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“Okay.” Renzo was pretty sure it was futile, but he’d give him his five minutes. After Canaan sounded the whistle several times, Renzo wrapped him up in a tight hug, trying to memorize his feel in Renzo’s arms, his smell, the curve of his neck and shoulder, the dark slash of his eyebrows that contrasted with his white-blond hair, his stubble, his strong hand on Renzo’s back. They stood there, locked together as the fire dwindled and the minutes counted down.
“Guess it’s time.” Canaan sounded as defeated as Renzo had heard him.
“Yeah—” Renzo stopped at the drone of the helicopter.
“They’re coming back around.” Canaan had tears in his eyes, and Renzo’s own sinuses burned. He distracted himself with the signal mirror. The helicopter dipped again, much lower this pass. “They see us.”
“Think so.”
“You can’t go now. You can’t.” Canaan was defiant now.
“I’ll stay put, wait for them to come to us. But don’t get too excited. It could be hours yet.” The helicopter made a third low pass. “See? That one was so we saw them. They’ve got to go figure out a plan now.”
He hated feeling helpless, not being there with the rescuers, talking strategy, coming up with a plan and carrying it out. He was good at that, good at being the hero. Waiting sucked. Being the one needing saving sucked. But he’d promised Canaan he’d stay put, so he did.
And he hadn’t been kidding about it being a wait. Two hours and some, then there was a shout from the overhang above them.
“Yo, down there! You with the Grand Adventures hiking group?”
“Yes!” they both shouted back.
“Hang tight. We’re going to get you out of there. We’ve got a team rappelling down now. Any injuries?”
“No. There’s two of us. Both healthy,” Renzo called as two rescuers in dark green jumpsuits rappelled down ropes to their ledge.
“Excellent.” The rescuer who’d been talking to them—a large, burly older man with a wide smile and dark hair back in a braid under his helmet—surveyed their ledge. “Looks like you didn’t do half bad for yourselves. You really free climb up out of the flash flood?”
“Yes, sir.” Renzo offered him a hand to shake. Both the rescuers wore photochromic sunglasses and leather climbing gloves, and Renzo was impressed by their gear. “And boy are we glad to see you. I’m a navy SEAL. If you’ve got equipment, I can easily climb out of here. I’m experienced with ropes.”
“Oh, we know who you are.” The second rescuer, a tall woman, laughed. “Your senior chief’s been breathing down our neck most of the morning. I swear I thought he was going to come through the phone, demand to pilot the bird himself.”
“It worked.” Canaan fist pumped. “Your text got through.”
“Text?” The woman frowned. “No, he was notified last night when the group made it back—”
“They’re alive?” Renzo would never admit it to Canaan, but he’d pretty much chalked up at least half the group as goners.
“Got some injuries and part of the group spent a cold night, but yes, you’re the last two unaccounted for.”
“Thank God.” Canaan slumped against a boulder. “Thank God.”
Two more rescuers joined the first two, these guys bringing equipment including a sling, the kind used for getting an injury up the cliff. Renzo had some experience using that sort of equipment in the field.
“I can climb,” he assured the group. “Use the sling for Canaan, but I want to climb out.”
“Protocol states we haul you both up. We can’t be liable if you fall or get an injury.”
“You need me to sign a waiver? Happy to do that, sir.”
That prompted much discussion among the rescuers, including some heated discussion on their radios. Renzo tried to show his mastery of ropes by asking about the Z-pulley system they’d rigged to pull them out, and apparently that worked, as they reached a compromise where three of the team would first pull Canaan up and out, and then Renzo and the lead rescuer would buddy-climb out in harnesses, but they’d still rig him in such a way that he could be hauled out if he faltered. Which he wouldn’t, but he accepted all the equipment and safety precautions without argument.
“I’m not so sure about this.” As they strapped him in, Canaan looked truly nervous for the first time since the rescuers had appeared.
“You’ll be fine.” Not really caring what the rescue team might think, he gave Canaan a quick hug. He’d feel better if this was his SEAL team doing the climb, but these people did seem competent, and he was going to have to trust them to get his guy to safety. “Just do everything exactly as they tell you. No arguing. It’s going to take some time, and probably not be that comfortable, but I promise I’ll see you topside.”
It was a long, arduous wait for the team to get Canaan rigged up, then do the ascent, reporting back progress on the radio the lead rescuer kept.
