Situation: Out of Control/Full Exposure

by Debra Webb

  Heath watched the tension escalate several notches. All other eyes were on the two, as well, waiting to see how this would play out. Heath knew that Jayne was one of the best climbers the team had. To leave her out was a major call.

  "You're out, Jayne," Walt seconded.

  "Walt, you can't do that!"

  "It's done," he said, his tone final. "Now, let's not waste any more time."

  Jayne backed off. She wouldn't let her own ego get in the way of saving lives.

  "The call came in about an hour ago," one of the deputies said. "One of the climbers, a fellow by the name of Carter, managed to make it out, found his way to Tom Barker's dude ranch and called for help from there. Apparently the cold got the batteries in the cell phones the group carried."

  "Any of them wearing transmitters?" Walt asked.

  The deputy, Lebron Littles, shook his head. "But the one who walked out gave us the location of his friends. He says a couple fell and the others got trapped trying to rescue them. He stayed back to go for help if necessary."

  Heath understood that there was always room for doubt in any story, but Deputy Littles sounded less than sold on this particular one.

  "Do we have any other information on this group?" Jayne asked, determined to be a part of the operation.

  "Anything that would indicate trouble?"

  "Four males, two females. All worked together. This was some kind of business retreat," Littles told her.

  "But…" He inhaled a heavy breath. "This guy seems a little jumpy to me. His story has changed two or three times." He shook his head. "I don't like it."

  "All right," Walt said. "To answer Jayne's original question, we can't use the chopper because of the storm brewing around those peaks. We may get as much as fifteen to twenty inches of snowfall in the next two hours." He shot Jayne a look that said he'd expected her to know that. "The weather advisory was issued early this morning."

  Jayne felt the bottom drop out of her stomach for the third time this morning. She always, always checked the advisories…but this morning she'd been distracted. She pressed her lips together as anger, as much at herself as at Heath, swelled inside her once more. She'd let him…let this whole situation affect her work.

  Lives depended upon her and she'd messed up.

  She shot him a scathing look.

  To his credit he didn't look away but that only made her angrier.

  Walt laid out the plan in his usual thorough manner. The hasty team would leave immediately. Paul Rice, Chad Wade and four others would lead. The support team would follow. The one climber who'd walked out this morning wouldn't be able to assist since he was suffering from moderate hypothermia. He'd been taken straight to the hospital for treatment. The deputy's suspicions about his explanation of how these events had played out would have to wait.

  "Jayne, you'll run the operation from here," Walt told her. "Mason and Snyder will stay behind as well in case anything comes up."

  "Yes, sir."

  She hated like hell to see the team go without her. Especially Walt. He was good. Damn good, but he was fifty-two. This kind of rescue would be hard on him. She should be leading. It had nothing to do with ego and everything to do with worry about the man.

  "Walt?" she called, stalling him at the door. "Be careful. I've got a feeling this one isn't going to be easy."

  He nodded and then he was gone.

  Deputy Littles patted Jayne on the shoulder. "I'm gonna update the sheriff. He wanted me to keep him posted."

  She nodded and dragged her attention back to the task at hand. In fifteen minutes she would conduct a communications check. When Walt and the team reached the trailhead, he'd make contact once more be fore setting off. Adrenaline surged. She hoped like hell the storm would hold off until this was over.

  "Mason, get an update on the storm. I want to know if there's any chance it's going to blow over."

  "Gotcha, Little Boss."

  She smiled. Dammit. She didn't know why. She didn't have a single thing to smile about. But something about the ordinariness of him calling her that or maybe it was simply the realization that she was needed here made her lips lift into that stupid smile.

  "How about some fresh coffee?" Snyder offered.

  She sighed. "That'd be great." She hadn't finished even one cup this morning. She could definitely use some caffeine about now.

  A phone rang and she turned just in time to see Heath pulling his cell from his pocket. She remembered it ringing earlier. He moved to the other side of the room to answer and she turned away.

  Why didn't he just go? Having him here was nothing but a constant reminder of the mistake she'd made. Something deep inside her went very still.

  No. His presence meant a great deal more than that. He was here to apprehend her father, if anything he said could be believed. Her father had told her he was coming. What would happen then?

  Heath would do his best to bring him down and her father would likely do the same.

  Someone would be hurt…or worse.

  Jayne closed her eyes and braced against the work-table for support. She'd let Heath inside her, physically and emotionally. They hadn't used protection, which presented numerous problems of its own. Problems she couldn't even bring herself to consider right now. She'd trusted him, fallen for him. And he'd used her.

  But was he the bad guy here?

  How could she believe that her father, the man she'd worshiped from afar since she was old enough to look up to him, was such a hideous villain?

  Her mother's haunted image kept nudging into her thoughts. Her father had destroyed her mother. She'd al ways known that, had held that against him in a sort of way, still did. But he was her father. All she had left in the world and she'd forgiven him that grievous error for the most part. He'd had a job to do. She'd told herself that he was some sort of hero out saving the world all those times he'd left her and her mother behind.

  How could all that she'd believed in, all that she'd clung to, be a lie? Hurt squeezed her heart, knotted in her stomach.

  She opened her eyes and settled her gaze on Heath.

  Every man she'd ever trusted had let her down. Lied to her.

  Could she possibly, as much as her heart yearned to, trust this man for even a second?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The snow had started to fall, gently, innocuously. Estimates went as high as two to three feet over the next twenty-four hours. But there would be nothing gentle or innocuous about the winds combined with that snow at the higher elevations. Visibility could drop to nothing.

  For Jayne and her mountaineer comrades left be hind, the advisory meant that they could be living at this cabin headquarters for the next few days.

  Heath had every intention of staying put wherever she was, whether she liked it or not.

  These kinds of weather conditions could lead to more hikers and climbers becoming disoriented and lost. Mutual aid calls would be required, summoning rescue support, volunteer and otherwise, from surrounding communities. Heath knew the drill. All too well.

  He'd spent the last hour fighting the panic trying to take root. It was as if he had no control over his own body.

  He'd been here before. Watched the flurry of activity that could prove futile. Nothing anyone could have done had saved her…and it had been entirely his fault.

  His palms started to sweat and he sucked in another deep breath. He knew what he had to do at times like this, knew all the steps for fighting this kind of inside attack. But none of it appeared to work at the moment.

  He had to find a way to focus.

  Howard Stephens could show up at any time. Jayne was in a public place, one over which Heath held no do minion. He was an outsider, here merely as an observer. Under present circumstances he knew with utter certainty that if he got in Jayne's way she would have him taken away by the sheriff's deputy standing by as incident commander liaison. Heath had to tread carefully here.

  A damned panic attack was the last thing he neede
d.

  Heath kept his respiration slow and deep and his attention centered on the woman in control of the moment.

  Jayne Stephens was a natural born crisis manager. As report after report of worsening conditions squawked over the radio she grew calmer and calmer, fully focused, completely committed. Not the first sign of panic.

  He couldn't help admiring her. Despite the worst kind of father, she'd turned into a true champion, a heroine. She had every right to be bitter and cynical and yet she was neither of those things.

  Until Heath's arrival, her life had been content. He'd noted that before. He'd taken that from her. No matter how this turned out, she wouldn't be able to escape the cynicism this time. She would be left hurt and bitter. But she was a survivor. That was quite clear. If her devil of a father didn't get her killed, she would carry on. Heath was dead certain about that. She would not let down her friends or her community. Only her feelings would be damaged…her heart. And Heath was neck deep in guilt for having taken part in that travesty.

  He pushed the thought away and counted heads again. He had to stay on top of the situation, had to re member what he was here to do. He had his orders. Stephens had to be stopped. And he would be coming. It would have been nice to believe the man cared about his daughter, but Heath doubted that. More likely he would want her out of the way so that no one could reach him via that route again. Oh, she wouldn't like that one little bit. He wondered how her father would react when she told him to forget it. That she wasn't going anywhere.

  She had a life here…one Heath's assignment had turned upside down.

  He'd tried to reach Danes twice this morning with no luck. He glanced at his watch. He hadn't been able to reach anyone. It was past time someone had come into the office at the Colby Agency. He'd gotten a call back from the answering service but nothing else.

  Trying again, he took a step back from the group monitoring the ongoing rescue, pulled out his cell phone and punched the appropriate speed dial number. The call was answered on the first ring.

  "Elaine, this is Heath Murphy. I need to speak with Mr. Danes."

  "I'm sorry, Mr. Murphy, but Mr. Danes is not in the office as of yet."

  Heath definitely hadn't expected that response. "How about Ian or Simon then?" He had to update someone on the situation here since Danes hadn't called him last night or this morning and Heath hadn't been able to reach him. Where the hell was everybody?

  "Ah…Mr. Murphy, there isn't anyone else here except me."

  Uneasiness trickled through Heath. "What do you mean? What about Mildred?"

  "Mildred left a message for me that she had to go out of town on a family emergency. That's all I know."

  "Fine." Heath considered what he should do. "Just have Ian or Simon call me if Mr. Danes doesn't come in. I need to talk to one of them." What were the odds that reaching both men would prove impossible? Sounded like Danes's work to him.

  "I will, sir."

  Heath closed his phone and dropped it back into his pocket. It seemed impossible. Though it was Saturday, Danes had put the entire staff on a seven-day workweek until further notice. Another of his interrogation tactics. Yet, there was no one at the Colby Agency. Not even Mildred. Mildred was always the first to arrive and the last to go…it didn't make sense.

  "If the storm hits as hard as expected," Snyder said, his voice somber, tugging Heath's attention back to the here and now "we'll have to call 'em back."

  Jayne shrugged. "Maybe. But it's not like we don't know where these people are." She studied the map again. "If Walt and his team can make it in they can pro vide emergency medical care and dig in for the duration. Walt knows how to sit out a storm." She studied the in coming weather reports once more. "At least that way maybe these folks will have a chance of surviving."

  "Have we heard anything from the request for backup from Fort Carson?" Mason, another of Jayne's mountain rescue teammates, wanted to know. "With those all-weather helicopters they could fly these people out no matter what the storm does."

  "The base is already supporting a couple of other rescues," Jayne said thoughtfully. She rubbed at her forehead, the first indication of stress Heath had seen. "I'm hoping they'll get to us soon," she added.

  "Walt can lie low if need be until then," Mason allowed. "Like you said, Jayne, he knows how to handle this."

  "I just hope it doesn't come to that." Jayne chewed her lip. "I think maybe I'll give the base liaison a call and get the latest on their ongoing ops."

  All three were restless, wanted to be out there in the field helping instead of stuck in this cabin coordinating. But the job they carried out was essential. Walt and his teams would be helpless out there without proper support on this end. What Jayne did in here was every bit as important as those making the trek up to that peak.

  More rescue volunteers wandered in as the time crept past. Unfortunately for Heath they weren't alone. The media had discovered the drama and converged upon the rescue headquarters. Dozens of cars were parked along the sidewalk outside. From what Heath could determine the Denver company that employed the injured and trapped climbers was of more than casual interest to the statewide media circus, especially considering one of the victims was the CEO. Snyder and Mason kept the growing crowd apprised of the situation. Heath's primary concern was not only to keep an eye on Jayne but also to monitor every new face that bobbed into the scene.

  Not so easy with reporters swarming like bees in search of the nearest hive. "Jayne."

  Jayne looked up at the sound of her name, time and place slowly coming into focus. She'd been studying the maps and weather radar screen so closely for so long she'd lost track of the goings on around her. She'd been vaguely aware of the arrival of the media. Perfect.

  "Yeah, Lebron, what's up?"

  Deputy Littles sidled up to her, closer than necessary, sending her on instant alert. "I've got the sheriff on the line."

  She noted the cell phone in his hand then. "Is something wrong?" Her first thought was that there'd been a slide somewhere close to Walt that she hadn't heard about yet. She hated when ICS, the incident command system, worked against her like that. Base operations here needed the information first, not the sheriff's office.

  The deputy offered her the phone. "I'll let him explain so there's no confusion."

  Jayne took the phone. "Sheriff, this is Jayne Stephens. Do you have information that affects my team in the field?" She walked away from the buzz of ongoing speculations and calculations, more to gain some privacy than to hear better.

  "Jayne, I have a situation that I'm not comfortable putting through normal channels."

  "Okay," she said slowly. Jayne wasn't sure how the sheriff expected her to respond to that comment. In her three years as a part of mountain rescue she'd never en countered a situation not appropriate for normal channels.

  "Dispatch received a 9-1-1 call ten minutes ago regarding an injured climber."

  A frown worked its way across her forehead. "Why wouldn't you want that call to come through normal channels?" If they had another victim out there they needed to know. "Is this one related to the ongoing rescue?"

  A heavy breath hissed over the line. "No." The sheriff swore softly, surprising her. That wasn't like him. "Just as quickly as I clear one heap of trouble another one drops in my lap," he explained. "Our man, Carter, has come clean and finally admitted that he and the CEO had fought. The CEO slipped over the edge and the rest pretty much went down as Carter had reported. He knows this is his fault and he left the group with the intentions of running. By the time he'd made it to Barker's dude ranch guilt had changed his mind and he called in."

  Jayne couldn't help wondering why that mattered just now. She had a rescue to oversee and this was nothing more than a waste of her time, but she didn't see any reason to tell the sheriff that. He had to know it. Clearly he was under a lot of stress here, but who wasn't?

  "I'll let you know as soon as Walt reports in," she said for lack of anything else to say. "They
probably won't make contact for a while yet." If the CEO was dead, Carter would be up on manslaughter charges, she estimated. Between now and then she imagined the guy would be sweating bullets.

  "That's not why I called," the sheriff said, surprising her all over again.

  Now she was really lost and she definitely didn't have time for this.

  "The other call, the one that came in about ten minutes ago."

  Damn. She'd forgotten he even mentioned another call. She massaged her temple and forced herself to pay attention to the conversation for a few minutes more, but her mind was on Walt. She should be the one out there, not him. "An injured climber?" she asked. This could mean sending another group out into the field. Just what she needed.

  "The caller said he had fallen and broken his leg. The connection was bad. I've played the tape twice and I scarcely made it out myself."

  "What's the location?" Jayne hurried back over to the map as the sheriff called off the information. Not such a bad place to be stuck even in weather like this. The retrieval wouldn't be that difficult, but it would require expertise and a strong knowledge of the area since visibility would be seriously limited.

  "I'll get a team right on it," Jayne told him. This was easy compared to what Walt was going through. She didn't understand the sheriff's strange behavior on this one.

  "I guess the thing that strikes me as odd," the sheriff said at last, "is that the guy asked for you by name and the call registered as having come from Thurman McGill's cell phone."

  Now that got Jayne's attention. Victims didn't usually ask for rescuers by name. Even stranger, Thurman McGill was a local resident they called upon quite often for air support. Thurman owned two helicopters, used them for giving tourists aerial tours. She supposed Thurman could have asked for her but more likely he would have asked for Walt.

  "Did he crash?" That didn't seem reasonable to Jayne. Why would he have been out in this weather? Unless the storm came on more quickly than he'd expected.

  "That's just it, Jayne. The voice didn't belong to Thurman McGill. I've tried calling the number back, in case it was a mistake. That happens once in a while, a number will show up as one thing when it's really some thing else. No system is perfect. There was no answer and I didn't get an answer at Thurman's place either. I sent a deputy over there and nobody's home."