Page 12 of Mountain Impact

“With all due respect, Doc, that tin can’s a real danger. I think I’m safer walking.”

Chapter 4

Drake

Drake didn’t need to look up from the papers in front of him to know Isolde had just walked into the room. It wasn’t anything he could put his finger on―he’d simply always felt her presence keenly, which was one of the reasons it’d been so easy to avoid her for almost six years, even though they’d worked in the same building.

Today she was wearing a dark suit with a silky turquoise top underneath. Her dark hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders, held back from her eyes by an invisible clip. It was a professional look, but it was also sexy as hell.

There were several chairs available at the enormous, oval conference table, and it didn’t escape Drake’s notice that she chose the one furthest away from him.

Including Isolde, there were five people sitting at the table. It was what management liked to refer to as a multidisciplinary team: he and Jens Melkopf, from the PGHM, Hugo Morant and another gendarme Drake didn’t know from the Compagnie d’Annecy, Vincent Morgan, the gendarmerie’s public relations’ expert, and Yvette Legrand, the mayor’s chief of staff. And of course. Isolde.

Although they were still waiting for Colonel Pelegrin to arrive so the meeting could formally begin, the presence of Vincent Morgan and Yvette Legrand already told Drake everything he needed to know about the meeting’s objective: to stop the cable crash case from becoming a shitshow for the gendarmerie and for the mayor’s office.

Drake wished himself anywhere but here. He wanted to be out in the mountains with his team―not stuck in this airless room talking about something that couldn’t be undone.

Though he purposefully didn’t look at Isolde, he was hyperaware of her presence. He was glad he was sitting down―his cock had gone semi-hard the moment she arrived into the room.

He and Isolde had gone almost six years without speaking more than a couple words to each other―from the moment she betrayed his trust by submitting that file to his superiors, just a few weeks after the first cable car crash, to the moment last weekend when she’d shown up at the second rescue scene.

Normally, Drake wasn’t the kind of man to hold a grudge for six years. But he’d been in love with Isolde, so her betrayal had cut him deep.

He’d convinced himself that was all he felt for her―pain at her betrayal. But now that they’d spoken again, now that they were in the same room again, he was shocked to discover just how badly he wanted to get to know her again.

He realized he’d never stopped thinking about Isolde, and silently apologized to every woman he’d dated since then.

He raised his eyes and found her looking at him. Her eyes were warm honey, but her look was wary―like she wasn’t quite sure what to think about him.

The door opened again, and the colonel walked in. He stopped them with a wave of his hand as they all attempted to rise.

Colonel Pelegrin was in his mid-forties. Although he was responsible for the entire Chamonix gendarmerie―including two PGHM teams, a team of city gendarmes, and all the support resources and infrastructure―as well as the relationship with the mayor’s office, he never looked stressed. He was one of those men who made you feel, when he was talking with you, that you were contributing to something important.

“Ladies, gentlemen, thank you for joining me today.” He did a quick, efficient round of introductions. “We’re here to talk about the Brévent incident.”

“The mayor is very worried, Colonel. It’s been three days already, and we still don’t seem to know much,” said Yvette Legrand. She was a slim young woman with dark, curly hair and a cream-colored suit that perfectly complemented her dark skin. Drake understood why the mayor needed someone like her by his side―she looked like she could go from this meeting straight to holding a press release without batting an eye.

“Thank you for that context, Ms. Legrand,” the colonel said coldly.

Drake knew the man’s irritation was directed at the mayor, who hadn’t even bothered to join this meeting, and not at his chief of staff.

“Take us through the details, please, Gendarme Morant.”

Hugo Morant cleared his throat nervously. “We have found no discrepancies in the maintenance logs. The maintenance technician has a stellar record and over thirty years’ of experience. I have the full detail here,” he said, pointing at his laptop, “but, to summarize, the maintenance log is solid, and shows there had been absolutely no problems with the car before the morning of October 6th.”

“So, what you’re saying is, it’s nothing like the last cable car incident,” Yvette Legrand interrupted coldly.

Drake clenched his teeth, feeling the pressure vibrate all the way through his skull.

Incident was certainly one way to refer to it.

Even though his eyes didn’t move from the file in front of him, Drake felt the colonel and Isolde staring at him.

It was the colonel who finally replied.

“We have found no safety measure violations in this case,” he said carefully. “There is absolutely no reason to believe the two cases might be related.”

“And you don’t think the press is going to link the two incidents?” Yvette Legrand asked.