Page 3 of One Last Shot

Axel appeared over the edge and reached down. Next to him, Shep appeared, and together they pulled Macie up and out and onto the snow.

Boo blewout a breath.

And that’s when the shelf above her, where they’d just hauled up Macie, broke.

Snow thundered down over her, hit her helmet, slammed against her anchor, and took out the snow bridge below her.

It fell into the yawning blackness.

She grabbed her ice axes, shaking.

Oh, this was a great way to die. Her legs tremored, sweat trickling down her back. It seemed her ice axes as well as her anchor were holding, but who knew for how long?

“Axel?”

Nothing.

“Anyone?”

“Hey, Boo? The edge gave way—” This from Shep.

“No duh.”

“We’re not sure it’ll wait for you to climb up. I think we need to pull you out.”

“Fine. I’m just hanging out here, Shep. Wouldn’t mind, I dunno, a rope?”

“Demanding.”

She smiled. She liked Shep. He did his job and left her alone on her off time. No invitations to buddy up with the crew after work at the local Tenderfoot Bar and Grill or hang out at the boss’s house. And sure, she liked Moose, and Shep and London and Axel, but she wasn’t looking for camaraderie, and if she needed family, she’d visit her cousins at Sky King Ranch.

She’d come up here to hide, thank you. And that didn’t mean palling up with her teammates. But it also didn’t mean giving them a reason to start asking questions about her past. Maybe do some googling.

So yeah, she’d let him tease her a little.

“I’ll just be chillin’ out here, then, while you all tidy up on top.”

A rope fell, smacking her on the head. A Prusik knot was tied on it, with a sling for her foot. She took therope, created some slack, twisted it twice, and pulled a loop through, creating a figure eight on a bight. Then she clipped an extra length of webbing from her harness to the bight, and finally unclipped from the anchor.

“You got me?” Her gaze went to the darkness below.

The line tightened.

She put her foot into the Prusik sling and eased her weight onto the rope.

Please let the lip hold.

She unscrewed her anchor, then, “Haul me up!”

She still hadn’t released her ice axes and now used them to anchor herself as she was hauled up, walking with them up the side.

She reached the overhang, and the snow began to dribble down, breaking, falling.

“Just hold me! I’ll climb out!” She flung one ice axe out over the top, then the other, and began to haul herself up.

But her arms had turned to rubber and she had no purchase.

Hands gripped her harness, and in a second, Axel and Shep yanked her out of the hole. She fell on her knees in the snow, breathing hard.

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