standing on the side of the road.
Lieutenant Anderson stepped up to talk to the parents, who hurriedly motioned them toward the back.
There was an old well that had been broken apart and a black hole where their ten-year-old son had fallen.
The parents were John and Belinda Lindquist.
“We haven’t used this one in years, and we knew it was a danger, so we were planning to fill it in,” John said. “We told Caleb to stay away from it, but he must have come out here to take a look and fallen in.”
“When he first fell in we heard him cry, and now we don’t hear anything,” Belinda said, tears filling her eyes. “Please, get him out of there.”
“Any water down there?” the lieutenant asked.
The man shook his head. “No. Well’s been dry for a while.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Lieutenant Anderson said. “Now you need to step back and let us get to work.”
John and Belinda also had a thirteen-year-old daughter named Roberta who looked just as worried as her parents.
The thing he liked the most about his lieutenant was how calm he was under pressure. He also made sure to fill in the parents about what they were doing and how they planned to get their son out.
He gave the team their assignments, and they all jumped to perform the tasks. They began to set up the tripod, get the ropes in line, and both Meg and Micah harnessed up. While all this was going on, their lieutenant laid out what was going to happen and what everyone’s job would be.
Meg would go down first, with Micah as backup if needed, though with the hole being so tight, hopefully they’d only need one of them. Dean and Phil would provide weight on the tripod. Kal was in charge of the blue rope that would be used to pull Caleb up. Irish and Andy were in charge of the red rope and lowering Meg.
They were a well-oiled machine, but all this took time to set up. They were thirty minutes in by the time they were ready to lower Meg into the hole.
“Oh, please hurry,” Mrs. Lindquist said.
“He’s gonna be fine,” Mr. Lindquist said, putting his arm around both his wife and his daughter.
EMTs were also on hand to provide aid for the child as soon as they pulled him out. Kal hoped the kid was okay enough to not need EMTs. He hated to think of the other outcome, not with the parents and his sister standing right there.
“You ready?” Lieutenant Anderson asked, looking around at all of them.
“Yes, sir,” they all said one by one.
His gaze landed last on Meg, who nodded, gave the rope team controlling her a thumbs-up, then slid over the edge and into the abyss.
Kal’s muscles tensed as he waited for the signal, hoping he’d get to pull up a survivor. He knew the entire team was focused on their duties, all connected via their mics to listen to Meg’s descent into the well.
He watched as Irish and Andy continued to give rope to Meg’s descent, which meant she was going pretty far down. He had no idea the depth of the well, but it was obviously a ways.
“Okay, I see something,” she said. “Looks like a figure curled up at the bottom. White T-shirt, blue jeans. No movement.”
Kal’s stomach clenched as he waited for her to reach Caleb.
“Feet on the ground,” she said.
And then nothing but silence. They knew she was checking Caleb’s vital signs, examining him for injuries, so it’d be a few minutes before they heard back from her. To the team it seemed like an eternity. To Caleb’s parents, even longer.
“He’s conscious. He was asleep. Amazingly, nothing is broken. He has some deep cuts and scrapes, but nothing major. Looks like he might have a sprained ankle. Maybe a concussion. Says he’s hungry and really thirsty. I’m harnessing him to pull up.”
They all exhaled in relief. The lieutenant reported Meg’s findings to Caleb’s parents, who both burst into tears, and the family embraced one another.
Within a few minutes, Meg gave the okay to pull Caleb, so Kal gently retracted his rope, not wanting to jar him or bump him against the side walls of the well. EMTs stood at the entrance to grab hold of him as soon as he appeared and put him on the stretcher. They headed straight for the hospital, the family following in their car. After he was up, Phil and Dean pulled Meg out.
“Whew,” she