Chapter 2B
"Wait! Wait!" Simone screamed, racing out of the wooded area into the clearing where the van had been parked. Catching her ski jacket on the low branches and tugging free, she grabbled for traction with mud caking the bottoms of her hiking boots. Melting snow left the dirt path a mud slick. She slid to a stop in time to see the tour van go over the rail-less worn edge of the mountain cliff.
She gasped. Her heart leapt in her throat. Were all four of the other passengers in that van now careening down the mountainside? She scanned the area and saw no signs of any other guest. Her heart broke with that reality. Horror gripped her as she watched the van hit the bottom of the ravine after tearing over the bramble and snow covered grass.
Frantic, she searched for a foot trail leading down the steep sloop. Her gaze settled on one several feet away, down the slick mountainside. She needed to help them now. Her hiking companions might only have minutes left to live.
She tested the crumbling edge with her booted foot. Even if she made it over, there was nothing else for her to hold on to. Fear rushed with adrenaline through her bloodstream. Large hands closed around her body hauling her away from the edge.
"Simone, what are you doing?" a man yelled behind her.
"Let go of me," she said, trying to jerk his hands away from her body. His grip tightened as he spun her away from the edge and pushed her toward the woods.
"You'll get yourself killed, Ms. Daniels."
"Are you crazy? The rest of the group was in that van. Help me get down there."
He continued blocking her from the edge.
"If you won't help me-"
"-you'll go over the edge like they did and you'll need rescuing too," he stressed, eyeing the tracks leading off the edge. "Did you see what happened?"
Simone peered around his large frame, praying a ball of flames didn't rise from the valley, and clutched her jacket against her heart. "No. The van just went over the cliff as I came through the trees."
"Stay here," he said, moving closer to the edge. He crouched over the muddy ground, shaking his head. Mud coated her gloves as she crawled through the muck beside him.
He held a hand out in front of her to stop her from going closer to the edge. "Miss, I said stay back. It's slippery close to the edge."
Simone closed a hand over her mouth as bile rose up into her throat. The dark green van rocked on its side. Hiking gear stuck out of the busted windows. She caught a flash of bright yellow hanging out the side window. Closing her eyes, she could picture the woman from the lobby that morning getting in the van. Her face open and excited, her bright smile glowing.
Blood pounded in her ears so fiercely she couldn't hear their screams-if there were any. The dented van stopped rocking. Was anyone conscious? Guilt and relief raced hand-in-hand through her heart in a manic throb. "I could've been in that van." Her voice quivered. Glancing up at her company, she said, "We need to get down there to help anybody who might've survived."
He turned glacier blue eyes on her, held her in his stare before he shook his head.
"The snow's melting-the mountain is too slippery. You won't make it down without some sort of harness," he said, peering around indicating the woods behind them. "It's too far out of the way to go over the other side, it'll take all day to climb down the mountain and make it back around to the van."
"So how do we get down there?" Her voice warbled as she thought of those people dying down there once she pulled herself from the blue trance.
"I doubt you're trained to scale a mountain, miss. It'll be a challenge even with the skill level I have," he said. Simone caught the quizzical stare as he took in her bright green ski jacket while shaking his head. The square set of his shoulders, proud rise to his chest, and the raw strength in his hands closed round her ankle-military. The look her father gave when one of her non-camping friends tagged along as kids. She knew what he thought, another woman with no outdoor experience in the woods. Well that's where he was wrong. Heck, she was born outside-in a car-but still it was outside.
