Swallowing the rising fear of knowing Kane was heading into a life-threatening situation, Jenna stared after him. “He’s made up his mind and you know darn well there’s no stopping him. We’ll be there soon.” She disconnected and followed Kane into the office.
As Kane grabbed the gear left at the front counter, Jenna followed behind him and waited until he came out of the changing room. “Dave, is it really worth risking three lives to recover a body? There must be another way.”
“I’m open to suggestions.” He handed her a backpack with his clothes and boots.
Wracking her brain for answers, Jenna took the bag as Kane shrugged into a brightly colored lifejacket and strapped on a helmet. “Can’t you blow out the windows and let the water wash her out? We can pick her up downstream.” She grabbed his arm. “If Carter is worried, it’s too dangerous.”
“I’m not worried. I’ve done worse rescues hundreds of times and with guys shooting at me. I’d be in the water anyway. I’ll need to be down there to blow out the windows. Really, shooting out the window isn’t an option. A bullet could bounce all around in there destroying evidence and the body could get caught up or torn apart by the falls.”
Stomach churning, Jenna shook her head. “Rather a dead body than you.”
“Nah, I’ll be attached to a harness. I trust Ty to pull me out if I get into trouble. We’ll work as a team.” Kane pulled her close, kissed her, and then gave a nonchalant shrug. “I’ve got the easy job. I’ll be on the ground. It’s Ty and the other guy you should be worried about in the wind tunnel. Let’s go. We have a small window of opportunity to do this and it’s closing fast. I’ll leave the Beast at Shane’s office. You can ride with him in the van. From the Bear Peak lookout, you’ll have a firsthand look at the retrieval.” He bent down to rub Duke’s ears. “Duke will be fine here with Maggie.” He glanced around. “It looks like Rowley is still out hunting down our suspects.”
Jenna headed back to the counter and raised her eyebrows at Maggie. “Has Rowley been checking in?”
“Yeah, he’s fine.” Maggie took hold of Duke’s collar. “He’s on his way to speak to Archie Bueller. We found him working out of Pine. He’ll check in when he arrives.”
Jenna nodded. “Keep me in the loop.” She followed Kane out the front door.
Concerned by Kane’s silence on the way to the ME’s office, Jenna figured he must be preparing himself for the dangerous task ahead. It was so like him to make light of things, when she knew darn well he’d be risking his life. When they arrived, they greeted Carter and a young man introduced as Stevens. She noticed Jo outside Wolfe’s office and went to her side. “Are you coming to watch the retrieval?”
“Not this time.” Jo smiled at her. “I’ve asked Shane if I can look over his files. I want to make sure I haven’t missed anything.”
“Okay.” Jenna headed back to the men and leaned against the counter in the vanilla-scented foyer of the morgue, listening intently to their plan to recover Mrs. Darvish’s body.
“We’ll take the FBI chopper.” Carter crossed his arms over his chest. “The wind gusts up there are brutal and I know my bird. I’m not risking everyone’s lives by taking the search and rescue chopper. Mine is fitted out with everything we need and it’s more powerful.”
“If I fall into the water, don’t try and haul me out.” Kane looked at Stevens. “Wait until I surface or my weight combined with the current and wind gusts will destabilize the chopper.” He smiled. “I’ve done this a thousand times.”
“If you don’t surface in three minutes, I’m hauling your ass out of there. The wind and current be damned.” Carter gave him a long stare. “You’re not dying on my watch.”
“Let’s get at it then.” Kane pulled on gloves and headed for the stairs to the roof.
As they ran up the steps, she bit back the overpowering need to call out. She so wanted to say, “Be careful,” but Dave had slipped into combat mode and had shut off completely. As the chopper took off, Jenna’s stomach dropped to her boots. The wind gust details and the chill factor alone frightened her.
As she drove with Wolfe up the mountain road, taking Stanton and then the cut through to Bear Peak Lookout, they passed the entrance to the parking lot and ended up on a high plateau with a good view of the ravine. From here, she could make out the edge of Black Rock Falls. The thundering water had filled the air with a freezing mist that clung to everything. Jenna turned her head forty-five degrees to the left to search for a smaller waterfall. Swelled by the melt, it tumbled down the mountain, filling a pool before crashing down into the ravine. Behind the ravine the mountain climbed in dripping-wet steps of rugged black granite to form the head of a grizzly.
The chopper was already in position high above the ravine, the sound of the engine muffled by the noise from the falls. Jenna gripped the edge of her seat in the van as the chopper dropped slowly and then swayed dangerously close to the edge of the ravine. Too darn close. The next moment, Carter took it higher and held its position as Kane dropped out onto the skids. The chopper turned slowly, and above the noise Jenna picked up the increased roar of the engine. It was obvious even from where she was that Carter was fighting the updraft. She gripped Wolfe’s arm. “Oh, that can’t be good.”
“Carter has flown under fire and saved a ton of men from the pits of hell.” Wolfe looked at her. “He’s the best there is, Jenna.”
His words didn’t stop her heart thundering. Jenna climbed from the van and, dragging her hood over her head against the freezing damp swirling air, she moved closer to the edge and slipped one arm tightly around a sturdy pine. Terrified for Kane’s safety, she pushed her lips together to stop them trembling. High above, Kane jumped away from the chopper, dropped, and then clung to a rope as Stevens lowered him into the ravine. He might as well have been hanging from the tail of a kite. The wind spun him in all directions, taking him from one side of the ravine to the other. Jenna let out a small cry as he hurled toward the sheer rock face and, just at the last second, used his feet to repel himself away from certain death.
Rigid with fear, Jenna clung to the tree as Kane dropped lower and lower toward the raging torrent. The chopper above him swaying back and forth to get him into position. He seemed so small against the thundering waterfall at his back, and every so often, a cloud of water vapor hid him from view. Below him the river had changed in the last hour. Jenna stared in dismay at the swirling frothy water flowing over the hood and front of the cab of the wreck. The truck sat wedged between two boulders and sat nose down with its back wheels high in the air. From what she could see, most of the windows had amazingly survived the fall. It was as if Carter had lowered Kane into a bubbling cauldron with the skeletal remains of the wreck just visible above the water.
How could he possibly get to the body with the water dashing by so fast? If he slipped, the fast-flowing water would pummel him to death against the boulders. Biting her bottom lip, she held her breath as Kane landed legs spayed apart on the back window. He indicated above to slacken the rope, and slid on the slippery metal, his hands just catching the edge of the pickup before the current swept him away. Holding with one hand, he pulled something from his pocket and struck the glass. It shattered and Jenna gaped in horror as a rush of water took Kane’s feet from under him and he tumbled into the raging torrent. “Dave!”
EIGHTEEN
A bolt of searing pain hit Kane, tumbling
him into a world of misery. Sharp freezing knives of agony sliced into his brain, as he fell deeper and deeper into the swollen river. His waterlogged boots dragged him down like an anchor to secure his certain death. The raging currents had him in their unforgiving grip, hurtling him into boulders and thrusting the air from his lungs. He opened his eyes, only to shut them again as the chill threatened to freeze his eyeballs. The shock of submersion made his heart race. The need to escape and fight against the raging torrent gripped him for a second or two. To panic now would mean he’d die here alongside Mrs. Darvish. As his back slammed against a huge boulder, he forced his body to relax and slowed his heart rate. The fast-flowing river pinned him to the flat surface with tremendous force and debris slammed into his chest like shotgun pellets. He could hold his breath for at least three minutes underwater, but the pain in his skull was screaming at him, clawing at his eyeballs, and shooting through his head as if lightning had struck him.
Water rushed past him and a quick glance showed him daylight above. He slammed his eyelids shut and, lungs bursting, used all his strength to turn and grasp the slimy boulder. He ran his hands all over the smooth exterior searching for finger holes and, dragging himself toward the light, headed for the surface. Gasping freezing air into his burning lungs, he held on as water splashed over him. Blinking rapidly to clear his vision, he stared around to get his bearings. The river hadn’t taken him as far as he’d imagined. The back of the pickup was only a few feet away but fast becoming submerged by water. He wouldn’t have much time to retrieve the body before the river claimed it. The metal plate in his head was affecting him more than he’d expected. The pain had become an unwelcome burden and the combat safety zone he’d wrapped around him was fraying dangerously around the edges. How long would it take the shooting torture in his brain to hammer through his mental defenses and destroy him? He slammed the thought away. He’d carried a wounded member of his team on his shoulder through enemy fire, swamps, and rivers for over five miles and never once thought about giving up.
He glanced to the top of Bear Peak and could almost feel Jenna’s eyes on him. She’d be worried for his safety, not knowing he’d been in worse situations many times. Although, that had been before the metal plate in his head had become an unknown complication. He’d use what tools he had on hand to defeat this unexpected enemy and embraced the pain. He refused to fail.
High above, Carter battled to keep the chopper rotor blades from hitting the sides of the ravine. The rock face wasn’t smooth here, this ravine had formed during an earthquake, the sides craggy and jutting out in all directions, but others on the mountain came about from glaciers carving a smooth path down the mountain over millions of years. A shower of rocks tumbled down hitting his helmet and shoulders, the melting snow had released another small landslide and it rolled down the side of the ravine to disappear into the bubbling water. He gave himself a mental shake. Move now or die.