Beth Cornelison - Rancher's High-Stakes Rescue

“Too late, man. Kate just launched. What’s up?” Zane answered through the radio.

Josh bit out a curse. Already the cables were jiggling and rattling as Kate made her way down the zip line. “Hold everyone else! We have a problem down here!”

He tossed the radio down, ignoring Zane’s demands for further explanation. He needed to give his attention now to Kate and the very real danger she was in. He spared a moment to study the tree trunk where the terminus equipment was attached. He saw no way to shore up the trunk, no way to stop the inevitable collapse of the line. The gouged section of trunk would continue to give way as more of the tree cracked, shifting more tension to smaller amounts of wood, until at last it broke free completely. Even now, the wood slowly splintered, each time making the line jerk. But how long would the last part of the trunk hold before the entire cable fell?

Nausea swirled in his gut. He had no way of preventing disaster if Kate didn’t reach the platform before the cracking trunk gave way. Leather gloves or not, one man couldn’t possibly hold the half-ton cable, the passenger’s weight and the other steel parts of the zip-line equipment.

His heart thrashed against his ribs. He had to do something . And fast.

His line was still attached to the main zip cable. Think, McCall. Think!

Even if he couldn’t hold the line, maybe he could redirect it. If the steel plate that the cable was attached to were to snag on something that would hold it, even temporarily...

Unhooking his harness, Josh cast a frantic glance around for something, anything he could attach his line to. His riser was only long enough to reach a nearby tree branch. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do. Looping the cord around the low branch, he wrapped it twice and tucked it through the end, then quickly hooked the end to an opening in the turnbuckle on the main cable.

Muttering a prayer under his breath, he turned his attention to the woman whose life hung in the balance.

The ride down the cable was faster than she’d expected. And jerkier. Kate had thought the descent would be a smooth, brisk glide, but in reality she sped along at a breakneck pace, her stomach swooping as if she were on a roller coaster. And the bumps and twitches in the line were jarring to her. Every buck and sway sent fresh waves of anxiety through her. Kate determinedly kept her eyes ahead and refused to look down. Remembering the snatches of instruction Zane had given moments ago, she applied her hand brake, hoping to ease the bumps and slow her decent.

She could see the platform ahead, getting closer, and she focused on reaching the deck where Josh stood. If she could just reach that landing platform...

He shouted something to her, and even from her distance she could tell something had him upset. Was she coming in too fast? She braked again, and he shook his head.

“Don’t brake! Faster!”

Faster? She scoffed mentally. She was already going far faster than she wanted. Yet his obvious distress buzzed through her like a thousand stinging bees. If Josh was worried—

The line jerked hard again, and she heard him curse.

No! No, no, no! Please God, no! she thought, squeezing her eyes closed, her denials as much prayer as panic.

The line jolted again...and sagged, slowing her approach markedly. Startled, she opened her eyes. She was mere feet from the platform. Josh had his hand extended toward her.

“Kate! Grab my hand!”

She hesitated, confused, for a fraction of a second before releasing her grip on the straps of her harness. Almost as soon as she let go, stretching her arm toward Josh, mere feet from the landing deck, the cord gave another tremendous jerk—and she dropped straight down.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.