Mountain Challenge (Mont Blanc Rescue #9)

Chapter 13

13

Ry

R y whistled as he walked into the office for the first time since the incident. He half-expected one of his teammates to joke about it. Did you get laid last night, Ry? But this wasn’t his usual just-got-laid mood. No, this was more than that.

Though his arm was still in the sling, that was mostly caution at this point. Caution, and the fact that he didn’t want to get yelled at by Beau. But the swelling had gone down, as the doctor had hoped it would, and the intense pain of that first day was a faint memory by now. He might not be cleared to go out into the field again yet, but he was ready to work, and there were things he could do to help around the office.

The truth was, he’d been going stir crazy, sitting alone at home. The first day after the incident hadn’t been bad; after the best sex of his life—and he was by now resigned to the fact that every time he had sex with Isla was going to be the best sex of his life, since it seemed that was just the way things were—he and Isla had spent an easy morning together.

There had been no awkwardness, no strangers-sharing-a-bathroom strangeness. Just two people getting to know each other … and liking what they were seeing. An image of Isla filled his mind. She was innocence and lust in one tiny rocket-fueled package. But it wasn’t just about her looks anymore. The fact was, Ry liked her. There wasn’t anything he didn’t like about her.

That morning, when he’d woken up, he’d caught her sitting up in bed, pencil in hand, staring with dreamy intensity at a small pad she kept by her bedside. In her, Ry could see the artist and the artisan, both working together in perfect harmony.

Eventually, Isla had gone off to open her studio, and Ry had gone home to the house he shared with Hugo. Except with Hugo on duty, there hadn’t been much for Ry to do at home. He couldn’t even work out any of the tension that was building up inside him. Eventually, he’d begged Beau for the chance to come back, which had finally been granted. So here Ry was, bright and early.

He stretched his shoulder, trying to evaluate the remaining tenderness. He wasn’t an idiot. He’d tell the doctor exactly how he was feeling when he met with him at six p.m. that evening. And hopefully he’d get the doctor’s okay to remove the sling and—most importantly—go back on active duty.

He looked around the empty office, surprised there was nobody around. He'd heard from Hugo that he, Tristan and Lorenz were out on patrol, but he'd expected to see Beau and Alex in the office. Then he heard voices coming from the meeting room.

Beau's voice was easy enough to identify. He sounded downright pissed off. There were at least two other people in the room with his boss. Ry recognized the colonel’s voice next. Great . As if his boss's anger hadn't been enough of a hint, the fact that the Colonel was down on this floor, behind a locked door, let Ry know that shit was hitting the fan. But what shit? Hugo hadn't mentioned anything the night before, so whatever it was, it had only just come up.

Ry paused outside the meeting room door, his hand poised to knock, when the third man started speaking. He had a soft, smooth voice, one Ry was sure he’d never heard before. Not somebody who worked at the gendarmerie .

"My client has reason to be concerned. Your officer has a history of dangerous risk-taking … daredevil stunts and?—”

Ry’s hand froze inches away from the door.

"Like the one that saved your client's life, you mean?" That was Beau again, making no effort to mask his anger. Whoever the stranger was, Beau didn’t like him.

“My client may never recover from the trauma your officer inflicted when he held him upside down.”

It hit him then. He was the shit was hitting the fan. Or at least, his career was. Fuck . A noise startled him. He turned, bumping straight into Alex. His friend's face was a mask of concern.

"What's going on?" Ry asked, not meaning for his voice to sound as much as a growl as it did.

"I'm sorry, man." Alex ran a hand nervously through his reddish hair. “I wanted to catch you before you heard any of that. The complaint against you was lodged late last night. I only found out this morning.”

Ry’s mouth went dry. His skin felt tight all over. “Complaint? What complaint?” Except he already knew. The words hanging upside down were a strong enough hint. The hiker. Still, his mind refused to accept it.

“I know you saved his life, Ry,” Alex said.

Solid despair filled him. “But it’s not going to matter, is it?”

Suddenly, the door to the meeting room opened. The soft-spoken man came out first, wearing what looked to Ry like an ugly brown suit but might be the height of fashion, for all he knew. Ry hated dressing up, and his one and only suit had been gathering dust in the back of his closet for years.

The man—who might as well have the word lawyer tattooed on his forehead—looked pleased with himself. Behind him, Colonel Pelegrin and Beau exchanged a quick look. With a short— very short —nod at Ry, the colonel followed the lawyer out into the hallway. Beau waited until they’d both disappeared down the hallway before speaking.

“Come in and close the door, Ry.”

They weren’t the kind of outfit to speak behind locked doors. They all trusted each other implicitly, and in their line of work, it was important for everyone in the team to be up to date of what was going on. But Ry understood. This floor wasn’t just for the PGHM. They shared it with other areas of the gendarmerie as well.

Ry closed the door softly—he was too angry to risk doing it any other way— and stood ramrod straight behind one of the chairs across from Beau. His boss looked tired—really fucking tired. Ry didn’t need to ask to know his boss hadn’t gone home last night.

“Sit.”

Ry was tempted to stay standing, because standing seemed like the right way to receive bad news, and he could already tell this was going to be the worst fucking news. But he didn’t want to antagonize Beau, or make this any harder for him. None of this was Beau’s fault. So he pulled out a chair and sat. Across from him, Beau sat as well. “How much did you hear?”

Ry answered honestly. “Enough to know I’m in trouble. Not enough to know how bad it is.”

Beau sighed, running a hand through his thick dark hair. “Miles Getty, one of the hikers from the incident last week, has lodged a formal complaint.” He opened the folder in front of him and pushed a paper towards Ry. Ry scanned it quickly. His name was at the top, along with words he’d never imagined reading. Violence policière. Agression grave.

A big stack of pages followed—what looked like medical reports, a witness statement—a fucking witness statement, from the other hiker, the very same man who’d pushed Miles off the cliff—and a bunch of legal documents written in what looked to Ry like medieval French.

Jesus . The words on the paper blurred, and Ry knew he was seconds away from breaking down in front of his boss. He swallowed, forcing the tears back. “This is bullshit, Beau.” He hated the begging tone of his voice, but managed to hold his boss’s gaze. He couldn’t bear it if his boss didn’t believe him. “None of this is true. Hugo and I saved their lives.”

Beau’s eyes narrowed. “You think I don’t know that?” he growled, looking truly angry. “I know this is bullshit. So does the colonel.”

“He does?” Ry thought back to the short nod the man had given him earlier.

“We all do. And we’re going to fight this.”

Ry breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, the PGHM would rally around him. That’s what they did.

“But that doesn’t take away from the seriousness of the situation,” Beau continued. “There is a process to be followed, and we will do this by the book.”

Ry nodded. He knew what was at stake. The PGHM did vital work in the Three Valleys area, but it was work nobody seemed to think of until it was needed. The rest of the time, as well as fighting against mother nature and adversity, they also had to fight bureaucracy, and the constant threat to cut their funding. Ry didn’t deal with that shit, since it was above his pay grade, but he wasn’t an ostrich, either. He knew what was going on. And he wasn’t going to let the department get hurt because of him. If things got bad enough, he would resign. He would quit the team and … and what? Where would he go? Everything he’d been working for was here. But he couldn’t let the team get hurt. He couldn’t let his bad luck haunt the PGHM as well. Maybe he should resign now, today, maybe he should?—

“Whatever you’re thinking, Ry, stop.”

Ry arched an eyebrow. There was no way his boss knew what he was thinking.

Beau sighed. “How long have we been working together? I know exactly what you’re thinking, and you need to stop now. We’re going to fight this—all of us together—the way we do everything else.”

“What’s going to happen to me?”

Beau’s jaw clenched tight. He doesn’t want to say it . “I’m going to have to put you on leave, Ry. I’ll need your badge, and you need to go home. A team from Lyon will run the investigation. We’ll make sure it’s done right.”

Ry nodded. He knew Beau and the team would leave no stone left unturned. Hugo had witnessed most of what happened—and he was a more credible witness than that druggie who’d pushed his friend into the abyss. Except you don’t want to drag Hugo into this . Relief hit Ry, then, that only his name had been on the paper. Hugo was clear for now, and they had to keep it that way.

“I don’t want Hugo involved.”

Beau’s eyes narrowed. “He’s your witness, Ry.”

Ry’s teeth clenched together. “Yes. And if they’re coming against me, they could just as easily decide to go against him as well.” He shook his head. “I know the team will have to interview him. I just don’t want?—“

Beau’s gaze softened. “Let me worry about Hugo, Ry. Go home, take a few days off. I’ll let you know when there are any fresh developments.”

Ry pulled his badge out of his wallet and placed it on the conference table. His hands shook, so he placed them on his knees. As if Beau hasn’t already noticed .

“You’re going to be okay?” Beau asked calmly. Ry could feel his boss’s concern from across the conference table. So, while he wanted to shout at the unfairness of it all, he nodded instead. Beau wasn’t the one he had to convince. And he’d wasted enough of the commandant’s time already. He stood up and pulled in the chair—stared for a long instant at his badge, before pulling his gaze away. “Thank you, Beau. For everything. Is it okay if I go upstairs to talk to Vincent for a minute before I go home?”

Beau nodded. “It’s going to be okay, Ry. It’s only for a few days.”

On his way up, Ry wondered if he should pack up his things. Beau had said it was only a few days, but he didn’t really know. This shit was serious, and it could get worse before it got better.

He forced himself to focus as he approached Vincent’s desk. “Hey, Vincent.”

Vincent smiled, suddenly looking years younger. “Ry. I was about to call you. I have good news, man.”

Ry sighed in relief. He could do with some good news just about now. “You found the tire slasher?”

Vincent nodded. “Thanks to you, we had a good idea from you of when it must have happened. We just needed a bit of luck. And we found it. One of the traffic cameras going up Rue la Mollard caught him speeding away.”

Vincent was making it sound easy, but Ry had a pretty good idea of how many hours of footage he and his team had gone through. “You know who it is?”

“The car was registered to a retired teacher and his wife.” Huh . That made little sense. “To make a long story short, it was their sixteen-year-old son. His name is Jérémy Raines. We have his confession.” Vincent brought up a school picture of a blond teenager. He was younger, and smiling, but Ry had no difficulty recognizing the disgruntled teen who’d been sent away with his girlfriend for not having their parents’ authorization.”

Fuck . He should have thought of him. He could have saved Vincent and his team hours of work. “I was there,” he said. “When Isla turned him away for not having the proper paperwork. I don’t know how I didn’t think of telling you about him.”

Vincent’s smile grew wider. “You couldn’t have known. The important thing is, your friend doesn’t have to worry anymore. The boy’s parents are taking this very seriously. They could have gotten him out yesterday, but they left him in jail overnight. But, step by step. We’re speaking with him again at 3 p.m. He’ll have his lawyer with him by then, but we already have a signed confession, so I’m not expecting any trouble. I’ll call you right after so you can update Mademoiselle Bernard.”

Ry breathed a sigh of relief. “This is good news, Vincent. Thank you. I owe you, man.” Not that he knew if he’d ever been able to repay it. For now, he had to leave the building before he got Beau in trouble.