Page 62 of High Seduction
“Of course. My God, there are people down there. I’ll stay out of your way, or help if you tell me what to do.”
“Good man,” Tim said. He turned to Erin. “Anything on the radio?”
“I’m not picking up anything.”
She manoeuvred them toward the thick line marring the pristine snow. Tim leaned against the glass, a set of binoculars in his hand as he scoured the ground.
Erin double-checked instruments and made a few notes in the log. “I’ve got our location. We spot anything, and I’ll call it in.”
“Still want to go down and— There, over to the right more.”
It wasn’t a cliff crash, but it wasn’t good. Whoever had been piloting the plane had managed to land it before the entire level of the glacier surface dropped a good twenty feet, leaving the plane at an impossible angle, not just for takeoff. Most of the body was still intact, and as they buzzed, a flash of bright orange appeared in the doorway.
“We’ve got survivors,” Tim announced.
Erin checked the site. “Not a lot of room to land, and there’s no way in hell I’m letting you go down a line without a winch man.”
“Land on the upper slope and we climb down?” Tim was itching to get moving, she could tell.
“If we have snowshoes. Otherwise at this elevation you try a step forward, and you could be up to your neck.”
Tim was already headed to the back. “I’m sure we have a bag of them in the gear section. We brought all that stuff when we came out, remember?”
Erin hovered, wanting to turn them toward the landing spot. “Give Matt your binocs. I need the numbers off her to call them in.”
Tim did as she’d asked, then moved out of sight behind Matt, equipment being shifted.
“What do you need?” Matt asked.
She explained, then waited as he called out the plane’s identifiers, jotting the information down before prepping for the next step. “I’ll have us down in a minute. Once we’re on the ground, Tim’s in charge. I haven’t run a rescue for years.”
“Matt will be staying at the chopper,” Tim announced.
“No problem.”
Matt’s quick agreement was the only acceptable response, but Erin couldn’t help but worry.
This was no longer a relaxing sightseeing trip. Things had gone real bad, real fast, and she only hoped they got better just as quickly.
***
Tim threw gear bags into rows based on what he thought might be needed. He pulled out spare gloves and a thick coat for Matt and Erin as well as himself. In the background, Erin was on the radio, giving information to the authorities in the hopes they could identify the downed plane.
This was something totally new they were headed into, not only because Matt was along and Erin rarely went on the ground portion of a rescue. Those issues were bad enough, but the sheer isolation added a ton of risk as well. Any mistakes were amplified tenfold simply because they were so far away from additional backup.
The sooner he knew what they were dealing with, the better.
The chopper settled, the heavy noise beating in his ears at the same pace as his heart. The rotors slowed, and Erin scrambled out of her seat, hurrying to pull her hair back and lock it out of the way under a warm hat.
He held out a helmet, and she rolled her eyes, pulling it to her and exchanging it quickly. The volume outside decreased until she could speak without using the chopper radio system. “I forgot about the helmets. Thanks.”
“Here’s your remote radio. Matt, I don’t know if the range will be good enough that you can hear us, but listen in best you can. Don’t talk unless we specifically ask you a question.”
“Got it.” Matt was tucked to one side, pulling on the extra gear he’d been handed and trying to stay out of the way.
“Channel three for everything, backup on channel four. If I need to talk to you in private, or there’s an emergency, flip to two lower than what we’re on.”
Her eyes snapped up to meet his. “You expecting problems?”
