“What’s wrong?”
“We’ve got some weather moving in that I don’t like,” he said, pointing to a bank of clouds.
As she listened to him radio for a weather report from the control tower at the El Paso airport, she was relieved to hear the storm front was moving away from them. She’d never been overly frightened by heavy turbulence in an airplane, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to experience it in a helicopter.
“Looks like we’re in the clear,” he said, lifting off the helipad and steering the helicopter back toward Devil’s Fork.
“Did you get your business taken care of this morning?” she asked conversationally.
He nodded. “When we get back to base, we have some things we need to discuss.”
“That sounds rather ominous.” She wasn’t sure from the serious tone of his voice that she wanted to hear what he had to say.
“Don’t worry, darlin’. It’s not as bad as it sounds.”
His endearment reassured her, and they flew in companionable silence for some time before Hunter rattled off a string of blistering curses, ending with a word that most men saved for extreme circumstances.
“I’m almost afraid to ask, but what was that for?” she asked.
“The winds have shifted and we’re about to fly right into the middle of that weather front,” he said as a gust of wind buffeted the helicopter.
As Hunter fought the stick, Callie tightened her shoulder harness and did her best not to scream when they swayed precariously. Praying they were close to the Life Medevac base, her heart sank when she glanced out the side window and saw the jagged peaks of the mountains.
“I hope like hell I can find a place to set down,” Hunter said as he continued to struggle with the controls. “We need to ride this out on the ground.”
“That sounds like a good idea to me,” she readily agreed.
Glancing over at Corey, she couldn’t believe he was still asleep. No wonder Mary Lou complained about trying to wake him up when their crew had a night run to make.
“This is going to be risky,” Hunter said, sounding as if his teeth were clenched. “I want you and Corey to hang on tight.”
She gripped the sides of the jump seat. “I don’t know how, but Corey is still asleep.”
“Does he have the shoulder harness buckled?”
“Yes. But he disconnected his headset.”
“That’s okay,” Hunter said tersely. “All that matters is that he’s strapped in.”
Callie felt as if her heart was in her throat. She knew enough about helicopters to know that landing in a mountainous area was tricky under the best conditions. But during a storm with strong wind gusts it was going to be extremely hazardous.
She felt the helicopter suddenly lurch to one side, and closing her eyes, she prayed as hard as she could while she waited for whatever happened next.
When Hunter spotted a relatively level area at the base of one of the mountains, he clenched his teeth and used every ounce of strength he had to hold the chopper as steady as possible. Fleeting images of another emergency landing and the devastating outcome flashed through his mind. But this time would be different. He was determined that this time the woman he loved and her unborn child would be safe and unharmed.
When the skids bumped the ground hard, then bounced up to come down again with a bone-jarring thud, Hunter killed the rotor engine and released the latch on his shoulder harness. Saying a silent prayer of thanks to the powers that be for a safe, albeit rough, landing, he climbed into the cabin area to check on his passengers.
Taking Callie into his arms, he held her close. “Are you all right?”
She clung to him as she nodded. “Y-yes.”
Turning to Corey, Hunter asked, “What about you? Are you okay?”
Pale as a ghost, his eyes wide with shock, the young man nodded. “Wow! That was one hairy landing. Where are we?”
Hunter looked out the starboard windows at the surrounding mountains. “About halfway between El Paso and Devil’s Fork.”
The adrenaline high he’d been on since realizing they were on a collision course with the storm began to wane, and Hunter felt as if his muscles had turned to jelly. Reaching for the microphone clipped to the epaulet on Callie’s flight suit, he radioed Mary Lou to advise her of the situation. Then, after assuring her they were all okay, he told her they would start back as soon as the storm let up.
Unable to stop thinking about how close he’d come to reliving the nightmare he’d been caught up in five years ago and not wanting Callie to see that his hands were beginning to shake, he made up a lame excuse about doing a systems check and climbed back into the pilot’s seat.
He was vaguely aware that Callie and Corey were discussing Corey’s sleeping habits, but Hunter paid little attention to the conversation. He was too busy thinking about what could have happened if he’d been unable to land the chopper safely.
What would he have done if he’d lost Callie the way he’d lost Ellen? How could he have lived with himself?
He took a deep breath, then slowly released it. The answer was simple. He couldn’t. And with sudden insight he knew exactly what he had to do.
As soon as they returned to the hangar, he’d hand Callie the document Culbertson had signed, tell her she was free to pursue an annulment, then terminate her employment at Life Medevac.
Chapter Ten
By the time she, Hunter and Corey returned to the hangar, it was time for their shift to end, and Callie was more than ready to turn over the watch to the Evac II crew and go home. Her nerves were still jangled from narrowly escaping a crash landing and she needed to talk to Hunter. He hadn’t said more than a handful of words since the incident, and she could tell something was bothering him.
Well, that made two of them. While they’d waited out the storm, Corey had chattered about everything from being hard to wake up to his pregnant girlfriend and their impending wedding, but Callie hadn’t paid much attention. She’d been too preoccupied with thoughts of her baby and how close she’d come to losing him.
“I’ve got a couple of things to take care of here at the office,” Hunter said, walking up behind her. “If you don’t mind, I’ll be over a little later.”
Turning to face him, her smile faded at his serious expression. “Is there a problem?”
He hesitated before shaking his head. “No. I’m just not looking forward to the paperwork I have to do.”