Brink of Danger Read online

  What better way to check out the area than by heading out to what was one of the biggest events around here—opening day for a new, record-breaking zipline.

  Ryan scanned the area around him. The crowds had definitely turned out. Certainly not all of these people were tourists. It looked like half the town was here, standing along the railing that had been erected on the mountainside, a safety measure so people wouldn’t fall into the gorge below.

  A square wooden building stood at the edge of the gravel parking lot. Ryan supposed that was where the office was located, where people signed waivers and watched safety videos before fully engaging in their mountain adventures.

  He knew enough to know there were three zipline adventures here. One was low level and for families. The next was a treetop adventure. And now there was this new course—the mountaintop course that spanned the gorge.

  He gripped the coffee in his hands—coffee with plenty of cream and sugar, maybe even a touch of whip cream. On occasion he got flavor swirls. The drink may not seem masculine, but it was the only way Ryan could drink the stuff.

  In his younger days, Ryan would have been all about adventures like this one. He’d loved the thrills, the adrenaline charge. It was one of the reasons he’d become a firefighter.

  But life had taught him that seeking thrills wasn’t always the best route to take.

  He wove through the gaggle of observers until he made it to the railing. He wanted to see for himself what all the fuss was about.

  Music—some kind of 80s rock ’n’ roll—played in the background, and some refreshments had been set out in the overlook area near the parking lot. He’d heard the mayor and other town officials were here as well as several reporters.

  Ryan had been instructed to don his station wear. That it would be good for the town to see him, to recognize him. Being fire chief was partially about leading his crew and partially about developing trust within the area.

  Fog Lake wasn’t a huge town—they only had about four thousand full-time residents. But the tourists flooded here nearly year-round and tripled the population. He had a full-time crew of eight firefighters and a volunteer crew that reached nearly thirty.

  “Ryan Philips,” a deep, friendly voice said behind him. “I heard you were back in town. It’s good to have you here.”

  He turned to see his old friend Luke Wilder standing there in his sheriff’s uniform. The man hadn’t changed that much since he’d seen him last. He still had the same dark hair, intelligent eyes, and lean build.

  A grin stretched across Ryan’s face as he extended his hand. “Luke? I heard you’d come back to town too.”

  The two exchanged a hearty handshake.

  “Yes, I did,” Luke said. “This place has a tendency to draw people back.”

  Ryan glanced at the ring on his friend’s hand. “Married now?”

  Luke pointed to a curly, dark-haired woman who stood with the mayor in the distance. “To Harper. It will be two years in the spring.”

  “Congratulations. That’s great.” Ryan had figured he would be settled by now. Instead, he’d been married to the thrill of his job nearly since day one. That dedication had cost him a lot—too much, maybe.

  Luke crossed his arms and turned to face the gorge as they waited for today’s activities to kick off. “I was thrilled when I heard the news you were coming back.”

  “It was time.” Some of the lightness left Ryan’s words.

  “I know a lot of people are going to be happy to see you. We’ll have to catch up sometime over dinner. I can introduce you to some of the new folks in town and reacquaint you with the old ones.”

  “I’d like that.”

  Their gazes traveled to the zipline. One of the workers stood on the platform, preparing to go across. Ryan was too far away to see many details, but the woman was slender with dark hair that protruded from her helmet. Her tank top revealed a tattoo on her shoulder, and her jean shorts showed muscular legs.

  “That’s Ansley,” Luke told him, his gaze still on the woman. She launched from the platform and whizzed through the air, raising an arm as if proclaiming victory.

  Ryan blinked at the familiar name. “Your sister?”

  “That’s right. She’s still as daring as ever.”

  Yes, Ansley had been daring. Adventurous. Up for anything. “I figured Ansley would have left after high school.”

  The lines around Luke’s mouth pulled downward in a grimace. “No. My dad’s death really shook her up, really threw her off track for a while. But . . . she’s changed over the past year.”

  Ryan wanted to ask for details, wanted to ask how and why. Especially when he saw the sorrowful look in Luke’s eyes. There was obviously a story there. But instead of prying, Ryan watched as Ansley raced across the cable.

  Ansley wasn’t someone who could easily be forgotten. She’d been his best friend’s little sister, his best friend being Jaxon Wilder, Luke’s youngest brother. Ryan hadn’t spoken to Jaxon in several years, not since Ryan had left for Pennsylvania and Jaxon had left for the army.

  Ansley was four years younger than Ryan was—what had been a big age gap when they were teens. But life and time had leveled the playing field now. Or would Ryan always see her as his friends’ little sister?

  He didn’t know.

  What he did know was that other people had always seen her as rebellious. He’d seen her as ferocious—in a good way. She’d never been one to cower away from what she believed in. If someone was being picked on or bullied, Ansley had been the first one to step in, even if it meant getting punched for it. He’d always liked to think of her as being misunderstood.

  Ryan tensed as he saw Ansley reaching for her radio. He glanced at Luke. His friend’s gaze was fastened to the scene also.

  Why was that?

  Easy. Her triumphant body language was gone. Instead, Ansley had stiffened. Ryan didn’t have to know her well to know something was wrong.

  Just as the thought entered Ryan’s head, a snap cut through the air. Luke yelled something beside him. His friend’s hands gripped the railing and lunged forward as if ready to dive into the gorge.

  Ryan watched helplessly as Ansley plummeted into vast hollow below.

  Chapter Three

  The air left Ansley’s lungs in a whoosh as she hurtled through the air. Everything felt alarmingly fast yet painfully slow. Blurry yet crisp. Terrifying yet oddly serene.

  Her hands gripped the trolley above her, unable to release what felt like a lifeline. The device ripped down the broken zipline with nothing to stop it. In a moment, Ansley would be totally airborne.

  Terror washed through her in a deep, consuming shiver.

  Dear Lord . . . she prayed. Her prayers seemed to come more frequently lately. Apparently, she’d gone back to church just in time.

  Because she was going to meet her Maker today. She felt certain of the fact.

  Regrets flooded her mind. Too many to comprehend. Her life was like a short-lived tornado that had caused massive destruction. She’d only begun the restoration process.

  Forgive me . . .

  Ansley glanced down. Like Tarzan, she flew toward the rocky cliff on the other side of the gorge.

  She’d never survive the impact of crashing into it. Her bones would be crushed.

  Another sweep of fear rushed over her.

  Ansley closed her eyes, knowing the end was eminent. At any second now, she’d collide with the stone mountainside. She’d become another victim of Dry Bones Gorge. People would tell stories about her death and how her spirit still haunted the area.

  That’s what happened in Fog Lake. Tragedies became legends.

  The next instant, branches slapped Ansley’s face. Sticks cut into her skin. She jerked to a stop, no longer falling.

  Ansley gasped, unsure what had happened.

  She plucked her eyes open, her heart racing out of control.

  A tree, she realized. She’d hit a tree that jutted out from the mountain’s
rock wall.

  The trolley had wedged between a Y-shaped branch.

  She sucked in a breath. Maybe wedged was the wrong word. The edge of the metal device began slipping from its resting place.

  She had to move—now!

  Ansley grabbed the closest branch and caught herself. Quickly, she disconnected her harness from the trolley. As she finished, the trolley plunged into the gorge.

  Distant screams echoed above her as the crowd watched.

  Clinging to the tree, Ansley glanced down. A good sixty feet stretched below her.

  She’d never survive a fall from here.

  Her grip tightened. Ansley’s life depended on her hanging on.

  Craning her neck, she stared at the platform from where she’d launched. People still crowded around there. Her friends. Family. Coworkers. Tourists.

  Feeling a wave of nausea, she pulled her gaze back toward the tree in front of her.

  Ansley would need help to get out of this situation. At the thought, a shot of pain cut through her wrist.

  Had she broken it?

  She didn’t know. Her body was too injured to cooperate. Her mind was too frazzled to make sense of anything.

  No, that wasn’t true. She wouldn’t believe that.

  Ansley was going to have to force her body to cooperate. Force her mind to focus. She had no other choice.

  Her life depended on it.

  Just as the thought entered her mind, a crack sounded.

  The tree. It was breaking under Ansley’s weight.

  Ryan and Luke sprinted through the crowd toward the platform below the zipline cable. Around them, gasps sounded, and everyone’s eyes were riveted on the scene across the canyon.

  On Ansley.

  Ryan’s stomach clenched at the thought of what had just happened. The fact that a tree had broken Ansley’s fall was a near miracle. She should be dead right now. Anyone else would be.

  Despite that good news, she still needed help. She needed it now.

  Luke darted toward a thirty-something man who stared pale-faced into the gorge below. Luke gripped the man’s arm, snapping him out of his stupor.

  “Dustin, what happened?” Luke demanded.

  The man ran a hand over his face and head before his eyes—red and bulging—jerked toward Luke.

  “I have no idea.” His voice came out high-pitched and his words fast. “We were doing a safety check and . . . the cable just broke.”

  Ryan pulled out his radio as he glanced into the gorge again. Ansley still held on to that branch for dear life, but he had no idea how long she would last. The tree didn’t look that substantial. He had to call in backup.

  “I just pulled in and heard the news.” Someone rushed beside Ryan and Luke, pausing to stare across the gorge with a pale face and dull expression.

  Boone Wilder. The second oldest of the Wilder children. Ansley’s other brother and an expert rock climber.

  Ryan put his radio away. “The crew is on their way, but they’re still ten or fifteen minutes out.”

  The area where the zipline was located was secluded and off the beaten path. There was no fast way of getting there on the curvy mountain roads, with or without sirens on.

  “Is there an easy route to the other side of the mountain?” Ryan tried to remember the infrastructure of the area. A lot had changed in the time he’d been gone.

  “No, you have to go around to the edge of town to get there,” Luke said. “It’s a thirty-minute drive. I’m not sure we have that long.”

  “I agree with Luke,” Boone said. “We don’t have that much time. Ansley appears to be barely holding on. What about the Nightingale?”

  The Nightingale was the county’s medivac copter.

  “The crew is out helping fight the wildfire two counties over,” Ryan said. “They’re about thirty or forty minutes out also.”

  Boone’s face was tense as he stared down at his sister. “Ansley won’t last that long.”

  Ryan glanced at the gorge again and then at the vast divide between the two mountains. The logistics of this rescue would be complicated.

  “Luke?”

  Ryan looked over and saw Luke’s wife standing there, her eyes wide with worry and her breaths coming quickly.

  “We’re going to go get her.” Luke’s voice left no room for doubt.

  Harper nodded, but the concern didn’t leave her gaze.

  “Give me your feedback,” Ryan said, his mind still on this rescue operation. “I’m not as familiar with the area anymore. What’s the best way to get down there to Ansley?”

  Boone’s jaw tightened. “My opinion? We launch a raft in the river below. We can take some climbing gear with us. We can be to her in ten minutes if we leave now.”

  “Let’s do it,” Ryan said.

  He knew that they didn’t have any time to waste. Ansley’s life was on the line.

  And his first day on the job had started with a bang.

  Chapter Four

  Ansley clamped her grip even tighter. As she looked down at the river below, her radio tumbled from her pocket. It smashed into a rock beneath her.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to imagine her body doing the same thing.

  If Ansley could just stay here, clinging to this tree, until help came . . . but that wasn’t possible. The branches weren’t that strong. It was only a matter of time until . . .

  She heard another snap.

  Felt herself slip a bit.

  Heard more screams above her.

  Ansley tried to remember everything she’d ever been taught about survival. About wilderness skills. Her brother Boone was a former Army Ranger. What would he tell her right now?

  She knew. He’d say that she needed to get off this tree and find a stable spot on the side of the mountain.

  But the thought of moving terrified her.

  Dear Lord, help me. I’m not one for last-minute bargains, but I’m desperate. Please.

  She opened her eyes. As she did, another crack quickened her pulse.

  The branch sagged, on the verge of snapping.

  Ansley didn’t have much time. She was certain of that.

  She spotted a four-inch ledge about three feet beneath her. That’s where she needed to go.

  She trembled as she imagined herself trying to get there. But she had no other choice.

  Hesitantly, she released her grip on the tree branch. Her limbs quaked as she reached for the rocky cliff.

  She grasped a small indention on the mountainside.

  As she did, the rock crumbled.

  Broken pieces tumbled into the river.

  Ansley’s heart thrummed.

  She wasn’t going to die here. She couldn’t. She had too many amends to make first.

  I’m sorry to all the people I’ve let down. I’m so sorry.

  She had to find another option here, an option other than death. Scoping out the area, she spotted another protrusion. She reached for it and tugged.

  Nothing happened. The rock surface felt solid.

  Ansley released her breath. Maybe this one would work.

  Now, she needed somewhere to put her feet as she climbed down and over.

  Reaching with her leg, her shoe caught on an indentation in the rock. It only offered her an inch, but it was enough.

  She hoped.

  Fear tried to squeeze Ansley, to make her question herself.

  She couldn’t let fear win.

  The branch moved again. Another crack sounded.

  Her foot dug into the cliffside.

  If she was going to make a move, it was now.

  Just as she released her grip on the tree, the branch broke and cascaded into the gorge below. Ansley threw her weight onto the cliff, praying the tiny ledge didn’t crumble beneath her weight.

  She was about to find out.

  Ryan’s muscles tightened as the raft rushed down the river and over Class II rapids. On a normal day, the ride would be thrilling. Right now, time wasn’t on their side
, and safe thrills were a luxury they couldn’t afford.

  He felt the tension on the boat as they furiously paddled toward Ansley. Everyone onboard knew just how serious this situation was. Ansley’s life was on the line. Every second counted.

  “Over there!” Boone pointed to a rocky area below Ansley.

  She clung to the cliff, but it was obvious she was getting weaker by the moment. She kept releasing alternating hands and shaking them out. Rocks crumbled beneath her. How much longer could she hold on?

  Jonathan Turner, the rafting guide, yelled instructions as they paddled in sync to where they needed to be. The current tugged at the boat, urging them downstream farther than they needed to go. Ryan dug his paddle in, determined not to let nature win.

  Water splashed into the boat, reminding them that they were at the disadvantage here. The Dry Bones Gorge had always won. It had the history to prove it.

  When they were only a few feet from the riverbank, Luke hopped out. He grabbed the rope from the edge of the raft, pulled them ashore, and secured the vessel to some trees.

  Not wasting time, Ryan and Boone grabbed their gear and climbed from the boat. Standing on the rocky, narrow shoreline, they quickly assessed the situation.

  Ansley was probably sixty feet above them, and the landscape wouldn’t be easy to navigate. It was mostly rocky, but roots and small vegetation occasionally jutted out. If it had been all trees, they could climb the space. All rock, and they could easily rappel. But the mixture actually made things more complicated.

  They needed a plan. And they needed one now.

  Because he wasn’t losing someone else on his watch.

  Not today.

  Chapter Five

  Ansley clung to the side of the mountain. Every time she closed her eyes, regrets pummeled her thoughts. Her mom leaving. Her dad dying. The men she’d dated and discarded. How she’d been selfish. Hurt people.

  They were not the last images she wanted to think about. Had her changes come a little too late? She thought she’d have more time to make things right, to turn her life around and be the person who would make her dad proud.