No Strings Part 21

"And you thought it was me," she said quietly into Morgan's ear. She felt her nod, felt her hands clutch nervously at her back.

"I'm sorry." She kissed her lightly on the cheek then pulled away.

"I should have known Charlie would have a scanner, but I just didn't think."

Morgan moved away but kept a tight grip on her arm. "How bad is it?"

"Don't know yet. I'm waiting on fire and rescue from Gunnison." She glanced at her watch. "In this weather, they said to expect a good hour travel time."

"That's being generous. I would think an hour and a half, at least."

"Ed Wade is here. He saw it go down. Said he was behind Googan and Googan put his brakes on going around the curve and just went into a spin and right over the side. Hit black ice."

"Dear G.o.d," Morgan whispered.

"He called a buddy of his over at Thompson's Ranch. Mitch something or other. He's bringing a truck over with a winch."

"Mitch Hamilton. But a winch isn't going to bring Googan's truck up."

Reese shook her head. "No. For me to go down." She watched Morgan's eyes widen and she took her arm and led her out of the light, away from Ed's curious gaze. "It's the only option now, Morgan."

"You're going to tie onto the end of a rope and go over the side of Dead Man's Ridge? Then what? That canyon's two hundred feet deep."

"The truck's not all the way into the canyon. Ed estimates about a hundred and thirty feet."

"And the winch is what?"

She paused. "A hundred." She watched as Morgan's jaw set.

"I won't tell you how crazy that is. I know it's your job."

"Thank you."

"But you do know how this ridge got its name, right?"

"I think I can guess, yes."

Morgan surprised her by slipping into her arms again. "Please be careful," she said quietly. "I would miss you terribly."

Reese felt Morgan's lips trail across her cheek as she pulled out of her arms. She didn't know what to say. She just nodded, never taking her eyes from Morgan's. But now wasn't the time to contemplate the lips that had very nearly brushed her own.

She watched as Morgan made a careful turnaround and headed back down the mountain, then trudged back up the road to where Ed waited. He gave a half-smile, then motioned with his head to where Morgan had been.

"She's kinda special around here," he said.

"Yes."

"Everyone kinda looks after her."

Reese nodded.

"You're looking after her too, huh?"

Reese grinned. "Something like that." She walked back to the edge as full dark descended on them. In the distance she heard the whine of a truck.

"That'd be Mitch," Ed said.

"Great." She went to the back of her truck and opened up the toolbox, finding the thick rope they kept in there for pulling cars out of the snow. She tossed it at him. "You fish. You any good with knots?"

"Oh, sure. What do you need?"

"Some sort of harness for me. I don't want to be dangling off the side just clinging to a rope."

Ed nodded and walked into the glare of his truck headlights.

"Sure, I can fix it up."

Reese walked to the middle of the road to wait, her mind alternating between Googan, who was most likely dead, and Morgan, whose frightened eyes and clinging arms had tugged at Reese's heart.

d.a.m.n.

"Slow, G.o.ddammit," Reese yelled up. "Is he trying to kill me?""My fault," Ed called down to her. "I didn't have the tension out."She pushed off the rock wall, shining her flashlight down below. Googan's truck, while smashed to h.e.l.l, was resting on its tires. Judging by the dents on the roof, she would guess it had flipped at least once. She looked back up to Ed, motioning him to lower her again. The makeshift harness they'd a.s.sembled was cutting into her thighs and back, but it felt tight.

Little by little, she was lowered into the canyon, the stinging cold of the ice pellets as they hit her face making her realize just how precarious the situation was. If Googan was still alive, no doubt hypothermia was setting in. And if his truck was smashed, the frame bent, they'd have a h.e.l.l of a time getting him out.

She flashed her light around again, seeing the truck closer now. She could make out Googan, his body slumped over the steering wheel. She guessed they were about fifty feet away, and if the winch stopped now there were no footholds for her. No way could she reach him.

So as she slipped lower, she turned, flashing her light against the canyon wall, trying to find a tiny ledge where she could get a foothold, anything to support her while she got out of the harness.

As luck would have it, the lip in the canyon that Googan's truck rested on was rocky and jagged. Her feet brushed a boulder now and Googan's truck was still a good thirty feet down.

She jerked as the winch stopped. She looked up, seeing Ed in the light, giving her a thumbs-up.

"That's it, Chief," he yelled down. "We'll keep it steady."

Easier said than done. She kicked off the wall, putting some swing in the rope, her momentum carrying her flush against the rock face. She held on, finding her footing. She tested the rock with her weight and it held. Pulling some slack in the rope, she fumbled with the knot at her waist, careful not to undo the slipknots Ed had made for the harness. Once free, she slid off the boulder, her boots landing with a quiet thud on the rock ledge.

Flashing the light around, she looked for the safest route down, then carefully made her way lower-slipping once on a snow-covered boulder and landing hard on her a.s.s-toward Googan. She stopped as she slipped again, small rocks rolling off the ledge and she listened as they bounced down into the canyon.

She went around to the driver's side, closest to the canyon wall. The window was broken and she reached in, touching Googan's neck, feeling for a pulse. Her eyes widened in surprise as she felt a steady beat.

"Googan," she said loudly, squeezing his shoulder. He was still slumped over the steering wheel and she saw the blood on his face. "Googan, can you hear me?"

She stepped back, surveying the door. The roof was smashed, bending the doorframe. She pulled anyway, but it wouldn't budge.

"Googan, come on now," she said. "Wake up."

She stood on the running board, peering inside the truck. He had his seatbelt on, thankfully, and the air bags had deployed but were deflated. She flashed the light around then grimaced as the beam landed on his legs. One was bent grotesquely and blood had soaked his pant leg.

"Jesus," she whispered.

Reaching around him, she pulled his handheld radio out.

"Ed, you copy?" She waited. "Ed, come in." She had given Ed her own radio, hoping to communicate.

There was a little static before Ed's voice came back. "Yeah, Chief. I can hear you."

"He's alive. Unconscious. Badly fractured leg, loss of blood.

Laceration on his forehead. Copy?"

"Yeah, ten-four, Chief."

"I'll stay down here until Fire and Rescue gets here." She released the b.u.t.ton then waited. Nothing. "You copy?"

"Yes. Sorry, Chief. I never learned how to use these radio things."

"I just didn't want you to pull the rope back up."

"Yes, ma'am."

Reese nodded, then flashed her light back to the rope, some thirty feet away. Radio transmission had a way of being twisted, and she hoped he hadn't thought she'd said to pull the rope back up. But it dangled lazily off the cliff, the breeze swaying it slightly.

She whipped her head around when she heard Googan moan.

"Googan? Can you hear me?" She touched his face. It felt cold and clammy. She patted his cheek lightly. "Googan? Wake up, man."

His eyes fluttered opened, then closed again.

"Come on, stay with me. We'll get you out of here in no time."

"Chief?"

"Yeah. I'm here, Googan." She stuck her head through the window again. "I didn't want to move you. Can you sit back?"

He leaned back slowly, revealing the nasty gash across his forehead.

"Jesus, man."

"I can't feel my legs," he murmured.

"They're pinned under the dash. One's broken for sure. I can't see the other one." She pulled out of the truck and tried to open the toolbox on the back. It wouldn't budge. "Where's your first-aid kit?"

"I...I don't remember."

"Okay. I'm going to try to get the toolbox open. It's probably in there."

"Don't leave me."

She paused. "I'm not. I'll be right here." She squeezed his shoulder, cursing herself for not thinking to bring her own first-aid kit down with her. But honestly, she had expected the worse.

Yes, like Morgan said, this ridge got its name for a reason.

Opening the toolbox proved to be a lesson in patience. Reese could find nothing to pry it open, so she settled for two rocks.

One, flat with a pointed edge that she placed against the toolbox's lid. The other, she used as a hammer. Eventually, the lid gave way and she was able to pull it open enough to see the black bag with large white letters: FIRST AID. She grabbed it and ripped it open, finding the large sterile bandages and some gauze and tape."Lean your head back, Googan. You've got a cut," she said as she tore small strips of tape. "Your head's split open."

"That could explain the headache," he mumbled.

She smiled briefly, then covered the wound, holding the bandage in place with one hand while taping the corners with the other, making it as tight as she dared. "It's not much," she said, "but maybe it'll help with the bleeding."

"How bad's my leg?"

"It looks bad. Compound fracture."

He rolled his head toward her, his eyes barely open. "That's the one where the bone breaks through the skin?"

She nodded.

"Bleeding?"

She nodded again. "Yeah."

His eyes slipped closed. "I'm sorry I was mean to you when you first got here."

She laughed quietly. "I wasn't exactly the queen of nice."

Silence for a moment, then he said, "How'd you get down here?"

"Mitch Hamilton brought a truck by with a winch."

"You're crazier than I thought," he murmured.

She shivered from the cold, the snow still gently falling around them. Yeah, crazy. But it was her job. "You cold?"

"Don't know. Can't feel a whole lot."

"We'll get you out of here soon." I hope.

"Gunnison?"

"Yeah. Fire and rescue." She glanced at her watch. "They should be here any minute." The radio broke static then Ed Wade's voice sounded.

"Chief?"

"Yes, come back."

"We see the lights coming."