Vivian Arend - High Passion

There was an unwritten law that most emergency calls arrived an hour after you went to bed or an hour before you were ready to wake up.

The alarm blaring across the room jerked Alisha from a dream that shredded away like a cloud in high wind, leaving behind only the uncomfortable sensation of watching eyes and hungry wolves.

She snatched up her phone and acknowledged receipt of the call, gazing out the window into the darkness of the backyard as she checked the sky for weather conditions. Something flashed near the fence, catching her attention for a split second before she stifled her curiosity and hurried into routine. There was no time to be distracted. She jerked on her clothing and was out the door in less than five minutes.

Her rapid response still wasn’t quick enough to make her the first to arrive at headquarters. Both Erin’s and Devon’s vehicles were already in the parking lot, with Marcus pulling in behind her.

“What’s the location?” she called to Marcus as she reached into her backseat and pulled out her bag with the rest of her gear.

“High alpine in the Monashees Range. Rock slide surprised a research team, and they’re still missing a couple of members.” Marcus got ahead of her and held the door open. “I’ll know more in a minute.”

Inside the building, the bright overhead lights made her blink as she hurried into the sorting locker to join Devon. He was already stacking ropes and bags in preparation for loading into the chopper.

He smiled, his blue eyes looking far clearer and brighter than hers felt at the moment. One section of his hair stood straight on end again, taunting her to try to make it behave.

“You slept in,” he teased.

“You know who’s leading the rescue today?” Ignoring him was her only defense when he was borderline more adorable than she could stand.

Devon shook his head as he brought down a set of climbing cams and passed them to her. “Tripp is up on rotation, but depending on the exact location, Anders might call the shots—there are glaciers in the area.”

“I knew that.” She used two hands to accept gear, keeping everything untangled while stowing it away. With a bag slung over each shoulder and another in each hand, Alisha twisted to escape.

She raced out the door and across the tarmac without looking back. She kicked herself for being rude to Devon when he’d simply been sharing news like a teammate was supposed to—she had to pull herself together before she made any more mistakes.

They were in the air in less than twenty minutes. Erin lifted the chopper while the sky remained dark, the pale glow of sunrise only a thin line against the eastern horizon.

“Everyone gets thirty minutes to wake up before I brief you on details. Marcus is back at base, finding out more. Once he knows what we’re into he’ll update me, so I’ll go over expectations and set up then.” Tripp spoke over the headset speakers, his voice rushing past her ears like a soft zephyr.

He held out a thermos, and Anders, seated to his right, grabbed it eagerly. He opened the lid and took a deep sniff. “Whoa, now that’s a nice surprise. Who had time to make coffee before heading to HQ?”

“New gadget Lana installed.” Tripp beamed. “Timer or computer controlled—when we got the bug-out call, I triggered the on button using my phone. It was ready to go when we were.”

“If it’s always prepped, we’ll never do a rescue without caffeine again.” Xavier held up a hand and high-fived Tripp. “Nice. Now hurry the hell up and pour, Anders.”

Banter continued as Anders filled everyone’s travel mug. There was no way to stop a smile from lifting her lips as Alisha observed her team.

They had all developed coping strategies to deal with the nervous anticipation that slipped in en route to a rescue, let alone the flat-out shock of being dragged from their warm beds. Some of them sat quietly, slowly letting themselves come alive. Others like Xavier seemed to have nothing but an on/off button. He chattered nonstop to anyone who would listen as he flipped songs on his MP3 player, occasionally singing along.

Alisha found it harder to wake up this morning than usual. Her restless wandering the previous afternoon had tired her out, all right, but she still hadn’t fallen asleep at a decent hour.

She straightened her coat, preparing for the hour-plus flight. She adjusted her gloves and cupped her hands around her travel mug, but even with the heater blasting overhead there was no way to completely ignore the cool temperatures clinging to the interior of the chopper.

Transports were overheated in summer and cold the rest of the year. She had to be slightly crazy to want to be a part of it all. Part of the discomfort of being woken willy-nilly, and all the other inconveniences that went with being search and rescue.

She probably was slightly crazy. So be it.

Beside her, Devon laughed at something, and she pulled her coat hood up to hide her face. Watching him made something inside flutter and ache, if it were possible to have those two conflicting emotions. He had so much life in him—so much enthusiasm. Sometimes she felt he’d pulled her through the roughest moments of training school with his sheer exuberance alone.

Striving to beat him at challenges had made her stronger. She’d admit that to herself now.

He didn’t need to know she was attracted to him, though. The player didn’t need more ammunition. Besides, it wasn’t as if he needed more playmates. He was already making a move on the new receptionist. As she’d headed out to the trailhead yesterday she’d seen Lana in his truck, the two of them laughing as they waited at the lights close to Devon’s house. She wouldn’t comment on how quickly the two of them had gotten cozy.

The wall needed to stay up. Solid. Attraction firmly ignored.

The daydreams about his strong hands and his rope-handling skills—those were simply a nice way to pass the time during a long rescue approach.

Devon glanced her way. Heat spread though her fast enough that if she weren’t careful, she’d be too toasty for her coat and the rest of her gear, and stripping prior to a rescue wasn’t a good idea. Wasn’t a good idea ever, not as far as Devon was concerned. It was unfair that he turned her on, since she certainly didn’t want her name added to his harem list.

Thirty minutes passed far quicker than she expected, and she’d relaxed, drifting off to better fantasize. A soft touch to her thigh jerked her to full alert to find herself staring into a pair of bright blue eyes. His hand on her leg was hot through the fabric, and instant tingling shot through her core.

Devon’s voice carried over the headset. “Are you ready?”

Sexual fantasies evaporated in a rush of indignation, and she stiffened. “Of course. What makes you think I’m not ready to do a rescue—?”

Rapid motion to one side caught her attention. Tripp’s soundless clapping ended as he held up two fingers. Alisha flushed and switched her headset to channel two.

“Sorry, Tripp, don’t know how I got flipped to a different setting.” She gave Devon a sheepish smile. “Thanks for getting my attention.”

Devon shrugged, then focused on Tripp.

“Everyone ready?” the older man asked. “We still have flight time, but I thought we’d go over a couple plans now so we can get into position quicker.”

“There’s already a rescue team in the area?” Anders asked.

Tripp nodded. “They’ve marked the perimeter, and they’ve contacted the RCMP K-9 division to get a dog brought out. Right now they suspect a couple of new cracks that opened might be the trouble. And none of them are climbers, so we’ll be the ones going, only down, not up. Questions?”

Everyone had trained and worked together on far too many rescues to need to be babysat through procedure. Only one subject still remained as far as Alisha was concerned. “Partners?”

As lead hand, she would be the first to head into any climb, or the first to drop from the chopper into position. Up until the start of summer her partner at the other end of the line had always been Anders. During boot camp week, though, she and Devon had been partnered up, and since then it seemed they were always paired together.

“You and Devon, Anders with Xavier. I’m sticking close to Erin with the chopper in case you find the victims and we can winch them out. Deal?”

“Deal.” Everyone acknowledged their positions and chatter resumed over the headsets.

Alisha went back to mentally prepping for the rescue. Getting into the right frame of mind to crawl down a rock wall into the darkness. To have only a rope and a headlamp as the connection between her and the outside world.

A rope, and the man on the other end of it.

She caught herself staring at Devon’s hands again. Strange. She trusted him completely when it came to belaying her. He held her life in his hands, and she didn’t feel the need to worry one bit.

When it came to her heart? He was simply another man she refused to allow to hurt her.

The chopper banked and she snuggled deeper into her coat. Much more awake, but no further ahead in solving her major dilemma.

Thank God for the distraction of a rescue.

Nothing was wrong, but something wasn’t right.

The equipment was fine, as were the steps they’d taken so far since reaching the rescue site. A sense of foreboding hovered over Devon, though, and he could find nothing to explain why.

It wasn’t some mystical foreknowledge, only he knew not to ignore the sensation, either. It had been the topic of many a late-night drinking session during training school when more experienced recruits would stop to share stories from the field. They’d all had times when they’d felt a warning ahead of time, for whatever reason. It would make sense later, but for now? He kept his guard set higher than usual.