Page 7 of High Country Escape

“The other man...do you know who he was?”

“No, I didn’t recognize him.”

She fell silent and he wondered if she had lost consciousness. “Are you still with me?” he called.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Roxanne. Roxanne Byrne.”

The name jolted him. “Roxanne! It’s Dalton Ames! May introduced us this afternoon. What happened?”

“I don’t know. I was driving home, then this car came up behind me. It was going really fast, not stopping at all. And it just hit me. Just slammed into me...” Her voice faded and he wondered if she had lost consciousness.

“Stay with me, Roxanne,” he said.

“Did you see what happened?” she asked.

“No, I came up right after it happened, I think,” he said. “There was a truck here when I arrived. And a man. He was trying to open your door. But when I approached, he ran away.”

She moaned, a sound of such pain he had to fight not to climb onto the car and go to her. “Roxanne, what is it?” he called. “What’s wrong?”

She said nothing, but he could hear her sobbing. The sound tore at him. “Roxanne, talk to me. Are you in pain? Is that why you’re crying?”

“I . . . I’m not in pain,” she managed between sobs. “Not much. Just . . .afraid.”

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You’re safe now. I promise I’ll stay with you.”

“Thank you.” She fell silent, no longer crying, but not saying anything, either. Dalton tried to think how to soothe her, or at least distract her. Carter would have known what to say. He would have told a funny story or asked her to tell one to him. But Dalton couldn’t carry off that kind of charm.

“I’m still here,” he said. “I promise I won’t leave you alone.”

“Okay.”

She didn’t seem to want to say more, so he didn’t force a conversation. Long minutes passed with only the ticking of their cooling vehicle engines breaking the silence. Then he heard a siren, the wail growing louder and louder as it approached. “Help is here!” he called to Roxanne. “We’ll have you out soon.”

Then he jogged to the road to meet them.

Search and rescue captain Danny Irwin was first out of the specially outfitted search and rescue Jeep. Eldon, Ryan and Deni climbed out after him. A second car disgorged Carter, Caleb, Sheri Stevens and Harper Vernon. Sheri was a veteran volunteer, known for her climbing prowess, while Harper was a newer volunteer, like Dalton and his siblings. “Who’s manning the SAR booth at the fair?” Dalton asked.

“May and Hannah are taking care of it,” Danny said. Hannah had taken temporary leave from SAR until after her baby was born.

Danny surveyed the RAV4 balanced against the tree. “What happened?” he asked.

“She says someone ran her off the road. When I got here there was a truck parked—lifted, with oversize tires and big welded bumpers. A man was trying to open the driver’s door, but when he saw me, he jumped down, shoved me to the ground and ran away.”

“Maybe he was trying to help, but when you showed up, he was afraid of being arrested,” Caleb said.

“Have you talked to the driver of the Toyota?” Danny asked.

“Her name is Roxanne Byrne,” Dalton said. “She just moved to town. I think she lives in one of the tiny houses out here somewhere. She said her head and her shoulder hurt. I hated not being able to help her, but I thought I should wait for you guys.”

“Good thing you did,” Eldon said. “That car needs to be secured before anyone goes near it.” He hefted a heavy chain he had already pulled from the rescue Jeep. “Ryan and I will take care of that.”

“You can help me with the litter,” Caleb said to Dalton.

In the midst of a rescue, Dalton seldom thought about the roles everyone played but later, when he was reviewing all that had happened, he was struck by how they all worked together to do the many small jobs that needed to be done to make a rescue go as smoothly as possible. As soon as Ryan and Eldon had set anchors and fastened chains to hold the RAV4 in place, someone else took a chain saw and cut away branches of the pine tree that blocked access to the side doors. Other people gathered medical equipment and Danny, a registered nurse, climbed up to make the initial assessment of the driver.