Page 19 of Mountain Challenge

Ry

Ry finished inspecting Hugo’s harness, then waited while his friend checked his.

“All good,” Hugo confirmed.

Their equipment was regularly checked for signs of wear and deterioration, but they were about to use it to jump off a helicopter, so the redundancy didn’t bother him.

Whatdidbother him was the fact that he’d to leave Isla in the middle of the night. Or four am, to be precise, when Beau had called the team together to join a search party for two missing hikers.

It was probably the first time in memory that Ry hadn’t been glad to get a call from hisCommandant. He’d been awake anyway, his body curled against Isla’s slim frame, listening to her steady breathing, enjoying the way every so often she gave a little snore. He’d felt … content. For once in his life, he’d almost been looking forward to the morning after.No almost about it.

He’d been reluctant to wake her up when she was sleeping so soundly, but he hadn’t wanted to leave her apartment door unlocked. He smiled, remembering her dazed expression.Not a morning person. “You’ll be able to go back to sleep?” That wasn’t always easy for him, once he was awake, but Isla had looked at him like he was from another planet.

“I’ll be asleep again in sixty seconds.”

“Afteryou lock the door, right?”

“Right. After I lock the door.” She’d paused to give an adorable little yawn. “You’ll stay safe?”

Her words had warmed something inside him. And he realized he’d been pressing his luck, but he’d gone ahead anyway, taking advantage of her middle-of-the-night confusion. “Can I call you tonight?” She’d given him her sleepy agreement.

“What the hell are you smiling about, Ry?” Alex grumbled, bringing Ry back to the present. Alex had never been a morning person, less so now that he was living with Yvette. Ry could empathize. If it’d been hard to leave Isla in bed today, what would it have been like if she werehis? The thought gave him pause. He’d slept with many fun, beautiful women, but he’d never—ever—felt this level of possessiveness for any of them.

Though dawn would be breaking soon, right now everything was still dark. Hail pelted the windows of the helicopter. The wind blew loudly around them, every so often slamming right into them, shaking them in their seats like a well-mixed cocktail. Ry relaxed, not worried. He didn’t envy Tristan his job, but if anybody could fly this craft on a dark and stormy night, that was Tristan Devallé.

Their boss,CommandantBeau Fontaine, spoke up from the front of the helicopter, where he was sitting next to Tristan. “The weather is not looking good.” Understatement of the year, but that was Beau for you. “Tristan will drop us all on the path to La Jonction.”

Ry sighed. Sometimes, he wondered what drove people, or if they simply didn’t do enough research. He was as competitive as they came, when it came to outdoor activities, but even he wouldn’t consider climbing La Jonction in the middle of winter. Let alone when a storm was coming.

“Hold on,” Beau continued. “We’ve just received some more details on the missing hikers. Richard and Miles are in their mid-twenties, both British nationals. But they are not here on holiday. They’ve been living in Les Houches for years.”

That was good news. Men in their twenties would likely be in good shape. With the right clothes, an overnight stay in the mountains would be viable, particularly if they were locals, and therefore acclimatized to the altitude.

“Tell me they didn’t come up here with their snowboards,” Hugo grumbled.

“Do they have enough clothes and equipment to spend the night out here?”

Beau shook his head, for the first time betraying his frustration. “We have to assume they don’t. The girlfriend of one of the men was the one who called it in. She didn’t know exactly what the men had packed, but the three of them were supposed to have dinner together in town, so they didn’t expect to be gone long.”

Ry looked out the window. He could see their white, red and green position lights, but not much else. “We are as close as I can get you,” Tristan said from the cockpit. “If you’re going to drop, you need to do so now, before this gets worse.”

“Hugo, Ry, you go first,” Beau began, his words clipped. “Alex and I will follow.”

Ry and Hugo nodded and got into position, clipping themselves into place. Then Beau was there, opening the helicopter door. Hail rushed into the helicopter, assaulting them. Ry’s eyes watered from the cold, and he pulled hisgoggles down, bringing the neck of his jacket up to protect his chin and mouth. That helped some. Behind him, Hugo swore a blue streak. Only Beau seemed unaffected, even though he was closest to the door. An unmovable object.

When he was ready, Ry gave Beau a thumbs up and walked over to the edge. Beau leaned over, his mouth to Ry’s ear. And even so, it was hard to hear him over the roaring wind and the sound of the rotors. When he spoke, his voice was tight. If there was one thing Beau didn’t like, that was ceding control. “Take it slow and careful, Ry.”

Ry nodded to his commander, then waited for Tristan to give the okay—which he knew the pilot wouldn’t give until he was sure he could hold the craft steady for the required number of seconds. Finally, he got the go-ahead.

Ry didn’t look at the thirty or forty feet between him and the ground below. He paid no attention to the loud noise of the rotors, or the wind or the hail. It was just him and the rope now. A sense of calm exhilaration took over him. This moment, this rush of pure adrenaline soaring through his veins—this was what he lived for.

He took one deep breath to clear his mind, then let muscle memory take over, grabbing onto the thick rope. He remembered his PGHM instructor once telling him fast roping out of a helicopter was like abseiling. Except it wasn’t. Because in abseiling, you were always clipped in. Here, it was just you and the rope, flying through the air.

And it was so fucking fast. One moment Ry could see the colored lights of the craft, then they were gone. He felt the additional tension on the rope once Hugo’s weight went on, and knew that meant he was already twenty feet down. He kept going, readying himself for landing.

When the ground rushed up to meet him, Ry bent his knees to absorb the shock. His boots sank all the way to his shins. Fuck,but the snow was deep here. At least dawn would be breaking soon, so he’d be able to see the snow, and any holes, before he stuck his boots in. Searching in the snow in the dark was a recipe for disaster.

Ry confirmed his safe landing and stepped away from the rope to make space for Hugo, who joined him seconds later. Together, they waited for Alex and Beau to follow, but nothing happened. Eventually, Beau’s voice came through their ear piece—still calm, but not happy.

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