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Chapter Twenty
Bjørn cursedlow and pressed the left rotor pedal to stop the spin. Nothing. Great. The rear rotor blade had malfunctioned. They wouldn’t make it.
“Come on, Annie. Work with me,” he muttered, lifting the collective in his left hand to gain enough altitude to set her down on the rocks instead of crashing into them as he closed the throttle to stop the rotation.
The collective felt like a two-ton boulder in his hands as it fought against him. He gritted his teeth and pulled up on the control harder as he eased the cyclic in his right hand forward. The skids scraped across the rocks with an eerie sound that raced along his skin and settled in his gut. With a thunk, he set the bird down and sighed. His hands shook as he flipped switches to power down, then turned the alarms off.
The silence that followed bunched his muscles even more, and he turned to scan the others. “Everyone okay?”
His gaze stopped on Sadie as she peeled herself from around Rowdy. Her skin was so pale he could see her veins as she turned her head to look out the window. She took a deep breath, her fingers trembling as she uncurled them from Rowdy’s collar.
“We’re good.” Gunnar rotated his shoulders and neck.
Bjørn turned forward and toggled the radio. “Base, this is Rebel.”
Dead air. He switched to another channel.
“Base, this is Rebel.”
Nothing. He tried again with the same result. The lightning strike must’ve knocked the communications out. Like it fried everything else. He growled low and slammed the rest of the controls off.
His jaw hurt from clenching his teeth, and a headache built at the back of his head. He’d have to figure out just how bad the chopper was later. Nothing mattered right now but the kids.
He pulled up his hood and pushed his door open. Rain hit his face with chilling force. Lightning struck a hundred yards away. The boom of thunder shook beneath his feet and hurt his ears. They needed to get away from the chopper. Its metal was like a giant lightning rod.
He secured the strops over the skids as best he could to the rocks, grabbed his gear, and rushed after the others. The teens met them at the tree line, looking soaked and wrung out. The girl, Callie Reed, threw herself into Sadie’s arms and bawled.
“You’re missing someone.” Gunnar’s short, efficient words shot through the wind.
Callie cried harder while the two guys froze. The blond one shook his head, his eyes closing in anguish before he dropped his chin to his chest. The other swallowed, looked back toward where they’d come from, then turned back to the rescuers.
“Dex fell.” A boom of thunder added grisly emphasis to the second kid’s words.
“Where?” Gunnar stepped closer.
“Inland.” The blond guy lifted his head, anguish evident in the twisting of his face. “We were hiking back after we couldn’t find the lake. Dex slipped on the wet rocks and … and fell to the bottom.”
Sadie patted Callie, then pushed her up. “Cody, do you have camp set up?”
“Yeah,” the second guy, Jim Miller’s son Cody, said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. “We have some tents.”
“Good. Callie needs to get dry and warm.” She glanced at Gunnar, then at Bjørn, before turning back to the teens and taking the lead. “Do you remember where he fell?”
Cody rubbed his hand over his mouth. The other kid, Tim Reed, if the fallen kid was Dexter, looked at Cody, his eyes narrowing at Cody’s hesitance. Gunnar peeked at Bjørn, and Bjørn gave a quick nod. Yeah, he felt it. Something was off with this group.
“I think I remember.” Tim turned from Cody.
“No, I’ll take them.” Cody stepped forward and touched Callie’s shoulder. Callie flinched and took a small step away. “You stay with Cal and make sure she gets warm.”
What exactly had happened here? They’d have to figure it out later. Bjørn turned to Drew and the cameramen.
“You guys stay with these two while we go look for the kid.” Bjørn pointed to the chopper. “I’ll grab the SAT phone. We’ll need you to try to get a hold of base.”
“Do you mind if I come and film?” Bo asked, quickly rushing through the rest of his words. “Not for the show or anything. You might be able to use the film for training purposes. I’ll help, of course.”
Bjørn glanced from Sadie to Gunnar. Both shrugged, so Bjørn gave Bo a quick nod and rushed back to the chopper to get additional gear. He hopped into the cabin and pulled things from the storage.
“I can’t believe we found them,” Sadie said as she grabbed climbing ropes and hung them over her neck so they rested across her body. “I hope Dexter’s not dead. It will devastate his parents.”
