Page 78 of High Intensity

“We’re not doing anything without a safety line.”

I nod my agreement and get a safety harness from my saddlebags. James is in the process of securing a rope to a large tree trunk, when we hear horses approaching. The sound of snorting, leather creaking, or the occasional clanking of a bit gives them away.

“What are you guys doing here?” James asks, when JD and Dan appear from the trees barely fifty feet from where we are tying the safety line.

“Followed the tracks here,” Dan explains. “One minute they were following the game trail, the next they turned into the woods.”

“Tracks show they were running,” JD adds. “Look.”

We walk closer to where he’s pointing at the snow. I can easily see what JD means; the toe of the print is deep, the heel virtually invisible, and a trail is left pointing to the heel as forward motion pushes the toe of the foot back.

Judging from the prints, it looks like these two individuals stopped by the single tree to take off their packs, and from there they appear to walk straight off the cliff.

James hooks the safety line onto my harness and I walk as close as I dare to the edge, before dropping down on my stomach and carefully inching the rest of the way.

I spot one of the hikers right away at the bottom of the drop. I’m pretty sure it’s the hiker whose tracks we’ve been following. He’s lying face down, still wearing his backpack. Judging from the substantial amount of blood around the body, it seems a safe guess we’re dealing with a recovery and not a rescue.

“I’ve got one recovery,” I call back to the team.

Then I start scanning the drop, looking for the other two hikers. I find them a third of the way down. The woman’s upturned face startles me; her eyes are open and fixed on me, and her mouth is moving, but I don’t hear any sound. She’s sitting on a rock plateau, her back against the wall behind her, and she’s cradling the upper body of the third individual in her arms.

“And one, possibly two rescues,” I update the guys, before yelling down. “Kelly? Hang on tight. We’re coming for you!”

It’s midafternoon when we find them, but it’s another almost four hours before Kelly Greenbaum and her husband are finally pulled to safety and handed off to waiting EMTs. It took that long to get the necessary equipment and enough manpower up here.

Apparently, it was Kelly’s brother, Shaun, who decided to go off the trail. The couple heard him screaming and ran toward the sound, not realizing how unstable the ice shelf they were standing on was. Rick landed poorly and broke his leg, but Kelly only suffered bumps and scrapes. They likely survived by sharing their body heat, although they both suffered from severe hypothermia by the time we got to them.

After they are on their way to the hospital, we still have to retrieve Shaun McInnis. By the time the county coroner’s van drives back down the bumpy dirt road—his body on board—it’s nighttime. We load our equipment on the truck Bo and Fletch drove up here, and ride the horses down the mountain.

It isn’t until I’m in the back seat of the truck on the way back to High Meadow, I have a chance to send off a message to Jillian.

Just heading back to the ranch now. Hikers found.

Catch up in the morning?

I wasn’t expecting a response, since it’s already late, so I’m surprised when one appears just seconds later.

Sounds good. Get some rest.

Twenty-Three

Jillian

Eleven hours earlier

“What do you mean she hasn’t been eating?”

The man introduced to me as Agent Williams, an FBI EMT who apparently had taken over the care for Hayley, looks sheepish.

“Are you kidding? She’s been in your care since last week; are you telling me she hasn’t had anything since then?”

I’m pissed. Beyond angry they would let this carry on for so long.

“According to Dr. Chahal, she’d been eating at the hospital, but since we moved her to the safe house on Wednesday, she barely even picks at her food, no matter what we put in front of her.”

“And you didn’t think perhaps to move her back to the hospital?”

“We contacted Dr. Chahal; it was her suggestion to get in touch with you. Apparently, you built up a rapport with the girl.”

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