Chapter 1
One
DESPITE THE DARKNESS that had fallen, the sky was on fire. Green ribbons shimmered above the jagged peaks, twisting and unfurling like celestial streamers in a dance. The auroras had been predicted to appear when the geomagnetic storm hit. And there they were.
Not five minutes later, a sharp crack sounded. The sound grew, building and becoming louder with each passing second, until the mountain shook beneath the weight of it.
Not thunder.
An avalanche.
Ice snapped and splintered with sharp cracks like rifle shots piercing the air. The snow poured down like a tidal wave, its force unstoppable, the sound of its approach deafening.
Terrifying.
Destroying everything in its path. Trees snapped like brittle bones. The impact with the resort was a crashing, shattering force that felt as if the mountain itself was coming apart.
Dr. Maya Sullivan gasped awake, ears ringing, heart thundering. “A dream,” she whispered. “Just a dream.”
The geomagnetic storm and the avalanche had been two days ago. She’d just arrived at the Silver Pines Ski Resort five hours before the horror began, checked in, found her cabin, and put her stuff away. She’d headed for the main lodge with her laptop, her stomach growling, demanding nourishment.
A mouthwatering chicken salad croissant captured her attention, and she wolfed down the first half without stopping to breathe.
With her hunger pangs somewhat appeased, she turned her focus to the reason she was there and opened her laptop.
Inheriting her grandfather’s ranch—the place where she’d spent her summers—had come as a surprise.
The decision to turn it into a place of healing, hope, and peace, however, had been an easy one.
In the middle of emailing her friend Elena Thompson about helping get the ranch operational, the first faint sound reached her.
The sounds grew by the second, and in horror, from her seat by the window, thanks to the full moon, she watched part of the mountain slide down in a rolling, rumbling, deadly rush, sweeping past her and dividing the mountain into two sections.
Thankfully, ski patrol had recognized the signs and had been able to warn most of the night skiers to get off it before the slab separated and began its descent.
But not all had made it. And who knew how bad the other side of the mountain was, where a heli-skiing group had gone out earlier in the day?
And to make matters even more complicated, radios and cell phones didn’t work.
Even the SOS satellite feature on the newer phones was worthless, thanks to the geomagnetic storm.
The resort’s repeater station had been taken out as well.
They were well and truly cut off from the outside world.
But she couldn’t worry about that. All she could do is what she could do. Which was why Maya was sleeping in the chair at the bedside of a victim who hadn’t moved fast enough, and dreaming about the massive barrage.
Better than dreaming about Afghanistan.
Or Laura—the best friend she’d lost because Maya hadn’t been able to save her. All her efforts had been for naught.
But she could help these people.
She touched the cross at the base of her throat held there by the thin gold chain, then rose to her feet, ran her hands over her hair, and shoved aside the memory of the terror—both of the avalanche and the day Laura had been killed.
She focused on being grateful that no one had died this time.
Hurt, yes, but still breathing. Violet, a young woman in her early twenties, had been sideswiped by the flow of the snow and slammed into a tree.
Her arm had snapped just above the elbow.
Maya had set it as best she could, but without proper tools, she was limited.
The lodge was still standing, but the entrance into the resort was completely packed with ice and snow. The entrance that was also the exit. One way in and one way out.
Neither was an option at the moment.
Since the urgent care clinic was right next to the entrance, it had been buried as well. It would take time to dig their way into it. If they could even do it.
Shortly after the avalanche, Maya had helped set up a temporary medical station behind the lodge, utilizing the large community room where visitors could enjoy a game of Ping-Pong, pool, or cards.
Everything had been pulled out to make room for the patients.
The maintenance crew worked tirelessly with a single Bobcat to clear a path to the urgent care clinic that held lifesaving drugs and other equipment they could really use.
But progress was slow, so until then . . .
“You okay?” The voice belonged to forty-two-year-old Dr. Delilah Morgan, the ski resort physician. She was a delightful woman with the neatest and tightest cornrows Maya had ever seen. Her dark eyes, that Maya had a feeling normally gleamed with good humor, were shadowed with fatigue and worry.
“I’m all right,” Maya said. A trauma surgeon in her everyday world, she’d escaped to Silver Pines for solitude. To hibernate and plan the next steps in her life.
Only that plan was on hold.
Maya had stepped back into her doctor role to patch broken bones, stitch gashes, and use the AED on a heart attack victim who had survived but definitely needed to be in a hospital.
“It’s morning, hon,” Del said. “Or almost. Sun will be up soon. You need to get some rest.”
“I don’t mind staying.”
“But you’re tired. You need sleep.”
She wasn’t wrong. Maya let her gaze flick back around the people who needed care. Two other vacationers-turned-medical-workers had things under control. Maybe she could leave for a bit.
Delilah pressed her fingers against her eyes, then shot Maya a smile. “How’s Mr. Webb?” Rodney Webb. The heart attack victim.
“He’s hanging in there.”
“Yeah.” Del sighed.
“What about you?”
“I’m good for the next twelve hours or so. We’ve got more people coming to help.” Del quirked a small smile. “Lots of doctors like to ski.”
Maya let her lips turn up in response. There were other doctors, but she was the only one qualified to do surgery should someone need it. Then again, it wasn’t like she had the tools to do it. “Has it finally quit snowing?”
“Yeah. A few hours ago.”
“Thank God. Where do you think the satellite phones went?” she asked.
Del pursed her lips. “There were two in the medical clinic and three in the ski patrol building that got wiped out along with the cell tower. Thankfully, no one was in the ski patrol building, but I can’t believe there aren’t more phones somewhere.
Once we realized the avalanche could hit the clinic, we got so busy evacuating that we didn’t grab the phones.
” She shook her head. “Stupid. All that aside, this place is top of the line. Seems like they’d have more sat phones in different locations readily available for emergency situations.
” She shrugged. “Then again, cell service isn’t usually an issue, so who knows?
But I will say, the one at the front desk being gone? That’s sketchy if you ask me.”
“You think someone took it?”
“I hate to accuse, but yes, I do. It’s the only explanation I can come up with and I haven’t heard a better one yet.”
“Yeah, me either.” Maya frowned. “I just don’t understand why someone would want to keep us from calling for help.”
“Someone up to no good, that’s who.”
Maya rubbed her forehead. “Okay, well, I guess we’ll have to watch our backs and hope it’s really just lost.” And not because someone had something nefarious up their sleeve.
“Hope all you want. I know what I think.”
Unfortunately, Maya was inclined to agree with her but wanted to give the staff the benefit of the doubt. “Maybe one will turn up. On another note, I’m hungry. Before I grab some sleep, I’m going to head over to the lodge to snag a bite to eat. Do you want me to bring you anything?”
“No. I can’t believe the gas and power lines are still working. No internet, but I’m not going to complain. The slide was on the opposite side of all of that, so I’ll just be grateful for what we do have.”
“So will I,” Maya said. But she’d still pray for everything else. She suspected Del would too. “Please find a way to get word to me if you need me. I’ll be in the café for the next little while, then my cabin.”
Since there was no cell phone service, some of the teenagers were acting as messengers.
They still hadn’t reached anyone outside the resort, so all they could do was hope that someone had noticed the avalanche or had tried to contact a loved one at the resort and failed.
The one silver lining was that this would likely prompt a report, and with any luck, someone would come searching.
Hopefully.
She made her way outside, zipping her coat, then pulled on her gloves, and even though the lodge was close by, snow had fallen off the roof and spread onto the usual walking path.
Snowplows had made a new one and she set out on it.
It was still early morning, the sun just starting to peek above the horizon, which made it a quiet walk, the stillness nice and calming.
Like it was just her and nature, but something changed about halfway to the restaurant.
She wasn’t sure what, but the sensation of being watched slithered up her spine and settled at the base of her neck.
She stopped and scanned the area. Huge piles of snow bracketed the path, so someone could be hiding behind one, but . . . why?
“Hello? Is someone there?”
Silence. Eerie silence. Heavy silence.
A shiver ran through her and she hunched her shoulders. The sun continued to rise, pushing through the darkness, bringing a hint of light to the sky and the path in front of her. Maybe she was just jumpy for no reason.