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“This was an awesome idea, Darius!” Her words were made choppy by her panting, but she wasn’t nearly as out of breath as Darius had expected. He could remember a lady on a trip last year who he had been sure would burst a lung.
“Glad you like it.” He couldn’t stop it—the little swoop upwards his spirit made every time he so much as glanced at the girl. He couldn’t see her eyes behind the reflective goggles, but somehow he knew just how bright and sparkling they’d be.
He shook his head, frowning at his digression. Addisyn didn’t suspect his feelings for her—hopefully—nor did she view him in that way at all. Nor would he want her to. He could never be the man she needed—the hero she deserved. Falling in love would only devastate them both.
It was good he was the only one affected. He’d rather break his heart than hers.
At the beginning of the rock face he stopped, waiting for Addisyn to catch up. Leaning back against the mountain, he gazed out over the town. The incredible birds-eye view was one of his favorite parts of the job. He could even pick out the greyish hulk of the training center.
Addisyn took the last few laborious steps to come beside him. Wow, she hadn’t been far behind at all. She really had to be in excellent physical shape.
Darius took her upper arm to keep her from slipping. Even that platonic contact shot a jolt of electricity through his hand.Man, I am a mess!
“NOW, WE’RE GOINGto climb this rock face.” Darius gestured upward at a seemingly vertical slab of stone.
“Sure. Okay.” Addisyn nodded, trying not to totally embarrass herself by breathing as loudly as she would have preferred. Actually she felt like lying down and throwing up. They’d already ridden a gondola, hiked over a boulder field, and climbed two steel ladders. Yet this, according to Darius, was theeasypart. He probably thought she was the world’s biggest wimp. She swallowed a gasp that was just coming and tried to take a deep breath.
But that one question had to be asked. “And it’s totally safe, right?”
Darius grinned. “Totally.” He held up a carabiner. “As long as you have these little guys.”
Bending forward, he carefully clipped one of the carabiners to Addisyn’s special climbing belt. Dangling from it was a short piece of red-and-black silky rope, about half an inch thick and eighteen inches long. It had two carabiners clipped to the free end.
Addisyn fingered the cord. “What is this stuff?” It sure didn’t seem strong enough to hold her. She would have been happy to have a rope the thickness of her leg.
“Paracord.” Darius expertly clipped a similar rope to his own belt. “It might look flimsy, but it’s supposed to support four thousand pounds if need be.” He grinned mischievously at her. “And I’m pretty sure you don’t weigh that much.”
Addisyn shook her head and joined his laughter. “Yeah, I won’t overload it, I promise.”
“This is it.” Darius smiled, gazing upward. “The Iron Way.”
As far up as Addisyn could see, U-shaped metal rungs jutted stiffly from the cliff face. “We walk on those?”
“Yup.” Darius nodded. “Just like climbing a ladder.”
Not quite.Addisyn quickly focused on the ground to forestall an attack of vertigo.
Darius pointed to a metal cable running beside the rungs and anchored to the rock at intervals with rebar supports. “See that cable? That’s what your carabiners connect to.”
Stepping onto the first rung, Darius showed her how to clip both carabiners to the cable and slide them along as she climbed. “Then, when you get to a joint where the new section of cable begins, just do this.” He unhooked one carabiner and clipped it to the new section of cable, then followed suit with the second one. “The important thing to remember is that you are always connected to the cable with one or both carabiners. Okay?”
The longer Addisyn watched, the more dangerous—if not downright deadly—this seemed. Why was this even legal? Avery would be in her glory up here, but Addisyn would be much more comfortable in a place where she might not die if she stepped a half inch in the wrong direction. She was absolutely regretting this whole excursion. And absolutely not going to confess that to Darius. “Okey-dokey.” The attempt to sound chipper just sounded pitiful instead. “Here we go.”
Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the first rung and fumbled with her carabiners.
And took her first step onto the Iron Way.
ICAN’T BELIEVEhe does this every day.Addisyn glanced ahead of her to the lean, muscular frame of Darius with increased respect.
She reached above her head and clutched the next iron rung. How many had there been thus far? She’d lost count. Even through her special gloves with the sticky gripping palms, she could feel the cold from the metal.
Actually, the whole environment seemed to be getting cooler. She heaved herself onto the next rung and paused for a second, looking over her shoulder. Gray clouds were boiling ominously through the sky. As for the town—when Addisyn glanced into the valley, her stomach seemed to wad up and rise into her throat. She shut her eyes quickly and turned back to the rock wall.
She pulled herself up and worked one foot and then the other onto the next rung. The rungs were pretty close to the rock. She had to turn her feet slightly sideways to have enough room for them, which didn’t help with her confidence. And why did the rungs have to be that skinny and that round? Large, flat steps would have been much better.
An elevator would have been best.
Pull, step, step. Pull, step, step. Try to breathe. Watch Darius ahead of her, moving methodically up the mountainside. Addisyn came to a joint and wearily leaned into the rock. She moved her carabiners to the new section of cable one at a time, just as Darius had shown her. Her gloves and chilly fingers made the chore awkward. How tall was this mountain, anyway?
