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Lucky hollered from the top of the bank. “I’m dropping a rope to you. Have you got Callum out okay?”
Charlie’s relief was short-lived. Even as Lucky sent down a rope, he felt the now familiar vibrations running up through the car.
“Hold on.” AJ wrapped one arm around Cal, bracing them against the car.
“Here’s the rope.”
The end brushed past Charlie’s face and he reached for it, fingers flailing before they closed around it.
“Take Cal up for me,” said AJ. “I need to get Joni.”
“Hold on. I’m coming down,” called Lucky. Moments later, he dangled on the rope like a monkey, his face pale and ghostly in the reflected torchlight.
The vibration was getting stronger. The car bobbed under Charlie’s feet. Would AJ be able to keep hold of Callum?
Lucky didn’t wait. He reached out to AJ, kicking against the mud bank, and took the child. Cal wailed again, but Lucky held him and began to haul himself up the rope one-handed. “Wait for me to get to the top,” he said, “and then follow me up. I’ll come back down for Joni.”
It was a good plan. Great, even. But then the tremor hit its peak, and the car jerked and lurched further down.
Charlie and AJ yelled and grabbed each other. They’d moved a foot deeper into the water.
Charlie’s lungs were on fire. It was all he could do, to stay upright, and he bent over trying to catch his breath.
“You okay? Mate?” AJ clapped him on the shoulder and the pain ricocheted through him. “Will you be okay while I go for Joni?”
Charlie lifted his head, his lungs rasping. “Yep.” He flashed the torch up the bank. “Cal’s safe.”
“That’s good. Shine the light down here, and don’t move while I go back in. ’Kay?”
Charlie wasn’t going anywhere.
He hunkered down on the boot lid, braced his right hand on the frame, and used his left hand to point the Maglite into the car. It was a struggle to hold it steady, between the pain and the cold and the wet.
Charlie was over this. He thought of Daisy’s welcoming smile and the way she looked at him, as though he was amazing. After his fuckups, he didn’t deserve her, but he had a shot at redeeming himself, and he’d take it.
Would they get out of this? He shivered so hard, he nearly dropped the torch.
He’d do his damnedest to make sure AJ got home again. Alive.
His mind was wandering. He was losing focus. He rubbed his eyes and regretted the move immediately. Now he had mud in them. The sting woke him up, and he blinked hard until he could see again.
“She’s alive,” called AJ. “But she’s stuck. I need to pull her out.”
Charlie watched AJ grab Joni under the arms and haul her backward. She came free with a jerk, and the car shunted forward again.
“The fucking water’s rising. Help me, Charlie.”
Every movement sent a searing pain through Charlie’s chest, and his right arm was nigh on useless, but he was the only one who could help. Lucky said he’d be back, but AJ couldn’t wait.
Charlie forced his way through the window, wriggling past the headrests, and looped his left arm underneath her armpit. Together, he and AJ dragged her up a few inches, AJ doing most of the work.
It all went a bit fuzzy at that point. Charlie screamed as AJ hauled himself up, holding onto him. It sounded shrill to his ears. It must have shocked AJ.
Next thing he knew, AJ was sitting on the back of the car, a sodden and still unconscious Joni lying across his knees, while he hung onto Charlie’s shirt to keep him out of the water.
“Charlie. Charlie.”
Fuck. He must have blacked out. Lifting his head, he managed a grunt.
“Jesus, Charlie, you scared the shit out of me. Are you back with me now?”
“Uh huh.” Speaking hurt. Breathing hurt but was essential. He remembered something. “Lucky?”
“Coming down the rope now. We need to get you up there.”
Charlie tried to speak normally. “Joni first.”
By the time Lucky appeared, dangling a few feet above them, Charlie had pulled himself to a higher position on the car, that was now halfway submerged, water lapping around their feet.
They had to get Joni up there.
AJ said, “I’ll stand up and lift her. You hold my legs.”
She was visibly heavy, wet, and muddy. AJ’s feet slipped, as he tried to brace himself. He grunted, lifting her in his arms.
Lucky reached down and grabbed her. He tossed her over his shoulder and started to climb back up.
“When I get to the top, I’ll shout. You come up, one at a time.”
It sounded like a plan. They sat, shivering and with teeth chattering, waiting to hear Lucky’s voice. At least the rain had eased a little, although they were so wet it made no difference.
Had the quakes finished?
The car made a strange, sighing noise and lurched downwards. With them riding on the back.
*
There had to be another option, besides flying to Sydney. Daisy and Sylvie talked it through. On their current flight plan, they’d be in the air for something like four hours, then another four to come back. They couldn’t wait that long for news, but with the telephones down, they had no way to contact the ground anyway.
Duh! Of course they did. The pilot had radioed the control tower in Wellington. If he could talk to Wellington airport, he could also talk to Auckland airport.
“You’re right.” Sylvie sat up straighter. “Let’s talk to Jordan again.”
They went back to his seat, and Daisy launched straight in. “Why are we going to Sydney? I mean, why not Auckland?”
“Aiden suggested it. He had no idea how severe the quakes might be and wanted us at a safe distance.”
“Precisely,” said Daisy. “We’ve no idea how bad it’s been. Why don’t we ask? And if it’s not too bad, divert to Auckland instead? It’s an hour from Wellington in the air. It should all be over by the time we get there.”
He opened his mouth, but Sylvie spoke over him. “If we wait it out in Auckland until the phones are on again, we won’t be so far away.” She swallowed hard. “Please, Jordan. I can’t be so far away. Please?”
He nodded. “I’m on it.”
*
The massive lights under the helicopter lit the ground beautifully. At any other time, Juli would have enjoyed the experience, but not tonight. Not under these circumstances.
As the pilot swept over the area where the flare was shot, she saw what had happened. A tree lay across a dark SUV. Probably Aiden’s.
Shit. She had to do something, but what? “They’re my friends,” she said into the mic. “We need to help them. Can you land here somewhere?”
He spoke to the co-pilot, but then shook his head. “There’s nowhere clear enough here to risk it.” He looked at her over his shoulder. “Could you go down on a rope?”
“Rope?” she squeaked. “You mean, like a... a winch?”
He shook his head again. “Nah. We haven’t got a winch. I could hold a position twenty feet in the air, and you could climb down.”
“Me?”
“I need Fred here, to monitor the distance to the ground. I’d normally have a third crew member, but we got mustered urgently tonight.”
Her immediate thought was hell, no. The last time she tried to climb down a rope was in the school gym, and that was a long time ago. The memory of that gym class was burned into her consciousness. Thinking about it made her shudder.
She glanced across at Jack, who was sprawled with his eyes closed, blood seeping through the dressing underneath the ripped jeans. She was responsible for that. And if she’d tried harder to escape from Yanni, she could have prevented this whole bloody mess from happening tonight.
She couldn’t do it. Could she?
With a sense of great trepidation, she unfastened her safety belt and stood on shaky legs. “What do I have to do?”
The co-pilot passed her a set of sturdy leather gloves, and then uncoiled a nylon rope and dropped it through the open side of the chopper. She watched it tumble gracefully to the ground, a short distance from Aiden’s car.
“How do we get back in here?” As she asked the question, she knew the answer. “Don’t tell me—we climb back up the rope?”
He nodded.
“And if they’re hurt?”
He shrugged. “We have a good first-aid kit, but if they can’t get up the rope you need to call triple one.”
Juli laughed aloud, hysteria escaping. She really, really did not want to do this.
She shoved her cold hands into the gloves and eased her way to the yawning open door at the side. She glanced down, and immediately wished she hadn’t. Nausea filled her throat, and her vision swam.
She shrank away, her hands trembling and her heart galloping.
“Don’t look down,” the co-pilot offered. “I’ll help you.”
Juli looked at Jack. This was why she had to go down the rope. To make up for the destruction she’d been a part of.
The co-pilot held her hand, and she scrambled into position. She held the rope with both hands as tightly as she could, and wrapped her feet around it, like she remembered from gym classes. “Keep looking up at me.”
She nodded, her teeth chattering too much for her to speak, and pushed off slightly. She immediately dropped a couple of feet, as the rope took her weight. Christ on a bike, she didn’t like this. She wanted to climb back in. Right this second.
The co-pilot gazed at her. “Slowly now,” he yelled, the noise of the rotors almost drowning out his words. Jesus, it was ten times as noisy out here.
“Just fucking do it,” she chanted to herself. It helped.
She inched down the rope a little at a time, testing the feel of it in her hands. The rain had stopped for the moment. That helped.
The co-pilot crouched in the open doorway, watching her every movement. He gestured for her to keep going... further... further...
She inched along, not daring to look down again. It was a good job she wore gloves. Her hands were slick with sweat.
He made a stop gesture, and she paused. Next thing, he gave a big thumbs up and a broad smile, and she took the quickest glance below her. She dangled a short distance above the ground. Thank God. She made it.
JuliShe climbed down the last couple of feet and finally felt solid earth beneath her feet. She was tempted to kneel down and kiss the soil.
For a moment, she forgot why she did this, then with a guilty shock she remembered Aiden’s car and staggered toward it. Her ankle hurt, and she couldn’t put much weight on it, but at least she was mobile.
“Aiden,” she yelled. “Tanner? Darcy?”
“Juli?” Aiden leaned against the side of the broken car. “Was that you on the rope?”
She nodded, breathless with nervous energy.
“I thought it was the rescue services,” he said. “Have you got Jack with you?”
“Yes, but he’s asleep, still doped up from the hospital.”
“Okay. Darcy and Casey are injured, and Tanner’s doing some emergency patching. Is there room in the chopper?”
“Yes. But there’s no winch. You’ll have to get them up the rope.”
He nodded and gazed at his watch. “It’s been three minutes, so we’re probably due another quake. We can’t find anything here, and with no transport, it’s foolish to think about staying.” He moved awkwardly to the other side of the car and spoke to Tanner. When they appeared again, Tanner carried someone over his shoulder, while Aiden hobbled forward, helping Darcy walk.
“You go first, Juli,” said Aiden. “We’ll be right behind.”
Was it any easier going up? No. It was worse. It seemed miles to the chopper door from the ground.
She hauled her way up the rope, hand over hand, gritting her teeth and counting in her head. Each upward movement was maybe six inches. If she had to climb twenty feet, that made it forty steps from ground to chopper. Somewhere around thirty, she froze. If she fell from here, she’d break her neck.
She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t go any higher.
“Go on, Juli, you’re nearly there. Not far now.” This was the same Tanner that snarled at her earlier.
She closed her eyes for a moment, counted backward from ten to zero in her head, and then untangled her fingers and started to climb upwards again. It wasn’t as far as she thought. A few moves later, the co-pilot held out a gloved hand, to help her scramble inside.
That was beyond terrifying, but she did it. She fucking did it. Juli lay on the floor of the chopper, gasping for air and wheezing. Tanner emerged next, the guy still over his shoulders, followed by Aiden, who helped Darcy. They lay sprawled across the floor in a tangled heap, while the co-pilot pulled up the rope and neatly stashed it, then closed the side door.
“Okay guys,” he said. “Where to now?”
*
As Charlie plunged into the swirling water, two thoughts jostled for attention. If he blacked out again, he was a goner. And why the fuck did he never learn to swim?
He’d thought the water cold when it came up to his thighs. As he bobbed around, working hard to keep his head above water, he realised just how cold it was. Within seconds the lower half of his body was numb.
It was dark too. The Maglite had slipped out of his hand.
Something bumped into his side. AJ.
Charlie grabbed his t-shirt, clinging to him as he tried to think. “I dropped the torch.” Fuck, it was hard to speak. Hands, feet, limbs—all numb.
What a stupid fucking way to die. The water couldn’t be that deep. He smashed into something hard. The shock wave was brutal, and he moaned.
It was the back of the car. It loomed out of the water, and AJ scrabbled to get hold of it. He lost his grip, banged his head, and fell back into the water. He went under.
“No.” Charlie grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head up again. “Don’t you dare fucking drown.” They had to hang on long enough for Lucky to figure out a plan.
Charlie held AJ’s jacket with his other hand, and dragged him half out of the water, to perch across the back of the car again. Just like old times.
Okay, that was one benefit of the extreme cold—he didn’t hurt so bad now.
“Alex. Charlie.” Lucky was shouting them.
Charlie tried to answer but couldn’t get louder than a croak. He coughed, spat out some water, and tried again. “Here.”
Torchlight flashed over the mud banks and swept across the water, shining in his eyes. He squinted and waited.
“I can see you,” shouted Lucky. “You’ve moved downstream.”
No shit. “Can you get us?” Come on, Lucky. Think of something.
Lights moved. What was Lucky doing? Hang on—he was driving the car further along the edge.
Lucky shouted again. “I’m trying to get into position to reach you on the rope. Hang on.” Easier said than done.
AJ stirred.
Charlie tugged his hair and watched as his eyes flickered open. Thank fuck. “Welcome back, mate. Stay with me now. Lucky’s trying to get us out of here.”
“Uh huh.”
Charlie clung to him, willing him to stay awake. Hoping he’d be okay. That would be the ultimate irony—for AJ to learn he was Charlie’s brother just before they both died.
“AJ, talk to me. Stay awake.” Charlie forced his mouth to work, his leaden tongue to speak.
“Whaddya want?” AJ’s voice was slurred. He sounded very drunk. Whether it was with shock, pain, or the cold, it wasn’t good.
“Lucky’s gonna get us. Hear me?”
“You helped me save Cal. I couldn’t do it without you.”
Charlie hesitated. He’d sworn he’d never tell AJ, but right now, when they might not get out of here alive, it was vital he be honest. “He’s my nephew too.”
“Is it true?”
“Yeah.” There was an important question he had to ask. “Do you mind?”
There was the ghost of a smile. “It’s a privilege.”
He’d think about the implications of this later. If there was a later. “Now stay awake, you shithead. Cal needs both his uncles. Okay?”