Radclyffe - Firestorm

“Let’s push on. We’ve still got some time.”

“Are you sure? I’m not risking you getting hurt again.” Mallory cupped Jac’s jaw. “I want to find them, but I can’t chance losing you.”

The words came out in a low, tortured whisper, as if Mallory didn’t want to say them, didn’t want to feel the fear that reverberated in her voice. Jac’s heart hurt for her, but Mallory didn’t need her sympathy. Wouldn’t accept it if she offered.

Jac removed her glove. “Give me your hand.”

Mallory’s brows furrowed, but she took off her right glove and held out her hand. Jac took her fingers and squeezed, not hard enough to hurt but enough to make her point. Mallory’s fleeting grin said she’d made the right move.

“Believe me now, Boss?” Jac relaxed her grip but kept hold of Mallory’s fingers. The heat of Mallory’s hand in hers was welcome in the bitter cold, but the connection warmed her in places far deeper. Mallory was a touchstone, a solid comfort she’d long ago stopped seeking. “Mal, I—”

“All right, Russo, I believe you.” Mallory slid her hand free. “But if you have any trouble at all, I want to know about it. No heroics.”

Jac nodded, not trusting herself to speak. What had she almost said? Not anything she ever expected to feel and definitely not anything Mallory wanted to hear. Mallory had made it clear over and over—Mallory didn’t want anything from her except her best in the field. The same thing Mallory wanted from all the other members of her crew—nothing more. When had she started wanting more—and how quickly could she stop?

Jac shoved her hand back into her glove. “No problem. All I want is to find them and get off this mountain.”

“Good enough. Let’s—” Mallory’s radio crackled.

“Rescue C-ten-two,” Sarah announced over the rescue channel. “We have one of the climbers. He said the other two are near the mountain crest. One injured.”

David Longbow’s voice cut in. “Approximate coordinates?”

Sarah responded with the location, and Mallory pulled out her map. “This is rescue C-ten-one. We’re half a mile below their location.”

“Can you make it with the weather?” David asked. “We can’t get a helicopter up there until morning at the earliest.”

Mallory hesitated and Jac knew why. Mallory was still worried about her, but if they didn’t get to the other two climbers, no one else was going to until at least the next day when the storm relented and visibility improved. By then, those two kids could be dead.

“Tell him yes, Mal. I’m fine and we can’t stay here. Might as well keep moving.”

Mallory nodded sharply. “We can make it, David.”

“Radio your position every half hour.”

“Roger that.”

Jac got to her feet and slung her pack over her good shoulder.

“I want to keep a line between us,” Mallory said as she stood and attached her rope to her harness.

Jac ignored the rope Mallory held out to her. She was the most likely to fall—even though she felt strong, her balance was a little off from shifting the weight in her pack to one shoulder. If she fell, she’d pull Mallory down with her. “I think I’m better off—”

“That’s the only way we’re doing this, Russo. Your choice.”

Jac didn’t see she had much choice. Maybe she was too used to going it alone. When she stared down an IED, it was just her and the bomb. She had teammates, but she took the long walk out to duel with death alone. “Okay.”

“Thank you,” Mallory said. “I know it goes against your nature, Jac.”

Mallory’s understanding melted the last of Jac’s resistance, and she tied on to Mallory’s lead line. “You be careful too. You’ve still got a few things to teach me.”

“Oh, don’t worry, rookie. I’ve got plenty in store for you.”

Laughing with a surge of pleasure, Jac pushed off in Mallory’s footsteps.

*

Mallory fought her urge to go quickly. Too many rescuers ran into trouble when rescue fever made them jettison judgment in the rush to get to the victims. Visibility was almost zero, despite at least an hour of daylight left, and the footing was getting more treacherous with every step and every new inch of snow. She checked her GPS again. They couldn’t be more than a few hundred yards away from where the lost climber had estimated his friends were located. She gripped the line connecting her to Jac and tested the tension, some of the tightness in her chest easing when the resistance on the line told her Jac was behind her, moving in tandem with her. She didn’t try to talk to her. Her voice would never carry over the howling wind. If she turned to look for her, she probably wouldn’t see more than a blurry outline in the clouds of snow. Knowing Jac was there was enough to keep the images that haunted her from breaking her concentration. She couldn’t afford to see the ledge giving way, couldn’t let the memory of Jac disappearing into the void burn a hole in her brain. The terror still skirted the edges of her mind, threatening to cripple her if she couldn’t keep the panic at bay.

For a few horrible seconds after Jac had fallen, she’d stopped breathing, her heart threatening to burst from the agony. She’d thought nothing could be as horrible as emerging in the ashes of the blow-over last summer, of surveying her team and realizing she was missing two men. She’d prayed never to feel anything like that excruciating despair again. She’d sworn never to put herself in the position where she might lose everything. She’d do anything, everything, to ensure her team was always safe. She’d guard against personal affection, she’d steel her heart against caring. She would never be vulnerable again. But she hadn’t counted on anyone like Jac—so open, so honest, so fearless. Jac pierced her armor as if she were completely exposed and defenseless. She couldn’t let herself care this much. She had to find some way to stop it.

Mallory clambered over a rocky verge onto more level ground, dotted here and there with lone scraggly pines and enormous boulders. Jac came up beside her.

“How much farther?” Jac shouted.

“We’re close,” Mallory replied. “They probably don’t have a light by now. Hopefully they found some kind of shelter. Let’s check out the rocks up ahead.”

Jac gripped Mallory’s shoulder. “Let’s untie. If we search independently, we’ll make the most of the daylight left.”

Mallory hesitated. The idea of Jac being out of her sight made her stomach roll. She battled her racing heart and made herself consider their objective dispassionately. Jac was right. She was more than capable. She would be fine. “All right. Double-check your radio now.”

Nodding, Jac unhooked her radio, walked a few feet away, and spoke into it. Mallory’s radio crackled and Jac’s voice came over.

“You’re good,” Mallory called.

Jac returned, her dark eyes burning through the snow between them. “You be careful too.”

“Check in every five minutes.” Mallory pointed to a looming rock formation in the center of the field of boulders. “The one that looks like a snowman. That will be our center point. I’ll take left of there, you take right, and we’ll meet there, all right?”

“Got it. See you soon.”

Jac turned away and within seconds was swallowed up by the storm. Mallory’s throat was dry, and the coppery bite of fear filled her mouth. She swallowed, blanked her mind. The mission was all. She’d see Jac again soon.

Five minutes later, she checked in with Jac. “Anything?”

“Not yet.”

At ten minutes and fifteen, the response was the same.

Mallory reached the far side of the boulder field and circled toward the rendezvous point, battling frustration. When her radio crackled, hope surged.