by Pamela Clare
She found herself smiling. “Thanks. I’d love that.”
Austin pulled into the main parking lot, which was closed off to everyone but Team members. Rescue One and Two were already here, along with a dozen other vehicles he recognized. He pointed through the windshield to the massive red buttress of rock that jutted toward the sky. “That’s Redgarden Wall.”
Lexi looked out through the window. “You’re climbing that? You’re crazy.”
She looked adorable, her hair in a ponytail, one of his old Team T-shirts tied off at her waist, her ass doing things for his jeans he couldn’t have imagined. She’d had to roll up the pant legs to make them work for her, but he thought that was cute, too.
He climbed out, went round to the back of his SUV, and grabbed his backpack, swinging its weight onto his back and fastening the waist strap. The he grabbed his rack of gear. “Come on.”
They headed for the bridge, Austin sharing a little of the history of Eldorado Canyon State Park with her, the glory days of rock climbing, when the generation known as the Stone Masters, which included Megs and Ahearn, had put up countless routes on Redgarden Wall, amazing the world.
“So this is famous?”
He grinned. “World-class climbing. We do a lot of rescues here.”
“I bet.” She glanced over the edge of the bridge at the rushing water below.
“This creek is the biggest pain in the ass. If the victim is far up the creek, it’s safer and much faster to cross the water rather than bringing them over land to the bridge. Most of the year the creek is low, and we cross it on foot hauling a litter. But when the water’s high in the spring and summer, which is when most people climb, we have to evacuate people via Tyrolean traverse—stringing ropes across the water and moving the victim to the other side.”
“They just dangle above the creek?”
He couldn’t help but laugh at her horrified expression. “They’re in a litter, and they have rescuers with them.”
They’d be practicing on Doub-Griffith, a 5.11c route that started on a ledge that was a good one hundred fifty feet off the ground. It would demand the best of him and everyone else on the Team. He held Lexi’s hand, her fingers warm against his, and led her toward the trail that would take them to the base of the route.
The sun was still low on the horizon, the sky a bright Colorado blue, the ponderosa pines buzzing with broad-tailed humming birds. It felt right being here with Lexi, her presence making this place—and Austin—feel complete. He didn’t realize he was smiling until they reached the base of the route.
Megs walked over to him. “It looks like someone got laid—or is that satisfied smile on your face for me?”
Lexi’s cheeks turned flaming pink.
Austin laughed. “You know I adore you, Megs.”
Eric came up behind them, carrying the dummy over his shoulder. “Fred, you heavy son of a bitch, we need to put you on a diet.”
“You found his pants.” Megs laughed. “Good. I don’t want someone calling the cops to report a naked man on the Wall.”
Then Hawke spotted Austin and Lexi. “You’re looking good. Lexi, nice to see you here. Uh … cute outfit.”
He shook his head and passed them without another word.
“Looks like everyone is here. Let’s move.” Megs reached into a pile of gear and tossed Lexi a helmet. “You’ll need this.”
Lexi stared at it. “Oh! Oh, well, I’m not climbing.”
Megs fought back a grin. “There’s a lot of falling rock on this wall. We’d like to keep your brains inside your pretty head, if that’s okay with you.”
Austin took the helmet from Lexi and put it on her, then helped her adjust the chin strap. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be fine.”
It was time to get to work.
The first job involved stranding poor Fred high on the route’s third pitch. Conrad and Creed Herrera, who was finally back from climbing El Cap, had volunteered to hike up the East Slabs—the reverse side of Redgarden Wall—and set up the haul system that would enable the team to hoist Fred up.
While they finished getting the system set up, Belcourt gave the rest of the Team a refresher on how to use the new brake plate. They’d all tried it out on the tower already, but in this business, there was no such thing as too much practice.
The new brake plate was an ingenious piece of metal with three sets of loops angled down the sides. It promised to simplify rescues. Rather than needing a separate brake plate and brakeman for each rope or cable, they’d be able to manage up to four ropes with just one person.
Belcourt had just finished his demonstration when Hawke began to snicker. He pointed up at the rock face. And there came Fred’s pants, falling to the earth, the dummy’s plastic ass gleaming beige in the sun.
Megs shook her head. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. I hope the rest of you can keep your pants on for the duration of this exercise.”
Everyone burst into laughter.
“Hasty Team—Taylor, Hawke, Belcourt,” Ahearn called out. “You’re on.”
Austin geared up—harness, radio, hand mic, climbing shoes, harness, helmet, chalk, rack of gear. He adjusted the radio’s frequency; they’d be using a different channel today to keep their traffic off the main frequencies. Then he grabbed the bag holding forty pounds of climbing rope and set off for the rock face.
It was time to rescue poor Fred.
Again.
Lexi watched as Austin, Eric, and Chaska made their way up the rock face, moving smoothly up the vertical surface of the rock. Austin was in the lead, picking out the route they’d take to reach Fred, placing protection in the rock at short intervals. His fingers were white with chalk, his gaze turned upward. How he was able to hold on with just the tips of his toes and fingertips, she didn’t know.
She’d watched him ski in high school, attending competitions to cheer him on. Yes, it had thrilled her to see him win, and, yes, it had turned her on, too. But she’d never really thought about how much strength or skill was involved.
But watching him climb was different. She couldn’t not notice his skill, his motions strong and confident, even graceful, like an artist who worked with air and stone. Lexi couldn’t take her gaze off him.
“Breathe, girl,” Megs whispered.
Lexi hadn’t even realized she was holding her breath. “How do they hold on?”
“Join me at the rock gym one of these days, and I’ll show you.”
Lexi stared at Megs. “Me? Climb?”
“Why not? Women are a force in rock climbing. Imagine the surprise on Austin’s face if he saw you doing this.”
The very idea made Lexi laugh. “There’s no way I could ever climb that.”
Could she?
Megs laughed. “Okay, just the rock wall, then. You ought to at least learn to belay. Then you can join him when he climbs. Everyone loves a belay slave.”
“What’s a belay slave?”
“Rock!” Austin’s shout made Lexi jump.
A piece of rock fell through the air, just missing Eric’s shoulder and crashing onto the ground twenty feet away.
Okay, so Lexi understood the helmets now.
“A belay slave is someone who stays on the ground and takes care of the slack in the rope so that the climber can’t fall far. In the rock climbing world, a woman who does this for her man gets the nickname ‘Belay Betty.’”
That didn’t sound very flattering.
Austin reached Fred, treating him as if he were human. He checked for a pulse, then called via radio to let them know the victim was still alive and needed medical help.
Nearby, Ahearn was organizing other Team members for the vertical evacuation. While Lexi had been distracted watching Austin, they’d brought in rescue gear—a litter, an inflatable body cast, first aid gear, more rope.
A lot more rope.
Sasha led the Evac Team. If Austin was an artist, Sasha was a goddess, moving up the ropes Austin had set as if she were floating.
“Wow. She’s good.”
Megs nodded. “One of the best in the world.”
What followed next was a long hour during which Austin and Eric got Fred off his rope and into the body cast and the litter, while the Evac Team, together with Chaska, worked out what Megs called “the anchor problem.”
“They have to find a way to secure the ropes so that they’re capable of supporting Fred, the litter, and three rescuers with their gear.”
“That must be…” Lexi tried to guesstimate the math.
“We round it up to about fifteen-hundred pounds, just to be safe.”
Wow. Okay.
Above, Chaska and Sasha climbed around like spiders, apparently looking for a way to create the needed anchor. They had to be at least three hundred feet off the ground, so it was impossible to see exactly what they were doing.
Lexi’s cell phone buzzed. She glanced down at the screen.
Drat.
It was Kendra.
Not wanting to disturb the training, she walked back among the trees. “Hey, Kendra. How are—”
“Look, Lexi, I think it’s best if you just stay out of this. Also, I don’t appreciate being lied to—or manipulated—by anyone.”
Lexi had known that’s how Kendra would take it. “You and I haven’t spoken since the day we had lunch. I didn’t lie to anyone.”
“You told Rose your father had hired Rain, but you were the one who did that.”
Well, Kendra had her there.
“You know my dad. Do you think he would have let me hire Rain if he were dead-set against it? He would have fired her and sent her packing. He’s just being stubborn because he hates to lose an argument. He loves you, Kendra, and he wants you back. That’s why he let me do what I did.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Please have lunch with me again. You can vent. Maybe I’ll vent, too. After all, I’ve been living with him for most of a week now.”
That made Kendra laugh. “Okay, kid. Lunch Monday at that new Mexican place. Your treat.”
“I can’t make it Monday.” She was doing her ride-along with Austin that day. “But I’m free on Tuesday.”
“Okay, Tuesday. Just don’t try to tell me your dad wants me back. Quit letting him use you. If he wants me, he needs to prove it and tell me himself.”
“He’s not using me. He doesn’t even want me—”
But Kendra had ended the call.
“Well, hell.” Lexi slipped her cell phone back into her pocket, wondering whether she was wasting her time.
By the time she had rejoined Megs, Austin and Eric had poor Fred in the litter. Then everyone but the two of them, along with Sasha and Chaska, climbed down again. Chaska stayed high above the others.
“Is he staying up there in case something goes wrong?”
Megs shook her head. “He’s our brakeman. He’s going to control how fast the litter and the other climbers come down.”
Lexi found herself holding her breath again as Sasha clipped onto the head of the litter and Eric the foot, Austin standing on the litter and straddling Fred as if he were still giving medical care. Down they came, slowly and steadily, Sasha and Eric using their feet and hands to keep the litter from swinging into the rock face and jarring the victim.
When they reached the ground, Chaska let out a whoop from high above.
Cheers went up from the other members.
“Congrats, Belcourt,” Megs said into her hand mic. “Your pretty piece of metal worked. But we’re not done here, people. Stay focused!”
It took another hour to get Chaska and the ropes down and to move Fred down the steep scree slope at the base of the wall.
“Why don’t they just take the trail?”
“This is much faster,” Megs said.
When they reached the creek, Lexi got to see firsthand how a Tyrolean traverse worked. She watched as the rescuers set up the ropes and evacuated the litter safely to the other side, setting poor Fred on the ground near an imaginary ambulance.
“Time?” Megs asked.
Ahearn glanced at his watch. “Two hours and forty-two minutes.”
“Not bad.”
The remaining Team members sent the rest of the gear across the creek before following it over, their feet dangling above whitewater.
“Your turn, Lexi,” Eric called to her.
She shook her head, took a step back. “Oh, no. I can’t. I don’t have a harness.”
She was not crazy like they were. This was not her idea of a good time.
But no one was listening to her, or maybe they couldn’t hear her above the water.
Austin crossed the creek again, a spare harness strapped to his gear. “Come on. I’ll get you over.”
She took the harness, looked down at it. “I don’t even know how to use this.”
“You can do it!” Sasha shouted.
“Come on, Lexi!” That was Eric.
“Lexi! Lexi! Lexi!”
Austin tucked a finger under her chin. “Trust me.”
“If I fall in—”
“You won’t. Even if you did, you have the best rescue team in the country standing right here—and you have me.” He helped her into the harness, clipped her to the rope, then fastened what he called a “lead ” to her harness. “I’m going to cross and then pull you over. All you have to do is hang on to this safety strap and step off the edge.”
She shook her head. “Oh, God! I don’t think…”
But he was already gone, moving across the rope again. When his feet touched the ground, he looked back at her.
He shouted to her, lead rope in his hand. “Come on over!”
“Oh, God.” She squeezed her eyes shut and, barely breathing, stepped off the edge. She gave a shriek as the ground disappeared, gravity pulling her downward toward the center of the rope.
Austin’s shout reached her over the raging water. “Open your eyes!”
Holding on tightly to the safety strap, she did as he asked. He was watching her, a smile on his sweat-stained face as he pulled her across the creek.
This wasn’t scary. It was … fun.
She laughed, glanced down at the rushing water, and was almost sorry when the ride was over and her feet touched the ground.
Cheers.
“Look at her face.” That was Sasha. “She wants to do it again.”
Laughter.
“Well done, everyone. Let’s break it down and get back to town,” Megs called out. “First round of drinks tonight are on the Team.”
Chapter 11
Austin took another drink of beer, Lexi beside him, their burgers devoured. Over on the rock wall, Sasha and Nicole were coaching Winona, Belcourt’s little sister, on a 5.10 route, while the rest of them listened to Herrera brag about his four-hour climb of the Nose on El Cap.
“I’d just clipped in under the Roof when some cabrón went screaming by me in total free fall. Fucking BASE jumpers. Gave me vertigo.”
Everyone laughed, except Megs.
She shook her head. “Idiots.”
BASE jumping was illegal in Yosemite National Park, and more than one amazing climber had lost his life defying that law.
Lexi looked adorably horrified. “Why would anyone willingly jump off a cliff? What if the parachute doesn’t work? What if you hit the cliff wall on the way down?”
“It’s adrenaline addiction.” Austin resisted the urge to plant a kiss on her lips. He hoped they’d leave soon and go back to his place. Oh, how he’d love to follow up today’s vertical action with a little horizontal action.
Moretti grinned. “It’s a hell of a rush. That’s how I discovered climbing.”
“You discovered climbing by falling?” Herrera rolled his eyes. “I always knew you were loco, man.”
More laughter.
“Stay the hell away from my daughter!”
It took Austin a moment to realize the words were directed at him.
Lexi’s father stood behind him, unshaven and drunk.
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br /> Lexi whirled and jumped to her feet. “What are you doing, Dad?”
“I’m doing what you’re doing—having a drink.”
Austin could tell the old man had had far more than a single drink. He got to his feet, too. “Let’s get him home.”
Lexi took one arm, Austin the other.
“Get your hands off me!” Her father jerked away, stumbled backward, somehow managing not to fall on his ass. “Keep your hands off my girl, too. You’re screwing her again, aren’t you? She didn’t come home last night and—”
“Watch your mouth.” Austin lowered his voice and got in the old man’s face. “You can say what you want about me, but you will not talk about Lexi like that, not when I’m around.”
“Oh, well, listen to you. You’re a knight in shining armor.” Bob Jewell fixed his gaze on Lexi. “C’mon, Lexi girl. You shouldn’t be hangin’ with him. You shouldn’t waste your time with any of these losers. They let your mother die!”
That last word was shouted.
Lexi’s face went beet red, her eyes pleading. “That’s not true, Dad.”
Austin was about to remove her father from the premises just like he would any other disorderly drunk, when Rain stormed up to them.
She looked furious, snapping her fingers in the old man’s face to get his attention. “That’s it, Bob. It’s time to go. You know you can’t come in here and cause a scene. Do you want Joe to ban you from the pub?”
“They let my wife die.” His voice sounded whiny now, sad and tired.
“Let’s go home, Dad.” Lexi dropped a twenty on the table and then met Austin’s gaze. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
With Rain’s help, they maneuvered her father through the pub toward the front door, the old man alternately mumbling and shouting about his wife.
Austin wanted to go with Lexi to make sure she made it back to the inn safely, to make sure she knew none of them blamed her for what her father had said.
Eric came up beside him. “I know what you’re thinking, but let her go. You’ll only make things harder for her. You can call later, when she’s got her dad settled.”
“Who the hell was that?” Herrera asked. “And who is this Lexi woman you’re hanging with, man? She is fine.”