Again, Hakim translated for Nasir.
The big man looked as if he might argue but pursed his lips, resigned to the fact that the decision had been made. Shelby wondered if under his bulky, tough exterior, Nasir was a little bit of a scaredy-cat.
“I’ll go first,” Roy continued, “And then you guys follow one at a time. When I get to the other side, I’ll wave to let you know it’s your turn. No yelling across the bowl.”He pulled on his helmet and rode along the track around the inside of the bowl.
Xan strode over and stood between Hakim and Shelby. “Nervous?” he teased her, turning his back to Hakim.
“Nope.” Shelby walked to her snowmobile.
Roy broke out of the mountain’s shade into the bright sun on the other side and signaled.
“Looks like I’m up.” Xan jumped on his machine, revved the engine, and flew off in a spray of powder.
The three of them watched silently as he crossed.
Roy waved his arm over his head to indicate it was Shelby’s turn.
She crammed her helmet on her head, twisted so she could flash a smile at Hakim, and then she started across. The path was about halfway up the mountain. It followed the most level part of the slope, but was by no means flat. Shelby loved flying across the snow with an endless expanse of white around her.
Just as she neared the line of shadow, she heard a loud CRACK resound across the small valley, followed by a deafening roar. In an instant, a wall of snow hurled down the mountain toward her. She had no time to brace herself or even to scream before the tidal wave slammed into her.
Instinctively, she pushed away from her snowmobile, praying it wouldn’t crush her. Shelby’s heart pounded, and she thrashed her arms and legs, fighting against the force of the snow as the force tossed her like a ragdoll. The violent impact ripped off her helmet and propelled her end over end. Black. White. Black. White. The avalanche tossed her in every direction at once, and her body writhed as she strained to regain control of her movements.
Shelby was completely disoriented, but after only a few seconds, her panic eased, and she remembered her emergency training. She tried to “swim” on top of the churning snow by going with the flow, instead of fighting against it. Wave after wave pounded her body from every direction. Snow packed into her ears, her nose and mouth, and even under her eyelids. When she opened her mouth to breathe, she choked, spitting out a cold snow plug. The stampede of the mountain pummeling over her was deafening as she was buffeted to and fro and her limbs yanked in all directions.
Something smashed into her head, causing sudden sharp pain to jolt through her. More pain exploded in her ankle. Exhaustion replaced adrenaline. Unable to fight the sheer force of the snow as it dragged her downward, Shelby put her hands over her face for protection and allowed herself to be swept in the current.
As suddenly as it began, the momentum plunging her down the hill stopped. More terrifying than the thundering roar was the abrupt silence that followed. In the darkness, the weight of the snow was crushing. It packed around her, freezing her body into an uncomfortable position. Shelby squirmed, trying to move in the small space. She fought against her fear to keep herself from falling to pieces. Luckily, her right arm was near her face. Pushing back the panic and ignoring the pain in her head, she used the last of her strength to punch the snow away from her mouth and nose, forming an air pocket before the snow hardened into concrete.
Shelby knew her air supply wouldn’t last long, so she tried to breathe evenly, taking shallow breaths. Dark fear, unlike anything she had ever experienced gripped her heart. She knew moving was useless, but the terror thrusting through her veins screamed to do just that.
Her heart beat with such force against her ribs that it hurt. The pain in her head and ankle became more intense—throbbing fire that she could not ease by shifting her position. Am I bleeding…? Were her friends safe? Was Hakim? If only…Would he have…But her thoughts became muddled, and she gave in to the welcome relief of sleep.
Chapter Four
Hakim watched Shelby ride across the bowl. A warm bubble grew in his chest when he thought of their snowball fight and her playful smile when she’d teased him. She hadn’t responded when he told her he wished they could spend more time together. Does she feel the same? Right now, he would do nearly anything to postpone his trip to Kentucky. However, he had promised his father. With the problems in his kingdom, Hakim wasn’t sure how long he could stay away.
A thunderous crack shattered the silence, jolting him from his thoughts. His first impulse was to duck and protect his ears. The snow in the bowl split apart, breaking into chunks like jagged bits of pottery, then slid in a jumble down the mountain. The ground shook as giant clouds of snow billowed toward him.
Nasir immediately yanked Hakim off of his machine and shielded him behind a tree. The force of the avalanche pushed at their bodies, but Nasir anchored them both in place. The mountain shook and roared.
Hakim clung to the tree as the cold bursts of snow surged over them in a blinding cloud. The rumbling subsided with a quiet that left a ringing in his ears. A moment later, he could see again as the mountain resettled. He tried to discern how much snow had covered them. Their position on the rim had protected them from the majority of the danger. After a moment, they burrowed out from the thick snow drifts.
Hakim and Nasir brushed off the snow and waved across the bowl to Roy and Xan, assuring the other men of their safety. Through the years, he had visited and skied mountains on nearly every continent, but this was the first avalanche he’d experienced. He processed the situation in a daze, before a terrifying realization seized him. Shelby! Would they find her? Was she alive? Sickening panic welled up, churning his stomach as he scanned the altered terrain for any sign of Shelby or her snowmobile. Yelling her name, Hakim charged toward the bowl.
Nasir laid a strong hand on his arm, and held tight. “It will not help Miss Walker if we do not follow procedure,” he said in his calm voice. He carried the emergency kit from the snowmobile. Piece by piece, he unpacked the bag and handed Hakim a shovel and a folded aluminum probe.
Hakim knew the ability to remain composed in an emergency was what made Nasir such a valuable soldier. As he observed Nasir’s efficient movements, Hakim’s panic decreased until he cleared his mind and focused on the job of finding Shelby.
Both men checked their transceivers, setting them to Receive, and pushed through the snow toward Roy and Xan.
Roy called for help on his satellite phone.
Pale faced, Xan pointed with a shaky hand toward the last place he had seen Shelby.
“That’s where we’ll start,” Roy said. “She should hopefully be straight down from here.”
The four men spread out, rushing down the mountain to where the snowpack was thicker.
As the seconds slipped away, desperation surfaced. Hakim stared at the digital display on his receiver as he traveled down the hill. Could the snow have carried her this far? How long did they have? What would they do if they couldn’t find her? Or if they found her, but discovered her too late? He shook his head to purge the negative thoughts.
After what seemed like an eternity, Roy yelled that he had a signal. The men ran to the area, unfolded their aluminum probes and jabbed them into the hillside.
“Here!” Xan unfolded his shovel and attacked the snow.
They joined him, and soon flying clumps of white surrounded the group. Before long, the snow began turning pink and then red as the hole got deeper and they got closer to Shelby.
The sick feeling of panic returned as Hakim tried to estimate the amount of blood she had lost.
Roy shook his satellite phone. “Reception’s not great down here. I’ll head up farther and update search and rescue.”
Xan wrenched one of Shelby’s frozen gloves out of the rock-hard snow. Almost a foot deeper, he unearthed her left hand.
Hakim’s relief mixed with stomach-twisting dread at what condition they would find Shelby in. He wond
ered how long she had been buried. It had felt like hours. Can anyone survive under the snow for so long?
Shelby’s hand was dark red—nearly purple. Snow packed into the sleeve of her parka.
Hakim pulled off his own gloves, the coldness of the snow shocked him and numbed the tips of his fingers as he worked to dig as much out of her sleeve as he could. He remembered hearing the danger of an avalanche was not only broken bones or suffocation, but even more, hypothermia.
Nasir and Xan continued to use their shovels—more gently, to pry up the hardened snow.
Finally, Nasir uncovered Shelby’s face, revealing a deep gash in her forehead.
Hakim winced.
Shelby lay on her side, trapped by the snow in an awkward position.
“Dig,” Nasir instructed the other men.
Xan moved toward Shelby’s head.
Hakim grabbed the sleeve of his parka, stopping him. “Nasir is trained.” He lifted his chin toward his bodyguard. “He will know how to help her.”
Xan conceded with a shake of his head and continued lifting the chunks of snow off Shelby’s body.
Nasir pressed his fingers against a pulse point in Shelby’s neck. Bending close to her face, he listened for her breathing. Worry clouded his face and replaced Nasir’s typical calm expression. He tipped her head back and breathed into her mouth. Periodically, he stopped and inclined his head to check for a response.
As he watched, Hakim felt his throat tighten and his breathing speed up. He was helpless to do anything.
Shelby coughed.
The tension around Nasir’s eyes relaxed. He reached for the first aid kit, and then examined the wound on her head.
With slow blinks, Shelby opened her eyes and looked around. The men had moved as much snow as they could in order to lay her flat on her back.
“Nasir,” she whispered through chattering teeth, “I’m so cold.”
Using a hand under her neck, Nasir elevated her head and, with gauze, applied pressure to the wound on her forehead. In their shared language, he spoke to Hakim.
“Nasir said it is good for you to feel cold,” Hakim translated Nasir’s words in a low voice. “If you stop shivering, your body has dropped into severe hypothermia.” He scooped more snow out of her hood and from under her chin, observing her reactions with tensed muscles.
Hakim and Nasir both took off their parkas, wrapping them around Shelby’s upper body. Needing to touch her, Hakim kneaded her hands and rubbed her arms.
Xan continued to lift the hardened snow off of Shelby’s still-buried legs. He reached under her right leg, and started to lift it.
Shelby gasped, and what little color she had drained from her pale face, turning her a startling ghostly white. “My foot hurts,” she whimpered.
As he removed his hand, Xan frowned, creasing his forehead.
Following Nasir’s instructions, Hakim moved to kneel behind Shelby and held the gauze on her injured forehead. He spoke words he hoped sounded comforting, trying to distract her from the cold and pain. “Do not be afraid. Everything will be all right.”
Xan and Nasir carefully raised her leg, slipping off her boot.
Nasir peeled away her dark red sock, revealing her misshapen and swollen ankle. A jagged bone poked through a tear in her skin.
Xan gasped.
At the sight, Hakim’s stomach rolled over. He turned away, taking deep breaths to keep from becoming ill.
“Search and Rescue’s on the way. There’s nowhere to land a helicopter here in the bowl, so they’ll be another twenty minutes or so.” Roy panted as he returned.
Nasir and Xan set Shelby’s leg back into the snow. Nasir packed snow around her ankle to stabilize it and ease the swelling. He checked Shelby’s pulse and breathing again, murmuring to Hakim.
“Nasir says Shelby is going into shock,” Hakim translated for the other men. “Her pulse is weak, and she has lost much blood. We must keep her head elevated, her leg still, and maintain her body temperature until help arrives.”
What was in reality twenty minutes seemed to Hakim like hours.
Xan’s frustration at Nasir taking over Shelby’s care was nearly tangible. He glared back and forth between Nasir and Hakim as he held Shelby’s hand.
Roy stood a bit away from the group as he continued to give instructions into the phone.
Hakim watched, unable to help as Shelby’s skin paled further, and she became disoriented and less responsive.
She repeated her requests for water, but Nasir insisted it would cause her to vomit. The most important thing was to keep her warm and control the bleeding.
The adrenaline that had fueled Hakim’s rush to save Shelby ebbed and exhaustion took its place. The silence between the men grew, and he supposed the others must feel the hopelessness of their despairing thoughts as heavily as he did.
The purr of snowmobiles sounded, and soon after, the Search and Rescue team came through the trees.
Two EMTs parked and hopped off their machines.
A technician knelt in the snow and inspected Shelby’s injuries. He held her hand and leaned close to look at her eyes. “What’s your name?” he asked. “Can you tell me your name?”
Shelby was unresponsive.
The technician looked at Hakim who still pressed the gauze to her forehead. “How long has she been like this?”
“Perhaps twenty minutes. She was speaking when we uncovered her, but has become increasingly confused and exhausted. Her name is Shelby.” Hakim heard the despair in his own voice.
“Shelby, can you hear me?” The technician patted her cheek. “How long was she buried?”
“Around twenty to twenty-five minutes,” Xan answered.
“The survival rate decreases significantly the longer a person is buried,” the EMT told them, checking Shelby’s eyes and pulse. “Someone uncovered within fifteen minutes has a ninety-two percent survival rate, but after thirty-five minutes, that rate drops to thirty percent.”
Anguish twisted in Hakim’s chest like a snake. It devastated him to see someone so full of life a half hour ago lying limp and pale in the snow. Especially when that someone was Shelby.
“She’s in shock,” the EMT told his partner, who unloaded their equipment. “We need to get her off the mountain, now.”
The technicians used an inflatable splint to stabilize Shelby’s leg, as they lifted her onto a toboggan attached behind one of the vehicles. They wrapped her in blankets, stretching straps across her body to hold her onto the sled.
“She’s real lucky.” The technician threaded an IV into her arm. “Most of the avalanche rescues I’ve been on have turned into recoveries.”
“Are you giving her something for pain?” Hakim asked.
“Not with her head injury. We’ll leave that up to the doctor. Just fluids for now. She’s pretty dehydrated from loss of blood. You did the right thing by not giving her anything to drink. The digestive system is one of the first things to shut down as the body goes into shock. She would have been sick.”
“Where are you guys taking her?” Xan asked.
“We’re meeting the ambulance on the canyon road about two miles west. Follow us, and we’ll find out what hospital they’re going to.”
With little effort, Xan and Roy plodded across the transformed bowl, retrieved their machines, and met Hakim and Nasir on the trail.
The trip out to the road was somber.
The rescue team rode through the trees, taking the smoothest route, followed by the four men. When they reached the ambulance, the technicians loaded Shelby inside and packed hot water bottles around her body.
Xan spoke to the driver and returned to tell the others they were taking her to Wilcox General.
Hakim rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. His chest was heavy as he watched the doors close, and the ambulance pull away.
****
Pushing through a fog of confusion, Shelby struggled to open her eyes. Where was she? What was that beeping sound?
Xan’s face came into focus. Suddenly, everything came rushing back—the darkness, the roaring of the mountain, the horror of being trapped under the snow. She tried to sit up, but the pain in her head made her stomach roll over.
“It’s okay, Shel. Just relax.”
She was grateful Xan kept his voice low, because her head felt like it would burst. “Xan,” she managed to whisper. “The room is spinning.”
“Close your eyes. I’m right here.” He lifted her hand.
She squeezed his fingers gratefully and started to slip back into the fog until Xan spoke again.
“Just worried sick about you.” He kept his voice low. “You’ve been in surgery for a while. I called your dad. He’ll be here in a few hours.”
Knowing her dad was coming eased some of her anxiety. “Thanks, Xan,” she whispered as she drifted back to sleep.
****
“It’s all right, I’m just checking your vitals,” a stranger’s voice said as Shelby opened her eyes.
A large African-American woman stood over her, viewing the dial of the blood pressure cuff around Shelby’s arm. “Still pretty low, hon.” She pulled out the ear buds and wrapped her stethoscope around her neck, then noted something on a chart. “My name’s Linda. You’re in post-op recovery. Can I get you anything? Water?”
Shelby smiled at Linda’s rubber ducky-decorated scrubs. “No, thanks. I’m okay.” She looked around, but the effort caused the room to spin again. Instead, she focused on the ceiling tiles.
“How’s your pain level?”
“Not too bad,” Shelby lied. She did not want any more medicine muddling her thoughts until she knew what was happening.
“You’ve got a morphine drip here. Anytime your pain gets too strong, just push on this button for another dose. The beep means it’s working.” Linda bustled around the room as she talked. “You can’t do it more than once every six minutes, but it will help. I’ll wrap the button around the arm rail so you can find it. Anything else I can do?”
“Could you turn off the lights?”
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