Page 110 of One Last Shot

Axel stepped around him, and in a moment, “Yes. She’s breathing. Unconscious, though. Maybe hypothermic.”

“Or shock. She’s got a broken leg.”

“The walkies aren’t working in the storm. Can you carry her up to the lodge? Or do you want me to take her?” Axel said, all joking gone.

“I’m afraid of jostling her. I can make it. But you need to send someone to get Boo. She’s hurt.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s... back there. In a ravine. I think she broke her knee.”

“All right. Let’s get to the lodge and you can show us where. Besides, you need to get out of the elements, pronto.”

He wanted to argue, but yes, he might need a cup of something hot. And a map.Wait. “What about her PLB? You could find her with that, right?”

Axel looked at him. “Right. We were following it—but...” He stepped behind Oaken. In a moment, he came back around, holding the device. It looked like a small walkie-talkie. “Unfortunately, I think this is it.”

Oaken stared at the device. Wanted to say a word.

“Let’s get you back to the lodge, and then we’ll figure out how to get Boo. You left her with food and water,right?”

“And a fire.”

Axel nodded. “Boo’s scrappy?—”

“Boo’s hurt!”

“Calm down, Oaken. First rule of rescue—don’t panic.”

Oaken blew out a breath, but he’d left panic behind long, long ago. “Let’s go.”

Axel walked ahead of him, pushing away brush, watching to grab his harness should he slip. But something fueled Oaken—maybe the heat of rescue, of lives saved.

“I believe you.”

He crossed the bridge, then hiked up the other side of the river, and by the time he reached the icy path up to the hot spring, Moose and Shep met him with a litter.

Hannah didn’t rouse even as they eased her onto it, wrapped a blanket around her, and strapped her in.

He and Axel took one end of the litter and led the way with Shep and Moose holding her level as they ascended.

The sky seemed even darker by the time he arrived at the lodge. Ski patrol from the lodge met them on snow mobiles at the top of the trail and strapped her into a sled.

Oaken got on behind one of the patrol, as did the rest of the team, and they headed to the resort’s emergency services area.

“Are you okay?” London said as he walked into the EMS area.

The heat hit his face, his body, and suddenly, his legs wanted to give out. He sat on a nearby chair and cast a look at Hannah. “I will be, if she survives.”

“Her blood pressure is low, but we’ll get her warmed up and in an ambulance for the Copper Mountain hospital. It’s too dangerous to drive to Anchorage?—”

“And the winds are too high for a chopper,” Moose said. He had taken off his face mask, retrieving a cup of coffee for Oaken. “What happened? We tried to contact you—I couldn’t go back out after we brought Ruthie and Caroline back.”

“We figured that. We followed a ski trail andthen heard Hannah calling us. She’d fallen into a ravine. Boo went down to get her, and she fell too.” He took a sip of the coffee. “I think she broke her kneecap. It’s bad—she can’t walk.” He handed the coffee back to Moose. “We need to get back out there.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Moose said. “You need to warm up and get some fluids in you.”

Oaken stared at him. “I promised her I’d go back.”