“Aren’t you going to lower me down?”
He had hooked the sling over the boy’s head, a little nervous at the way the kid turned to him with big, terrified eyes. Adam was a stocky kid in gray snow pants and a yellow jacket, and Gage had to give him kudos for hanging on as long as he had. He drew back fast, however. He couldn’t get any closer or Adam might grab him, pull them both down.
“Wiggle it over yourself,” Gage said.
The kid put one elbow up, through the opening in the sling.
“Good job, kid,” Gage said as he scrambled back down the ladder and hiked over to the weighted line.
No sign of his patrol buddies on the ridge above.
Dragging the line back over to the tower, he glanced up and saw that Adam had worked the sling under both arms.
Gage threw the line over the bottom rung and slowly began to pull it taut. It tightened around Adam’s chest.
“Don’t let go! This is just to catch you if you fall.” He secured the line to the tower.
“Let me down!”
“Help will be here soon. I can’t lower you on my own.”
Well, maybe he could, if he used the tower as both leverage and an anchor. But for now, Adam wouldn’t fall, and Hunter was running out of time.
Gage knelt next to Hunter and checked his pulse. Gray, clammy skin, dull eyes. A pool of blood formed under his leg, saturating the snow.
The kid could lose his life to shock long before he bled out.
He lifted the radio. “Ski patrol, Watson. Where’s my sled?”
“Just getting off the lift,” came the answer.
Perfect. Gage pulled his pack over to himself and pulled out scissors and a tourniquet.
He took the scissors to the boy’s pants, cutting away the bloody fabric to get to the source.
The jagged edge of his femur jutted out of his skin just above the knee.
Gage searched for a radial pulse from the posterior tibial artery and found none. The broken bone had cut off blood supply to his foot.
First, he had to stop the bleeding and then get the kid down the mountain before Hunter lost his leg.
Gage threaded the tourniquet under his leg and worried when Hunter didn’t move. In fact, the kid had stopped writhing altogether.
“Hey, Hunter, stay with me here. Tell me, is that your Lib Tech board? A Snow Ape C2 BTX? One of the best power freestyle sticks on the planet. It’s a dream on the snow, right?”
Hunter opened his eyes, tried to find the voice.
Gage finished the tourniquet and leaned up, meeting Hunter’s eyes. So young and rife with fear. “Don’t worry, I’m going to get you down the mountain. And I know this awesome doctor that will fix you right up. You’ll be doing a half-cab quadruple backflip by this time next year.”
“A what?” Hunter whispered.
“Google it and then come back here and I’ll teach you myself.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“Ski patrol, Remington at the ridge.” Ty’s voice came through the walkie. “I see you, Gage. Coming down.”
Gage looked up and spotted the two ski patrollers, red jackets against the glare of light and brilliant white, carving a trail through the powder. One of them guided a two-person sled.
They slowed before they reached the accident site, leaving the powder drifting safely away, and snapped off their skis. Ty reached him first. “Hey there, kid,” he said to Hunter, pulling off his gloves and kneeling next to Gage. He carried the splint as the other patroller brought over the sled.
One of their rookies, Skye Doyle—Gage recognized her as she brought the sled closer. Blonde, in her early twenties, she’d joined the patrol as a volunteer. Gage didn’t ask why Ty had let her lead the sled—probably practice. But she didn’t have nearly enough experience to steady it going downhill. And she’d never be able to lower Adam on her own—she’d need Ty’s strength.
“Let’s load him up. Then we need to get Adam off that lift.” Gage reached for the splint, a high-tech, emergency fracture response system. It moved to the shape of Hunter’s fractured leg, and Gage strapped it into place to keep it immobilized as Ty affixed a neck collar on him. Skye brought over the backboard, and they eased it under Hunter, sliding him onto it and strapping him in.
Ty and Gage moved Hunter to the sled and zipped him inside the emergency blanket. Skye secured the boy onto the sled as Gage and Ty returned to the problem of Adam.
“How are we going to get him down?” Ty said.
“We could use the pole as leverage, with you wearing the descender. I could lower him down while you let out the slack.”
“And what about Hunter? He’s looking pretty pale.” This from Skye, who’d joined their conversation. “I can take him down on the sled.”