Page 7 of Calling a Cease-Fire

The girl nodded with a sob. “I’m trying.”

“I know you are. You’re doing great.”

“Contact,” I called out as I reached her, letting the crew know I had a grip on her. If needed, they could pull us both to safety.

“My brother. He went through the ice. You have to save him,” she sobbed again.

I nodded. The first five minutes were crucial, and I knew we were well past that. Jay appeared next to me.

“I can start the search for the boy,” I offered.

“I got her.” He looped his rescue ring over her head, positioning it under her arms, and gave me a nod as he turned, making his way back to shore with the help of Seth pulling.

I continued past them to the hole in the ice. As I got closer, it cracked more. I turned, letting myself slide feet first into the frigid water. I moved around, breaking the ice in each direction, feeling around with my arms and swiping my feet along the bottom. Jay was halfway back to me when my right foot hit something. I lowered into the water, grabbing onto the boy and bringing him to the surface.

“Contact,” I called out again, sliding the rescue ring over his head.

Jay helped me hoist him up onto the ice, and once I was in position, he hollered back to Logan to start pulling. The minute it took to get back to the shoreline felt like an eternity, and even though I knew the priority was getting safely off the half-frozen pond, I wanted to stop and start CPR on the boy.

Adam and Lyla met us on the shore and began CPR as soon as we had the boy on solid ground. The young girl we rescued from the ice wandered closer, a thick blanket wrapped around her and tears streaming down her face.

I shifted over to where Owen stood. “Has she tried contacting her parents yet?”

“The dad didn’t pick up.” Owen glanced over, a grim look on his face. “Doesn’t sound like a good home life. No mom. The girl said dad drinks a lot.”

I doubted there was much child protective services could do. It wasn’t like it was neglect to leave preteens and teenagers unsupervised. I wasn’t naive. I understood not everyone could have doting, attentive parents like mine were, or have nannies and drivers who followed me around everywhere. But come on, man, answer your damn phone when your daughter calls. My parents were always busy running the lodge, but if I needed something, they took the time to be there.

Joining the guys over by the truck, we shed our dry suits. The waterproof garments were a must for any type of water-related call, keeping our clothes underneath from getting wet and preventing hypothermia. Since there wasn’t anything else we could do at the moment, we packed our equipment back up. By the time we had everything stored away, Adam had made the call to transport the boy to the hospital. He was still unresponsive. They would continue CPR on the way and the hospital would take over if needed.

As soon as we got back to the station, I would make another Facebook post encouraging parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of unstable ice. While it was pretty, the temperatures we had locally weren’t consistently cold enough for any body of water to freeze enough to walk or skate on.

I could also address the issue at the assemblies I had planned in the next two weeks at the local schools. Just basic “what to do in certain emergencies” presentations, geared appropriately for each age group. We usually only did them during October for Fire Safety Month, but lately we’d seen an uptick in young kids and teenagers either needing to call for help or ignoring situations when they should have called.

“Zack,” Adam hollered over. He continued to move the stretcher toward the ambulance while Lyla moved alongside it, using the Ambu bag to provide respiratory support. “Can you get Tara secured in one of the bench seats?”

“Yup.” I moved toward the young girl and placed my hand on her back. “Come on, let’s get you situated.”

She looked up at me, her eyes red and glassy. “Is he going to be okay?”

I wouldn’t lie to her. Kids were remarkably good at telling when adults weren’t being truthful, and I didn’t want to break the trust she now had in me or my team. “I’m not sure. But they’ll do their best.”

After helping her up into the ambulance, I got her seated and helped secure the harness over her.

She grabbed my arm before I could move away. “Can you tell the lady on the phone I said thank you?”

I smiled. “Of course.”

It was mind-boggling to me that I was excited for any excuse to talk to Mia. Especially since it was obvious she found me irritating. Although I was sure she found lots of things irritating.

We loaded up and had just pulled out on the main road when another call came in. I clocked the annoyance aimed at me from everyone in the truck. Mia’s voice came through the radio, and as usual, I was locked in, hanging on her every word. It wasn’t just the sound of her voice, but the confidence in it. The way she provided detailed information with a level of directness I appreciated.

Another teenager in trouble. This time a suspected overdose. Jesus. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut earlier, because the calls involving kids were the worst.

Chapter Four

MIA

The day utterly sucked. Seven calls. All involving kids under the age of sixteen. One died. Two were in critical condition the last I heard. The others I had no update on. Sometimes I wasn’t sure what bothered me more—knowing or not knowing if I was able to help them or not.