Spiral (The Salzburg Saga Book One) (6 page)

Nina swallowed and went through the contents of her handbag. Remarkably, everything she had packed in her handbag remained: gloves, passport, purse, lip balm, headache tablets. Even her house keys and tissues stared back up at her. She almost wept with relief at seeing such basic yet familiar things. Their familiarity brought comfort.

“Take these; they’ll help a little.” Neil returned and passed Nina two small white pills and a small bottle of water. With Angela's help she managed to sit up and take the pills.

“Ben had antiseptic in here, too,” Neil said with a strange glance at Jake that Nina didn’t understand.

“Thanks.” She applied it to the lump at the back of her head.
It's so quiet out here,
she thought with an almost distant awareness. They all sat like shocked zombies, not talking and barely moving. No one was looking at anyone else. And there was something else that she noticed. A brooding silence hung over the group. At first, she thought it was merely the fact that the jet had crashed, but there was more to it. She felt it, sensed it, and the not knowing only made her restless. “Ange…” She tried to look around but her neck was stiff. “Ange, where’s–?”

“You need to keep still, Neen, or this’ll take longer.”

Ange was avoiding her question, a typical lawyer tactic that Nina was more than familiar with. And right now it did nothing to settle her already unsteady stomach. Angling her head away from Angela’s ministrations, Nina turned to face her friend.

“You need to worry about yourself right now.” Angela dampened a cloth with disinfectant and pressed it to the corner of Nina’s split lip. “You were out for a long–”

“But she’s alive,” Jake bit out. “Not everyone was that lucky.”

She couldn’t see Jake, but his anger reached her. “What does he mean, Ange?” But Angela just lowered her eyes and looked away. Nina’s gaze whipped to Neil. “Neil? Who…?”

“Ben, my second,” Jake continued without mercy. “He died form smoke inhalation. His body is now no doubt frozen and turning blue somewhere out here.”

For a moment Nina could only stare at Angela’s pained face in disbelief. “What?" Nina whispered. “No. Oh God.”
Of course, Ben. He wasn’t sitting here with the rest of them.
She heard weeping then, and from the corner of her peripheral vision, she saw it came from Emily. The stewardess had her face in her hands.

“That last bit wasn’t necessary, Jake,” Neil said, his voice tight. “A simple no would’ve sufficed.”

“No?” The captain gave a harsh bark of laughter and curved a comforting arm around Emily’s shoulder. “You’ll have to excuse me if I’m not concerned with her sensibilities right now. We’re all sitting here using
Ben’s
meds that he was thoughtful enough o pack, and I was lucky to grab, yet he’s gone. Just gone. He wasn’t just a colleague but a friend.”

Neil looked pained as he slid a glance over at the inert Hugh. “I understand,” he began, “but–”

“No, you don’t; none of you do.” Jake’s gaze swept over them with one savage glance. “What have any of you lost? Some luggage?” His gaze zeroed in on Justin. “Some freaking fancy
ski gear?
Who in your team has actually died?”

His question was met with tense silence.

Nina swallowed and tried t break the frigid tension. “I’m so sorry, Jake.”

“I don’t want your apology. You all–”

“I couldn’t loosen his seatbelt,” Emily said in a voice as flat as death. “It wouldn’t loosen.”

Everyone stared at her with similar expressions of in horror. Nina felt her heart clench. The other woman sat hunched under Jake’s arm. Removing her hands from her face, Nina saw the devastation in Emily’s large brown eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Emily,” Angela began. “It’s–”

“Like I said before,” Jake cut in angrily, “we don’t’ want apologies. We–”

“Leave it, Jake.”

It was Emily who spoke; her words were soft even as her eyes were vacant.

With obvious effort, Jake clamped down on his lips.

“Did you manage to grab the candles?” she asked him.

“Yeah.”

Nina watched them. Ben was dead. She couldn’t believe it. Only hours before, he’d graciously allowed Hazel to go in and speak to Jake before takeoff.

“Parker’s waking up,” Shayna said flatly.

They all watched Parker’s eyes flutter several times before finally staying open. “W-where–?” he stuttered. His gloved hands flexed restlessly.

“You’re okay, Parker,” Neil assured him.

Parker fought to speak, his voice low and scratchy. “W-what’s going on?”

“The jet crashed.”

What little color Parker had drained away. “Oh, God. I knew–” He coughed violently, spitting out dribble as he did so. “Hugh. I–”

“Don’t try to talk,” Neil advised him.

Justin glanced at Jake. “You have a first aid kit?”

“Ben had one.” Reluctantly taking it from Ben’s rucksack, Jake tossed it to him without a word.

“I know what to do,” Emily stated without inflection and took the kit from Justin.

Taking out a thermometer, she kneeled on the snow and gently forced it between Parker’s stiff lips as Parker’s eyes darted around. ”Twenty-eight degrees,” she reported. “The ideal is between thirty and thirty-eight.”

“We’re not in an ideal situation,” Justin pointed out. “I don’t think any of us are particularly warm right now, despite the warm clothes we’ve got on.”

“I’ve never been so cold in my life,” Angela said, and comforted herself by pressing against Shayna who wrapped an arm around her.

“Justin.” Parker’s voice hitched. He began to sit up, but Angela and Neil urged him to stay down. “Thank God you’re all right, Justin,” he croaked. “Where’s Hugh?”

Justin let out a breath. “Right here, he’s breathing but it’s faint.”

“B - but he’s alive?”

“More’s the pity,” Jake muttered.

“How’s the arm, Parker?” Angela frowned at his left arm.

His face twisted in agony. “Something fell on it. The jet–”

“Crashed because of your brat of a son,” Jake interjected. “He’s the reason we’re all in this crappy situation.” He swung his eyes around the group as if daring anyone to dispute his words.

No one did.

Parker’s gaze shifted to Jake. “I - I remember…Hugh…Hugh broke into the cockpit.” He wheezed out a breath. “W-where are we? What fell on my arm? Something …struck it.”

“Do you have stuff in there for his arm?” Justin asked Emily.

Instead of answering, she slowly began to pull what she needed from Ben’s rucksack.

“Thank you, Emily.” His breathing heavy, Parker frowned. “Do you know where we are?” he asked Jake.

“No,” Jake snapped. “I’m a pilot not a mountain guide. My job was to fly you to Salzburg airport. That was it. Maybe you should ask your son where we are. He landed us here.” Jake swept his gaze over the rest of the group. “But now that we’ve got Nina, we have to get moving.” He didn’t try to sound enthusiastic about it. “We can’t stay in this spot.”

“Why not?” Justin asked in annoyance. “We’re all exhausted. Getting out of that jet took everyone’s energy.”

Jake pierced the younger man with a look of pure disgust. “You didn’t go back for anyone. Neil and I did.”

“And what?” Justin hissed. “That makes you Boy Wonder?”

“Don’t start,” Neil implored before Jake could lash back. “Please. Let’s just get through this.”

Not listening to their bickering, Nina’s eyes darted around at the tall dark mountains surrounding them. “Are we still in a danger zone?”

“We need to get moving,” Jake said instead.

“For how long?” Angela wanted to know.

“A while.”

Her mouth tightened at his curt reply.

“What’s that noise?” Shayna suddenly asked, looking around anxiously as she held Luke close to her. “It sounds like…like…”

“Cracking,” Neil finished with a frown.

Nina’s ears picked up the sound then. They all started looking around them anxiously, trying to see where it was coming from.

“What–?” Emily began, and then broke off, her eyes widening in horror.

And for as long as Nina lived, she knew she’d never forget the terror that rang in Emily’s voice when she screamed, “Avalanche!”

CHAPTER SIX

It happened on the other side of the snow bank. Nina estimated the distance to be around three hundred feet from them, yet its deafening roar made it seem only two feet away.

Nina watched it happen in sick fascination, unable to tear her eyes from the tumbling volume of white snow. She’d seen avalanches depicted on TV, of course, but nothing had prepared her for this. She barely heard the anxious shouts from Neil and Jake. Only when Neil grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet did her wide stunned eyes meet his desperate ones.

“Move,” he shouted, and she realized that everyone except Parker and Hugh were on their feet.

“It’s going to block any way out of here.” Jake had to shout to be heard over the scream of the avalanche. “It’s going to push us deeper into backcountry.” He looked around frantically. “We need to get moving.”

Neil shook the shoulders of Parker and Hugh. “Wake up. There’s an avalanche. We have to move.”

Parker’s eyes flickered open. “Wha–?” The shocked and pained expression on his face said more than a thousand words. Beside him, Hugh blinked twice and moaned.

Neil helped Parker to his feet, the older man unsteady as he looked around in disbelief. “What’s going on?” Parker asked as Justin tried to revive Hugh.

“Just start walking,” Jake ordered him, jerking his head to the miles of snow-covered ground ahead of them. “We don’t have a minute to waste. Let’s head upslope toward higher ground.”

Neil pressed a kiss to Shayna and Luke’s cheeks and took Luke into his arms. “You have to try to be strong, baby,” he told Shayna.

Face bleak, she merely nodded and prepared to follow him.

“What about Hugh?” Parker asked, struggling to remain steady on his feet.

“I’m helping him,” Justin muttered. “Don’t I always?”

“Jake…” Emily licked her lips. “What about Ben?”

They all stilled momentarily.

“You know we had to leave him, Em,” he whispered, his eyes sending her a thousand apologies “He’s…he’s gone.”

“No.” As the avalanche screamed on, making them all j cast uneasy glances over their shoulders; Emily shook her head with determined resolution even as tears streamed down her pale cheeks. “No. We have to go back and get him, Jake.” Her eyes were pleading on Jake’s. “Let’s go back and undo his seatbelt. We can’t–”

“Em…” Jake’s face, pinched and frozen with cold, made his lips barely move.

“We don’t have a choice.” He took her slim shoulders in his hands. “I’m so sorry. You know it’s the last thing I want–”

“We can’t,” Emily wailed. “Please. Don’t do this to me.”

Nina was forced to cast her eyes to her left as the avalanche continued to hammer the ground, making the ground under their booted feet feel as steady as a shredded dishcloth; the frenzy of it making it impossible to think straight.

“We don’t have a choice, Em,” Jake repeated urgently. “We have no choice. There’s nothing we can do for him now. We have to save ourselves now.” He lifted her chin in an effort to make her damp eyes focus on him instead of the horror still clouding her mind. “You can do this,” he told her fiercely. “You can. Ben would want you to. We have to help ourselves now, and we have to
hurry
. None of us know where going, or where we are. I don’t’ have a compass or map with me, so we have to stick together and do our best to survive. Come on.”

“
Help ourselves how
?” she cried shrilly. “No one knows we’re here or that we’re stranded. How, Jake? How?”

“We can’t debate it here. Let’s move,” he said. Shoving the rucksack onto his back he all but started dragging Emily along with him. “The rest of us are lucky to be alive. We have to honor that and try to survive. Come on.” He nodded in approval to Neil and Shayna who had already started to walk up ahead. “Let’s follow them.”

Nina grimaced with every step through the snow. They were all hobbling, she saw, especially Parker, but they were moving, and now she had to. She only hoped she could.

Justin supported a babbling Hugh to his side, his body almost bent double under the weight.

Hugh’s complexion was waxy and drawn; his face damp with sweat, and Nina saw he was struggling with one of his legs. “Looks as if he might have caught a fever,” Justin shouted to them over the howl of the avalanche.

Disgusted, Nina looked away.

“Not our problem,” Jake shouted back. “Either dump him or carry him. Your choice.” Even as Justin’s face stiffened, Jake had already dismissed him. “Keep your hand over your nose and mouth.” He demonstrated with his free hand. “It’ll make breathing easier.”

Nina tried to block out the pain of stiffened limbs and aching ribs as she limped away from the rolling tide of the avalanche and toward, what she hoped, was safety.

The wind howled around them, a groaning that permeated her ears and made her teeth continually chatter. She had wrapped her scarf around her neck when she’d changed into her ski gear but wisps of cold air still sneaked underneath it, irritating her.

For every step they took, the wind forced them back two steps. She fell down several times, and Angela had helped her back to her feet.

She wasn’t sure when the avalanche ceased; it might have been an hour or ten minutes. Emily drew their attention to it, her gloved hand shaking in the air as she pointed her finger to the suddenly quiet mountains, that tranquility settling over the area after so much natural destruction. They took the moment to stop and express their relief and take a much-needed break.

Not so much as a bird flew overhead and snow began falling in thick flat flakes, making visibility difficult.

Her sister Hazel’s face flashed into Nina’s mind then, and it was all Nina could do not to weep as fear clawed her throat. Hazel was expecting her to be smooching with Parker’s client and making contacts for their law firm. Heck, her sister expected her to have access to a Jacuzzi.

The current reality couldn’t be further from the truth.