Page 67 of One Last Shot
“That could get people real hurt.” The words came from Oaken. He thought.
Boo turned and looked at him.
Yep, he’d said that and now picked up a napkin to wipe the ketchup from his cheek, staring at Huxley. “Thefact is, I’m not a rescue tech. Yeah, I figured out how to get the basket down safely, but that’s the furthest extent of my skills. You want a real rescue story—you should follow the real heroes.”
Huxley looked at Boo. “What do you think of that?”
“I think you leave her out of it,” Oaken said. He pushed Boo a little, and she scooted out of the booth. Yeah, she was pretty soaked.
He pulled out his wallet, found a couple twenties, and put them on the table. Turned to Huxley. “One more week of footage. If you get a real rescue in by then, great. If not, my contract is done—and we’re done. But you should know, I’m not risking anyone’s life. And I’m happy to get on camera to tell that to the world. C’mon, Boo.”
He grabbed her hand then, just to make sure she followed him, and led them out of the Tenderfoot, into the cool air. It had started to drizzle, the temperatures frigid.
He walked them to his car.
“That was epic,” she said.
He glanced at her. “The ketchup?”
She smiled. “Yeah. The ketchup.”
He unlocked his car and slid inside. She got in the passenger side. Stayed quiet as he pulled out onto the highway, back toward the Tooth. Ahead, the Eagle River ran under the bridge, glinting black under the lethal drizzle. He drove under the speed limit.
A van passed him, too fast in his opinion. But maybe he just wanted to figure out what had happened back there before they got back.
How, again, he’d screwed up. “You okay?” he finally asked.
“You meant it.”
He looked at her. “Meant what?”
She drew in a breath, and if he wasn’t mistaken, her eyesglistened.
What?
“You meant it when you said you’d watch my back.”
He blinked at her. “Of course I?—”
“Oaken!” She slammed her hand on the front of the dash. He turned—the van had started to slide in front of him, and he hit his brakes.
Black ice.
The rental slid and he eased up on the gas, righted it, touched the brakes again.
Ahead of them, the van kept careening, crashing against the guard rail, bouncing off?—
“Oaken, look out!”
He steered out of the way, barely missing the van as it crossed the median.
His car came to a stop.
The van hit the far railing, blew it apart, and flew out over the edge... and into the frigid waters of the Eagle River.
“Chocolate shake or coffee?”
Moose looked up from his phone to see Tillie standing at his table. When he’d come in, she’d been serving a group of bush pilots laughing loudly about some recent exploit. Reminded him of the after-mission cooldowns with his Navy buddies.