TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1) by Kallypso Masters (the false prince TXT) 📕

“I’m fine. Stop worrying about me.” Tony stood, ready to make a hasty exit before his brother asked any more questions. “I’ll see you at town hall in a little while. I’m going to go grab some breakfast.”

“Good idea. Get out of here.”

Exiting the station, Tony made his way to the river bridge in the middle of town instead of to the diner. He wouldn’t be able to eat anyway and already would have to make a pretense of being hungry at Mama’s tonight. He stared down into the still-muddy river, feeling desolate, cold, and alone.

The swirling waters mesmerized him until he remembered this same river had claimed two lives on Sunday.

Maybe three. Tony’s life would never be the same.

But I’m alive. They aren’t. Big difference.

Later that morning, the CISD dragged on for more than an hour but finally appeared to be winding down when Tony’s phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket as several others in the room reached for theirs as well. It was a text from SAR command reporting a search-and-rescue operation under way on Capitol Peak after two climbers had failed to return to base camp last night. Apparently, the call for volunteers had been extended to as far away as Aspen Corners and Fairchance, both nearly two hours away. He knew that mountain well, and it would take every available searcher to find them.

Tony’s adrenaline pumped life back into him immediately. He needed to do something besides sit around and rehash what had happened Sunday. No, he needed a chance to redeem himself—to himself at least.

The meeting quickly adjourned, and he gathered with members of his SAR team to see who planned on going. Tony offered to drive up with as many as three others who could be ready to leave within the half hour, but only Ryder accepted. The others would take their own transportation.

They agreed to head home to pack their gear and meet again at the town hall in case anyone else wanted a ride. But no one was there when they returned.

“Ready?” Ryder asked after Megan dropped him off with his gear.

“You bet,” Tony said.

He prayed they’d be the team to find the missing couple—alive this time. He needed a rescue today, not another goddamned recovery.

Carm had been awake since before sunrise Wednesday to lead Nick, Shawana, and Joyce back up to the K2 peak where they wanted to practice rappelling on the North Face. There hadn’t been much use for ropes on the summits of K2 or Capitol yesterday, but today they intended to rappel down a steep section known to extreme skiers as The Plank. The best time to attempt a ski/rappel down this section of the slope had been weeks ago in early June, but some patches of snow and ice remained in shadowed areas far down the mountain so they could do a little of both.

The remainder of the New York group planned to hang out at the campground enjoying a late, leisurely breakfast and a day of relaxation at the lake after the taxing climb yesterday. Most weren’t candidates for ropes yet anyway.

The three had made their second rappel of the day when Carm heard a helicopter approaching from the direction of Aspen and looked down the mountain to watch it lower two people in flight suits to their campground near Capitol Lake. She recognized the yellow and orange helicopter as being from Aspen’s mountain rescue team.

“What’s going on down there?” Shawana asked.

“Looks like some kind of medical emergency. The search-and-rescue operation appears to be getting ready to use the campground as a staging area.”

Worried about the others she’d left at camp, Carm pulled out her satellite phone to call Roger at camp and soon learned what had happened.

“Two climbers were reported missing from the camp this morning.”

Carm had a sinking feeling she knew exactly who they were concerned about. “Can you describe them?”

“Remember that man and woman you were worried about yesterday who took a shortcut?”

Crap. I should have been more forceful in my warning to them.

“Yeah.” Carm glanced back up at K2 and Capitol and tried to determine where they might have ventured off the standard trail. It couldn’t be too far from where she was now. Their small backpacks couldn’t have carried rappelling equipment; they were woefully unprepared for the treachery of a night on this side of the mountain.

Nick came closer as Carm disconnected the call. “We don’t have any medical training, but can we help with the search?” He’d obviously overheard the conversation.

“I have advanced first-aid certification,” Carm said. That could be beneficial until the first responders could get to them, if they could locate the climbers. “Let’s try.”

First, Carm called out and waited to hear if anyone responded. Nothing, although the howling winds probably would have carried off their voices even if the two were nearby.

If they were just above or below them, wouldn’t the lost climbers have heard the four of them rappelling and called out for help? What if they were unconscious? Carm couldn’t rule out the possibility that they might be at the same elevation and merely farther away than her voice could carry, either.

Surveying their location, she decided it might be best if they did a horizontal search before descending any farther down the slope. She hadn’t brought climbing equipment because Nick had only expressed an interest in rappelling.

By the time the victims realized they’d chosen a dangerous descent yesterday, it would have been too late for them to climb up again without the proper equipment. Carm hoped they’d found shelter of some kind and that they’d brought food and water with them. Not to mention thermal protection.

She prayed someone would reach the couple before it was too late. Exposure to the elements for another night would be devastating, assuming they’d survived last night’s temps in the forties and any injuries one or both might have sustained that had kept them from returning to camp.

“Let’s hike a few hundred yards in that direction