“I’ll take the weight until you stabilize,” Quince said, giving Levi the chance to steady himself against a tree before releasing the tension on his rope.
They worked in unison, as though the entire event had been choreographed, and Sun couldn’t have been prouder. Or she would’ve been if she weren’t dying. She kept a grip on the top of the stretcher, near their Jane’s head, worried they’d all slip and the girl would go tumbling down the side of the mountain.
By the time they got to the bottom, Sun’s arms were shaking. She had to pry her fingers off the stretcher and from around her rope, and that tequila that had been souring in the pit of her stomach was bubbling up her esophagus like hot acid.
Guilt assailed her. She had literally put this woman’s life in danger by showing up to work with a hangover like a college kid showing up for her shift at Walmart after a night of debauchery. Humiliation and disappointment surged through her with every crisp breath she took. What a role model for her daughter she made.
Drew helped once they got to the bottom, tucking the blanket around the girl and checking her pulse, and Sun remembered he’d done a stint in the military. He must’ve picked up a few skills.
As Sun brushed herself off, Levi reached over and pulled a twig out of her hair. A simple gesture, but she reveled in the fact that he’d cared enough to do it. That he’d checked her gear. That he’d caught her once when her foot slipped out from under her, his strong arm steadying her until she could get a foothold. Maybe he didn’t hate her.
“Her pulse is really weak,” Drew said.
Quince checked it and spoke into his mic. “How long until the chopper gets here?”
“Two minutes,” Salazar said. “Is she going to be okay?”
Quince’s gaze locked with Sun’s, doubt evident in every line on his face. “It’s too early to tell.”
“Ten-four,” Salazar said, her voice no longer full of hope.
“Drew,” Sun said now that they had a minute to catch their breaths, “any idea why she didn’t want you to contact me?”
Drew pressed his mouth together and shook his head. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you first, Sunny. She was just so scared and … well, I didn’t know what to do.”
“No, that’s okay. You did everything right here today, Drew Essary.”
He lifted an unconvinced shoulder.
“Did she say anything else?”
“Not a word. She could barely get her eyes open. I tried to tell her to hang in there, I was getting help, but something came over her. She started trembling, grabbed my arm, and begged me not to call you.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Quincy said, frustrated.
Sun agreed, but she hadn’t been there. “What exactly did she say?”
“‘Please don’t call the sheriff,’” he said matter-of-fact. “Just like that. Then she passed out again.”
Sun wracked her brain but not for long. They heard the medevac a few seconds before they saw it, its blades beating the air into submission as it whirled over the mountain into sight. The leaves that had fallen months ago rose into the air, a flurry of vegetation as they picked up their charge and rushed her to the clearing.
An EMT jumped out of the helicopter, emergency kit in hand, and hurried toward them, ducking against the strong force of the blades. Another followed him, and before Sun knew it, their Jane Doe had been secured on board and was being lifted into the air.
“They’re taking her to Pres in Santa Fe,” Quincy said, referring to a hospital there. He turned to the mountain. “The question is, which route are we taking back?”
Sun turned to look at the foreboding trek ahead, not sure she had it in her to climb up the sheer incline again. Her arms and legs felt like a Jell-O mold, only not as stable. But if she had her deputies come around and down the pass to pick them up, it would take almost an hour for them to get there. Then another hour to get up top. Too long. She needed to get back to that crime scene.
She cupped a hand over her brow and saw a couple of state uniforms at the top. “Staties are here. Maybe they could winch us up?”
“Nah,” Levi said, stepping out of his harness. “Our ride should be here any minute.”
She and Quincy turned to him.
“Our ride?” she asked.
He gestured toward the pass with a nod. A black-and-tan four-seated utility vehicle sped toward them, creating its own road as its right tires splashed along the edge of the river.
“How did you call for a ride?” Quincy asked.
“No,” Sun said. “When did you call for a ride?”
Levi smirked as he folded his gear. “Before we descended. I don’t know about you, but I’m not in the mood to climb back up.”
He had a point. Sun’s only concern had been the unidentified victim. She needed to think ahead more often. Formulate step-by-step plans of action. Shit like that. She’d put that on her to-do list as soon as she created one.
The UTV rushed toward them, bumping and bouncing along the nonexistent path. Thanks to a fallen tree, it came to a stop about fifty yards away.
Sun squinted, trying to identify their chauffeur as they walked toward the idling vehicle. They were in the backwoods, after all, the area a little too Deliverance for her comfort.
“I need to get my gear out of the blind,” Drew said, scratching his scruffy beard. “And I have an ATV a few yards out. Should I come by the station later?”
She stopped and turned to him. “Please. I should be there this afternoon, but you can give your statement to any of my deputies.”
The man smiled sadly. “Will do, Sunny Girl.”
“Thank you again, Drew. You’re a hero.”
“I don’t know about that.” Refusing to accept his new title, he turned and headed for his hunting blind as though it were just another day.
Sun walked to the waiting UTV, shocked to see the man in the driver’s seat.
Keith Seabright flashed her a smile as big as the state of her shock. Freshly shaven, dark hair still a little wet, he looked a thousand times better than when last she’d seen him. In his defense, most people looked bad lying in a hospital bed with multiple stab wounds. It was probably the lighting.
As a former major in the special forces, Keith Seabright had proven himself nigh indestructible when he was drugged and attacked by three knife-wielding hitmen. Thanks to the quick actions of his bestie, aka Levi Ravinder, Seabright survived. But it was his dedication to the boy he’d been protecting that convinced Sun he would make a fantastic law enforcement officer, so she was in the midst of blackmailing him into joining her gang. Fingers crossed.
“You’re out of the hospital,” she said, surprise evident in her voice. “And driving. Should you be driving? Especially a UTV?” Not many people she knew had been drugged and then stabbed multiple times in a bar fight only to go four-wheeling a week later. Her concern was warranted.
The same went for Levi. When he’d jumped in to save his friend, he ended up trying to stop a truck with his body. Thus he sported his own set of bruises to both face and pride. And yet here they both were. Rappelling. Carrying victims across rough terrain. Swooping in out of nowhere to save the day. Wasn’t there a word for people like that?