Chapter 5
Five
DARKNESS OOZED OVERHEAD, slipping through the white snow.
Stay calm. They’ll find you. He’ll find you.
Joel wouldn’t stop until he did, but would it be too late? Her hope of being found alive dwindled as time slipped by—both too fast and too slow. Her heart raced.
How long had she been under? Long enough she couldn’t feel her feet. Frostbite. She swallowed. Please, let them find me—whole.
Her foggy mind slipped in and out of consciousness. She dozed off, then startled awake, her eyes thick—weighted.
Her arm protecting her tiny bubble of air throbbed in the awkward position.
Sooner or later, it would drop in exhaustion, and she’d suffocate.
Snow crept closer and closer to her mouth.
The roaring over, now was the avalanche aftermath—the snow settling, slinking into crevices of air, sealing the earth and everything under it in its icy casket.
Tears pricked her eyes—the only warmth she’d experienced since being swallowed whole.
She’d heard the gory and heartbreaking details of avalanche victims—snow found down their throats, through their sinuses. It would slip through her crevices just as it was the earth’s.
She’d die. Die without ever telling Joel the truth.
Unwieldy grogginess and fierce cold battled to take her, and her grit to hold out was slipping away.
Please, Lord, if You’re going to take me home . . . just let me fall asleep without pain and wake up in Your arms.
Slipping toward sleep, she fought to keep her eyes open, but the heaviness was too much.
Slipping.
Slipping . . .
What was that? She struggled to listen. Please don’t say I’m hearing things. That I’m that far gone. She listened again. Please.
Sound reverberated above. Something slicing through the ice. Again and again.
Oh, thank You, Lord. Had someone found her? She tried to yell, but her voice was a hoarse sound that didn’t even qualify as a whisper. Tears should be flooding her eyes, but all moisture was gone.
Something poked her arm, the pressure deepening.
“I found her!” Joel’s voice radiated through the snow.
Oh, thank You, Lord. Thank You. Thank You.
He’d found her. If anyone could have, it was Joel.
He hadn’t given up on her, and she wouldn’t give up on him. On them.
She’d tell him the truth and, if he still loved her as Izzy claimed, they’d hunt down her stalker together. Either way, Joel deserved the truth.
If being so near to death taught her anything, it was not to leave anything on the table. And when she got out of here, she’d not die with regrets. Not like she nearly had.
Anxiety and relief churned in the pit of Joel’s stomach. He’d found her, but was he in time? He hollered her name without reply.
Scrambling to shovel her out without hurting her, he worked fast but with deftness.
Iz and Talbot joined him, then Scott and Heath, all working to shovel Cassie out. Snow flew in the air each time a shovel tossed back.
He swallowed the acrid taste in his mouth, his stomach churning.
Was she still conscious? Breathing?
Adrenaline coursed through his veins.
Wait. He slowed. What was that?
He narrowed his eyes.
A glimmer of color flashed before them, then vanished.
He knelt, digging with his hands until a patch of blue appeared. Cassie’s snowsuit.
“She’s here!” He squeezed his eyes shut for a breath of a moment. Thank You. Hot tears sizzled down his frozen cheeks.
He dropped onto his stomach, everyone following suit, each straining as far as they could reach to shovel the remaining snow surrounding Cassie out with their hands rather than risk hurting her with shovels. Painstakingly, they uncovered Cassie inch by inch until she was visible six feet down.
Frigid air seared Joel’s lungs.
Shadows covered the sky in the dawn of night.
Faster. They needed to work faster, then find shelter. Get Cassie and everyone warm somehow before they all froze to death.
Clicking on the flashlight from his pack, he swept it over Cassie’s face, praying the light would reveal her alert and conscious.
She inched her arm up to shield her eyes or attempted to, but it barely budged—as if frozen stiff.
But her beautiful green eyes blinked—her lashes caked with snow, no doubt the avalanche had tripped her sunglasses from her face as well.
Ice crystals clung to her hair peeking out of the flower-patterned stocking cap.
“We’ve got you,” he said. “We’ve got you.” His chest tight, he raked his gaze over her—thankfulness and concern churning in his gut.
Blue lips. Shivering. Pale face with white spots.
“She’s in hypothermia! We need to get her someplace warm and fast.”
“Joel.” Izzy rested a hand on his shoulder.
“What?”
“Her leg.” His sister gestured down.
His gaze tracked to Cassie’s right leg crooked sideways at the knee.
No bones protruding, thank goodness. Perhaps a badly twisted knee, a torn tendon.
So many things it could be. But examining her leg needed to wait.
The priority was hefting her up out of the hole before snow collapsed in around her.
“We found her,” Iz yelled in the background of his focus, her flashlight sweeping back and forth.
Talbot’s joined hers.
Joel studied Cassie’s face pinched in sorrow, or was it relief? On the brink of crying, but no tears fell. “We need water. She’s dehydrated.” His words cast white clouds in the beam of Izzy’s flashlight.
Izzy grabbed the pack off her back. “I’ve got some.” Reaching into her bag, she fished out a bottle of water and tossed it to him.
Catching it, he jumped down to Cassie’s side and brought the bottle to her blue lips.
“Here, sweetheart,” he said, not even pausing to consider why that had slipped from his lips. Joy at finding her alive was what mattered, that and getting her shelter and warmth. The rest of the crew appeared at his side one by one until the full party encircled the hole.
“What do we do?” Devon asked. “Is she all right?”
“She will be.” He’d make sure of that. Whatever she needed to heal, he’d give.
“What do we need to do?” Devon asked again.
“I need a coat,” Joel said, taking off his without hesitation.
“Joel,” Izzy said, concern lacing her voice. “You already have hypothermia. I see all the signs. Get someone else’s.”
“I’ll be fine. Plus, I’d wager nearly all of us are experiencing some level of hypothermia.” They’d been out in the elements too long, and with a blizzard howling around them, it was only going to get worse.
Devon and Talbot’s cousin Lyle handed him their coats.
“Thanks. We need to build a makeshift gurney and get her out of here.”
“What do you need?” Brady asked.
“We need to widen the hole so two of us can fit down here to lift her out. I also need two long sticks—thick as you can get.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem with all the debris,” Devon said.
He nodded, and Brady and Devon bolted for the tree line while his cousin Scott and Heath helped widen the hole—giving him room to work.
Joel draped his coat across Cassie, her teeth chattering. “Hey, Cassie,” he said, trying to get her to focus her gaze on him. It took a moment, but she did. “I’m going to get you out of here, okay?”
She gave a nod, the movement stiff.
“You trust me, right?”
She dipped her chin an inch.
“Good.”
The guys returned with sticks more reminiscent of poles.
“Perfect.”
They handed them to him in turn, then taking their coats, he fashioned the gurney parallel to Cassie on the snow.
Stabbing bolts of ice streamed down with the falling snow.
“Okay,” he said, his voice full of emotion, full of love. Even if she didn’t love him back, he still loved her. “You ready?”
She gave a slight nod.
“Okay. I need you to be the fierce woman I know you to be. We need to lift you onto the gurney, then up out of this hole.” Six feet under the snowline.
So very close to death. He shook the cobwebs of thoughts from his brain and refocused his attention on getting Cassie out of the hole.
“Moving you is going to hurt, but I know you can handle it. You’re my tough girl. ”
She nodded once.
“All right.” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “Be as still as you can.” He turned his attention to the guys. “Okay, Jayce and I will lift her onto the gurney, then we’ll each take a corner,” he said, addressing Brady and Devon, “and lift her up and you two help pull her out of the hole.”
“Roger that,” Brady said as he and Devon perched themselves at the edge of the hole, ready to pull the gurney up and out.
Jayce dropped in the hole beside his brother.
“All right.” Joel rested his hands on Cassie’s shoulders for a moment. “You’ve got this,” he assured her before turning his attention back to Jayce. “Grab her ankles, and I’ll get her upper body. We move on three.”
Jayce nodded.
“I’m going to slip my hands under your arms, okay?”
A murmur escaped her lips, his heart warming at the first sound she’d made since they’d found her. It was a good sign, even if she couldn’t form words yet. He shifted, slipping his hands under her armpits, then looked up at Jayce. “Nice and smooth. One, two, three.”
They lifted.
A cry tore from Cassie’s blue lips.
“I’m sorry, honey.” He and Jayce lowered her onto the gurney.
Her pained face softened as Jayce released his hold on her ankles.
“All right. One more time, sweetheart,” Joel whispered. “It shouldn’t be as painful, but we have to lift the gurney up and out of here. Remember, deep breaths in and out of your mouth.”
She nodded, her neck moving with more ease.
Jayce hiked his end up as Joel stabilized Cassie by bracing one hand on her shoulder. Devon and Brady hauled her out, resting the gurney on the snow.
“Good to see you,” Devon said. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you didn’t become a crime scene for me to work.”
“You and me both,” she chuckled at her coworker, but it came out as more of a cough. Her gaze pinned on Joel. “Good to see you all.”
“Let’s all take a corner,” Joel instructed. “And we’ll rotate turns with Heath, Talbot, Scott, and Lyle.”
The group of four men nodded.
“What about ski patrol?” Heath asked. “They’ll be coming soon, won’t they? I mean, we’re not stuck out here, are we?” Panic embedded his faltering tone.
“They can’t cross the avalanche,” Talbot said. “Just like we can’t.”
“Helicopters?” Heath asked, the anxious pitch of his voice rising.
“Not in this blizzard. They’ll be grounded,” Joel said. “We’re on our own, I’m afraid.”