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“On it, boss.” Tyrell was calm and efficient, which was exactly what Nico needed.
“Lacey has been hurt, but I don’t know how badly. She’s down in a ravine, and I’m going to try and reach her. Dr. Gabriel DuPont is a suspect in a kidnapping attempt. He’s driving a small, white sedan. Put out an arrest warrant for him,” Nico reported quickly, his words almost tangling on his tongue in his rush to get them out. “Do not let that fucker leave this island,” he added with a snarl.
“Yes, sir. It’ll take around half an hour for the first team to reach you.” Tyrell didn’t question Nico; he just did as he was bid. Nico wouldn’t have answered, anyway; he was already pocketing his phone.
Just as he was about to run back to the edge, an idea occurred to him. Turning on his motorcycle engine, he rolled it forward until it was close to the edge and turned the headlight onto high beam, pointing it directly at the gash in the trees. He wasn’t even sure if it was lighting up the area where Lacey was stuck, but it’d be dark soon and any light would be welcome.
He stared over the edge of the drop-off. It was a tad too far down to reach a point where the earth began to slope outward from where he was standing. His makeshift jumper-lead rope wouldn’t reach. But around to the left, where the trees closed in and the clearing disappeared, the edge got lower. Within minutes, he’d tied his makeshift rope around a small but sturdy sapling growing close to the edge and used it to clamber down to a semi-flat spot where the ground was less steep. It didn’t quite reach, and Nico was forced to jump the last few feet, landing awkwardly, and nearly tumbling down the precipitous, rocky slope. How he was ever going to get himself and Lacey back up there was a problem for later.
Using the shrubs to hang on to, he quickly slithered down the incline, until he reached the first line of trees, then worked his way along, drawing abreast of the path of carnage the flying van had left in its wake. Through the cracked branches and downed saplings, he could see the Kombi lodged up against the tree trunk around five-hundred feet farther down the ravine. It was crushed flat against the trunk, looking more like a pancake than a solid metal vehicle.
“Lacey, I’m here, where are you?” He peered up into the tree limbs. She’d said she was stuck up a tree, but which one? The light from his headlight barely reached this area, but it’d be better than nothing once the sun disappeared.
“Over here.” Her voice was faint and Nico became worried. Was she about to pass out? She might fall if she did that. He shuffled along the steep slope, screwing his eyes into slits as he stared up into each tree he passed. Where was she?
“Lacey, can you keep talking, so I can find you?”
She croaked out an answer, and he followed the sound of her voice back up the hill. He must’ve missed her as he went past the first time. Finally, he stopped beneath the tree he thought her voice was coming from. How high up was she? The top of the tree seemed to have been shorn off. A victim of the flying Kombi van. He maneuvered around the tree trunk until he caught movement. There. He could just make out the pale oval of her face in the fading light. She was about sixty feet up the tree, around half the height of the remaining tree. It was a King Billy Pine, with branches fairly evenly spaced, hopefully making it relatively easy to climb.
Without thinking too much, he hauled himself into the lower branches. Sooner than he expected, he was level with Lacey. She was tucked into the crook of a larger limb, leaning against the trunk, one arm cradled against her side. The motorcycle headlight cast crazy shadows now he was up higher, and he was no longer sure if it was such a good idea.
“Hi, there,” he breathed.
“Hi.” She turned to him, huge eyes taking up much of her face.
He hardly recognized her. Lacey’s face was covered in scratches, her clothing torn right off her body—her sweater hung in rags from her shoulders, and her jeans were ripped in a dozen places. He was horrified to think how many branches had scratched and clawed at her as she jumped out of the flying van. The tree may have caught her but it’d left its mark, almost like it’d bared its claws.
He kept all those thoughts hidden. She was going to survive. He’d make sure she survived this. Even with her face in tatters, she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“You’re going to be fine,” he soothed. “We’ll get through this together. You just jumped out of a flying vehicle. Anything after that will be a piece of cake,” he said, trying to lighten the mood.
She offered him a small smile, but he could see how much it cost her even to do that.
“Right.” It was time to take charge. “I’m going to get you down, but let’s do a quick assessment of your injuries first.”
“My arm is definitely broken,” she replied. Even from here, he could see that her forearm was at a slightly odd angle.
“I can splint that, immobilize it as much as we can.” He had a triangle bandage in his first aid kit. And there were plenty of sticks around he could use as a splint. “Anything else.”
“My leg hurts,” she said through gritted teeth, indicating the front of her thigh, where a large shard of wood protruded from the middle of her limb.
“Oh, Jesus,” he said before he could stop himself, grimacing at his lack of tact.
“It’s okay. I know it’s bad, and I know I look a mess,” she replied pragmatically.
“Right this second, you look like a divine goddess,” he replied, meaning it. “Strong and incredibly brave. You are always beautiful to me.”
She made a grunting noise but didn’t argue.
If he had to guess, the next fifteen minutes were probably the most physically agonizing time of Lacey’s life. After he’d splinted her arm, strapping it securely to her chest with the triangle bandage, and removed the large piece of wood from her leg—she decided it’d hinder her climb down—and bandaged that tightly to stem blood flow, he decided there was little he could do for the myriad of other scratches covering her body. Excruciatingly slowly, he helped her down, branch by branch, sometimes supporting her whole weight from below until she could find a one-handed hold that suited. Using the sparse light from his motorcycle to see, Nico would find the perfect hold for Lacey, then wait on the next branch down and guide her good hand and feet until they were secure. He was extremely glad now that he’d thought of using his headlight. Without it, this task would’ve been impossible.
Perhaps he should’ve waited until the rest of the teams arrived. Until a skilled rescue unit was called. But that could take hours, and Nico just wanted Lacey safely down on the ground. Where he could finally cradle her in his arms and let go of the breath he’d been holding ever since her van flew over the edge of the ravine. And she wanted the same; otherwise, she would’ve refused to move. He was continuously amazed by how gutsy this woman was. How determined. With a core of steel.
At last, his feet were on the ground, and he grabbed her by the waist and lowered her gently to stand next to him.
“You did it,” he breathed into her ear.
“Yes, we did it,” she replied. “I couldn’t have done that without you.”
