Brace For Impact

This time she moved more carefully, watching where she put her feet, grabbing branches where she could for support. The rocky side hill didn’t support huge trees. Maybe...maybe these had softened the landing.

And torn the plane to shreds, too.

She saw the other wing first. It had slashed raw places in tree trunks and ripped away branches. More metal lay ahead, another thirty or forty feet.

There she found Bill Potter, still in his seat as she’d been, but the way his head lay on his shoulder—Her teeth chattered as she made herself take a closer look. And then she backed away and bent over puking, snot and tears and blood mixing until she had to use the hem of her shirt to wipe her face again.

She called for Scott, listened. Did it again, and this time she heard a cry. I’m not alone. Whispering, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she half crawled in that direction.

When she saw him, crumpled and twisted, her teeth started to chatter again. That couldn’t be right. People didn’t bend that way.

She had to scramble the last bit, the ground cold and sloping even more steeply here.

His eyes were open when she reached him, but beneath his tan his face was a color she’d never seen. His lips were almost blue.

“Scott,” she whispered, not letting herself look at his lower body.

“Maddy.” Her name came out so quietly, she bent close to hear him. Took his hand in hers, but his chilly fingers didn’t tighten in response. Something else she didn’t want to think about.

“I’ll go for help,” she said, unable to help crying.

“No.” Suddenly, his fingers convulsed like claws, biting into her hand. His eyes held hers with fierce determination. “Not an accident.”

That was something she hadn’t yet let herself think. Even though she knew, she knew, Maddy heard herself saying, “What?”

“Bomb.”

Chapter Two (#u1b699b38-7b8a-5bd1-bc9e-1665274c8707)

As Maddy clutched his hand, Scott tried to work his mouth. “Can’t trust marshals. Only people who knew.”

“That you’d gone to get me and how we were getting back?”

“Yes.”

“But...”

“Can’t stay with plane.”

“I won’t leave you!”

“Have to.” His voice had weakened. Blood bubbled between his lips.

“No—”

“They’ll need to be sure you’re dead. Someone will be coming.” He stared at her with what she sensed took everything he had left. “Take coats, first-aid kit. Food. Run, Maddy.”

Her hot tears splattered onto his face. He didn’t seem to notice.

“Friend. Marshal. Ruzinski. Robert. Remember.”

She had to lip-read now. “Robert Ruzinski,” she repeated.

He made a sound that might have been confirmation. His lips moved again. “Trust him.”

“Okay. But I can’t leave you.”

Staring into his eyes, she saw the very second he left her. The tight clench of his fingers loosened. When she lifted her hand away, his arm flopped to his side.

He was dead.

She let herself cry for a few minutes before she made herself think through the cotton candy that seemed to fill her head.

Normally, she’d try to figure out whether there was some kind of beacon and how it worked. Or...would the radio still work? But as it was...

Run.

She didn’t dare be found. Not yet. She had to hide. Stay alive until she could really think, evaluate her options. Right now she needed to scavenge what she could from the plane, or she wouldn’t survive. She’d seen enough snow before the plane came down to know it must still get cold this high up in the mountains. And there might be some food. Something to hold water in. Yes, a first-aid kit.

Would she have phone reception? Maddy didn’t remember seeing her purse. It could be anywhere. She’d look, but the phone, even if it was what Scott had called a “burner,” would have GPS, wouldn’t it? That might not be good.

Warmth, food, water, bandages—those were her needs. And also... She turned her head to the twisted part of Scott Rankin’s body. If he carried a gun, she needed to take that.

The idea of groping his body felt like a hideous invasion. He’d want her to, though—she felt sure.

Shivering, Maddy knelt over him.

HE HAD TO be insane.

Will had had plenty of time to think about what he was doing, and how little chance there was that he’d be able to help anyone. People rarely survived that kind of crash. If anyone had miraculously lived, they might get a faster response from an activated beacon than from him. He’d known from the beginning that he’d take hours to reach the crash site.

But what if the plane didn’t have a beacon? If the pilot hadn’t filed a flight plan?

Straight lines in this country were rarely possible. No trail existed for him to follow. Instead, he’d reluctantly realized he had to drop from his current elevation of 7,380 feet on the summit and head southwest along the side of the ridge leading toward McMillan Spire. He had to stay above the tree line so he’d see the crash site. Then he just had to hope it would be possible to climb down to it.

This was not a recommended descent route from Elephant Butte. In fact, from what he’d read, he’d be facing brutal conditions. Chances were good he wouldn’t have cell phone coverage once he dropped toward the Torrent Creek and Stettatle Creek drainages. Even as he jogged along a lengthy band of snow, using his ice ax to aid his balance, he debated whether he should call to report what he’d seen. Swearing under his breath, he made himself stop, lower his pack and dig for his cell phone, which of course wasn’t easily accessed. He hadn’t expected to want it.

And then when he did find it...he had no bars. Will dropped the damn useless thing back into a pocket that he zipped, then shouldered the pack again and set off.

The speed he tried to maintain was a lot faster than was safe.

Even as he thought that, his feet caught crumbling rock and skidded. He slammed the serrated end of the ax into a crack between boulders and felt the wrench on his shoulders as the ax held and one of his booted feet slid over a drop-off.

Swearing, sweating, he made slow, careful movements to get his feet back under him on a too-narrow ledge. The unwieldy pack didn’t help; even though he’d eaten some of the food he’d carried in, it probably still weighed seventy pounds or more. Nothing he wasn’t familiar with from deployments, but this was a different landscape. The weight shifted his balance, like a pregnant woman’s belly shifted hers. He made his cautious and much slower way to another strip of snow, one of many that formed ribbons between stretches of tumbled rock.

Had to come up here alone, didn’t ya?

Maybe this wasn’t the right plan. He was strong. He thought he could make it back to Diablo by early nightfall, even though he’d taken two days to get up here. He could call 911 or find a ranger station, get a rescue helicopter in the air.