by Sarah Morgan
‘I’m sure it is. But what matters for now is finding them before they freeze to death out there or lose their footing. We’ve had reports of lights in two different places so we’re going to split up. If they’re up on the ridge in this weather, they’ll be in trouble.’
He gave the whole team their instructions and they set off, lights shining from their helmets as they walked.
Ellie immediately slid in beside Sally and Tom, a happy smile on her face. ‘Can’t believe you’re back, Sal.’ She gave her a quick hug and then turned to Tom and put a hand on her chest. ‘And hello to my hero.’
Tom gave a wry smile. ‘Don’t start, Ellie.’
Undaunted, Ellie looked at Sally. ‘Has he told you that he saved my life?’
‘I heard it from other sources. He didn’t tell me himself.’
Ellie’s gaze softened. ‘He’s too modest.’
‘Really?’ Sally’s tone was tart and she looked at Tom with challenge in her green eyes. ‘From where I’m standing, he seems to think he’s God’s gift.’
Ellie laughed. ‘Like that, is it?’ She stooped to give her dog a quick pat as they moved quickly up the path. ‘Well, he saved my life, and Ethan’s life, so you won’t be hearing me doing anything but sing his praises. I was driving along, minding my own business, and this tree leapt out in front of me.’
‘Women drivers,’ Tom drawled, but there was a genuine affection in his eyes as he looked at Ellie.
‘You can’t provoke me, Tom Hunter. You saved my life so now you own me.’ Ellie frowned thoughtfully. ‘Or do I own you? I can’t remember how that proverb goes, but I think one of us owns the other.’
Sally laughed. ‘I think Ben might object to either version.’
‘I don’t want to own you, Ellie,’ Tom said dryly, ‘you talk too much. I’d strangle you after five minutes. Even when we were trying to gas you before your section, your mouth was still moving.’
‘I was nervous,’ Ellie admitted happily, ‘but you made me feel better about the whole thing. You were very macho and in charge, Tom. You do the whole “lean on me” thing really well. If I’d met you before Ben, I would have had a serious crush on you.’
Sally choked back a laugh. She loved the fact that Ellie was so frank and honest about everything.
‘Ellie.’ Tom’s voice was weary. ‘Just shut up, will you? There’s a drop here, and if you don’t concentrate you’ll go over the edge.’
‘I can walk and talk,’ Ellie said firmly, and Sally smiled.
For all her lovable chatter, Ellie obviously hero-worshipped Tom.
And once so had she.
When she’d been eighteen she’d thought he was some sort of god.
She frowned slightly, walking steadily in the darkness, following Ellie and Tom. She couldn’t stop thinking of the things he’d said to her on top of their rock. Had she put too much pressure on him? He’d always been so confident and in control, it had never occurred to her that he might have doubts of any sort.
Had she been unrealistic about their relationship?
She walked in silence for a while, aware of Ellie chattering away in the background.
And then suddenly a brief flash of light caught her eye.
She stopped dead, her eyes fixed on a spot ahead of them. ‘I saw something.’
Tom turned to her. ‘Where?’
‘Higher up.’
He frowned. ‘The path is very narrow there.’
‘I saw something,’ Sally said firmly, her eyes searching the darkness for another flash of light.
Ellie spoke to Max and the dog shot off. He was wearing a high-visibility coat with bells attached and a green chemical light that glowed in the darkness.
‘He looks like an alien,’ Tom muttered, but Ellie’s attention was fixed on the dog.
He moved further away from them and for a moment all they could see was the green glow of the light.
Then he bounded back and barked at Ellie.
‘He’s found them,’ she said immediately, bending to praise the dog. ‘Better let the others know.’
The wind gusted violently and Sally staggered slightly. Instantly Tom’s hand shot out and he steadied her.
‘We should rope up here,’ he said gruffly, swinging the rucksack off his back and delving for the necessary equipment. ‘The path narrows here and it’s badly eroded. I’m not taking any chances in the dark.’
They sorted out their own safety and then Ellie led the way, following Max until they reached a figure huddled down on the path.
‘One of them. Only one of them.’ Sally dropped to her knees beside the boy. ‘Are you Lester or James?’
He was shivering too badly to speak to her and Tom immediately handed her some extra layers which she wrapped carefully round the child.
‘You’re going to be fine,’ she said soothingly, ‘and we’re going to get you down. Where’s your friend?’
The boy turned his eyes to hers and in the light from her helmet she could see that he was white and shaking. His eyes turned to the path. ‘He went over the edge …’
Sally felt a chill run through her that was nothing to do with the icy wind. ‘Over the edge? All right—well, we’ll sort him out, too. But are you Lester or James?’
‘I’m James.’ The words were little more than a whisper and they were all but swallowed by the howl of the wind. ‘And this is my fault. It’s all my fault. He came with me. And he fell.’
The boy was clearly shocked and on the edges of hypothermia himself. Sally slipped an arm around him. ‘Don’t worry, James. We’re going to find your friend. In the meantime, we need to get you down to safer ground. It’s a bit risky up here with this wind.’
She straightened and let Ellie take over while she, Sean and Tom moved to one side to plan.
‘If he’s gone over the edge here, he’s gone all the way to the bottom,’ Sean said grimly, and Sally shook her head.
‘Not necessarily. There’s a rocky outcrop halfway down. I know because I ate a sandwich there once.’
Tom raised an eyebrow. ‘Only you would picnic on a sheer face.’
‘There was a good view.’ Sally was still staring into the darkness, hoping to see something. ‘On the other hand, he might have gone straight to the bottom.’
Sean shouted over the edge and flashed his torch, but there was no response.
‘I’ve got a more powerful torch.’ Tom reached into his rucksack and retrieved another torch, which he shone down the side of the cliff. Immediately there was an answering flash. ‘You’re right. He’s there.’
Ellie had joined them.
‘We’ll need to go down to him,’ she said immediately, but Tom shook his head.
‘As your surgeon, I’m telling you that you’re not going anywhere. I don’t mind you walking a couple of months after your Caesarean but I draw the line at lowering you down a cliff on the end of a rope.’
Ellie grinned cheekily. ‘Are you doubting your sewing skills?’
‘Call me fussy but I just don’t fancy restitching your uterus halfway up a cliff face,’ Tom said dryly. ‘I’ll go.’
Sean nodded. ‘Sounds good to me. Get roped up. Ellie, you look after James. Get some fluids into him and if he’s up to it, you and Toby rope him up and bring him down lower.’
They swung into action, operating with smooth efficiency, and within minutes Tom was stepping boldly over the edge of the sheer drop.
Sally felt her heart lurch and Ellie put a hand on her arm.
‘He’ll be fine.’
Sally lifted her chin and shrugged slightly. ‘I’m not worried about him.’
‘You’re a hopeless liar, Sally Jenner,’ Ellie said softly. ‘You two are crazy about each other and always have been.’
‘I’m not crazy about him,’ Sally said hoarsely, watching as Sean skilfully masterminded the whole operation, getting people ready to act on Tom’s instructions. ‘And he ended our relationship, if you remember, so he’s hardly crazy about me eithe
r.’
‘Oh, men often get confused about what they really want,’ Ellie said airily. ‘It’s up to us women to show them as tactfully as possible. And if tact doesn’t work, just tell them straight out. It always amazes me how some men can be so clever and yet be so stupid when it comes to emotional stuff. Bless. It’s amazing the human race continues.’
Sally laughed. ‘You are priceless, Ellie MacAllister.’
‘He’s down.’ Sean lifted a hand in their direction. He listened on the radio and beckoned to Sally. ‘He needs another pair of hands and he says the ledge is narrow.’
‘I’ll go,’ Sally said immediately, standing still while Sean checked the knots in her rope.
Then she went over the edge into the darkness, feeling a sudden gust of wind threaten to take her.
Tom shone the torch so that she could see what she was doing, and she abseiled quickly but carefully down the steep face, thankful that the visibility was good.
She could see Tom resting one foot on a narrow ledge, holding onto the shivering figure of the other boy.
‘So this is Lester?’
‘Presumably.’ Tom raised his voice to be heard above the wind. ‘I can’t get him to speak or move. He just keeps shivering and clutching his side. I need to see if he’s injured, but this rock isn’t wide enough for me.’
‘But it’s wide enough for me,’ Sally said immediately, shifting her position and stepping gingerly onto the rock next to the boy.
‘Whatever you do, don’t unclip your own rope,’ Tom shouted grimly, and she looked at him.
‘Do I look stupid?’
To her surprise he grinned. ‘Actually, you look beautiful. A bit windblown maybe, but …’ He shrugged and despite the seriousness of the situation she felt her heart warm.
Then she forced her attention back to the job in hand.
And the most important task was to get a rope onto Lester so that he was safe if something happened to his precarious perch.
‘Lester, I’m Sally. I need to slip this over you so that we can get you safely attached to a rope.’
His teeth were chattering. ‘I’m going to fall again.’
‘You’re not going to fall, sweetheart,’ Sally said firmly, manoeuvring herself on the rock again so that she could slide the harness onto him. After several abortive attempts she managed it and clipped on the rope. Tom gave a nod of approval.
‘Good job.’ He spoke to Sean on the radio while Sally tried to work out how badly Lester had hurt himself.
‘The rocks must have broken your fall,’ she said. ‘How did you land? Where does it hurt?’
The boy gave a gasp. ‘My side.’
Sally nodded. ‘Anywhere else?’
The boy shook his head and Tom moved closer so that he could take a look.
‘There’s no bleeding that I can see,’ he said finally, ‘but we need to get him off this ledge before things get worse.’
Sally gave a nod of understanding. The wind was rising, the temperature was dropping and nothing could be done for the boy in such an exposed and dangerous place.
‘We can raise him or lower him,’ she said, and Tom nodded, his hand still on the radio. ‘Sean is sending down a stretcher.’
The radio crackled again and Tom spoke for a few seconds and then turned to Sally.
‘They’ve got a problem up top. Can you go back up straight away?’
She frowned. ‘Will you be all right here?’
His blue eyes mocked her. ‘Worried about me, Sally Jenner?’
She bit her lip. ‘No.’
‘You’re lying.’ Even with the wind howling she could hear the change in his tone. ‘And we’re going to talk about it later.’
Sally cursed herself for revealing too much.
Knowing that she was going to pay for it later, she got on with the job.
Back on the ledge Ellie and Sean were huddled together, arguing about something.
‘What’s happening?’ Sally unclipped her rope and walked over to them.
‘James is refusing to go down, that’s what’s happening.’ Sean ground his teeth in irritation and Ellie rolled her eyes.
‘Men. Just leave it to us girls, Sean, darling.’ She turned to Sally, her expression serious. ‘Will you talk to him? He’s really upset and muttering something about not belonging.’ She reached out and put a hand on Sally’s arm, her expression gentle. ‘I know that’s your specialist subject, Sally.’
Sally gave a rueful smile and a nod. ‘It’s nice to know that having a disastrous childhood can come in handy occasionally.’
‘Just tell the kid that we need to get him off this mountain,’ Sean said grimly, concentrating his attention on the stretcher that the other members of the team were lowering. ‘By the time Tom gets his friend up here, I want him to move. Or I’ll peel him off the ridge myself.’
Sally picked her way back along the exposed path to where the boy was still huddled, this time protected by several warm jackets.
‘Hello, James. My friend Ellie tells me you don’t want to go down.’
He gave a huge sniff. ‘What’s the point?’
‘Well, because a lot of people love you and a lot of people are very worried about you,’ she said gently, watching his face carefully. She couldn’t remember how old Sean had said he was but, whatever his age, at the moment he just looked like a very young, very vulnerable child.
Her heart twisted with sympathy. Behind her she was aware of movement and activity as the rest of the team worked to lift the injured boy clear of the rock, but all her attention was fixed on James.
‘Why would they want me?’ His voice cracked and his eyes closed. As if he didn’t want her to see what he was feeling. ‘They told me today that I was adopted. They waited fourteen years to tell me and they told me today.’
Sally heard the agony in his voice and was silent for a moment. ‘That’s pretty tough.’
‘Yeah.’ James brushed his hand across his eyes and struggled for control. ‘And it explains a lot. Why I always felt different. They wanted stuff from me that I couldn’t do. My dad is a big footballer and he’s always saying, “Why can’t you be more like me?” and things like that. Well, it’s not surprising I’m not like him, is it?’
He opened his eyes and looked at her, and Sally let out a breath, knowing that it would be so easy to say the wrong thing. To make it worse. ‘I’m no expert on parents,’ she said finally, ‘because I never knew mine at all.’
He shivered inside the oversized jacket. ‘You were adopted, too?’
She gave a wry smile, aware that Tom was now behind her. She ignored him, sensing that they weren’t going to complete this rescue until James had been allowed to talk his problem through.
‘I wasn’t that lucky.’ She couldn’t keep the wistful note out of her voice. ‘In fact, my whole childhood was spent dreaming that someone would want to adopt me. That someone would like me enough to want me to be part of their family.’
How could it still feel so raw after all these years?
Why didn’t it ever go away?
She felt Tom’s hand slide around her shoulder and hold her tightly, and for once she didn’t feel like pushing him away.
James was staring at her. ‘You really wanted to be adopted?’
‘Oh, yes. I really did.’ She gave a wan smile. ‘People who adopt children really, really want them.’
James sat in silence, a frown on his face. ‘But no one adopted you?’
She shook her head. ‘No.’ She kept her tone light. ‘No one wanted me that badly.’
She thought she heard Tom swear softly behind her but she didn’t turn. All her attention was still focused on James.
‘So, if you weren’t adopted, who looked after you? Where did you live?’
She gave a casual shrug that belied the pain of her childhood. ‘With anyone who would have me. I was moved from foster-home to foster-home and spent some time in a children’s home. It was pretty grim. But I had good friends.’<
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‘Didn’t you ever wonder about your real mum?’
She nodded. ‘Of course. Who wouldn’t? But adoption seemed so special to me. It meant that someone had chosen you.’ She gave a wobbly smile. ‘I mean, that’s pretty amazing, don’t you think? A couple decide that you’re what they want, more than anything in the world.’
James was silent. ‘But my real mother gave me away.’
Sally nodded. ‘Maybe. Or maybe your real mother is the woman who fed you and changed you when you were a baby, who picked you up when you fell over and who now nags you to do your homework. Sounds to me as though she loves you very much.’
‘She should have told me before.’
Sally gave a wan smile. ‘Yes, she probably should. But I don’t suppose there’s ever a good time and nobody is perfect. Haven’t you ever done something and then wished you’d done it differently?’
James thought and then nodded. ‘I suppose so.’
‘I know I have.’ Aware that the temperature was falling, Sally reached for the boy’s hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘I know you’re upset and you’ve certainly got plenty that you need to talk about with your mum and dad, but you can’t do that up here.’
‘They’re going to be mad with me.’
‘And that shows that they care,’ Sally said quietly, still holding his hand. ‘They’re mad with you because they’re worried, and they’re worried because they love you. And I know you love them, too. And now we need to get you off this mountain. Lester’s hurt himself, James. He’s been a good friend to you and now you need to be a good friend to him. You need to come with me so that we can get you safely home and get Lester to the hospital.’
James stared at her. ‘He isn’t dead?’
‘No, sweetheart,’ Sally leaned forward and gave him a hug. ‘He isn’t dead. But we need to get him down.’
James closed his eyes and gave a choked sob. ‘I thought I’d killed him. He came up here because I needed a friend.’
Sally nodded and released him. ‘And what a great friend he is. I’d say you’re a pretty lucky boy. People choose who they’re friends with, and he chose you.’
James brushed the tears from his eyes and tried to stare along the path. ‘So what happens now?’