rage came over him, unlike anything he had felt since the war.

The ice, though, clarified his head. It drove away the angry wasps of thought, and focused him intently on one goal: to follow them to Sky.

* * *

Despite the growing chill, perspiration dampened Sky’s skin by the time she made it to the hollow in the cliff face. Water loss was not a good thing. Still, if she could scrunch herself into that niche at least half of her would be protected, and the rock should capture her body heat, eventually reflecting some of it back. It certainly wasn’t likely to drain her as fast as the air as long as she didn’t press right up against the stone.

She rested a few minutes, allowing her skin to dry, studying her scraped and bloody palms. That crawling had done her few favors. She suspected that her elbows weren’t doing much better.

She’d saved some strips of her undershirt in case she needed them for the splint, but now she wound a couple of them around her hands before she attempted to contort herself into that niche. She took another bite of the power bar and looked longingly at the stream, so close and yet so far. No, she couldn’t afford to drag herself over there, nor would it probably be wise to drink icy water, which would only cool her down more. She had a day or two before thirst should become a serious problem. If she wasn’t found sometime in the morning, she’d have to crawl to the stream. Simple but important choices.

She just wished she was sure she was thinking clearly. Given fatigue, a blow to the head, hunger and now thirst, she couldn’t be sure. She had to count on training she hadn’t needed in a long time to carry her through.

As soon as she felt the handful of calories from the energy bar start to hit, she began the painful process of twisting herself into that niche. Agony. Every single movement had become sheer agony.

* * *

Something interesting had happened. The quickstep march of Buddy, Cap and the other guy had slowed down. They made no pretense of continuing to search. In fact, having left a very obvious trail to this point, they had become suddenly quite interested in leaving none at all.

Proof they had come in here, but no proof of where they went next.

They gathered in a knot and began talking. Craig couldn’t hear them, and the lack of noise they were making now made it hard for him to creep any closer. He reached for the volume on his radio, and turned it all the way down to make sure no errant sound alerted them. Although, to his dismay, the damn radio had been utterly silent. Soon, though, given the growing lateness of the hour, searchers were going to start sending messages back and forth that they were heading back to the command post.

His heart squeezed as he thought about Sky possibly having to make it through this night. But he didn’t focus on that for long. Right now he had a more immediate problem: What were those guys talking about?

Moving with stealth, aided by the wetness of the forest floor, which kept leaves and pine needles from crunching, he crept closer.

“...just wait another hour or so and head back,” Cap said.

“You can’t...” Buddy’s voice grew muffled, making the rest inaudible.

“Look,” said Cap, sharply, “the hero thing you wanted to do? It works as good for us if we find her dead in the morning as if we find her alive now.”

“No,” Buddy said. “No! You know where she is, and we can’t leave her to die. Damn it, Cap, it’s not like she knows anything. She’ll be as grateful to us as anyone.”

“Dead or alive makes no difference. Why do you think I brought us this way?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I came this way so we could make sure no one else finds her, Buddy. Time to grow up, man. You want a revolution? Then prove you’re tough enough.”

Craig’s blood curdled in his veins. He waited for Buddy to object, but the man didn’t.

“No one else is coming this way,” Cap said. “That’s obvious now, and we’ve been steering away from her anyway. We’re covered, no one will find her and in the morning we can be heroes.”

“What if she’s not dead, Cap?” the other guy said. “She might make it through the night.”

“If she does, we can take care of that.”

“That’s just wrong,” Buddy said hotly. “Damn it, she’s not an enemy. She’s just a painter.”

“How do you know that? She may have been put there to watch us.”

Once again Buddy fell silent. Moving silently, Craig punched the distress signal on his radio, sending out the beacon Lucy would be watching for.

Damn, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. All of this to make them look like heroes, and so much the better if Sky died?

He began planning ways to take them out. He calculated angles of attack. Three of them wasn’t too many, but unfortunately they were better armed. He’d need surprise. Big-time surprise.

He began to circle around them to the one direction from which they wouldn’t expect anyone to come: ahead of where they’d been walking.

Keeping low, shotgun carefully cradled in his arms, he sought the moment and the opportunity.

“You didn’t tell me you wanted her dead,” Buddy said unhappily.

“But it was your great idea anyway,” Cap said sarcastically. “Man up, Buddy. The revolution has no room for wimps.”

Craig heard the most chilling thing then. Buddy said, “You’re right.”

So the argument was over. These guys intended to leave Sky out overnight, regardless of her condition, and if she wasn’t dead by morning, Cap was going to take care of it somehow. Hell, he’d probably make Buddy roll a boulder down on her.

The absence of Sky had convinced him of one thing: she was hurt or she’d have long since returned. How badly, he didn’t even want to imagine.

Anger thrummed steadily now, trumping even worry, but his head remained absolutely clear. He just needed his opportunity. One little sliver of time to act.

* * *

Sky had wedged herself into the niche, trying to minimize body contact with the rock inside, and while she could physically feel that it was capturing warmth on that side of her, the other side seemed to be losing it just as rapidly. The pain in her leg rose and ebbed like a tide, reaching crescendos that made her groan, then easing just enough to unlock her brain again.

She had to stay awake. She remembered that. Hypothermia was far more likely to get her if she allowed herself to sleep. But exhaustion was dragging her down despite an agony that should have made sleep impossible.

She ate the last bit of the energy bar and scanned the gorge around her, hoping to see a person, any person. But no one appeared. Her hands, which had been throbbing, now started to grow numb and she tucked them under her arms, willing sensation to return.

Not much longer till dark, she realized. At least down here in this gorge. Would they call off the search with nightfall? Probably. She couldn’t imagine that it would be wise to wander around these woods with only flashlights.

Then it occurred to her that the rushing water drowned most sounds. How could she call for help? Looking around, she sought some rocks. Maybe if she found a couple, she could bang them together. Maybe that sound would penetrate the water’s rush better than a voice.

It gave her something to do. Since she absolutely, desperately needed to stay awake, it was a welcome idea. It busied her, trying to find some rocks that she could reach without moving too much.

Because she had expended so much effort to reach this niche, she was afraid to leave it for any reason before morning. She was running on willpower now, and had no way to gauge when the last of her physical strength would desert her.

Movement helped keep her warm, though, so without abandoning her niche, she started to feel for rocks.

* * *

The sound of rocks banging reached the knot of men in the forest, and Craig, as well. He tensed, readying his shotgun.

“Well,” said the third guy, “she must still be alive and kicking.”

“How bad is she?” Cap asked.

“Her leg’s broken. I watched long enough to be sure. She’s not going anywhere.”

“Okay.” Silence. “Gaff, maybe you ought to go take care of her now. She could die in a rock fall.”

That did it. Craig quit looking for the best opportunity. Gun at the ready, he stepped out of concealment, aiming at the three men.

“Don’t move.”

They swung around and saw him. Immediately Cap lifted his rifle, aiming at Craig. Before he could shoot, Craig stepped behind a tree, making sure to keep his line of sight. Buddy and Gaff both lifted their own rifles to the ready.

“I can take you all out with one shot,” Craig said. “Advantage to the shotgun, and I’m loaded for bear. Literally.”

Cap took a shot anyway, and the bullet hit bark just above Craig’s head.

“No!” Buddy shouted. His rifle, which had been pointing in Craig’s direction, suddenly swung around and fired at Cap. Cap fell. Gaff lifted his own gun, aiming at Buddy, but before he could take his shot, Buddy fell to the ground. Craig seized the opportunity and sent a blast toward Gaff. The result wasn’t pretty.

Buddy, lying on the ground now, yelled, “I won’t shoot.”

Craig didn’t think he would. He’d seen Buddy shoot Cap. “Keep your rifle on Cap. He may not be gone.”

“Okay, okay!”

Craig waited until Buddy rolled onto his stomach and took a bead on Cap.

Then he shoved another shell into his shotgun and stepped out again, moving toward them. As he got closer, Cap suddenly stirred. He fired but heard the report of Buddy’s rifle at the same instant. Cap went still.

Game over.

Except for finding Sky. That’s when hell grew even colder.

“I don’t know exactly where she is,” Buddy said. He was now standing with his hands up while Craig debated whether to cuff him. “I just know Cap was going to arrange for her to have an accident in the ravine.”

“So this was your bright idea?”

Buddy looked down. “Yeah. I didn’t mean for it to go this far.” He glanced at Cap’s body. “He wasn’t who I thought he was.”

“Maybe I’ll want to hear about that later. Right now I want just one thing.”

Buddy, looking hangdog, nodded. “She’s in the ravine. That’s all I know.”

Craig heard the distant crack of rocks hitting each other again. “You don’t know how damn lucky you are that she’s probably still alive.”

Buddy looked at the barrel of Craig’s shotgun, unerringly pointed right at his middle. “Believe me,” he said. “I know. Let’s quit wasting time and find her.”

Craig keyed his radio on the search frequency. “She’s in a ravine south of the command center, Lucy. I haven’t reached her yet, but start sending rescue this way. She’s badly hurt from what I just heard.”

“You got it. Cavalry’s on the way.”

“We got a couple of bodies out here, too. They aren’t pretty, so warn anyone who comes through the woods.”

He looked at Buddy. “Grab an emergency pack. You’re going to get to be a hero after all.”

* * *

It was getting harder and harder, but Sky kept banging the rocks. She thought she heard gunshots, but couldn’t be sure. Babbling brook my foot, she thought as the waters rushed nearby, determined to swallow any other sounds. Washing them away as surely as they washed away any other debris.

She had begun to shiver, despite the effort she was expending, and she could feel her body’s growing need for rest. A rest that could prove fatal.

So she banged the rocks again and deliberately moved her leg to send another tide of agony racing through her.

Stay awake. Just stay awake.

Apparently she didn’t succeed. The next thing she knew, jarring pain roused her. Craig’s voice reached her as if from down a long tunnel. Something crinkly was being wrapped around her, and at some point she vaguely registered growing warmth.

Red blossomed behind her eyelids and she opened them to see a flare burning nearby. With a loud pop, another one ascended upward.

“You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be fine. I’m here.”

I’m here. Those words in that voice were the best she’d ever heard.

* * *

Craig could have cheerfully added another killing to the list he carried, but it wouldn’t serve any purpose now. He took one of Sky’s roughly bandaged hands between his own, willing warmth into her icy fingers. “Stay with me, Sky. Stay with me.” The flutter of her eyelids gave him his only hope.

She was so damn cold, probably only a short way from succumbing to exposure and her injuries. Cap had done better than he thought. She wouldn’t have survived till morning. He just hoped she had enough body heat left for the survival blanket to do her some good.

The radio crackled to life. “Sheriff says the rescue chopper is on the way. You have another flare?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll let you know when to release it. Meantime I’ve got a dozen guys running your way with a basket and backboard in case the chopper can’t do it.”

“The chopper better do it. She’s cold as ice.”

“Working on it.” No-nonsense Lucy. If he hadn’t known her well, he would have wondered if she even cared. But Lucy cared. She cared naturally about everyone and everything.

“Craig?”

He almost didn’t hear her, but he snapped around. Her eyes were open halfway. “I’m here. Rescue is on the way.”

“Cool. Wanna talk.”

“Save your energy. We can talk all day tomorrow.”

He thought he saw the whisper of a smile on her lips. Hope, real hope, began to rise in him.

“Craig?” Lucy on the radio. He keyed his mike.

“Yeah?”

“They’re almost there. Get that flare ready. Guys on the ground estimate five minutes to reach the ravine.”

They must be running despite the darkness. Warmth toward them penetrated the chill in his heart. Good men and women, racing to the rescue through darkened woods.

He felt Sky’s icy fingers move, then squeeze ever so slightly. “I’m here,” he said. “I’m here. Just a few more minutes and we’ll have you out of here.”

“Thirsty,” she mumbled.

“Not for much longer, darlin’. Just a little longer.”

The radio came to life. “Give us that flare now.”

Moments after the flare reached the peak of its arc, blinding light flooded down from above. Though he couldn’t really hear the rotors, he knew what it was.

Thank God.