Harlow nodded right away. “That’s right. Raine can find anyone.” Zahra’s chin lifted. “I don’t know why I let just the mention of his name throw me. It’s kind of silly to think that after all this time he would be looking for me. He’s probably found another wife and has three or four children by now.”
“Raine could find that out for you as well,” Harlow said.
“What’s going on in this little corner?” Bruce demanded as he shuffled up, crowding Harlow to be closer to Zahra. “Everything all right, Zahra?”
Denver came up beside him, grinning, shaking his head, giving Stella and Sam a look that said there was no stopping Bruce from checking on his favorite girl.
“Perfect,” Zahra said, flashing a smile. “How’s it going with you? Work still going good?”
Bruce nodded. “Production is up. We keep getting new orders, so that’s good, but it also means I need someone I can count on to help me out. Denver’s only interested in human beings, dead or alive. I even offered him a partnership.”
Stella raised her eyebrow and nudged Denver with her foot. “Dead or alive? Surely Bruce isn’t referring to your rescue work. That would be so inappropriate right now.”
“I’m not that insensitive,” Bruce objected, directing a dark scowl at Denver, as if the turn in conversation was all his fault.
Denver shrugged, a roll of his shoulders, but he looked a little lost. “I’m going through my midlife crisis. I like what I do at the hospital, but sometimes, all these rescues, it doesn’t feel like enough, you know? I tried riding with Griffen to see if I’d like switching careers to law enforcement. I went out with Sean for a while to see how I’d feel about working for Fish and Wildlife. I talked to Vienna about it and she suggested I ask Martha to work with her occasionally, doing autopsies. I still don’t know. Maybe I should go back to school and become a surgeon.”
“You are screwed up,” Bruce said. “Drop all the creepy stuff and be my partner in the brewery. If you give up Search and Rescue, you’ll stop thinking about all those people who put themselves in harm’s way. You know most of them bring that shit on themselves anyway. Then you have to go out there and put your life on the line and try to save them or recover their bodies for their families.”
Bale, Edward and Sean had joined the circle, Bale jumping into the conversation. “That’s an ongoing argument we always have. Where do you draw the line, knowing you’re risking too many people’s lives in order to save someone who should have known better?”
Vienna pushed her way through the men to wedge herself close to Stella. “That’s something every rescuer has to ask before they risk their life to help someone else. All of you know that.”
“Vienna,” Bruce persisted. “Look at the amount of people who are coming up from cities to climb Whitney with absolutely no experience. They have no business doing it. None. They read about how cool summiting the mountain is, look at a few pictures and think they can do it. They don’t bring the necessary gear or even dress in the right clothes.”
“He’s right,” Bale said. “Sadly, that’s the truth. Every time we turn around, there’s some idiot hanging off the side of the mountain and one of us, usually Sam or Denver, has to climb down to them, risking their lives, to get to them. Are they even grateful? No. They want to know if they got pictures.”
“How many of these vain idiots fall because they’re taking selfies?” Sean asked. “Vienna, you had to stop those two girls from letting go of the cable on Half Dome last year so they could take selfies. It was just sheer luck that you were climbing that morning.”
Vienna couldn’t deny she had to stop the two girls from letting go of the cable when they were climbing. They had pulled out their phones to take each other’s photograph. They’d even argued with her until she’d gotten tough with them and all but ordered them to keep climbing. One girl had teetered for a moment as she tried to replace her phone, and that had sobered both girls instantly.
“It is becoming a bit of a nightmare,” she said. “But we can’t abandon people, Bruce.”
“I don’t want to lose any of my friends,” Bruce said.
“I’ve never seen this side of you.” Zahra’s big brown eyes looked up at Bruce.
“I’ll join Search and Rescue right now if you want me to, Zahra,” Bruce said hastily. “If you think the men and women who come up here and trash the trails and blithely go up the mountain without properly preparing so that our friends risk their lives should be saved, I’m on it.”