start sending rescue this way. She’s badly hurt from what I just heard.”
“You got it. Cavalry’s on the way.”
“We got a couple of bodies out here, too. They aren’t pretty, so warn anyone who comes through the woods.”
He looked at Buddy. “Grab an emergency pack. You’re going to get to be a hero after all.”
* * *
It was getting harder and harder, but Sky kept banging the rocks. She thought she heard gunshots, but couldn’t be sure. Babbling brook my foot, she thought as the waters rushed nearby, determined to swallow any other sounds. Washing them away as surely as they washed away any other debris.
She had begun to shiver, despite the effort she was expending, and she could feel her body’s growing need for rest. A rest that could prove fatal.
So she banged the rocks again and deliberately moved her leg to send another tide of agony racing through her.
Stay awake. Just stay awake.
Apparently she didn’t succeed. The next thing she knew, jarring pain roused her. Craig’s voice reached her as if from down a long tunnel. Something crinkly was being wrapped around her, and at some point she vaguely registered growing warmth.
Red blossomed behind her eyelids and she opened them to see a flare burning nearby. With a loud pop, another one ascended upward.
“You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be fine. I’m here.”
I’m here. Those words in that voice were the best she’d ever heard.
* * *
Craig could have cheerfully added another killing to the list he carried, but it wouldn’t serve any purpose now. He took one of Sky’s roughly bandaged hands between his own, willing warmth into her icy fingers. “Stay with me, Sky. Stay with me.” The flutter of her eyelids gave him his only hope.
She was so damn cold, probably only a short way from succumbing to exposure and her injuries. Cap had done better than he thought. She wouldn’t have survived till morning. He just hoped she had enough body heat left for the survival blanket to do her some good.
The radio crackled to life. “Sheriff says the rescue chopper is on the way. You have another flare?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll let you know when to release it. Meantime I’ve got a dozen guys running your way with a basket and backboard in case the chopper can’t do it.”
“The chopper better do it. She’s cold as ice.”
“Working on it.” No-nonsense Lucy. If he hadn’t known her well, he would have wondered if she even cared. But Lucy cared. She cared naturally about everyone and everything.
“Craig?”
He almost didn’t hear her, but he snapped around. Her eyes were open halfway. “I’m here. Rescue is on the way.”
“Cool. Wanna talk.”
“Save your energy. We can talk all day tomorrow.”
He thought he saw the whisper of a smile on her lips. Hope, real hope, began to rise in him.
“Craig?” Lucy on the radio. He keyed his mike.
“Yeah?”
“They’re almost there. Get that flare ready. Guys on the ground estimate five minutes to reach the ravine.”
They must be running despite the darkness. Warmth toward them penetrated the chill in his heart. Good men and women, racing to the rescue through darkened woods.
He felt Sky’s icy fingers move, then squeeze ever so slightly. “I’m here,” he said. “I’m here. Just a few more minutes and we’ll have you out of here.”
“Thirsty,” she mumbled.
“Not for much longer, darlin’. Just a little longer.”
The radio came to life. “Give us that flare now.”
Moments after the flare reached the peak of its arc, blinding light flooded down from above. Though he couldn’t really hear the rotors, he knew what it was.
Thank God.
Chapter 15
Sky awoke with difficulty. Sleep kept wanting to drag her back into darkness, into a jumble of images she couldn’t evaluate for their reality. A flash of twisting in the air, another flash of being dragged through a door into the belly of a beast.
A woman’s voice: “This will prick.” She never felt the prick.
And now she was hot. So very hot. She struggled against the muzzy thickening in her head. “Hot,” she managed to croak.
Something lifted from her, and she immediately felt cooler. A hand touched her brow.
“You’re coming out of anesthesia,” a woman’s voice said. “Morphine for pain. You’re going to be just fine.”
She let the darkness take her again.
The next time waking was easier. Pain pounded in her leg, but much reduced. With effort she opened her eyes and saw a ceiling. Curtains. Hospital. It was over.