Page 39 of Hold Your Breath
Taking that as a suggestion to take it up a notch, Lou eased her foot down on the accelerator, praying once again that they wouldn’t encounter any other vehicles on the narrow road.
“Switchback coming,” he said mildly.
“I’m impressed,” she said, feeling the antilock brakes shudder beneath her foot as they skidded on the packed snow.
“With…?”
“How well you’re dealing with not being in control.” She made the three-hundred-degree turn with only a minor slide to the left. “I’d be clinging to the door handle at the very least. I figured you would’ve had to drive by the time we left my driveway, even if you had to sit on my lap to do it.”
“Another switchback. And I don’t always have to control everything.”
“I see it.” The sharp turns slowed her down more than she would’ve liked, but she figured it would take them even longer to get to the reservoir if they ended up in the ditch, so it was worth the extra ten seconds it took to slow for the switchbacks. “And don’t give me that. I’ve seen your house. And your gear locker. And your truck. And the horrified look you gavemyhouse, and my gear locker, and my truck.”
“Just because I’m neat doesn’t mean I’m a control freak. There’s a steep hill coming, and you’ll turn left at the bottom.”
“Thanks.” The hill presented no problems, and the regular turn felt easy after the two switchbacks. “And yes, you are a control freak. It’s not a bad thing, especially as our dive-team leader. You keep everyone safe that way.”
“Keep following this road. It’ll take us around to the east side of the reservoir. Does the control thing put you off?”
“Put me off? Of you, you mean?” She looked at him in surprise.
“Watch the road.”
“Sorry.” Her head whipped back around to face the snow-rutted path they were following. She saw emergency lights in the distance, approaching from the opposite direction. “There’s Wilt and Derek.”
“I see them. So, does it?”
“Not at all. It does make me want to scatter a handful of paperclips in front of you, though.” A thought occurred to her. “Isn’t this road to the reservoir covered in ice? Wasn’t that the reason you moved ice-rescue training to Mission Reservoir?”
“Yeah. Just get down as best you can. Try to stop before going onto the reservoir. We’ll worry about getting back up the hill once the dog is out of the water.” He paused. “And what the hell’s up with the paperclip thing? I’m organized, not Rain Man.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just want to add a little chaos to your life. I should turn in here, right?”
“Right. Slow and easy.”
Lou held her breath as the truck slid down the icy slope, turning until the pickup was at a diagonal angle. It felt like they were on a wheeled sled more than in a steerable vehicle. The brakes weren’t helping, and she had an anxious moment when she thought they would just keep going until the truck was out onto the ice.Please don’t let me drown Callum’s truck, she thought.
But then the slope flattened, and snowdrifts helped to slow their forward momentum. They eased to a halt several feet from the shore. Her breath left her in a relieved rush.
“Nice lighting placement,” Callum said as he opened his door. Lou looked out on the ice and realized what he meant. The truck was angled so the headlights illuminated the broken ice and dark water surrounding the head of a struggling light-colored dog.
“Shit. Owner’s in the water, too.” Callum’s calm tone contrasted with his speed as he jumped out of the truck and ran for the back to get his gear. It took a second for his words to register before Lou realized there was a second hole in the ice, this one containing a person.
“Hang on, buddy!” Callum called to the person struggling to pull himself out of the water. Pieces of ice broke and sank beneath his flailing arms. “We’ll get you out of there.”
“Oh man,” Lou breathed, her stomach plunging to her toes at the sight of the two struggling victims. It was one thing to train, to pretend that Phil really was drowning, but this was reality—a true life-or-death situation. She grabbed for her portable radio and twisted the power knob, waiting impatiently for the beep letting her know it was working. She relayed the information about the second victim while hurrying to join Callum at the tailgate.
He’d already gotten his dry suit on halfway, so she held it up so he could thrust his arms in the sleeves. Her hands shaking, she pulled the hood over his head, zipped the back, and secured the Velcro flaps, following his movement as he reached into the bed of the pickup to pull out the rope and harness.
As she hooked the rope around him, red-and-white flashing lights lit the area, and the dive van crested the hill. Lou saw the brakes lock up as the van made the same sliding descent as Callum’s truck.
“Watch out,” he warned, but she was already moving. They scrambled back ten feet and watched as the dive van slid to a stop next to the truck. Lou refocused on fastening the rope around Callum’s midsection. Harness in hand, he jogged along the shore, looking for the most direct line to the man in the water. Lou followed, her gaze locked on the victim’s slowing struggle.
As Callum headed out onto the ice, leaving her on shore with the other end of the rope, Lou realized that she didn’t have her tug-of-war team behind her this time. She sent a frantic glance toward the dive van to see Derek and a dry-suited Wilt grabbing equipment from the back of the van, and she mentally begged them to hurry. Endless shoveling and stacking firewood had given her more upper-body strength than she’d ever had before, but the idea of hauling two good-sized men out of the water and across the ice by herself made her shake.
Callum was crawling toward the mostly submerged man. Although she couldn’t make out the words, Lou could hear him talking to the victim, his voice low and reassuring. Sliding on his belly across the final stretch, Callum slid feetfirst into the water just as the ice cracked beneath his weight. He had the harness fastened around the man’s chest in seconds, and the part of Lou’s brain that wasn’t completely terrified had to admire his dexterity. She knew from their aborted training session that it was harder than it looked.
“Oh no,” she breathed. Callum was giving her the “pull” sign. She hauled on the rope, and it was much easier than she’d expected. Glancing behind her, she saw Wilt and a grinning Derek. Relief spilled over into a beaming smile. “My tug-of-war team is back!”
