“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 cried, 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