“Professor Birch!” Julia hollered his name as she advanced toward the driver’s window. “I’m coming to help you!” She flicked rainwater from her eyes and struggled to catch her breath. Good grief, Julia, Cameron Birch won’t care if you use his first name. She continued over the soaked ground, her heart pounding harder with each labored step.
When she reached the Jeep, she relaxed slightly. Somehow Cameron had managed to steer down the embankment without losing complete control and rolling over. She held on to the roof and hit the rain-streaked window. “Cameron, answer me. Are you all right?”
When she didn’t get a response, she used the sleeve of her slicker to clear a circle in the mud-streaked glass, wiped her eyes and peered inside. Shining her light into the interior, she saw her former professor unconscious, his safety belt fastened, his head slumped over the wheel. She slammed the window hard with the heel of her hand, and then immediately regretted the action. The SUV slid forward toward the rushing water, maybe only a foot or two, but the motion left the headlamps buried deeper in mud.
Julia yelled louder. “Wake up, Cameron! I’ve got to get you out of there.” She walked around and shone her light in the passenger window. “Mrs. Birch, are you in there?”
The seat was empty. She aimed the beam at the back and saw where boxes had been stacked for transport. There was no one else in the vehicle. Julia returned to the driver’s side and tested the door. Miraculously, it opened. Cameron’s head slipped off the steering wheel. His arm fell out of the SUV. And the Jeep inched farther down the muddy slope.
Julia grabbed the door and held on, as if by sheer force she could stop the forward motion. “Wake up, Cameron!” she screamed. She pulled on his arm. “You’ve got to get out before you go in the water.”
Still receiving no response, Julia had the horrifying thought that perhaps she was trying to revive a dead man. “No!” she shouted. “You can’t be dead.” She pinched his jawline between her thumb and forefinger. “Wake up!”
When a long, low moan rewarded her, Julia renewed her efforts to get Cameron out of the vehicle. She reached over his body, felt for the seat belt release and freed him. Next she twisted him so his back was toward her. “Okay, that’s good,” she said in an even, level voice, meant to soothe herself as well as the victim. “We can do this, Cameron.” She slid her hands under his arms and pulled with all her strength. The next moments were a blur. Cameron groaned. The Jeep rolled forward. Julia fell back onto the ground, and Cameron landed on top of her. Air rushed from her lungs.
Pushing her feet against anything solid she could find, she scooted them both back from the car until they were clear. And then, with Cameron heavy on her chest, she raised her head and watched in numb shock as, with a huge sucking sound, the SUV plunged engine-first into the churning pool. Seconds later, only the faint red glow of taillights and the weak gleam of a chrome bumper were visible above the water.
Shaking off the horrifying realization of what nearly had happened, Julia tried to scramble out from beneath Cameron’s limp body. But he was like lead pressing on her breastbone, and she succeeded only in sinking farther into the mud. She turned his head to the side, felt his faint breath warm on her cheek. “Cameron, wake up. Please. You’re okay. We’re both going to get out of this, but you have to help me.”
She concentrated on the details of the first-aid course she’d taken years before and tried not to panic. “Keep the victim still and quiet,” she said. “Keep him warm. Elevate his legs. Check for broken bones.” A ripple of inappropriate laughter bubbled up from her chest. “Yeah, right.” One arm was pinned to her side and her fanny felt as if it were mired in freshly mixed cement.
Her strength waning, Julia gave up struggling. She was stuck underneath Cameron until help came. Wiggling around only pushed them both farther into the depression she’d created when they landed on the wet ground. Minutes seemed to stretch into hours as she lay there. To keep her mind occupied, she talked to the unconscious man on top of her. “I’ll bet you wish you’d taken Mama’s offer to stay with us,” she said. “I didn’t think it was such a good idea at the time, but now I sure wish you had.” A minute passed before she spoke again. “When are the rescuers going to get here?” She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a response.
“Hey, Jules, you okay down there?”
Recognizing the voice of the class clown of her Glen Springs High graduating class who went on to join the Vickers County firefighters, Julia laughed almost hysterically. “Is that you, Bobby?”
“Yep, it’s me, MoonPie.”
She never thought she’d be so glad to hear the nickname Bobby had given her in grade school. “Well, hurry up and get down here!” she hollered.
“That’s the plan. Just hold on. We’re on our way.”
Seconds later, Bobby Cutter and two other rescue workers rappelled down the slope in a fraction of the time it had taken her to cover the same distance. Bobby and one fireman rushed to her side, while the other waited for a fiberglass backboard to follow them on ropes into the gully.
Bobby leaned over her, flashing a brilliant light in her face. “So how’d you manage to get yourself in this situation, MoonPie?” he asked.
She couldn’t see his expression and that was just as well. If she’d detected a smart-ass smile on his face, she’d have found enough strength to slug him—once she got out from under Cameron. She frowned up at him. “Just get us out of here, Bobby.”
“Will do.” He ran his hand down her arm while his buddy examined Cameron. “Do you think anything’s broken, Julia?”
“No. I’m fine, but I’ll be even better once I know that this guy on top of me is okay.”
Bobby switched to rescue mode. He helped the third member of his team position the board next to Cameron, then asked if the victim could be safely lifted. The rescuers’ voices blended together in a flurry of well-rehearsed commands and evaluations.
And Julia lay back, waiting patiently, relieved to be turning the task of rescuing Cameron Birch over to the experts, at last.
THE TRIP up from the ravine proved much easier than the one going down. Of course, it helped that Julia was tied securely to a two-hundred-pound fireman who attached them both to a pulley controlled by a team at the top. With his arms around her, she let the pulley do all the work, and if it hadn’t been for her concern over Cameron, she might even have enjoyed the ride.
The rain had finally stopped, and Cora and Katie stood at the edge of the road when the fireman set Julia on the pavement. She tried to take in all the details of the scene at once. A half dozen emergency vehicles, red lights flashing, lined the road. Barricades placed a hundred yards in either direction from the breach in the guardrail kept traffic from hampering the efforts of the rescue team. A news helicopter circled overhead, its bright light illuminating the ravine where efforts to bring Cameron to the top were still ongoing.
Julia assured waiting EMTs that she was fine, and traded her slicker for a blanket Cora had brought from the cabin. The storm had left behind a brisk, clean breeze, signaling the first cold snap of the autumn season, and Julia shivered in her woolen cocoon.
“Will he be all right?” Cora asked her.
“I hope so, Mama, but I don’t know. He was still unconscious when the rescuers got there.” She recalled the skill and confidence with which the three men went about their job. “I’m sure the guys are doing all they can,” she said.
She looked down at Katie, who was huddled in a worn parka at least two sizes too small for her. New winter coat jumped to the top of the mental shopping list Julia had been preparing for her niece over the past several days. “And how are you, sweetie?”
“Okay. I was worried about you, though.”
“I know, but I told you I’d be all right.”