Page 59 of Fire and Rain
“Closing cabin door. Crank the heat.” Sean and the others would sweat their asses off, but their comfort was not what mattered.
Zeke answered. “You got it.”
Then the helicopter pitched, spun, tossing Sean against the closed door.
What the…?
Were they going down?
“A big gust just caused a loss of tail-rotor effectiveness,” Spurrier said. “We’re getting the hell out of here. Sector, this is Rescue Six-Zero-Three-Two. We recovered zero-four survivors from the water and are RTB. They’re all severely hypothermic. Please have EMS standing by.”
“Rescue Six-Zero-Three-Two, Sector. You are RTB. Calling EMS.”
Sean went back to helping Trey, getting men out of their wet things and into the Wiggy’s bags, handing Trey what he needed. Another O2 mask. A blood pressure cuff. Several heat packs.
“D-did we j-just almost crash?” one of the survivors asked him.
Sean shook his head. “That was just a little gust of wind.”
Trey met Sean’s gaze, neither of them willing to tell them the truth. If James and Zeke hadn’t regained control, they might well have gone down. “Sean here, our AET, has survived a helo crash.”
Oh, great.
The two survivors in the troop seats gaped at him.
Sean nodded, tried to play casual. “The helo went down. I swam out and got picked up twenty minutes later.”
And it was the worst fucking day of my life.
“D-damn!” said one of the young men. “Y-you all are b-badasses.”
“I-is my boy g-going to m-make it?” asked the first man they’d rescued.
Trey, who was working on the kid, didn’t respond.
Sean answered for him. “We’re doing all we can. EMS will be waiting for us when we get back to base.”
Sean took over first aid for the three other survivors so that Trey could devote his time to the kid. By the time they landed, the boy’s condition had improved. “EMS is standing by. Do you want the boy to go first?”
Trey nodded. “And then his father.”
One by one, the survivors were transferred onto gurneys and rolled to the waiting ambulances. Then, at last, Sean stood with Trey on the tarmac.
“You scared the shit out of me. You just disappeared. Care to warn us next time?”
Trey nodded. “Sorry, man. I caught a glimpse of the kid’s strobe and went for it. I didn’t realize until I had him how far I was from my previous position.”
“I’m glad you found him. Great work today.”
Trey grinned. “Thanks, Flo.”
“Eat me.”
* * *
It seemedto Eden that the Coast Guard launched one rescue after another through the course of the afternoon, mostly for mariners in distress. She knew everyone on base must be exhausted. The local news station was reporting trees down across the island, and the city of Kodiak had lost power for a time. But by evening, the worst of the wind had died down, a light rain falling, the fog settling in.
Eden turned off her VHF and made pan-grilled salmon with rice and salad for supper, using the last of the nettle pesto. Maverick loved salmon and talked about their walk while they ate—the puddles, the rain, and the crab shell. Eden was glad it had made an impression on him.
