LITMIR.BIZ

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‘Not long now, sweetheart, until we get you out of here. And you’ll certainly have a story to tell your pals when you see them.’ The blades clattered loudly and the ground beneath them swirled with dirt as the downdraught from the aircraft battered the rock.

      Georgie watched as a suited figure was lowered from the helicopter. In less than a minute he dropped, as light as a cat, onto the ledge beside them. He released himself from the rope and the helicopter swung away to a safe distance.

      ‘Dr Logan Harris.’ The man introduced himself with a slight gesture of his hand.

      Relief came out in an explosion of breath. She hadn’t expected a doctor. Normally the winchman was someone with first-aid knowledge, not a doctor. She had a brief impression of glinting brown eyes and even white teeth.

      ‘What do we have? The mountain rescue guy told me you were a nurse.’

      ‘A broken leg,’ Georgie answered. ‘I don’t know if there are other injuries.’

      Logan Harris yanked off his safety gloves with his teeth before crouching down to examine the boy, feeling across his ribs and abdomen.

      ‘There’s no obvious internal damage. He’ll be checked out properly once we get him to hospital. Help me get him strapped into this harness.’

      Logan turned to the boy. ‘We’ll have you off here and in hospital in a jiffy,’ he said.

      Working together in the cramped space, it only took a few minutes before Jack was securely fastened. Logan grinned his approval after he tested the last buckle. He spoke into his mike and the helicopter drew nearer.

      ‘I’ll take the lad up and come back for you in a second,’ he shouted above the roar of the helicopter. The downdraught whipped her hair across her face and she struggled to keep it out of her eyes.

      ‘It’s okay. I can make it down myself,’ she yelled back.

      ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come back for you?’ He reached out his hand for the line dropped by the helicopter and clipped it to the boy’s harness.

      For a moment there was nothing Georgie would have liked better. Although she had told Kirk that getting off the ledge would present no problem, that had been before the light had started to fade. It would be much trickier now. But the thought of getting into the helicopter caused her chest to tighten. She didn’t want to go on an aircraft, not as long as she had a choice.

      ‘No. It’s okay. Honest. You get Jack to hospital. I’ll be fine.’

      As Logan finished preparing Jack for the ascent, the boy started to protest.‘M-Mum,’ he said, panic lacing his voice.

      Georgie had to put her ear to his mouth to catch the words. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get hold of your mum as soon as we get you off here,’ she said.

      ‘N-no.’ The boy was having difficulty getting the words through his chattering teeth. ‘Mum. She fell. Down there.’ He pointed to Georgie’s right and down the mountainside. She followed his finger but could see nothing. ‘Mum was trying to get to me and she fell,’ Jack persisted.

      Georgie put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘Where, Jack? Can you tell me exactly where she is?’

      His face crumpled as fresh tears coursed down his cheeks. ‘I don’t know. I saw her coming towards me after I fell. Then she disappeared. I tried to phone her on my mobile, but she didn’t answer. She’s all right, isn’t she?’

      ‘Don’t worry, we’ll find your mum for you.’ She relayed the information to Logan, who wouldn’t have been able to hear the boy’s words above the noise of the helicopter. ‘He says his mother fell trying to reach him—we have no information about a female casualty. Have you?’

      ‘No,’ Logan replied, looking worried. ‘We’ll find out more when we get him out of here and somewhere safe.

      ‘Let’s get you into the helicopter and to the ambulance,’ Logan said to the boy. ‘Then the helicopter will have a look for her. Okay?’

      He spoke into his mike and the helicopter moved until it was above them. The rotors whipped dust from the cliff side, forcing Georgie to bend her head against the dust that peppered her face. Logan turned to Georgie. ‘We’ll find the mother, don’t worry. We’ll be back as soon as we’ve dropped the lad.’

      Logan and Jack were lifted up, and a sudden gust from the helicopter as it swung away almost made Georgie lose her tenuous grip. And she would have, if it hadn’t been for the sudden increase in tension from the rope. Thank God she had managed to drive a bolt into the rock and thank God Kirk was keeping the rope taut. She and her brother had been climbing together all their lives and there was no one she would rather have protecting her back.

      Then, without warning, a chunk of the crumbling cliff under her foot broke away and rolled down the mountainside. Georgie pressed herself against the rock face and held on for dear life.

      Now she was really in trouble. Panic spiralled through her body.

      Before she could move, another piece of rock broke away, and she only had about a foot of ledge left to stand on. She had to get off the crumbling ledge—and she had to do it quickly. But for the first time in her life she was rooted to the spot, frozen with fear. She didn’t know if she could make her limbs respond to her commands.

      Sorry, Ian. I know I promised myself I wouldn’t do this any more—for our daughter’s sake. But I didn’t really have a choice, did I?

      Thinking of her little girl gave her the strength she needed. No way was her child going to lose two parents. Not while she had breath left in her body. Testing the rope still attached to her harness, Georgie forced her legs to move. She was not going to fall. Kirk still had a firm grip of the other end of the rope. There might yet be a danger that falling rocks from above could tumble down and hit her, but she wouldn’t think about that. She couldn’t abseil down for the same reason. Going higher wouldn’t work either. Above, there was only sheer rock face and the rope she was using wasn’t long enough. If she had more time, she could ask Kirk to send up another rope and join that one to the one she had. But time was a luxury she didn’t have. She had to move now. Staying where she was wasn’t an option.

      ‘I’m going move sideways and down to the next ledge, Kirk,’ she said into her radio. ‘There’s another casualty—the mother. The helicopter is going to look for her as soon as they drop the boy off.’

      ‘Be careful, sis,’ Kirk’s voice crackled over the radio. He didn’t need to say any more. He, more than most, would know exactly how dangerous the predicament she found herself in was.

      Georgie eased herself over the side of the cliff. Don’t think about what can happen, she told herself. Think about something else. Think about your daughter waiting for you at home.

      Looking down, a wave of vertigo washed over her. It had taken her precious minutes to travel less than a couple of feet and the cliff she was reaching for was still some distance away. Another rock tumbled from the ledge above, missing her head by inches. Her heart sank as she realised she still couldn’t risk going down or up. All she could do was to keep on inching her way to the side so she’d be away from the line of the falling rocks. Then she would have to think again. Maybe Kirk would have a bright idea.

      Taking a breath to try and quell the rising panic, she continued to move sideways, concentrating on finding footholds and places for her fingers to grip in the sheer rock.

      Glancing to her left, she noted with relief that she had moved far enough away from the crumbling cliff and the falling rocks. Good. At the very least, if she could hang on, Kirk would find a way to get her off the damned mountain.

      She looked up as the roar of the returning helicopter once again whipped dust into her face. Not that it would do her much good. The wind had picked up, and where she had moved to was under an overhang. There was no way the helicopter could get close enough to the mountainside to lift her off. No, it was down to her and Kirk. Although for

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