THIRTY-FOUR
There!” Jack shouted. “I see her.”
His heart might have exploded with overwhelming relief, except Terra was by no means out of danger. Firefighters still fought to gain control of the flames.
Jack had “hijacked” one of the state’s Huey helicopters to search for Terra. Other Hueys were carting three hundred-gallon buckets of water to dump on the fire.
The chopper swooped closer to the Grayback River and hovered over the whitewater rapids, the din joining the rotors in intensity.
Hands on hips, Terra stood on a boulder near the rapids. Dirt and ash smudged her face and body, and despite the dry heat, her hair fell limp with sweat. His heart jumped to his throat at the sight of her. Alive. She was still alive. Jack had to keep her that way.
“Obviously, it’s not going to be a ground landing.” The pilot’s voice resounded through Jack’s helmet. “We’ll use the hoist. I’ll keep a good distance to avoid the rotors hitting the trees.”
“Good to know. I’ll go down and get her.” Jack secured himself on the cable and motioned for a state guy who went by the name Elk who had joined him on this search operation. Elk worked the winch that lowered Jack’s cable.
The smoke grew thick. A gust of wind caught the chopper, and Jack swung wildly over the rapids. His pulse spiked even though he was secured to the cable. Squeezing his eyes shut, he focused on calm, controlled breaths.
Please, don’t let me spin.
The cable began to lower him again, and he opened his eyes. Once again, the helicopter hovered above Terra, the pilot attempting a dynamic hoist—maneuvering the bird so the cable wouldn’t spin—which Jack appreciated.
Terra shifted back and forth. Fire and smoke crept dangerously closer, but she didn’t seem to care. She kept looking across the river, then up to Jack. Finally, he was on the rock. He almost stumbled, but she dragged him onto the boulder until his footing was sure.
Even though the rotors above them should have drowned out most every other sound, the rapids roared in his ears.
Hope, and something else he couldn’t read, poured from Terra’s wide eyes.
She yanked him forward into a hug, her voice thick with relief and emotion as she said, “Jack. Thank God!”
He wanted to keep her there against him. To look at her face and contemplate that she was standing in front of him alive and well. Jack had so much to say, but he had to keep her alive—and they were out of time. He assisted in securing her in the airlift rescue vest, making sure it remained attached to the hoist equipment. Then he glanced up at Elk, who managed their lifeline, and signaled they were ready.
Terra held on to Jack while the winch pulled the cable back to the helicopter as it lifted higher. Jack took in the terrifying view below. The violent rapids beneath threatened to reach up and grab them while the blistering fire raced toward them, a furious monster intent on thwarting their escape. When the thick smoke cleared in spots, he could see the bright orange flames that devoured the forest below them—a heart-stopping sight.
When the cable had been winched all the way to the helicopter, Elk assisted in hauling Terra and Jack inside. They disengaged from the hoisting equipment and shrugged from their harnesses.
Jack looked into her bright blue eyes, relieved to see the fear subsiding. Again, he considered that he had so much he wanted to say to her. But now wasn’t that moment. Would he ever find the right time?
Terra’s mouth hung open as if she, too, would speak words she’d been holding back. He could have lost her today, and in a way, he was getting a second chance with her, but he couldn’t know if she even wanted that. His emotions were getting the best of him, and Elk was giving him a funny look.
He followed Terra’s lead and strapped into his seat, and Terra donned the helmet Elk had handed her. She glanced at Jack but then focused her attention on the woods below.
Elk offered them both bottles of water. Terra guzzled it. As soon as she came up for air, she said, “Go back. Go back closer to the river where you picked me up.”
“What? Why?”
She’d been focused on those woods even as he rescued her. “He’s down there, Jack. He’s in the woods.”
“Who?”
“The guy who started the fire! He locked me in the cabin. I saw him running away while I was trapped inside. Before you arrived, I saw him watching me from across the river. He was wearing a gray hoodie.”
Jack instructed the pilot to return and swoop as low as possible so they could search as long as it remained safe.
He hesitated before radioing the sheriff. “But you didn’t actually see him start the fire, though.”
“No. But who else could it have been? No one else was out there. He could have been the guy we chased. The man who killed Neva. I don’t know, but he jammed the lock somehow, then started a fire to destroy the cabin. I don’t know if I was a bonus for him or his target.”
Jack radioed the sheriff what Terra had seen, and that she was safe, but to be on the lookout for anyone fleeing the forest wearing a gray hoodie. He squeezed her shoulder, but like Terra had done, Jack now concentrated on the dense woods below them and searched for the man who could be behind everything, including the murders.