Page 23 of Mountain Challenge

He focused all his strength into that single movement—tensing his stomach muscles, pushing through the agony in his shoulder—managing the first swing.

Yes.

One more and he’d be able to reach Hugo. Ry focused all his strength … then felt the man below him move, wriggling like a worm on a hook.No.Please, no. If he kept struggling like this, Ry wasn’t going to be able to hold him.

“Stay still!” he yelled through clenched teeth, his words coming out garbled. “I swear I won’t let you go.” He hoped—prayed—he was telling the truth.

The man stilled, as if suddenly understanding his predicament. But the damage had been done, and they were now sliding in the other direction. Away from Hugo, away from safety, and towards the other side of the bridge.

Far, far away.

No. Fuck, no.

Ry couldn’t hold his position that long.

“Merde!” Hugo no longer sounded calm. Ry heard him yelling into the ear piece. The thought calmed him. Hugo, Beau and Alex were there. They would figure this out. He just—he just had tohold on.

They began moving faster. Ry knew there was only one reason that would be happening. Beau and Alex were pulling them. Although it went against every instinct he had, Ry leaned his weight in the same direction, forcing them to move faster towards the middle of the bridge.

Not fast enough.

Ry whimpered. Black spots danced in his eyes, and he knew he was moments away from losing consciousness. Time lost all meaning, the seconds morphing into heartbeats. One heartbeat, then another, his heart beating in symphony to the throbbing in his shoulder. Ry bit the inside of his cheek, willing the pain to keep him awake. Just a few heartbeats longer. Then a few more.

Just when he thought he couldn’t hold on, he saw them. Beau and Alex, working hand-in-hand, pulling on the cable with all their considerable strength. Then Beau’s arm reached aroundhim, holding on to the harness beneath Ry’s clenched fingers. He felt the weight lift, but still he couldn’t release, couldn’t force himself to let go of that hold that had become his only grip on reality.

“You can let go, Ry. I’ve got him.”

“Tell me you’ve got Ry,” Hugo croaked on the ear piece.

Ry wanted to answer, to tell his friend that he was alright. He even opened his mouth to do this, but darkness called to him in a way that left him no alternative but to follow.

Ry woke to a loud, thick noise. Chuf. Chuf. Like his mother’s blender when she baked a cake. Except louder.

It took him a second to realize he was back in the helicopter. Flat on his back. He struggled to remember anything after the gorge, but it was all a blank. He must have passed out. He turned his head to see Hugo sitting next to him.

“How’re you feeling?” Again, that quiet, reassuring tone, so at odds with Hugo’s usual gruff demeanor.I must be hurt, for him to sound this worried.

“I’m … okay.” His throat felt raw, scratchy. Damn, but he hoped he hadn’t been screaming while unconscious. The pain in his shoulder had cooled from a raging inferno to a burning fire.

“You’re going to be okay,” Hugo said.

“How are the hikers?”

Hugo moved his bulk to let Ry see beyond him, where the two hikers sat against the helicopter wall, their frames wrapped in silvery blankets. “We’ve got both of them.”

“I should see how they’re—“ Ry tried to move and almost passed out again from the pain. “Fuck. I think I dislocated my shoulder.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Let’s hope that’s all it is. We’ve already informed Val, she’s waiting for us at the hospital.”

“Okay.” That was good news. There was nobody he trusted more than Dr. Valentina Carrel, Beau’s fiancée. Suddenly, one of the hikers stood. Ry’s addled mind struggled to remember the man’s name. Miles. Fuck but he was a big man. A big, pissed-off looking man.

“He could have killed me! I want his full name.”

It took Ry a long time to realize the man was talking about him.

I saved your fucking life, after your buddy pushed you off a cliff.

“You’re the police. You need to see these bruises,” the man continued, raising his shirt to reveal red splotches on his hips, where the harness had pulled at him. Those would be black and blue in a few hours.

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