Here Comes Trouble (32 page)

If not for this tree, she would probably have
drowned.

Her only hope now was that someone realized
she wasn't back from her ride yet, and it was getting late. Or
maybe that Diamond had somehow made it back to the ranch. Dylan was
the only one that knew she was gone. Since he had been worried
about her going, maybe he'd kept an eye out for her. Surely when
Ethan and his group got to the ranch he would ask someone where she
was.

None of those possibilities made Terri feel
any better. Even if they realized she was gone, they had no idea
where to look for her. She had no idea herself where she was or how
far she'd been swept downstream, before she caught the limb. They
wouldn't even know she'd fallen into the creek. Joel had a thousand
acres out here and it could take them days or weeks to find
her.

Terri didn't have that long, her arms and legs
were getting numb from the cold, and from gripping the tree. If she
fell asleep and loosened her grip, she'd wind up in the water
again. There was no way she had enough strength left to survive
another round in the creek. She was going to have to come up with
something to save herself, and soon.

Damn, what would Ethan do?
Her brother
would know exactly how to get himself out of this mess. Even if he
only had a toothpick and a piece of chewing gum, he would McGuyver
a harness and swing himself to the bank or something.

Terri had to use that same mindset to figure a
way out of this. If she didn't, she had no delusions she'd make it
through the night clinging to this tree. Terri shoved one hand down
into her pockets to see if she had anything that might help her. No
chewing gum and no toothpick there.

The only thing she had to save herself though
were the clothes on her back. Tamping down the panic that was
trying to paralyze her, Terri carefully surveyed the bank, and
tried to formulate a plan. Because the water was so high, the bank
was at least five feet from the outermost branch of the tree, and
those were thin limbs. Being small was both a blessing and a curse
in this situation, she realized. Those branched might hold her
weight, but her legs and body wouldn't stretch far enough to close
the distance to the bank.

Her eyes stopped at a limb on another tree
that was about two feet from the farthest limb on her tree. It was
thicker than the limbs on this tree, and should be reachable if she
could make it to the end of the one here. But she'd need something
to help her stretch there, and swing up. Her blue jeans might make
for a good rope, she thought and unbuttoned them with one hand,
while she hung on with the other arm.

Getting the wet jeans down her legs was going
to be the trick. After she got the pants unzipped, it took a while
but she managed to roll them down over her butt. One side at a
time, she alternated hands and arms, until she had them to her
knees. Propping her butt on a limb, she shimmed the material until
she had one leg off, then the other. By the time she had them in
her hands, she felt like she'd run a marathon, and she was colder
than ever.

The temperature had dropped again, and Terri
knew she was running out of time.

Joel paced up and down the living room, as the
noise in the room got louder and louder, the tension higher and
higher. Terri's brother Ethan was like a caged cat as they waited
for the four-wheelers to be delivered. The good thing was that it
had stopped raining, so searching would be easier and faster once
they arrived. The bad news was it was getting dark, would be pitch
black in an hour or so. He checked and there was only a
quarter-moon tonight, so that wouldn't help them much. Supposedly,
the ATVs had headlights, but they needed more.

"Trish call the guys and tell them to stop at
the hardware store for some headlamps, batteries and extra ropes on
the way back with the ATVs...and make it quick!" Joel shouted over
his shoulder, then started pacing again, once he saw her put her
cell phone to her ear.

The dealership couldn't deliver the vehicles
to them, so Joel had sent guys out in all five trucks they had at
the ranch to pick them up.

"If something happens to my sister, I'm going
to kick your ass. She doesn't know how to ride a fucking horse any
better than I do," Ethan Cassidy grated and paced beside Joel. "She
shouldn't have been allowed to go out there alone!"

Joel stopped pacing and faced him. The guy was
ripped like a professional athlete, and about an inch taller than
him, but with the pent-up frustration pouring through him, Joel
thought he could take him if push came to shove. And it was about
to, if the guy didn't get off his ass. "Back the fuck off, Ethan,"
Joel told him and gave him a shove.

Ethan shoved him back and drew back his fist.
Joel flinched but the blow never came, because he was jerked
backwards by a tall blond guy in his group, who was just as beefed
up as Terri's brother was. All ten of his group were firemen and on
the Texas Search and Rescue squad, so every one of them looked like
something off a poster for male fitness equipment. Joel thought
they all had too much testosterone, and not enough brains to fill a
thimble.

"This isn't helping find your sister, Ethan,"
Joel grated then took a step toward him. "If something happens to
her, I'll kick my
own
ass and save you the
trouble."

"You can have what's left," Ethan grumbled and
shook out of his friend's grasp.

"We need to work together here, or we're not
going to find her...think you can manage that?"

"I'm the leader of this team, asshole," Ethan
grated and moved a step closer to him. "Think
you
can deal
with that? We know what the fuck we're doing here, you
don't."

"Well hopefully you can ride a four-wheeler
better than you can a horse, or none of us is gonna be much use to
her. And
team
doesn't mean you're in charge, it means we
work
together
, don't forget that."

Ethan was quick to tell him earlier that he
and
his
team were thoroughly trained in whitewater rescue,
which was what they'd be dealing with in rescuing Terri. Rescuing
would come later, they had to find her first, Joel had told
him.

When the weather had let up, Joel had called
Chase, and asked him to see if he could find a helicopter with a
spotlight to help in the search. Chase located one at a rig and it
was on the way. Joel would ride in the copter and help look from
the air.

Chase had also found some communications
equipment he was sending, more radios, so they could all coordinate
the search. His brother had come through yet again.

Suddenly Joel heard a thick low pitched
whopping sound overhead and realized the helicopter had arrived. He
wasn't waiting on the guys to get back with the four-wheelers, he
was going up now to start looking. The longer they waited, the less
chance they'd have of finding her tonight...and the higher chance
she could drown or freeze to death.

Joel headed toward the front door, and someone
followed him out onto the porch. It was Ethan and he was putting on
his jacket, the thing was filled with so many patches and
designations, it would take an hour to read them all. From the
looks of it, Terri's brother was planning on going in the
helicopter with him.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"
Joel asked shortly.

"With you," Ethan replied and brushed past
him.

"I know how to hang out of a helicopter and
rescue someone, do you?" Ethan asked sarcastically. He had a point,
that wasn't something Joel had ever tried, but if they found her he
would give it his best shot. Even if he fell out and drowned
himself in the process.

If her brother knew how to do that though,
he'd let him do it, because Joel didn't have a death wish, and he
wasn't particularly fond of heights anyway. "Help me pass out the
radios," Joel shouted, then ducked to run under the rotors to the
side door.

There was a pile of radios on the seat, and
Joel passed half of them to Ethan, then cradled the rest in his
arms and ran back toward the house.

The engine noise was deafening and he thought
Ethan yelled something, but he wasn't sure, and he wasn't stopping
to find out. He ran for the front porch then laid down the
equipment.

"I need a rope, or a few of them, where can I
get that?" Ethan asked as he set his load next to
Joel's.

"In the barn, come on," Joel yelled and ran
down the steps then toward the barn.

Once he was inside, Joel ran to the tack room
and pulled ropes off of every hook and handed them to Ethan, then
headed out the back door and around the barn. He hopped the fence
and took long strides, not looking to see if Ethan was with him. If
the man wanted to go, he better damn well keep up, Joel thought
then opened the back door and climbed into the seat.

Ethan climbed up and told him, "Shove over, so
I can sit by the door, in case I need to get out."

Not liking the man's attitude now any more
than he had earlier, but determined to focus on the goal at hand,
finding Terri, he unbuckled and moved to the far seat without
arguing. Like he knew what he was doing, Ethan secured the door,
then buckled in and gave the pilot a thumbs up sign.

The pilot passed them headphones with
microphones and they put them on. "There's a new front coming in
according to the weather report," the pilot told them, then added,
"We have about three hours to find her, so ya'll keep your eyes
open and holler if you see anything."

Joel groaned, that's all they needed...more
bad weather. "Run along the creek, that's where I saw the signs
she'd gone in the water." He wasn't sure that's what had happened,
but it was the best lead they had. If they didn't find her there,
they'd widen the search, if they had time left before the weather
came again.

The pilot banked and found the creek, then
flew right above the trees and the raging water. He turned on the
spotlight and moved it from bank to bank, hovering now and again,
then moving on.

"Ethan, you copy?" a voice asked over the
headset.

"I'm here..." he replied and put his hand to
his ear. It was someone not in the aircraft with them, so Joel
assumed it was one of the man's team members at the
ranch.

"We're loading up, should be by the creek in
fifteen."

"Copy, let us know if you find her and we'll
circle back," he told the man, but his eyes never left the creek
bank. The man was focused, Joel would give him that. Joel followed
the other bank with his eyes when the spotlight lit on his side of
the aircraft.

Terri didn't know how much longer she could
hold on. Her plan had gone all to hell, and now she was in all
kinds of trouble. After getting as far down the limb as she could,
she tossed her jeans over the stronger limb on the other tree, then
held on and eased her legs off of the other limb. That's where
she'd gone wrong, she figured out too late. The swift running water
had immediately jerked her legs from under her, and now she was
holding onto the legs of the jeans with no hope of swinging
anywhere.

Her arms felt like noodles, and she knew she
was only delaying the inevitable. Another fight against the creek
was in her near future...in the dark. This one she was afraid she
was going to lose. Terri closed her eyes and concentrated on
holding on as long as she could.

She heard a faint whooshing noise over the
roar of the water and tilted her head to listen closer. It got
louder and she sucked in a breath wondering if she was hearing
things. She'd heard people did that when they knew they were going
to die. Like someone stranded in a desert saw water where there
wasn't any. She had plenty of water, sand would be welcome right
about now.

A few minutes later the sound got louder, but
didn't seem to be moving any closer. There was definitely something
in the sky nearby. Terri leaned her head back and tried to see
through the branches and the darkness, but couldn't see anything. A
burst of wind kicked up the water and she saw a spotlight on the
other side of the creek running along the bank. She closed her eyes
again, because the water spray was blinding her. Getting control of
her chattering teeth, Terri tensed her jaw then found her tongue
and forced a yell past her numb lips.

Terri didn't have much hope they'd hear her
over the river, and the sound of the helicopter engine, but she had
to try. Her hands were otherwise occupied, so she couldn't signal
them. Her heart stopped when the bight light skimmed across the
creek toward her.
Please see me
, she prayed then yelled
again.

"Stop!" Ethan yelled. "I thought I saw
something, spotlight the right bank again...no a little farther
back."

Joel's heart sped up as the pilot moved
backward and tracked the spotlight along the bank. He watched for
any sign of movement in the water or in the bushes and trees and
didn't see anything.

"There!" Ethan shouted then let out a whoop.
He pointed and Joel looked where he indicated and could just make
out a shadow under a tree. Then he saw the blue jeans and followed
them down to see Terri hanging onto them with her legs trailing in
the water.