Mountain Challenge (Mont Blanc Rescue #9)

Chapter 18

18

Ry

R y was the last one to buckle in before the helicopter took off. He let out a slow breath, looking around at his team. Hugo and Alex sat across from him, while Lorenz sat next to the window. Ry knew—though he couldn’t see either of them—that Beau was sitting up front, beside Tristan. It felt as if he was part of the team again, but of course, nothing had changed. His suspension had only been temporarily revoked.

“You sure your shoulder is okay, Ry?” Beau asked, on a channel just for the two of them.

“It’s fine. Glad to be on board.” And he was—glad to be with his team again, even though he knew this was only temporary. The investigation on his person had only just begun, and it would take time to clear him—assuming he was cleared in the end. The only reason he was here today was that this rescue required a trained medic and Jens Melkopf, the doctor in their sibling PGHM unit, was on holiday with his wife, Sarah.

As glad as he was to be back, Ry would have liked to finish the conversation with Isla. In his mind, he went through the things he knew. He knew she was okay, and that it was him she was pissed off at. But he had no idea what he’d done. He sighed, clearing his head. As much as he wanted to get this mission over with so he could go speak with her, he had to stop thinking about her now. You didn’t do this kind of work when your head wasn’t in the game, and he wasn’t about to let his team down.

There was a soft click as Beau changed back to a common frequency. “Okay, here’s what we know. A snowboarder fell into a crevasse in the Glacier de Lognan. Tristan will fly us as close as he can, as we need to extract him before night falls.”

Ry looked at his watch. It was coming in on four p.m. That was going to be tough. But it wasn’t safe to be anywhere near a crevasse at night.

“Was he alone?” Lorenz asked from the back. “Who called it in?”

“He was with a local guide and five other people. The guide had a satellite phone.”

Ry shook his head. Somebody should have a chat with that guide, once this was over. That was too many snowboarders to take off-piste. It was lucky only one of the snowboarders had fallen through.

“It’s a deep crevasse, but the snowboarder seems to be stuck at seventy or eighty feet. The guide has been able to communicate with him.”

Shit . Eighty feet was a long drop. “He’s conscious?” Ry asked. “What’s his status?”

“Probable broken pelvis, maybe a broken leg as well.”

Double shit . If he had a broken pelvis, getting him out of there was going to be hell. Ry didn’t envy the guy.

“There they are,” Tristan said. Ry looked out his window and saw a few dark shapes huddling together. As they saw the helicopter, they all stood up and started waving their arms. Ry hoped the guide had had the sense to move them well away from the crevasse. “Okay. I’m taking her down. This is as close as I dare get.” Tristan elegantly maneuvered the helicopter to the ground. “Where would you like me, Commandant ?”

“You stay near the craft, Tristan. Round up the other snowboarders and be ready to go. We’ll go in and get him out.”

“Sure thing, Beau.”

“We have less than an hour of light remaining,” Beau reminded them.

They all confirmed understanding. They could do this. An hour was more than enough time when Tristan had basically brought them right to the problem zone. They jumped out of the craft and spent a few minutes talking to the guide, confirming everything they thought they knew, before splitting into two teams to build snow anchors. He and Hugo on one end of the crevasse, Beau and Lorenz on the other side, because redundancy was the way to go when it came to crevasse rescue.

Hugo brought out a pick from his backpack, driving it into the snow at a 45-degree angle. Ry approached to attach the runner, making sure it was close to the surface, to avoid it pulling the picket out. When their side was as stable as they could make it, they reached out to connect it to the one Beau and Lorenz had built.

Ry held his breath while Lorenz took one last look at the setup. Though they all knew how to rig a snow anchor for crevasse rescue, Lorenz was the only one among them who’d run tests into the strength of different brands of snow anchors under different snow conditions. “Okay. It’ll hold.”

Let’s hope it does . Crevasse work could be tricky.

“Lower me,” Ry said, clipping himself in. There was no doubt in his mind that he had to be the one to go in. That’s why they’d called him in, for his expertise as a field medic.

“You have the drill and ice screws?” Beau asked.

Ry nodded. The drill was a heavy piece of equipment, but necessary for this particular operation. “Ready.” He waited while Beau, Alex and Hugo took up their positions, then leaned back into the hole, allowing his teammates to lower him inside. As the outside world disappeared, he was struck by the terrifying beauty of the blue abyss that surrounded him. But he wasn’t here to admire the view. Turning on his helmet light, he took note of the tracks the snowboarder had made as he fell. It looked like he’d somehow managed to “ride” the near-vertical ice wall. That had probably saved his life. That man had to have balls of steel. Ry was looking forward to meeting him.

“How are you doing, Ry?” Beau asked in his ear.

“I’m following his tracks. Keep me going, nice and steady.” Eventually, he saw him, lying on a small ledge. If he’d missed that ledge, he would have fallen an extra three or four hundred feet down, and there would have been no riding that wall. Ry asked the team to stop his descent and pulled himself over to where the man was lying. His eyes were closed, but Ry could see his chest rise and fall steadily. This guy was going to need to buy a lottery ticket.

“Sir, my name is Ry Harrison. I’m with the Chamonix PGHM,” he said, keeping his voice steady, not wanting to startle the man from his precarious perch.

He shouldn’t have worried. The snowboarder opened his eyes and stared calmly at him. “Terence. My name’s Terence,” the man said. If Ry hadn’t been able to read the pain in his expression, he would have thought the man was uninjured.

“Nice to meet you, Terence. It’s going to get a bit loud now. I need to secure myself to the wall, then I’ll come over and see how you’re doing.”

“Are you a doctor? I may have broken some bones.”

Balls of fucking steel .

“I’m a medic. We’ll take a look in a minute,” Ry said. He kept up the narrative at every stage, for the benefit of Terence and of his colleagues up there. Finally, he deemed it safe to get onto the ledge with Terence. As badly as he wanted to examine the man, Ry wasted—no, invested —a minute changing the batteries in his hand drill, then quickly secured Terence to the ice wall as well. He also set up two lights beside them, so he could turn off his head lamp and look at Terence without blinding him.

“You’re just like MacGyver,” Terence whispered. From up close, his eyes looked glassy. Could be shock, pain or both .

“MacGyver. Aren’t you a bit young to know that show?”

Terence shrugged, then gasped in pain, his face going a shade paler. “I used to watch it with my grandmother all the time,” he ground out.

“So did I. You remember Samantha Cage?” Ry placed a cervical spine protection, then pulled out a small knife and cut through the man’s snowsuit, working quickly but carefully. The pelvis was associated with multiple vascular structures, and pelvic injuries could easily become life threatening. Or lead to lifelong disability. But he wasn’t going to think of that.

“Former CIA agent and member of The Phoenix Foundation. Of course I remember her. Why?”

“Ah, you’re a real fan, I see. She’s Australian, like me.”

Terence frowned. “I didn’t know that.”

“Indeed. Well, the character is Australian. I don’t think the actress is.” Ry’s voice remained steady as he uncovered what had to be a grade II or III pelvic fracture.

“She was hot,” Terence said through clenched teeth.

“She sure was. Okay, you’re doing great,” Ry told him. Then more quietly, “We’ve got a pelvic fracture for sure, and there could be associated lesions. I’m going to need a board and help bringing him up.” This kind of injury had to be treated by a trauma surgeon. The most they could do for him here was keep him as still as possible.

It didn’t surprise Ry that his boss was the one to respond first. “Wait for me. I’m on my way down.”

“This is going to hurt, Terence. I need to apply a pelvic binder.”

“Do what you need to do, man. I know you didn’t come into this hole to talk MacGyver with me.”

Ry slid the belt into position under the pelvis, applying the Velcro tension straps and slowly drawing tension.

“Fuck, that hurts,” Terence hissed.

Ry recorded the time, knowing the hospital staff would need that information. A mere moment later, Beau was with them. He screwed himself into the wall, then joined them on the ledge, going on his knees to pull out the board. “Terence, this is Beau. We’re going to get you out of here.”

Terence’s smile was wobbly now. He was suffering, and Ry hated that there was nothing he could give him for the pain, not until he’d been checked for internal bleeding. Together, he and Beau worked to secure the man onto the board. The ride up wasn’t going to be comfortable, but it would be safe for him.

“Here,” Ry told Terence. “I’ve got your backpack, but I’m afraid your snowboard’s gone.”

“Fuck the snowboard,” Terence said, then scrunched his face up in pain. “Though I think it may have saved my life.”

Ry thought back to the tracks he’d seen on the side of the crevasse. “I think you saved your life, Terence.” He turned to Beau. “I need to go up with him to make sure he’s not jostled on the way up.”

Beau nodded. “Okay. Hugo, Alex, Ry and the patient will come up together. Pull on?—“

And then their world exploded into motion. Or at least that’s what it seemed like, as the left side of the ledge, where Beau was standing, collapsed, and the lights Ry had placed flew off into the abyss. One moment the ledge was there, the next Beau was hanging from the ice screw they’d drilled into the wall. Momentum had his large body slamming into the wall—hard.

“Fuck!” One more slam, until Beau was able to get his movement back under control. “I’m okay.”

Ry turned on his head lamp and checked on Terence, who was still clipped to the rescue line, unconscious but safe on the board they’d strapped him to. Good . Alex and Hugo wouldn’t let him fall.

“What happened?” Alex asked, his voice worried.

“We just lost a piece of the ledge. But we’re all okay.”

The words were barely out before Ry realized how wrong he was. Because he could now see more of the screw than he had before, which meant the outer layers of ice had fractured. “Stay still, Beau,” Ry said, knowing Beau would see right through his calm, professional tone. “There’s something wrong with your ice screw.”

“Get him out of here,” Beau said.

“Not a chance. That screw’s not going to hold.”

“It’ll hold. I put it in myself,” Beau said stubbornly. “Now clip yourself to the board and go. That’s an order.”

Ry hesitated. Beau was his friend, but he was also his boss, and the leader of their particular unit. And Ry understood why the chain of command was in place—it made them able to work safely and efficiently. What’s more, he trusted Beau. But that bolt gave him a bad feeling. And he’d also learned not to ignore his instincts.

“I said it’s an order, Lieutenant,” Beau growled. Ry stiffened. He could not disobey a direct order. He readied himself to move—away from Beau and towards the line holding Terence in place—until he realized what Beau was holding in his hand. An ice drill. He’d taken off his glove and was holding the ice drill in his hand. If Beau was getting ready to drill a new hole, then he wasn’t as sure as he claimed that his ice screw was going to hold.

Ry took a deep breath, readying himself to disobey a direct order. Because he wasn’t going to leave Beau to die in this fucking hole. Not if there was anything he?—

In the end, the ice around the screw made the decision for him. The ice broke and Ry lunged explosively—like a drunk football player, if football players were to play while hanging off a rope. He grasped Beau around his chest, his hold slipping as Beau started to fall.

No.

He wasn’t going to fucking lose him.

An animalistic sound emerged from Ry’s throat. He leaned sideways—as far as he could go, and grasped Beau’s hand with his left arm. His shoulder screamed—agony poured through him, but they had more important things to worry about. Like whether his own ice screw would hold.

“It’s holding,” Ry said. They weren’t falling.

“Fuck.”

Fuck, indeed . “I’ve got you,” Ry groaned through clenched teeth. “Wrap your hand around my wrist.”

When Beau hesitated, Ry saw red. “If you ask me to let you go, I swear I’ll drop you,” Ry threatened. Despite the cold, sweat poured down his brow.

Beau chuckled darkly. Moments later, his fingers tightened around Ry’s forearm. Ry was glad Beau’s gloves were already off. He could get a much better grip.

“Don’t fucking let go,” Ry threatened. He readied himself—taking a deep breath because this was going to hurt—and pulled. He pulled with all he was worth, until his shoulder felt like it was going to pop out of his skin, then kept pulling. Red stars filled his vision, but slowly—too fucking slowly—Beau’s body came up to where he needed him to be.

Ry’s teeth were clenched so hard, he couldn’t get a single word out. But he didn’t need to. Beau reached out with his other hand and clipped himself onto Ry’s harness. Ry held on for a while longer, because signals were misfiring in his brain and he couldn’t get his fingers to release their hold, even after Beau had drilled himself a new anchor against the ice wall.

“Thank you,” Beau said, sounding composed. Despite the pain, Ry laughed.

“You’re fucking unflappable, mate.” He’d never called his boss mate before, and Beau’s eyebrow arched to let him know the slip hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“I’m lucky you had my back, is what I am.”

They moved on autopilot, and Ry was glad for the training that got him back on the ledge with Terence. There was a question in Beau’s eyes now. “I’m okay to go up with him,” Ry said.

Beau nodded. “Okay.”

Please let there be no more surprises. He couldn’t cope with more surprises. But Alex and Hugo pulled them up smoothly, and soon the sky—when had it gotten so dark—was visible up top.

This was the tricky part. Using his uninjured arm, Ry angled the board almost vertical, glad that Terence was unconscious for this part.

And they were through. Alex and Hugo pulled them both up at the same time, quickly getting them away from the hole.

“You don’t look so good, man,” Alex said. “Sit down while we bring Beau up.”

Keeping his injured arm tight against his side—the only position that seemed to lower the pain from a fucking eleven out of ten—Ry took a moment to monitor Terence’s blood pressure.

“How is he?” Beau asked. Ry hadn’t even realized they’d pulled him out already.

“Unconscious but stable.”

“We can move him?” Ry nodded. Well, his friends would have to move him. He didn’t think he could make his own way to the helicopter, let alone help carry the board.

“How are you?”

“I think I need to go to the hospital too,” Ry said.