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“Hey! Down here!” Catherine yelled, waving her arms madly, still trying to get the attention of whoever it was who leaned over the side of the ravine, looking down on her. Why was he ignoring her? There was no way he couldn’t see her. Or hear her. It was obvious he was intentionally ignoring her, but why?
If only she could walk, she could move away from the rock she’d been leaning against and move out into the open a bit more, but pain shot through her leg when she tried to put the tiniest bit of weight on it and she cried out in agony.
The man watching her shuffled along the edge of the ravine a little bit, but he still didn’t give any indication that he’d seen her, and he certainly made no move to rescue her. He didn’t respond to her calls for help, he didn’t lift his hand in acknowledgement to her frantic double-arm waving. Catherine blinked and shook her head, trying to clear the fuzziness from it. Had she bashed it? There was obviously something wrong with her vision—or maybe it was just because she’d been out in the sun for far too long—because the man was hazy. Not transparent, but not clear, either. He was almost like a mirage. A figment of her imagination.
“Maybe I am crazy,” she muttered.
Then, in the distance, she heard the unmistakeable rumble of a helicopter in the distance. “Is the helicopter real or am I imagining that, too?” she asked herself bitterly, not quite daring to hope for rescue in case she jinxed herself.
“Hey! Down here!” she yelled as loud as she could to the man looking down on her, trying for one more last-ditch attempt at getting his attention. He’d have a much better chance of being seen by the helicopter than she would, being hidden down in the ravine as she was. But he was gone.
“Hey! Come back!” she screamed desperately, but the only thing that answered was her echo.
The helicopter was searching for what felt like hours. She heard it, getting closer, then drifting further away. Coming closer again, teasing her, filling her with hope then ripping it away from her again, leaving her close to tears of frustration and helplessness.
Her knee still wouldn’t let her put any weight on her leg; it seemed to have stiffened from so long spent in the same position propped up against the rock, and her arm throbbed dully. But she pushed through the pain. When the helicopter flew over, she wanted to be ready for it.
* * *
“Down there!” Carly yelled, pointing. “Just down there—look! Down in that gully, she’s waving. See her?”
“I see her,” Josh confirmed.
Relief washed over Jason so fast it nearly knocked him over. They’d been flying around searching for ages, keeping in contact with the men on the ground, but there’d been no sign of her. The mountain ranges were vast—they were searching for a needle in a haystack. He was frantic with worry, and he’d been starting to lose hope. But now they’d found her. Safe and well.Or alive, anyway,he told himself, smiling.
It took far too long for Josh to circle the helicopter around, fly down low, hover above the ravine on the side of the mountain where Catherine sat. There was nowhere safe to land—they’d have to winch her on.
Nerves shook Jason’s body. Mike had given him a quick rundown on how rescues worked—Carly would be in in control of the winch, lowering him slowly to the ground, keeping in constant communication with Josh, telling him exactly where to hold the helicopter to get Jason to the ground safely. He was already attached to the climbing harness and had another one to fit to Catherine once he got to her, but he was terrified. Being lowered from a helicopter into a hole in the ground wasn’t exactly his idea of fun, even if it was to rescue the woman he loved.Do you love her?he wondered, but even as his mind asked the question, he knew the answer: yes. Yes, he did. He loved her.
“You’ve done this before, right?” he asked Carly nervously. He wasn’t keen on the idea of trusting his life to strangers, but right now he didn’t have a choice. He considered himself to be a fairly competent man, but up here, he was useless. He didn’t know the country, so he couldn’t search on foot like Mike and Davo were. He couldn’t work the winch. And he certainly couldn’t fly the helicopter. All he could do right now was hang onto the line and enjoy the ride.
Carly smiled reassuringly. “Yes.”
Slowly, he climbed out, holding onto the edge tightly, the wind from the spinning rotors nearly tipping him off. He watched as Carly positioned herself in the doorway, her feet on the skid, so she had a clear view of Catherine below them.
He tried to breathe deeply and stay calm as the winch slowly lowered him down, and he swayed back and forth beneath the helicopter, a bit like being on a giant alpine swing. The mountain ranges stretched on forever, making him feel so small and insignificant.
“Jason!” He heard Catherine’s voice when he was still several metres above the ground, calling him over the deafening roar of the helicopter, and it made him smile. She didn’t sound angry at him anymore. She sounded very pleased to see him.
He was going to spank her. He was going to cuddle her. He was going to hold her so tight and never let her go again. But first, he was going to rescue her.
* * *
“Jason!”
She’d never been so relieved in her life. Tears of relief flowed unchecked down her cheeks but the wind from the rotors above her dried them on her face as soon as they fell. Beside her, the grass flattened from the breeze and her hair blew backwards. She couldn’t believe he was standing there in front of her. Her hero.
Without speaking, he caught her in his arms, bent her backwards, met her mouth with a crushing kiss, all the desperation they’d both felt over the past few hours coming out in their lips. Hunger. Urgency. The kiss wasn’t long enough for either of them, but Jason pulled back.
“Hurry,” he said.
Quickly, he helped her into the climbing harness. She still couldn’t put any weight on her leg so she leaned on him, letting him support her. Gently, he guided her feet through the straps, slid the reinforced webbing up her thighs, tightened the straps around her hips.
“Hold onto me,” he commanded, his voice hoarse.
“I’ve been waiting for hours to hold you,” she whispered, wrapping her arms tightly around him. Her knee throbbed, but Jason hitched her climbing harness to his own, then lifted her in his arms, taking the weight off her burning knee.
“I’ve been waiting for hours to hold you, too,” he whispered back.
