Page 26 of Double Exposure

Chapter Seven

Carter Weston

Just seeing her face relax is worth the hell Brock is going to give me. We won’t get paid for any of this through the park service if this is not a formal operation. And we are not necessarily rolling in dough right now.

I finish dressing quickly while she’s in the outhouse, pulling on my flannel shirt and pulling on my extra pair of socks. Rinsing my mouth out over the sink, I dry it with the back of my hand. Instead of loading more wood in the stove, I stir the ashes again with the poker and keep the door open. Best to let it burn out.

Jade’s face is set when she returns. She’s dressed and even has her parka on though it’s unzipped.

“Hey,” I say.

Her “hi,” seems chagrined, like she’s embarrassed either by last night and her request to sleep with me or by the offer of help. Maybe it’s both.

“It stopped snowing,” she says peering out the window.

I stretch and start shrugging into my parka “They’re going to be here soon.”

“How soon?”

I point to the ceiling.

“What?”

The percussive sound of chopped wind reverberates in the distance.

΅

Ryan leaps from the cockpit, while Ross keeps the engine running. Trudging through snow is harder for Jade and her tender ankle. Without asking, I throw an arm around her and half lift her through the snow to the cabin of the Bell, hoisting her up onto a seat. As I turn to go back and grab our gear, Ryan already has packs and our skis stashed on the porch and is locking the door. He drops a key into a coffee can and sets it between a log and the exterior wall. Then he starts fishing around in his jacket.

“What are you doing?” I yell above the sound of the blades.

“Leaving him a twenty!” He opens the coffee can and drops it in.

I sit down next to Jade and hand her one end of her seat belt. “There’s a shoulder strap above you,” I say, pointing, trying very hard not to look at her face. I’m afraid that if our eyes meet, she’ll see right through me.

She’ll know what I’m thinking and it’s all about her.

Jade pulls her hand out of a glove and smooths the belt over her shoulder. Ryan into the passenger seat next to Ross, who turns around and nods to Jade. Quick introductions take place with loud voices, as Ross revs the engine. Then Jade leans forward and taps Ryan on the shoulder just as he starts to slide headset over his ears.

He sets them down in his lap and shifts slightly in her direction.

“I want to thank you both,” she says to him with a nod to Ross. “I am so grateful for helping me.”

Ross nods. “Are we taking her to Greene or Morrison? I’ll radio ahead.” His hand is already on the mic.

Jade’s worried glance to me, is all it takes for authority to even out my voice. “Hey guys, this has turned into a search and rescue mission.”

Ryan turns all the way around to look at her. “But wouldn’t that be you?”

Jade shakes her head. “My father.”

“Shit,” he says, replacing the set on his head.

Ross says nothing, then glances at me in the small mirror to the left of his seat. “Where to boss?”

΅

Both Jade and I wolf the breakfast burritos Ryan brought from home and we share a Thermos of black coffee. It takes her a few tries to get the hang of sipping coffee in a chopper without spilling. Traveling along Sweet Milk Creek, back toward the avalanche takes minutes. Ross pilots the helicopter low, dipping along the banks, rising only when trees fall in his flight path.