Going Gone

by Sharon Sala

  “Then off we go,” he said.

  They put on the helmets as they moved toward the parked snowmobiles, and one by one, the searchers took off, moving toward the new grid pattern. Once the official search began, Reno Brown’s affable manner disappeared. He was all business as he wove through the thick growth of trees with steady skill.

  Their arctic gear was welcome protection against the high-altitude cold, but it also made Cameron conscious of what the passengers in the downed plane would be enduring. He kept his gaze focused on the trees, looking for signs of broken treetops or a snow-covered shape that did not fit in to the surroundings.

  The noise of so many engines startled an elk, and it bolted out of hiding and across a small meadow. Cameron watched it bound through the snow then disappear back into the forest.

  The sun was bright, which made looking at the vast expanse of snow painful. The dark glasses they were wearing helped deflect the glare, but within a couple of hours he had a dull ache behind his eyes anyway.

  The radios in their helmets made communication easier, but it was sparse and depressing. When they finished the search of their first grid, the crew stopped long enough to put new coordinates into their mobile GPS systems and discuss the situation.

  As the day rolled on, Cameron’s hopes began to fade. When he figured out that getting a signal for a cell phone up here was next to impossible, it alleviated one fear he’d had: that the reason no one had called for help was because they were all dead.

  They stopped just after three to refuel. Reno was eating an energy bar and Cameron was relieving his thirst when they received word from air search of a possible crash site a couple of miles north of their present location.

  The urgency of the situation had just risen.

  Reno thumped him on the shoulder as he headed for their ride.

  “Let’s go get this done,” he said.

  Moments later, the snowmobiles and their riders were speeding off in a new direction, desperate to reach the target location before dark.

  * * *

  Laura was alive between one world and the next, waiting to see who came for her first. Once she saw her mother standing beneath a snow-covered tree, but when she suddenly disappeared, Laura felt abandoned. Then she saw Dan and Marcy in the distance and called out, wanting them to wait, but they were too far away and didn’t hear her. She didn’t understand why everyone was leaving her behind. She was cold and hurt. Why wouldn’t they help? Why wouldn’t they take her with them?

  Twice she thought she heard voices and pushed the covers aside each time, crying out in relief.

  “Here! I’m here!”

  But no one came to help, and the wolves were back. She could hear them digging and yipping, trying to get in.

  “Go away,” she mumbled, and then started to cry. “Cameron, please find me. Why can’t you find me?”

  A wolf howled.

  She pulled the coats back up over her head as her fever pulled her under.

  * * *

  The vista spread out before them as Reno topped a small rise. From this angle Cameron could see the downward slope of the land, as well as a startling anomaly. Despite the snowfall, there was a very visible and distinct path of broken treetops below.

  He thumped Reno on the shoulder and pointed.

  “There! Look there!”

  Reno nodded, then swung the snowmobile to the left and accelerated, using the radio in his helmet to alert the others to their find.

  Cameron’s heart was hammering.

  We’re coming, Laura. We’re coming, baby. Don’t give up on us yet.

  When they began to see debris, Cameron felt sick. The worse the destruction had been to the plane, the less protection they would have had from the elements. There was a piece of a wingtip caught in a large stand of pines, and an entire wing lay on the ground a few yards farther on. Despite the snow, the heavy tree growth had partially protected it, leaving most of it visible, but they still hadn’t found the plane.

  Cameron’s heart was pounding as Reno began confirming their find. All of a sudden the radio traffic that had been almost nonexistent was loud and rapid in his ears.

  When they came up on the main crash site and saw the plane, the sound of their engine sent a pack of wolves running.

  Cameron groaned. As if the crash itself wasn’t enough to weather.

  Between the wind and the wolves, enough snow had been dug or blown away from the fuselage for him to see that it was intact.

  Reno wheeled the snowmobile into a vacant space between some trees and killed the engine. He was on the radio, alerting headquarters that they’d found the wreckage, but Cameron had abandoned his helmet and was already off and running.

  The doors were half-buried in snow, and no matter how hard he pulled, he couldn’t get them open. He began circling the plane, and as he rounded the nose and saw the dead pilot through the shattered windshield, his legs went weak.

  Reno ran up behind him with a crowbar in his hands.

  “The doors are jammed,” Cameron said, then crawled up on the nose section of the plane. “Throw me the crowbar!”

  Reno gave it a toss.

  Cameron caught it in midair and then used it to hammer at the shattered windshield until it gave way, exploding inward into thousands of tiny pellet-like pieces.

  Reno saw the pilot as he crawled up beside him.

  “Oh, hell,” he said softly.

  Cameron handed off the crowbar and then climbed inside, but when he tried to open the door to get into the cabin, it wouldn’t budge.

  “What’s wrong?” Reno said as he climbed inside with him, the crowbar still in his hand.

  “Something’s up against the door,” Cameron said. “Probably debris.”

  “Here, let me help,” Reno said, and together they threw their weight against it until it began to give.

  That was when they realized it wasn’t debris blocking the door. It was bodies. Cameron saw a man’s leg and shoe first and kept pushing, but as the door opened farther and he saw a woman’s ankle and shoe, his heart sank.

  God, please, God, no.

  One more push and all of a sudden they were in.

  Once Cameron stepped over the bodies and into the main cabin, he went weak with relief when he realized the deceased woman was a brunette. Laura was blonde.

  Reno felt for a pulse, then shook his head. “They’re both gone. Is this your girl?”

  “No,” Cameron said, and then looked through the debris toward the back of the plane. “Someone has cleared a path through here.”

  The sound of approaching snowmobiles became apparent.

  “The others are arriving. I’m going to try to open a door from the inside,” Reno said, and took the crowbar toward an exit door as Cameron began wending his way toward the tail section.

  It wasn’t far. There weren’t that many seats in the private jet. He should have been able to see her, but he couldn’t.

  “Laura, where are you?” he yelled, and began turning over boxes and suitcases as he went.

  It took him a few moments to realize that all the suitcases were empty, but there weren’t any pieces of clothing strewn about, and that was when it hit him. Someone had emptied the contents to stay warm, which had to mean Laura had survived the crash! When he saw the big pile of clothes, he leaped toward it, frantically calling her name.

  * * *

  Laura was standing in a sunlit meadow, waiting. All she knew was that someone was coming to get her and she had to be ready. The breeze was warm on her face. The air smelled rain-fresh clean, and when someone began calling her name, she stepped forward. He was here! She didn’t know where they were going, but she was ready to leave.

  The voice was nearer. Laura. Laura.

  “I’m here!” she cri
ed, and then all of a sudden the sun went behind a cloud and the wind grew cold. She cried out, “Help me!” and then felt a touch on her face, then at her neck. “I’m ready,” she said, and let go.

  * * *

  “Is that your girl?” Reno asked, as Cameron was feeling for broken bones.

  “Yes, this is my girl, and she’s alive,” Cameron said, unashamed of the tears on his face.

  Suddenly the plane was filled with searchers.

  “Radio for a medevac! We have a live one!” Reno shouted while Cameron continued to assess her injuries.

  She was burning up with fever, which meant infection and possibly internal injuries. He found the first-aid kit beside her, and when he began examining her body, discovered the ACE bandages she’d wrapped around her rib cage, the gash in her head and the wound on her leg. She’d tried to doctor herself, but it was obvious she was in dire need of more extensive care.

  “A chopper’s already in the area. They’ll be here within minutes,” Reno said as he dropped to his knees beside Cameron. “Looks like she was trying to patch herself up.”

  “She works for the Red Cross,” Cameron said, remembering all the times he’d seen her working tirelessly, helping others in times of disaster. This time she was the one in need.

  Reno eyed the nest she’d made of all the clothes, and the little food and water stash beside her.

  “Looks like she’s quite a survivor,” he said.

  Laura moaned.

  Cameron cupped her cheek. His voice was steady, but his hands were trembling.

  “Help is coming, baby. Hang on.”

  Her lips were cracked and bleeding from the cold, and her long blond hair was bloody and matted, but she’d never looked as beautiful to him as she did right now.

  “Help?”

  When he heard her voice, he reached for her hand. “Yes, Laura, help is here, baby. We found you.”

  Her eyelids began to flutter, and then she opened her eyes.

  “Cameron?”

  “Yes, honey, it’s me.”

  A frown rippled across her forehead.

  “Are you real?”

  He gave her hand a slight squeeze.

  “I’m real, and we’re here to take you home.”

  Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.

  “They’re dead. They left without me.”

  He leaned down and kissed the side of her cheek, so overcome with emotion his voice was shaking.

  “I’m really glad you waited for me to find you.”

  She blinked so slowly that he thought she was passing out again, and then all of a sudden her eyelids flew open.

  “The wolves...have to hide.”

  “No, baby, they’re gone,” Cameron said.

  She clutched his arm in sudden panic. “No. They dig. They’ll find me.”

  Cameron looked over his shoulder, then shouted at Reno, “Where’s that chopper?”

  “On approach,” Reno said.

  Cameron cupped Laura’s cheek. “The medics are here. They’re going to take you to the hospital.”

  A visible surge of panic swept through her as she clutched his sleeve tighter.

  “Might die. Need to tell you—”

  Cameron’s stomach rolled. “You are not going to die, do you hear me, Laura?”

  “—to tell you I love you.”

  He swallowed past the lump in his throat, then leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I love you most.”

  The familiar words brought tears, and then her eyes rolled back in her head.

  “They’re here!” Reno called, eyeing a pair of medics as they came through the trees carrying a backboard and a stretcher.

  Cameron patted her arm and then began looking through the stuff she’d gathered around her. He saw her purse and put it beside her so the medics would take it. Laura knew her job well and always traveled with a copy of her medical history and prescriptions. When he moved it, he saw four cell phones lying beneath it and groaned, imagining her panic and frustration at having so much technology in her hand and none of it working. He tossed her cell phone in her purse and left the others behind.

  Then all at once the medical team was there. He moved aside, watching as they stabilized her neck, started an IV to push fluids and then rolled her onto the backboard, taking precautions even though it was obvious she had been mobile. After Cameron’s insistence and a brief explanation, they strapped her purse on with her.

  “Where are you taking her?” Cameron asked as they headed out the door.

  “University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora,” an EMT said.

  Cameron followed them out. Unwilling to let her go, he helped carry her through the snow to the open meadow where the chopper had landed. He wanted to go with her, but once he saw how small the chopper was, he didn’t even ask.

  She was still unconscious when they strapped the stretcher down inside the chopper. As they began lifting off, the air filled with wasplike shards of icy snow. Cameron turned away to protect his eyes, and when he looked back again, they had gained enough altitude that they were already heading back.

  He watched until the chopper was little more than a speck, and then ran to catch up with the others. The search teams were in the process of leaving. The bodies and the wreckage belonged to another kind of team. Armed guards were standing by until the authorities came to remove the bodies. Then the NTSB would show up to recover the plane.

  He looked around for Reno, saw him standing near their snowmobile and moved as fast as he could to get there. “Are you getting ready to leave?” he asked.

  “Yeah. We need to hurry. Night’s coming, and we don’t want to be out here on snowmobiles after dark.”

  “When we get back to camp, will anyone be going back down the mountain?”

  Reno shrugged. “They may wait until morning to break camp, but we can ask.”

  One thing at a time, Cameron thought, and climbed on.

  Three

  It was after dark when Cameron caught a ride with a van load of searchers on their way back to Denver. The ride down from the mountain staging area was even more treacherous at night, but about halfway down he got a cell signal and was finally able to send Sarah a text. Ever conscious of losing the signal, he kept details brief.

  Laura alive. En route to University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora.

  Her answer to him was just as abbreviated.

  On my way. Between planes at airport. Thank you forever for giving Laura back to me.

  He wouldn’t begin to take credit, but he understood what she meant.

  When they finally saw the lights of Denver in the distance, everyone breathed a little easier. By the time the van reached the community center where the initial search and rescue had been set up, it was almost eight o’clock.

  Cameron unloaded his gear with the others and headed into the community center to change back into street clothes and get the rest of his belongings.

  He came out a short while later, his stride long and hurried as he crossed the parking lot. It felt like snow, but so far the overcast sky was holding whatever it carried. He tossed his bags in the trunk of his rental, entered the hospital address into the car’s GPS and took off through the city.

  His belly growled as he pulled up at a stoplight, a reminder that he hadn’t eaten since the sweet roll this morning. After all that had happened today, that felt like a lifetime ago.

  When the light turned green he accelerated through the intersection, then swung into the first fast-food drive-through he came to and ordered. He ate as he drove, washing his meal down with a cold Pepsi and wishing he’d asked for coffee instead. But he had to admit it was a smart move, because he felt less shaky, which was good. And once he got there, he wasn’t leaving Laura’s side.
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br />   Still, the closer he got to the hospital, the more anxious he became. By the time he pulled into the parking lot, a sense of finality was setting in. He’d done all he could have done by helping find her, and whatever was happening now was out of his hands. He had to trust she hadn’t survived all that horror for nothing.

  As he headed toward the entrance, he felt a raindrop, then another, but before he got into the building it had turned into snow. He lengthened his stride.

  Learning she was in Intensive Care wasn’t surprising, but it amped up his concern. Visiting hours in ICU were on the hour, every hour, and brief. He glanced at his watch and headed for the elevator. It was almost nine.

  * * *

  Laura moaned as pain pulled her out of her semiconscious state. Something was beeping. The plane! The alarm! The plane was going down.

  I don’t want to die.

  Tears rolled out from beneath her eyelids as she waited for impact. Instead, she heard the muffled sound of soft voices, a faint cry of pain and then a woman’s soft, reassuring voice. But it wasn’t until she homed in on the sharp click of footsteps coming toward her that she tried to open her eyes, because she recognized the stride.

  Cameron.

  Something brushed against the side of her cheek, followed by the warmth of a breath and the sweet sound of a familiar voice near her ear.

  “Hey, baby,” Cameron said softly, and leaned over the bed just long enough to kiss her forehead and slip his hand in hers.

  It is Cameron! He found me.

  “You’re in a hospital, honey. Your plane crashed. Do you remember?”

  Images flashed behind her eyelids. The pilot’s face obliterated. Marcy’s eyes frozen open in death. Dragging Dan’s body across the door to keep it closed. Her fingers curled around his hand, his presence anchoring her to reality. “They died.” The tone of her voice reflected her horror. His grip tightened.

  “I know,” he said softly.

  Panic shifted within her. It was hard to accept she’d been saved.

  “I prayed for you to find me,” she whispered, then licked her lower lip where it had cracked from the cold.