The helicopter tilts as Keller maneuvers it into a slight turn, dipping as we move, the wind buffeting it; every strong gust pounds the metal panels, and the rotors’ thunder drowns out everything else.
I wish it would drown out my own thoughts. The ones I don’t want to be having. The ones that go to a dark place where there is no Sapphire.
Over the headset, Keller asks, “Can you see her? Look! There! In the clearing on your right.”
My heart jumps into my mouth, the shock of her discovery hitting me like the full force of a cannonball being fired.
“I see her,” I exclaim, my voice rising with a mix of excitement and worry. She’s covered in mud, barely clinging to a tree stump, but she’s conscious. The glimmer of pink hair shining through the slivers of mud she’s covered in and her pink dress are no longer pink but murky and brown. That’s when she spots us, looks up, and waves one hand in the air, signaling us to her, shivering, her teeth chattering together, those big, beautiful eyes looking upward.Does she see me?
“Base, this is KA-SAR1. We have visuals on the subject. She’s conscious, clinging to a stump near the creek bed.”
“Roger, KA-SAR1,” Base responds immediately.
From behind me, Dexter springs into action, releases his seat belt, checks his safety harness, and readies himself and the stretcher for the rescue.
The mechanical roar from the engine remains relentless; the rumble makes it feel like my whole body is vibrating.
She’s alive.
But not safe yet.
Hold tight, baby.
Keller talks himself through his own motion. “Airspeed steady, altitude holding. I’m bringing us down into a hover.”
Then he descends the helicopter slowly, moving us closer to Sapphire.
With expert ease, Keller hovers one hundred feet directly above Sapphire, blocking her from my view.
Fuck. I wish I could see her.
“Dexter, you’re clear to open the side door and descend on the winch with the stretcher,” Keller instructs down the headset.
Dexter clips himself and the stretcher onto the winch cable, then slides the heavy door open, increasing the wind and engine noise to intolerable levels; it’s deafening.
The whirring of the cable unwinding begins. At the same time, Dexter slips out the side of the helicopter’s open doorway with the stretcher, disappearing from view, making my stomach cartwheel. I’m almost envious of how easily he does it with such grace, doing something that I couldn’t bring myself to do all those weeks ago.
“Base, initiating rescue,” Keller informs Base.
“Roger that, KA-SAR1,” they reply.
“What can I do?” I ask.
“Stay calm,” Keller replies in an even tone. “Leave Dexter and me to this.”
Stay calm? How can he say that when my insides are churning? I want to hurl.
These guys have more balls than a soccer team. They were born to do this job.
“Dexter’s lowering himself down now, she’ll be safe within minutes, Eli,” Keller reassures me.
“Can I not go down and rescue her too?” That petrifies me; we’re so high off the ground, but I want to. I feel so helpless.
“You can’t, Eli. It’s not safe, and you’re not trained. Dexter is the best. Trust me.”
“I don’t care.” I shake my head, shifting in my seat, my nervous energy making me want to jump out of the helicopter and get her myself. Fuck my fear of heights. That’s my girl down there.
Keller replies, much firmer this time, “I cannot lose both of you. Calm down. Now do as I instruct and sit still.”