Page 1 of Need Me
Chapter 1
Arivuletof sweat trickled down Robert Chamber’s forehead and dripped into his right eye. He ignored the sting from the salty moisture the same way he blocked out the screams of the hysterical woman at the top of the crevasse into which he now descended. He didn’t blame the woman for being terrified, but his priority now was her nine-year-old son, who was stuck on a ledge at least fifty feetdown.
This wasn’t a simple repelling mission. Several issues complicated it. The crevasse was only about six feet wide, which limited maneuvering room. At almost ninety pounds, little Davey Peters wasn’t so little. Plus, based on what he’d shouted up to them, there was a good chance he’d suffered a broken arm during hisfall.
Robert would literally have to haul Davey part way out of the crevasse since the boy wouldn’t be much help to him. Once they neared the top, where the crevasse widened a little, the team at the top could pull them up. However, most the work fell on Robert’s capableshoulders.
“I’m coming, Davey. You just hang on,okay?”
“Yeah.” Davey’s voice was thick withtears.
Robert moved around an outcropping of rock and stopped. “Kenny, hold up on the line,” hesaid.
“Sure thing, Rob.” Kenny Stone’s voice came through nice and clear in Robert’s wireless ear com. “Everythingokay?”
“Yeah.”
Robert trained his Maglite downward, scoping out the situation below. He was relieved to see that the remaining distance to Davey’s location was free of otheroutcroppings.
“Okay, go ahead, Kenny. Just had some rocks to get around and wanted to make sure the rest of the way was clear,” Robertsaid.
“Rogerthat.”
Robert smiled at the no-nonsense tone of the head of their branch of the Colorado Mountain Rescue. He continued downward until he reachedDavey.
“Hey, buddy. You’ll do anything to get out of going to school tomorrow, huh?” he joked. Humor was a good tool in high stress situations, and Robert employed itnow.
Davey smiled a little. “Iguess.”
Robert adjusted his glasses and started looking Davey over. “Are you sure that your legs are okay? Do they hurt atall?”
“Just the cuts, but that’s it,” Davey replied. “My arm hurts likehell.”
Robert hid his amusement over the curse word, but he didn’t lecture Davey, either. If he’d broken his arm, he’d say some choice words, too. “Can you moveit?”
Davey shook his head, his blue eyes filling withtears.
“That’s all right.” Robert unrolled the nylon sling he’d brought with him. “I’m going to put this on you to keep it in place while we climb out ofhere.”
Compassion washed over Robert when Davey bit his bottom lip and nodded, obviously trying to be strong. Gently, he put Davey’s arm in the sling and strapped it tight to Davey’s torso to stabilize it. Then he put a harness onDavey.
“Okay, Davey, I need your help,” Robert said, attaching Davey’s rope to hisline.
Davey’s brow furrowed. “You needmyhelp? I thought that you were here to saveme?”
Robert chuckled. “I am, but you still have to help. No matter what happens, don’t kick and scream. Also, use your legs to make sure that you don’t scrape off the rock wall. But don’t kick real hard or you’ll jerk us both around and we could get hurt. You got allthat?”
“Yeah.”
“Excellent. Let’s do this.” Robert made sure that all of nuts, the small metal anchors that fit into cracks in the rock face, were untangled and ready to go. “Okay, Kenny, take us up realslow.”
“Who’s Kenny? My name is Davey,” the boysaid.
Robert laughed. “Kenny is the old fart who runs the rescue team, Davey. We use wireless coms to talk to eachother.”
“Like the ones onTV?”
“Yeah.”
