She couldn’t think like that.Not about Noah and Meg, her friends.Not about Teague, who sounded far too calm, that dangerous calm, far too ready to do something reckless.
“I don’t think we can dig them out.Not safely.Not fast enough.”
Not fast enough.
The words hung in the air like a death sentence.
Eden stood abruptly.Her chair rolled backward and hit the wall with a dull thud.
She crossed to the large topographical maps pinned to the opposite wall—maps she’d studied and memorized during her training.Her fingers found Tapeats Cave and traced the marked entrance.The known chambers.“Those caves run under the Kaibab Plateau.”More to herself than to Teague.“It’s all Tapeats Sandstone—it’s where they get their name—highly porous, lots of natural karst features.”
“English, Eden.”But there was something like hope in his voice now.
“Shafts.”Eden grabbed a pencil from her desk and marked potential points on the map with small x’s.“These cave systems are known for having vertical shafts that lead up through the rock.Some were naturally carved out by water over thousands of years.Others were dug by miners.They sank exploratory shafts all over this area looking for gold.If Noah and Meg can find one of these shafts inside the cave system, they might be able to climb out.”
“If they’re still alive,” Teague said quietly.“If they’re not injured.If they can even find a shaft in the dark without a map.Not to mention we are two thousand feet down in the canyon.”
“You don’t have to.There is a mini-plateau of sorts that’s less than a hundred feet above the caves.There could be a shaft?—”
“I need to get up there and start looking.If I can find the right shaft, I can rappel?—”
“But any shaft that has any hope of reaching them would need to be at least that deep,” Eden interrupted.“Probably deeper given the irregular terrain.We need to coordinate with additional SAR teams first.Get proper equipment staged, bring in structural engineers to assess?—”
“We don’t have time for that.”Teague’s voice was firm now, with steel underneath.“If they’re alive, they could be injured, running out of air, dealing with rising water from the rain.Every minute we spend planning is a minute they might not have.”
“And every minute you spend rushing in without a plan is a minute closer to me having to coordinate your rescue too.”Eden’s voice cracked slightly.She cleared her throat and swallowed hard, angry at herself for the slip.
“Teague, please.Think about this.”
“I am thinking.I’m thinking about Noah and Meg trapped in the dark, alone.I’m thinking about how I’d feel if we sat here planning while they died because we were too slow, too cautious.”A pause.“I’m not giving up on them, Eden.Not while there’s still hope.”
Of course he wasn’t.
Because Teague didn’t know how to give up.Didn’t know how to step back, to calculate acceptable risks.Didn’t know how to weigh his own life against the people he was trying to save.He was a “jump first, consider consequences second” type of guy.
It was what made him an exceptional backcountry ranger.
It was also what was going to get him killed one day.
Just like Landon, who’d died trying to free-climb a cliff face in Yosemite because he couldn’t resist the challenge, couldn’t walk away, couldn’t admit that some risks weren’t worth taking.
“How do we find the right shaft?”Teague’s voice was choppy, as if he was gearing up as he spoke.“The one that connects to the chamber they’re in?”
Eden pushed her emotion aside, forcing herself to focus on the problem, not on the growing knot of fear in her stomach.She stared at the maps, trying to see patterns in the scattered marks showing old mine locations.“That’s the problem.These shafts are all over the plateau.Some connect to the main cave system, some don’t.Some collapsed decades ago.Finding the right one…” She trailed off.
“Like finding a needle in a haystack,” Teague finished quietly.
“Yeah.”Eden grabbed a ruler from her desk and measured distances on the map with precise movements.She calculated angles and did the math in her head.
“But needles can be found if you know where to look.”
She pulled out a red marker and uncapped it with her teeth.She began circling potential shaft locations on the map.“There are at least a dozen marked shafts within a half-mile radius.Most are probably collapsed or too narrow for a person.But if even one or two are still accessible…”
“Then we have a chance.”The distinct sound of carabiners clicking into place accompanied his words.“Send me the coordinates.I’m heading up to the plateau now.”
“Teague, wait—” Eden’s voice caught.
She wanted to tell him to be careful, to not take unnecessary risks, to not be a hero, to remember that his life mattered too.
