Part 5
Daniel turned back to the tracks. Cole fell in several paces behind him, leaving him room to work.
For a while, neither spoke. Wind shook snow from the branches, and the falling clumps made small craters beside the trail. Daniel checked each one before moving on.
The puppies’ tracks began to scatter near a fallen tree. One little set stopped, then reappeared beyond a deep print where Tess had turned around. She must have gone back for him.
Daniel knelt and brushed loose snow away from a hard patch beneath the trunk. Claw marks raked the crust toward the ridge.
Cole lowered his light.
“She lost her footing,” Daniel said.
They followed the scrape marks until the ground ended beneath a tangle of low branches. Daniel went down on one knee and parted them with his forearm.
From below came a faint whine.
“Tess!”
A bark answered. Weak, but unmistakable.
Daniel aimed his flashlight into the ravine.
She lay roughly eighteen feet below them, pressed against the wall where snow had piled around a shelf of stone. One foreleg was tucked at an awkward angle. A dark stain spread beneath her paw.
Otis and Finn were under her chest. She had curved her neck around them, leaving most of her own back exposed to the falling snow.
Daniel took off his pack.
“Hold the light.”
Cole caught his sleeve. “We need to get the rescue crew moving.”
“Call them. I’m going down.”
“Mercer—”
“They can’t wait for a road crew and another vehicle.”
Cole looked into the ravine again. Otis lifted his head, made a small movement toward the light, and vanished beneath Tess’s chin.
“All right,” Cole said. “But you use the harness, and I control the line.”
Daniel was already pulling it from the pack. His left shoulder ached as he tightened the straps. He ignored it until Cole stepped in front of him.
“Look at me. If you go down, we have four to bring out.”
Daniel stopped.
Cole waited until he nodded, then took the rope.
The first stretch gave way beneath Daniel’s boot. He slipped, struck the wall with his hip, and felt the harness take his weight. Pain ran from his left shoulder down his arm.
Above him, Cole braced and held.
“Set your feet,” the officer called. “I’ve got the line.”
Daniel waited until he could breathe evenly. Then he found purchase against the frozen earth and continued.
Tess lifted her head as he neared her. Her eyes caught the flashlight beam. Her tail moved once, leaving a short groove in the snow.
“I see you,” he said. “Keep looking at me.”
At the bottom, the wind was less fierce, but the cold had settled deep into the ravine. Daniel’s knees sank beside Tess. He touched her cheek first, letting her smell him before reaching beneath her.
Otis was shaking. Finn scarcely resisted when Daniel drew him out.
He tucked both puppies inside his parka, against the warm layer over his chest. Otis pushed his nose beneath Daniel’s chin. Finn licked the side of his thumb once, so faintly Daniel almost missed it.
“There. Stay in there.”
He closed the coat as far as he could without crowding them and turned to Tess.
Her paw was badly cut. When she tried to move it, the effort pulled a short cry from her. Daniel rested his hand along her neck until she stopped trying.
“No more walking,” he told her. “My turn.”
He spread the emergency blanket, worked it beneath her as gently as the narrow space allowed, and called for Cole’s second line. Between them, with the officer directing from above and Daniel working close to the dog, they secured a supported sling for the lift.
Tess watched his face throughout. When he slid his arm beneath her chest, she let her head settle against him.
The return took everything he had.
Cole hauled from the top while Daniel found footholds and guided Tess clear of roots and protruding stone. The puppies shifted inside his coat. Each movement reminded him to keep his body close to the wall and his breathing controlled.
Halfway up, his glove caught on a rough edge and tore. He felt the sting across his palm but didn’t look at it. Tess’s weight pulled against the damaged shoulder, and for a few moments he could do nothing except hold position.
“Talk to me,” Cole called.
“Still here.”
“Then take a breath. I’m holding.”
Daniel pressed his forehead briefly against the cold wall. He could smell wet wool, the dog’s damp fur, and the clean metallic sharpness of snow. Finn moved against his ribs.
He found the next foothold.
Near the top, his legs began to tremble. One boot slipped free, and his knee struck stone beneath the snow. Tess shifted in the sling. Daniel tightened his arm around her without thinking, sending pain through the shoulder again.
For a second, he couldn’t make his body answer.
Cole dropped flat at the edge, reached down, and caught the back of Daniel’s coat.
“Feet against the wall,” he grunted. “Now.”
Daniel pushed.
The edge crumbled beneath his knee. Cole pulled, Daniel drove upward again, and suddenly there was ground beneath him instead of open space.
They collapsed together beyond the lip of the ravine. Cole kept hold until Daniel had rolled Tess safely clear. The puppies wriggled beneath the parka, protesting at last with enough energy to be heard.
Daniel lay on his back, his arm across Tess. She rested partly against his chest, her muzzle beneath his jaw. He could feel her breathing through the layers of his coat.
Cole knelt beside them, chest heaving. Snow melted on his beard and ran down his neck.
Cole’s gaze moved from Tess to Otis’s pale nose at the opening in Daniel’s coat.
“You were almost gone.”
“Couldn’t leave my family.” Daniel kept his eyes closed.
Cole took off his own heavy outer coat and spread it over the mother dog.
For a moment, his hands stayed on the fabric. When he spoke again, his voice had lost its official distance.
“We’re getting all of you back…”
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