Flash Point - Savannah Kade Page 0,29

techniques, he thought, and was being as safe as she could be. He watched and let a little more of her line out as she reached toward a small but sturdy tree and braced herself.

Then, as she walked farther backward, the ground started sloping out from under her. He could tell by her movements that her footing wasn’t solid. He watched as her gloved hands clenched tighter on trees and then rocks as she slowly descended.

She was a professional. Why was he so worried about her?

He was slowly lowering her down, watching as she began to bend at the waist and moved to crawling backward down the slope. She made comments telling him that her feet were sinking into the mud and that the sides of the ravine were getting slick.

It was slow going. The need to pull Jason Ryder quickly out of whatever predicament he was in at the bottom of the ravine was crucial. However, making Jo go faster and giving them two victims to rescue would be a huge mistake. So Leo held his breath and slowly let her go.

The slope was not harsh, and it took forever for her to get a distance away from him to where he could only see the top half of her. He called out, “You good?”

She looked up at him, having to move her whole head to move the visor on her rain gear out of the way. When he could finally see her eyes, she didn't smile. Jo Huston wasn't much for sunny dispositions and overt optimism, he'd found. But she held one thumb up and gave a nod.

But just as she did it, she screamed and disappeared.

Chapter Eighteen

Jo felt her feet slipping away from where she'd had them braced against the mud. She did the only thing she could do: pushed with her feet that had no purchase and tried to twist as she swung out and back toward the side.

She braced for the inevitable full body smack against the dirt.

The ground didn't slope enough to save her.

“Are you okay?” Leo’s voice filtered down to her and she almost laughed.

Leo Evans sounded very worried about her.

“I'm fine,” she called up knowing that the tone of her voice conveyed her irritation. Hopefully, the fact that she was irritated would convey that she was okay. “Just muddy and wet!”

All of her weight hung on the harness now, and not where it was supposed to be—on her own feet and hands. Carefully, she tried again to brace herself, only this time she knew the mud wouldn’t hold her as she began the awkward journey of climbing down.

“Are you okay, sir?” the little boy called up.

Sweet kid, she thought. “I'm fine. My name is Jo.”

But it was Leo above her who simultaneously corrected. “She’s okay and Jo is a ma'am.”

Well, damn. She didn’t care if a thirteen-year-old thought she was a man from the backside of a harness coming over a mud slope. That was probably not the best time for anyone to be worried about being misgendered. But now she was laughing so hard, that it made it more difficult to get down the slope.

Reminding herself she was a professional, Jo forced her attention back to her position, slowly making her way downward. When she finally reached the bottom, she turned and for the first time got a good look at Jason Ryder.

He was huddled on a rock. His butt was sitting on what had to be very cold, wet moss. His knees were pulled up under his chin and his teeth were chattering. His brown eyes were wide in dark skin, but he’d kept his hat and gloves on.

The rock he perched on—that she thought he might just slide right off of if he moved!—was about a third of the way out into the creek. She really wanted to ask how he got in there, but this wasn’t the time. Jo reminded herself that she didn’t always like the answers people gave her while they were in trouble, so she pushed that aside.

Jason had his arms wrapped tightly around his legs, and he had on a good coat and the hat his parents had told them about. He was doing as well as he could at conserving his body heat.

Smart move, she thought and wondered about his twisted ankle and broken arm. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought. However, she had to get across the rushing water to get to him. Maybe she did need to know …