Page 9

9

Hugo

“ I ’m sorry to call you in on your first night back, Hugo,” Beau said, his expression somber.

“It’s nine thirty, Beau,” Hugo replied. “Hardly night .” He didn’t give any more details on what it was he’d been doing when the call came. He could still feel Jo’s soft lips on his. In a way, he was glad he’d been called in. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to take his hands off her otherwise, and a part of him recognized this thing between him and Jo—whatever this was—couldn’t be rushed.

“We need everyone in on this. There’s been an incident on the Panoramic Mont Blanc cable car service.”

“What kind of incident?” Lorenz asked. His hair stood on end, as if he’d just gotten out of bed.

“The systems jammed during the last passenger run of the day, at seven p.m. Engineers are on-site now, but it looks like some cables got twisted together. We have ninety-three people up there, trapped in a string of cars.”

“Ninety-three people?” Hugo asked.

“We wanted to make your first day back special,” Alex said. Several mouths curled up at the joke, but the mood quickly became serious again. Ninety-three people, trapped in cars at altitudes of close to four thousand meters, was nothing to laugh about.

“Yvette’s already upstairs,” Alex said, which made sense. The mayor’s chief of staff would be involved in something like this. Hugo followed his team to the second-floor meeting room, where Damien’s team and a few well-known mountain guides were already waiting. Yvette and Colonel Pelegrin were the last to arrive.

“Thank you all for coming in,” Colonel Pelegrin began. “As you know, since seven this evening, we have ninety-three people stranded in six cable cars, on the way to the Aiguille du Midi. Fifteen minutes ago, at nine forty-five, the engineering team concluded there is no safe way of getting the cars moving again tonight.” He spared a glance towards Yvette. “So, it’s up to us to get those people down as quickly as possible, while guaranteeing their safety and the safety of our pilots and rescuers.”

Damien Gray, commander of the other Chamonix PGHM unit, handed out maps. “On the map, you can see the cable car locations, height from the ground, and the number of people trapped in each cable car.” Hugo took a quick look. Only one cable car looked close enough to the ground that a search and rescue specialist could get up there using climbing ropes. The other five cars were much higher up.

“As you can see,” the colonel said, “the area is too unstable for ladders or cranes, and too high up to be reachable with climbing ropes. Access by air is the only alternative. Lieutenants Levallé and Barreau will lead the helicopter rescue.”

Kat Barreau stood up and walked to the front of the room. “Conditions are clear for now. The plan is to lower rescuers to the top of each cable car, and extract people from the inside using ropes.” Hugo sighed. Civilians hanging from ropes was not his idea of fun.

“When can you start?” Yvette asked. “As you know, every second counts. There’s already a hashtag for the incident on Instagram, #montblanccablecar, and the longer this goes on, the bigger the social media snowball’s likely to become.”

“We want to wrap this up as much as you and the mayor, Mademoiselle Legrand, but we need to do it safely,” Colonel Pelegrin said harshly.

“Of course, Colonel. We understand safety comes first.” Yvette was Alex’s partner. She didn’t want Alex, or anybody else from the team, in danger.

“We will begin extracting people as soon as daylight breaks. But, until then, we’re going to need six volunteers to help keep people comfortable overnight and monitor their condition.”

Hugo stifled a sigh. He wanted to go home, stretch out on his king-size bed to relax his back, and jerk off to thoughts of Jo. But some of his colleagues had partners and children at home. If anybody had to spend the night hanging from a cable car, it made more sense for it to be him. Lorenz clearly had the same thought, since the two of them were the first to raise their hands. Over the next minute, however, every single hand in both teams went up.

Beau exchanged a quick glance with Damien and the Colonel. “Thank you all,” he said. “Ry, Jens, we’re going to need you on call on the ground in case anybody has a medical emergency. Kat, you need to go home and get some sleep, we’ll need you in a few hours. Lorenz, Hugo, Alex, Drake, and Hiro, you’re with me. We’ll go with Tristan.”

“ Y our job is to keep people calm and reassure them,” the colonel had said.

But to do that, Hugo had to find his way inside the damn cable car first. And right now, he was hanging from his harness like a raw hunk of meat, far from where he should be. Above him, the helicopter blades sliced through the cold mountain air, the sound loud in the silence of the night.

Hugo waited patiently. Even with the way the wind had picked up, Tristan would find a way to lower him onto the right spot—which happened to be no larger than a small café table—on top of the cable car. Air surgery at its best. Come on, Tristan .

“Wait for it, Hugo,” came the voice in his ear.

Beneath him, the cable car grew larger. The helicopter hovered above, the spotlight illuminated the narrow roof. Hugo gripped the rope as the winch lowered him slowly, his boots dangling above the void.

He was close enough now to see the people within the cable car, their faces pressed against the glass, mouths moving in silent encouragement. His focus remained on the pale roof above them.

Closer. Closer. Almost there.

Hugo landed on the cable car roof with a dull thud, steadying himself against the sway. He attached a safety line to the roof, confirmed with Tristan that he was disconnecting from the helicopter, then knocked on the emergency hatch. “ Peloton de Gendarmerie en Haute Montagne ,” he called out. “I’m coming in to help. Everyone stay calm.”

He unlocked the hatch and carefully lowered himself inside, pulling in the large pack behind him, then releasing the safety line. “Thanks, Tristan. I’m inside,” he called out.

The air inside the cable car was cold, but it was a relief to be out of the howling wind. He looked around at the nervous faces, doing a quick headcount. Eleven people. Eight adults, two kids and a baby that looked to be about a year old, cradled tightly in his mother’s arms. Shit. A baby . Babies weren’t technically supposed to ride the cable car, but the rule usually wasn’t enforced. As long as the baby could hold up its head, it was usually left up to parents to decide.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said, repeating the words in both English and French. He dropped the pack in a corner and stood to his full height. Anxious faces followed his movement. “I’m Lieutenant Hugo Morant, with the PGHM. I’m here to get you through the night safely until we can get you out at first light.”

The young mother’s scared expression grew tighter, but she wasn’t the one who spoke. “What? You can’t seriously expect us to spend the night here?” a big, burly man blurted out, his voice tight with frustration. He spoke good English, but with a foreign tinge to it. Maybe Dutch.

Hugo had expected this very question, but it wasn’t one he was in the mood to spend much time on. “Unfortunately, the cable car isn’t operational right now, so we’re going to have to use the helicopter to get you out. That’s something we can only do safely in daylight.” Hugo drew a calming breath. “I understand this is frustrating, but we’ll get you out as soon as we can.”

“What if the cable snaps in the middle of the night?” a young man asked. A young boy standing nearby started crying. The boy’s parents glared at the young man pointedly.

“The cable’s not going to snap,” Hugo replied. But my patience might. He approached the young boy and crouched to his height. “The cable is strong and secure. It’s not going anywhere. I promise.” The young boy gulped but nodded. Hugo squeezed his shoulder once, then stood up again.

“But I have an important meeting tomorrow morning!” The Dutchman growled, his chest puffed up with self-importance.

Hugo drew on his remaining patience. “Listen. I didn’t dangle on a rope all the way here in the middle of the night to argue with you,” he said. He softened his tone. “So take a blanket, a power bar, a water bottle, and sit down. Please. We’re going to make sure everyone gets through this safely. But I need you all to work with me.” The last words were said in a tone that brooked no argument, but it was still a relief when the man stood down.

“Hugo? Everything okay?” Damien’s voice asked. Hugo knew the man could hear most everything that was going on. Hugo tapped his earpiece once to say everything was alright.

“You’ll stay with us?” a woman’s voice asked.

Hugo nodded. “Of course.” He opened the pack and began handing out supplies, moving deliberately from one person to the next, taking the time to assess everyone’s condition. Cold but okay . He breathed a sigh of relief. He was trained in basic first aid, but he wasn’t a medic.

He kneeled by the young mother, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. “How are you doing? How’s the baby? Does he need any special food?”

“She,” the woman said tearfully. “I still breastfeed her.”

“Okay. Good.” Hugo examined the baby, whose extremities looked warm and toasty. Of all of them, she might be the happiest one.

“I shouldn’t have brought her. But I thought it would be an adventure… I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Relax,” he said. “It’s going to be okay. Your baby’s going to be fine.” He handed the mother a couple of water bottles and another blanket, so she could cover herself and her baby if she needed to. “Let’s keep this little one warm, alright? Let me know if you need anything.”

She nodded gratefully, and he moved on. He wrapped a thermal blanket around an elderly man who looked especially frail. “Here you go, sir. Keep this tucked around you, and if you start to feel too cold, let me know immediately.”

He passed water bottles and power bars to the others, instructing them to take small sips and bites to stay hydrated and keep their energy up.

The night was long, but uneventful. Some passengers checked their phone, and Hugo wondered if they were on social media, using the hashtag that had so worried Yvette. He certainly wasn’t going to stop them, if so. Social media police wasn’t part of his job description. He leaned back against the cold wall of the cable car, stretching his legs in front of him. When his back got too sore, he stood up and walked around the cable car, once again checking on everyone. And remembering Jo’s kiss.

Hugo had expected more trouble from the big, burly man, but it seemed his words had done the trick. There was no trouble coming from his corner all night. And, because even the longest night has an end, eventually morning came. As the first light of dawn crept over the mountains, the faint hum of helicopter blades echoed through the valley.

They all watched as the cable car next to them, where Beau had spent the night, was evacuated. Beau and Ry stood on the cable car roof, helping to pull people up one by one.

“We’re next,” Hugo said. Relief swept through the cable car, but Hugo’s focus remained razor sharp. “One of my colleagues is going to be lowered down to help, and together we’re going to get you out of here,” he instructed. “Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to assign a number to each of you. That’s the order in which we’re going to be boarding the helicopter.”

Hugo tapped the young mother with the baby. One . A young man with a beard pushed forward in front of her. “I need to go first. I’m not feeling well!”

“What’s wrong, sir?” Hugo asked, masking his sigh of impatience. Truth be told, he’d expected the burly Dutchman, the one who’d claimed to have a meeting, to be the one causing trouble. Not somebody new.

“I tell you, I’m going first!” The young mother cried out as the man reached towards her and her baby. Hugo took a step forward, his hands already clenched into fists, but the big Dutchman was quicker, placing himself neatly between the bearded man and the young mother. “That’s not happening. We go in the order he says we go in,” he growled, tipping his head towards Hugo.

The bearded man faltered and reluctantly stepped back.

“Thank you,” Hugo said. Then, to everyone, “I know it’s been a long night, and I know you all want to get home. We’re going to get you there safely. I just need you to be patient a little while longer.” There were hums of agreement from the cable car. The young, bearded man shrank into himself, embarrassed, and Hugo continued tapping out numbers.

Minutes later, Ry landed neatly beside him, unclipping himself in one smooth move. “You look like shit, Hugo,” he said quietly.

Hugo laughed. He didn’t bother telling his friend that a sleepless night was business as usual for him these days. “Whereas I’m sure you had a great night’s sleep.”

“Touché. How’s everyone?”

“Everything under control.”

One by one, the passengers were lifted out of the cable car. Some hugged him before leaving. There was a woman who smelled faintly of lavender, and Hugo found himself thinking of Jo. He wondered if she was feeling better. The thought of her, sick and alone, was like a punch to the gut.

Finally, the winch cable lowered for him. He felt the pull on his lower back as he clipped himself in and forced a deep breath through his lungs, looking around the now-empty car. He gave a quick thumbs up to the team above, before being lifted into the morning air.