His teeth were chattering. ‘I’m going to fall again.’
‘You’re not going to fall, sweetheart,’ Sally said firmly, manoeuvring herself on the rock again so that she could slide the harness onto him. After several abortive attempts she managed it and clipped on the rope. Tom gave a nod of approval.
‘Good job.’ He spoke to Sean on the radio while Sally tried to work out how badly Lester had hurt himself.
‘The rocks must have broken your fall,’ she said. ‘How did you land? Where does it hurt?’
The boy gave a gasp. ‘My side.’
Sally nodded. ‘Anywhere else?’
The boy shook his head and Tom moved closer so that he could take a look.
‘There’s no bleeding that I can see,’ he said finally, ‘but we need to get him off this ledge before things get worse.’
Sally gave a nod of understanding. The wind was rising, the temperature was dropping and nothing could be done for the boy in such an exposed and dangerous place.
‘We can raise him or lower him,’ she said, and Tom nodded, his hand still on the radio. ‘Sean is sending down a stretcher.’
The radio crackled again and Tom spoke for a few seconds and then turned to Sally.
‘They’ve got a problem up top. Can you go back up straight away?’
She frowned. ‘Will you be all right here?’
His blue eyes mocked her. ‘Worried about me, Sally Jenner?’
She bit her lip. ‘No.’
‘You’re lying.’ Even with the wind howling she could hear the change in his tone. ‘And we’re going to talk about it later.’
Sally cursed herself for revealing too much.
Knowing that she was going to pay for it later, she got on with the job.
Back on the ledge Ellie and Sean were huddled together, arguing about something.
‘What’s happening?’ Sally unclipped her rope and walked over to them.
‘James is refusing to go down, that’s what’s happening.’ Sean ground his teeth in irritation and Ellie rolled her eyes.
‘Men. Just leave it to us girls, Sean, darling.’ She turned to Sally, her expression serious. ‘Will you talk to him? He’s really upset and muttering something about not belonging.’ She reached out and put a hand on Sally’s arm, her expression gentle. ‘I know that’s your specialist subject, Sally.’
Sally gave a rueful smile and a nod. ‘It’s nice to know that having a disastrous childhood can come in handy occasionally.’
‘Just tell the kid that we need to get him off this mountain,’ Sean said grimly, concentrating his attention on the stretcher that the other members of the team were lowering. ‘By the time Tom gets his friend up here, I want him to move. Or I’ll peel him off the ridge myself.’
Sally picked her way back along the exposed path to where the boy was still huddled, this time protected by several warm jackets.
‘Hello, James. My friend Ellie tells me you don’t want to go down.’
He gave a huge sniff. ‘What’s the point?’
‘Well, because a lot of people love you and a lot of people are very worried about you,’ she said gently, watching his face carefully. She couldn’t remember how old Sean had said he was but, whatever his age, at the moment he just looked like a very young, very vulnerable child.
Her heart twisted with sympathy. Behind her she was aware of movement and activity as the rest of the team worked to lift the injured boy clear of the rock, but all her attention was fixed on James.
‘Why would they want me?’ His voice cracked and his eyes closed. As if he didn’t want her to see what he was feeling. ‘They told me today that I was adopted. They waited fourteen years to tell me and they told me today.’