Freefall (13 page)

The man beside her murmured in his delirium, but even the sound of his voice brought no name, no relationship, to her mind. His grave condition tore at her, but her lack of recognition hurt more. What kind of person was she to forget him? She had sensed the relationship in her waking memory, but hanging on to the ledge beside him now, she could not remember ever having seen him before.

The doctor had said days or hours. But it had been days. What if her past never came back? As bad as that would be for her, it would be torture for those who’d known her. For this man who must have been counting on her all this time. His grip tensed as he muttered.

She leaned close. “Hang on. Help is coming.” The words seemed to soothe him. “I’m sorry it’s been so long. If I’d known—” Her voice broke. She didn’t want to say she’d forgotten and still didn’t recognize him. Looking around the cave, she tried to imagine what the days had been like in there. With no direct sunlight it was chilly, and her head throbbed with the pounding of the falls.

Had Cameron gotten through? She had to believe he had. A search-and-rescue team would know how to get in to them, and how to get her companion out. She looked into his haggard face. Cameron was right that they’d need a breathing apparatus and stretcher. It would be complicated and it would take time.

Lord. Please, don’t let it be too late
. What if they’d gotten there even a day earlier? If she hadn’t resisted going to the police—but she’d acted as soon as she remembered him, or rather, someone. This someone she couldn’t recognize no matter how she studied his pinched brow, his sunken eyes, his cracked lips. His hair was silver around his face and in the stubble of his beard. His physique might have been healthy, though now he looked wasted.

Was he cold? If there was room on the ledge she would lie beside him for warmth. What was her relationship with him? A man so much older? The thought triggered nothing. Could he be a relative, a friend? She clenched her jaw, wanting to jam the memory back into her mind. She brought his hand to her forehead.
Who are you?

Rescue teams would be hard-pressed to get them out before nightfall. Could he last through another night? He’d been unable to suck the water from her pack, so she’d removed the mouthpiece and drizzled it over his lips and did so again.

It grew dark in the cave, but so quickly it must be a storm, like so many others that had passed over on this rainy side of the island. She’d seen how fast the clouds closed in. Could a helicopter come if visibility was poor? Would they risk it? She groaned.
Please, God. Please
. She didn’t think this man had another day in him.

Nica rubbed the shame and embarrassment from TJ’s shoulders through the stiff fabric of his uniform. He had joined the force when he could think of nothing else to do, but he’d become a conscientious officer. That he hadn’t recognized a rising star from the tabloids and talk shows was hardly surprising, since he spent most of his free time bamboo fishing. As far as TJ was concerned the ragged shoreline of Kauai could be the edge of the world.

After attending community college in Lihue, he’d done his lawenforcement training on the mainland and come back with hardly an impression of anything outside of that instruction. Only Kauai could impress itself on him.

She squeezed the big shoulder and sat down. “Are you hungry?”

Silly question. She took the cup with the unfurled jasmine pearls in the bottom to the sink. Time, attention, and food would lure TJ back to cheerfulness. She took from the refrigerator an aku filet and vegetables and set a pot of rice to boil. He didn’t move from his seat as she worked, as much to not disturb her as to ponder the situation.

She knew what troubled him. If he had recognized Gentry Fox, he could have gotten help for her companion before she took it on herself to go
mauka
. Cameron’s accompaniment was his best hope that nothing further would happen to Gentry, but they’d been out there a long time.

Nica set the plate of tuna before TJ. His phone rang, and he took the call, jerking up straight with the first words. “What? Yeah. Kay den.” He lifted the cat off his lap, pushed up out of his chair, and looked at her with relief flooding his broad face. “Dey found him.”

Nica raised her brows. “Jade—Gentry’s companion?”

TJ shoved the phone into his belt. He’d come over from work without changing his uniform, and now he seemed to fill it with purpose. “Dey sending in one chopper. Den a ambulance to da hospital.”

“Let’s take your truck.”

He didn’t argue her going along. But she opened her door and stopped short. Where had all the people come from?

Curt shook. The situation was deteriorating. He pressed in to hear the news report over the soft tones of Enya and the swishing of Allegra’s bath. Gentry had been identified, naturally, the fools on Kauai eating it on that one. He wished he could have seen the face of the officer who’d put out the plea for identification of Gentry Fox. He snickered, then rubbed his face, acid rising in his stomach.

He’d never wanted to be a soft-stomach guy, the kind who couldn’t take it when things came down wrong. He had abs of steel, but inside? He’d have an ulcer before he hit forty.

He wove his fingers behind his head and watched the tenuous rescue. The weather wasn’t helping. Bad visibility. No telling whether the helicopter would get in, what they’d find if they did …

A news babe came on to say that the storm and nightfall could force the helicopter crew to abandon the rescue until morning. Duh. Gentry Fox was believed safe, but there was no word yet on Robert Fox. No news was good news.

He raised his head when the CD ended, but another, equally bland, began. He returned his attention to the live action. At some point Allegra might need to know, but until then—He clenched his fists and willed things to happen as he wanted. What better chance would there be?

They showed an aerial view of the section of island being searched for Gentry’s companion. In the corner of the screen, a picture of Gentry, recognizable from all her recent publicity. Everyone in the world watched the star’s personal drama unfold, everyone except Allegra. He could still hear the music, but what about the water? Better not take any chances. The rescue could take hours, days. He had to make sure she heard nothing. Nothing that would interfere.

She was too precious to lose. He turned off the TV and crept to the bathroom door. Soft swishes of the water. It got him going. She’d insisted on a suite and allowed nothing but kisses. Now was the time to change that. With one hand on the knob, he loosened the tie of his robe and let himself in.

The thumping of the helicopter blades sent a surge of relief as it came into sight through the clouds. For a while Cameron had thought the storm would keep them out. For a while it had. He’d climbed back into the basin after making the call and now sent up a small emergency flare.

The copter approached and hovered. The wind from the blades beat the water and stung his eyes with tears as they lowered the stretcher with small air tanks strapped on. He tried to gauge whether it would fit through the lava tube. If not, what would they do? But these were the guys who’d figure that part out. Watching the helicopter hover low in the narrow space, he appreciated the skill and courage of the pilot. Conditions weren’t exactly ideal.

By the time the team had been lowered into the basin, another storm forced the helicopter up away from land. If weather permitted, the pilot would be back. If not, the paramedic and the rest of the SAR team would have to get Jade’s companion through the stormy night before they could bring him out.

Weather was already a factor. If they lost the helicopter, the team could not hand-carry him, given the lack of anything like a real trail. He and Jade on foot had fought a way through, but carrying a stretcher over the steep terrain? Not likely.

He didn’t know the team leader, Lieutenant Jeffrey Maxwell, or the other SAR team member who’d come down, but he knew the paramedic, Jason Becker. He’d grown up in Waimea on the hot, dry side of the island. They tapped fists.

“So here’s the thing.” Cameron filled them in on the man’s location. “You can scope it out for yourselves, but I’ve searched the pool and cave area. I think the only safe access is through the lava tube.”

Maxwell nodded. “Given the time and weather constraints, we’ll take your word for that. Jason and Mitch will go in; I’ll stay in communication with the helicopter. Can you guide the guys down?”

They spent some minutes assessing equipment and preparing to go in.

“Watch yourselves getting into the lava tube,” Cameron told Mitch, who would be right behind him, towing the stretcher. “The falls are brutal, and there’s an undertow action inside the tunnel.” Since Jade had managed, he figured they could too. “Ready?”

At their nods, Cameron led the way.

At first he’d thought Gentry’s voice a dream. So many others had come and gone. What was real? He’d had a hard time discerning that; he didn’t know for how long. But her soothing words had sunk in, giving comfort without rousing. The voice of an angel, murmuring prayers on his behalf; from her lips to God’s ear.

He thought she held his hand, thought she wept for him. If it wasn’t Gentry, he’d have quite a story to tell. How many guys had been ministered to by an angel? When other voices joined hers, he wondered. And when someone took hold of his leg, swollen and festering, he leaped from wonderment to wakening—with a shout.

Someone was speaking as an oxygen mask was placed over his face. He wanted to respond, but it was hard to hear over the constant barrage of the falls, and anyway, no words would come. A needle punctured the muscle of his upper arm. Unbelievable. His tomb had been transformed into an echoing emergency room.

He blinked in the near darkness. Maybe he had imagined Gentry, because he saw only two men working over him. The ledge was narrow, and they worked shoulder to shoulder alongside him. As they immobilized his leg, pain and nausea struck, no longer subdued by his stupor. He cried out, shock waves coursing through him until, mercifully, the pain drove him back into the place where shadows dwelled.

Hanging on to the far end of the ledge, Jade cringed as they moved her injured companion onto the stretcher and fitted him with an oxygen supply for the underwater journey out. From the moment they’d entered the cave, their focused intensity had confirmed her fears. She’d stayed out of the way and quiet. Cameron, too, was silent as he treaded water beside her.