Bear had recited it verbatim, every word. He grinned, his smile largely hidden behind his beard. “Are you a believer, Naomi Archer?”
“I used to be.” She told him a little about Peter and Ruth, how they lied to people, how they used religion to hurt and control people, to have power over them. “I ran away when I was sixteen. I quit believing in anything.”
“The people who raised you—they were false prophets, Pharisees.”
She’d never thought about it like that before. “I guess they were.”
“No, Rose, I can’t ask Chaska to do this for you. He’s busy with work and the Team. He doesn’t have time… Okay, I’ll ask, but I doubt he’ll be able to help. You’d be better off calling animal control.” Winona hung up the phone and turned to Naomi, the irritation unmistakable on her face.
“Who is Rose?”
“She owns a New Age gift shop in town and does tarot readings and horoscopes—that kind of thing. She’s always trying to get into my brother’s pants.”
That’s all it took. Naomi hated Rose.
Was every woman Scarlet in love with him?
Winona went on. “She doesn’t understand that he’s not interested. Now she wants him to come and catch this snake for her. I’m sure she’s just trying to … Hey, Chaska. Did you get fired or something?”
Naomi’s head jerked around, her heart taking flight at the sight of him.
He stood in the doorway in jeans and a blue gingham sport shirt. His gaze met hers, his lips curving in a smile meant just for her. “Have a little faith, sister. The meeting with NASA went well, and I’ve taken the rest of the week off. Hey, Bear. Good to see you. Did my sister give you something good to eat?”
Bear pointed at Naomi with a little nod of his head. “Naomi Archer made me two peanut butter sandwiches.” He lowered his voice to a near whisper. “She’s awful pretty.”
Chaska leaned down as if sharing a secret and gave Bear a brotherly clap on the shoulder, his eyes looking into Naomi’s. “You’re right. She is.”
He stepped over to Naomi, kissed her on the lips. “The Team just got toned out to help a fallen climber in Eldorado Canyon State Park. I thought you might want to come and watch us in action.”
“My brother wants to show off for you,” Winona teased.
Naomi took hold of her crutches and stood. “I would love that.”
“Hoka hey. Let’s go.”
Chaska parked behind Rescue One. “You’ll need to stay here with the vehicles. You’ll be able to see us. The Bastille, where we’re headed, is right next to us off the road. It’s going to be hot out there, so stay hydrated. There’s bottled water behind the seat and some snack bars if you get hungry. Whoever is acting as Incident Command will be down here, too, so if you need anything—”
“Stop worrying about me.” Naomi picked up her camera bag. “Do what you need to do. I’ll be fine.”
He leaned over, kissed her mouth, drawn to her. “See you soon.”
“Be careful.”
“You know it.”
He stepped out, grabbed his pack out of the back of the truck, and walked over to Rescue One where Moretti, O’Brien, Herrera, Ahearn, and Nicole were gearing up. As the first Team members on the scene, they were Hasty Team. Dave Hatfield was there, too. He was a ranger with the City of Boulder, as well as a tenured Team member, and was on duty today and acting as IC.
Megs saw Chaska—then looked past him to Naomi. “Well, well. What a surprise. Nice to see you again, Naomi.”
Nicole looked from Chaska to Naomi, hurt flashing across her face before she looked away.
Shit.
Hatfield brought them all up to date. “We’ve got a male, age thirty, with a probable broken knee. He was climbing Your Mother on The Bastille here when a fixed bolt broke. He took a whipper, striking his knee. He was lead climbing. His buddies have him on belay, but when they tried to lower him down, he started screaming.”
O’Brien jumped in first. “I’ll climb up to him, give him morphine IM, and get him as comfortable as possible while you all set up the vertical evac.”
Megs nodded. “Make it happen. Nicole, you’re on belay with O’Brien. Belcourt, you solve the anchor problem. Moretti, Herrera—work with Belcourt. We’ve got six more members en route. They can join Ahearn as the evac team.”