Page 15 of Canyon Killer
“You won’t drop it. As soon as Sheri is down safely, I’ll show you what to do.”
Bethany leaned over the edge to watch Sheri descend. The tall, lithe blonde was a fast, agile climber who made difficult pitches look easy. Even wearing a bulky pack with first aid supplies, she seemed to float down the face of the cliff. Only the trickle of gravel from the occasional foothold and the quiet grunts as she worked the ropes betrayed any sign of effort. Eventually she stopped just below the injured man. She spent a few minutes talking quietly with Ryan and Eldon, then she signaled for the litter to be lowered.
Other volunteers had assembled the lightweight aluminum litter, which broke down for easier transport. They had fastened lines to either end and a guide line in the middle. Bethany focused on not getting anything tangled as she and Grace carefully lowered the whole thing until Sheri could reach up one hand and grab hold. Then, with Ryan and Tony’s help, they maneuvered the litter until it was beneath the injured climber.
“Hold steady while we get him secured,” Sheri instructed over the radio. “We’re going to have to cut his ropes, but we need to make sure he doesn’t fall when we do.”
“We can send down a sling if you need it,” Caleb radioed back.
“Do that,” she said. “I think I’m going to have to stand in it to take care of him. There’s no ledge or other good foothold in this section of wall.”
Bethany looked over the edge again, fighting a slight sensation of vertigo. She could see the tops of the rescuers’ helmets in the nest of ropes below. They all seemed so calm and focused. She wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to dangle on the end of a rope a hundred feet above the ground and remain so serene.
“We’ve got him on a safety line and cut his arm free,” Sheri radioed a little while later. “I need to splint the injury before we maneuver him into the litter. Tony’s going to get the air splint from my pack. Mike could use some pain meds, but we’re short medical personnel today.”
“He’ll feel better once the arm is splinted,” Caleb said. “And the ambulance will be here soon.”
Another long wait. This was the hardest part of rescue work, Bethany thought. You couldn’t rush, but every minute that passed meant more suffering for the injured person.
A siren’s wail drifted up from below, gradually growing louder. An ambulance drove into the canyon and parked at the base of the cliff. Bethany noticed that several sheriff’s department vehicles had also arrived and the crowd had thinned out. She wondered where Ian was. He had been so upset. What a terrible thing to have happen in what was essentially his home.
“We have Mike secured in the litter,” Sheri radioed. “We’re ready to bring him down.”
“We’ve got him now.” Caleb and Eldon moved in to take over handling of the litter.
Sheri had positioned herself underneath the litter to guide it to the ground and keep Mike calm. Ryan and Tony waited until she was on the ground before they began their own descent. The team at the top of the canyon watched as Mike was transferred from the litter to a gurney and loaded into the ambulance. As soon as the doors were closed, they moved in to disassemble the delicate network of ropes and equipment.
By the time they drove away from the cliff, there was no one left in the canyon. Sheri had sent the other rescuers back to headquarters. They spent another hour unloading and stowing gear.
“Good job, everybody.” Sheri came in to report as they were preparing to leave. “Mike has a concussion and he may need surgery to repair the damage to his arm, but he’s going to be okay.”
“Did anyone retrieve the banner he was hanging?” Bethany asked. She had just remembered it.
“You mean the sheet that said No Via Ferrata?” Sheri asked. “I think we left it up there.”
“It’ll give Ian Seabrook something to think about,” Ryan said.
Bethany opened her mouth to argue, but Carter took her by the arm. “We need to get home,” he said.
She glared at him, but he only shook his head. “This isn’t your fight,” he said quietly.
She was too tired to argue, drained by the day’s exertions and the turmoil of her emotions. And maybe Carter was right. What was Ian to her but a good-looking man she had spent a few hours with? For all she knew, he blamed her for finding those skeletons on his property, drawing attention he didn’t need or want.
* * *
All that night, Ian kept replaying the events of the day, from his first sight of the protesters to Walt Spies’s taunts about disturbing the dead to the injured climber dangling from the cliff. He hadn’t handled any of it well. As the first rays of the sun lit up his bedroom, he lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. He knew what his father would do. Phillip Seabrook would order up a fleet of armed guards to protect the property. Then he’d find a way to cajole or outright bribe the proper county officials into approving the project.
Ian didn’t want to bully his way into acceptance. But he didn’t want to waste time trying to change the minds of people who had already condemned him. Which left the people out there who hadn’t yet made up their minds.
He showered and shaved, then headed into his office. George was waiting for him. A stocky, bow-legged man whose résumé included everything from bull riding to well digging, George seemed a good choice to handle all the jobs associated with this project that Ian wasn’t equipped to do.
“I stopped in to tell you I’m quitting,” George said.
“Why are you quitting?” he asked.
“I could deal with the nasty signs and people giving me the stink eye when they found out who I worked for. Then that business with the skeletons happened, and I was pretty creeped out. Then yesterday, with that climber getting hurt…that was the last straw. Maybe Walt Spies is right and this project is cursed. Whatever. I don’t want any part of it.”
Ian’s first instinct was to argue that George wasn’t thinking straight. He was letting people he didn’t even know drive him away from a good job. But did he want someone working for him who didn’t really want to be there?
