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She and Nate were eyeing the waterfall from down below, looking for anyone in trouble, and that’s when they saw the black-haired guy, Chris, hanging from the rocks at the top edge of the waterfall as the water rushed past him and over the edge.
“Damn it anyway. I’m going to see if I can help.” Nate began running up the narrow path until he reached the rocks and was climbing up them to get to the top as fast as he could.
“Me too.” Kayla was trying to catch up to him, her backpack thumping on her back, and she thought of ditching it. But they might need her medical supplies.
Nate had already ditched his backpack next to the other men’s.
As soon as she reached the top of the cliff, she dropped her pack next to Nate’s and pulled the satellite phone out of his bag. Then she called the park ranger’s office. This was out of the pack’s jurisdiction, and the park ranger could take care of this, though she and Nate would do what they could to save the man’s life.
Chris’s eyes were wide, and he looked terrified as he clung to a couple of rocks that had held in place—lucky for him—his body dangling over the falls. He couldn’t hold on like that for long. The water was cold, and he’d get hypothermia before long. The friend who’d kept falling in the water earlier was lying down on his belly in the stream, holding on to Chris’s one arm, but he didn’t have the strength to pull him up all on his own.
LJ was inching his way through the stream, trying not to fall, appearing terrified of being in the same predicament as his friend. She could smell their frightened scents. Nate began to make his way carefully and as quickly as he could across the stream. It was deep enough that someone could be swept away if they lost their footing and didn’t stop themselves from being pulled over the falls in time.
“Just hold on,” Nate said.
Kayla got hold of the park ranger’s office, andEric Silver, their pack leader’s cousin, said, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Nate is trying to reach him, and so is another friend of his. One of his friends has hold of his arm, and the man is holding on to a couple of rocks, but he can’t get any purchase to climb back up.”
“Okay, Kayla. We’re on our way.”
Then she got the emergency blankets out of their packs and told Nate, “Eric Silver is coming with a rescue team.” But she didn’t think they’d arrive in time to save these men. It was up to her and Nate to rescue them for now.
Chapter 17
As Nate made his way to Chris, hanging precariously from the edge of the waterfall, he couldn’t believe the guy had gotten himself into such danger. Well, Nate guessed he could, the way he’d been going and acting all macho in front of his friends. What would he tell the folks back home if he and his buddy Alex could save his life? How cool, exciting, and adventurous it had been? Unless they couldn’t manage to get him to safety before he slipped to his death.
Then again, Nate wondered what the business was with finding something that was worth a small fortune. A nugget of gold? Silver? Miners had mined both in this area until they shut the mines down. Every once in a while, someone found some gold in the river, streams, or creeks. It might be worth something, but not losing a life over it!
“Why don’t you head back to the shore?” Nate said to LJ, who seemed terrified of the stream—and for good reason after the trouble both his friends had gotten into. Nate didn’t ask it as a question, but more of a command to do what he said. If they had listened to him in the first place, LJ’s friends wouldn’t be in this bind.
“But I gotta help Alex pull Chris up.” LJ sounded more like he felt he had to aid his friend to save face, but he was too scared to really get close to where they were.
“If the stream carries you over the edge, you could knock your friend off the rocks, and both of you would fall to your deaths.” Nate knew it was going to be hard enough to save his friend without worrying about this guy too. And Nate had already passed him and was several feet closer to his friend who was in jeopardy than LJ was now.
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” He sounded like he knew his friends would give him a rough time about copping out, but if he caused more trouble, it just wasn’t worth the risk.
Nate slipped once but regained his footing, and when he reached Chris dangling dangerously over the edge, Nate lay down on his belly in the cold water next to the other man and grabbed Chris’s other arm. He looked over at Alex, who appeared stricken. He was shivering from the cold water, already hypothermic himself, Nate figured.
“Alex, we’re going to pull your friend up at the same time. You can do it. If we don’t, your friend’s going to die. So we have to do this. Okay, now, slide back, digging your toes into the rocks on the streambed. Keep pulling back.” Since Nate wasn’t hypothermic, he was making much more progress, but Chris wasn’t out of danger yet. And Alex appearedto be in peril himself. “We’ll get you both warmed up as soon as we pull your friend up and into the stream. Come on. You’ve got this. Keep going.”
They were pulling Chris up inch by inch. Nate was able to get him up to about his waist on the cliff, but he was so cold and his lips so blue that Chris looked like he didn’t have an ounce of strength left in him to make it the rest of the way on his own.
“Come on, man, you can do it. We’re almost there. We have Search and Rescue coming for you too.”
“I–I…was”—Chris’s teeth were chattering something awful—“such…an…idiot.”
“Yeah, well, we all make mistakes. We just don’t want this to be your last.” Nate glanced at Alex. He really didn’t look good either. “Come on, Alex, help me with your friend. The sooner we can get him out of here, the sooner you can both get warmed up.”
They kept pulling until they were able to get Chris onto the streambed, but they had to hurry and move across the stream and onto shore. The men weren’t able to stand up, they were so cold, and Nate was afraid he wouldn’t get them both across the stream in time to rescue them. To Nate’s further distress, Kayla started crossing the stream to help him with the men. He wanted to tell her to go back to shore, but she was keeping her footing, and he was struggling just to get Chris to his feet.
Then she reached them and helped Nate get Chris onto his feet. Nate started to navigate thestream with him, struggling to keep Chris upright while Kayla helped Alex cross the stream.
As soon as Nate got Chris to the shore, he handed him off to his friend. “Get him out of his wet clothes and into dry ones and then wrap him in one of the emergency blankets.” Then Nate went back into the water to help Kayla with Alex.
Once they pulled Alex out of the stream and onto the sun-warmed rocks, Nate and LJ began helping him out of his wet clothes. A diamond necklace on a gold chain fell out of Alex’s jeans pocket. Everyone stared at the necklace for a moment, and then he reached for it, but his movement was sluggish, and they still needed to get him out of the rest of his wet clothes.
“Leave it,” Nate said. Then he and LJ helped Alex strip the rest of the way and dress in some dry clothes.
