Page 49 of Mountain Impact

“I’m at the Bossons chairlift.”

Isolde pulled the received back tightly against her ear.

“What are you doing up there, Amélie? You need to come back to town. There’s a storm coming, you shouldn’t be out―”

“You helped me understand that I don’t want to live without Pierre.”

Isolde could hardly hear Amélie’s voice over the beating staccato of her heart. She stared at her phone as if she could pull the other woman through it.

“Amélie, where are you exactly? I need you to sit down and wait for me. I’m on my way.”

“You’ll come?” she asked. The other woman’s voice sounded surprised, as if she hadn’t expected it.

Isolde looked up at the looming clouds.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Promise me you’ll sit down and wait for me.”

“I promise.”

Isolde ran across her house. She was already wearing jeans, but she put on thick woolen socks and her winter hiking boots. She didn’t take the time to do anything about her hair, which was piled on top of her head in a messy bun. Over the white long-sleeved top she was already wearing, Isolde put on a thin fleece. From a hook by the door she picked up her waterproof down jacket and ran outside to her car.

Please start, please start.

Thankfully, the engine came to life at the first try. The bottom station of the Bossons chairlift was only ten minutes away from her house, and she didn’t imagine there would be a long line of people ready to get up there at this time of day, so that didn’t concern her―what did worry her was the fact that the ride up was forty minutes long.

How long will Amélie wait for me?

What if she―

It didn’t bear thinking about.

She needed to call Drake. Not just to tell him what was going on, but also because―if he and his team happened to be available and nearby―they might be able to reach Amélie Omont before she could.

Drake’s phone rang once, twice, three times. With each ring, the chances he would pick up grew dimmer. Finally, the call went to his voice mail.

Shit.

She was too slow to leave a voice mail, so she had to dial again. She waited impatiently for the voice mail to connect again, then spoke quickly before the machine disconnected her. She hated speaking to answering machines.

“Drake, it’s Isolde. I’m on my way to the Bossons cable car. Amélie Omont is up there … I’m worried she’ll do something terrible. I’m going up to meet her now. If you happen to be in the area, please call me. Otherwise, I’ll call you when I’m with her.”

Isolde worried about the euphemism she’d chosen to use. Something terrible. Why couldn’t she utter the action Amélie had actually threatened with.

She wondered if she should call the PGHM emergency number, or even the colonel. But the PGHM teams were probably all busy with the coming storm, and if Amélie was up waiting by the cable car, Isolde might be able to convince her to come down without having to take resources away from other rescues.

That was probably the best idea. Isolde owed it to Amélie―she owed it to Pierre―to find Amélie and bring her down safely if she could.

#

Drake

Drake leaned back against the SUV’s headrest. Water dripped from his clothes and hair down onto the fabric of the seats. He was glad it was Damien driving rather than him. He was exhausted. Behind him sat Gael and Hiro, while Bailey rested in a crate in the back of the SUV.

Behind him, Gael laughed.

“Man, that was wild, even for us.”

Wild was one way to describe it. Drake wondered if he was getting old―he certainly wasn’t as accepting of foolishness as he used to be.