Going to Extremes. Amanda Stevens

woman screamed. The hoist moaned. And Aidan swore.

      “It’s okay!” he yelled above the roar of the blades. “I’ve got you! Just hold on tight!”

      Overhead, Powell forced down the helicopter’s nose to stabilize the aircraft, but the maneuver caused the cable to swing away from the hull, and all of a sudden, Aidan saw the wall of the canyon rushing to meet them.

      He tried to twist around so that he would take the brunt of the collision. His left shoulder smashed into the rock, and as pain shot down his arm, he momentarily released his hold on the woman and they were jerked apart by the impact.

      To Aidan’s horror, he heard the figure eight snap, and the woman screamed again as she began to slip free. For a moment, her arms clutched at him wildly, and then Aidan grabbed her. As their eyes met, he recognized the terror in her eyes. He’d seen it before, in another woman’s eyes, a split second before she slipped from his fingers and fell to her death.

      He blinked, willing away the memory as he clung to the woman’s arm. Elena had struggled blindly in her terror. She’d twisted and flailed and begged him not to let her fall.

      “I don’t want to die. Please, Aidan…”

      That same plea was in this woman’s eyes, but amazingly, she didn’t panic, which would have made Aidan’s job that much more difficult. When he shouted for her to grab his other hand, she had the presence of mind to do exactly that.

      “Just hold on, okay?”

      She nodded, her focus never leaving his.

      They dangled over the canyon for what seemed an eternity, but she never once lost her cool. She had to be in pain, not just from the fall, but from the way he clutched her arm. She didn’t so much as flinch.

      When they were finally hoisted up to the chopper, Aidan hauled her onto the ski and then boosted her through the jump door. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

      He climbed in behind her, slid the door closed and turned. She’d collapsed on the floor and gone into convulsions. Throwing off the harness, he knelt beside her.

      “Get us out of here!” he shouted up to Powell.

      “I’d love to do just that,” Powell shouted back. “Unfortunately, we’ve got a little problem.”

      They were trapped in a wind shear that kept dragging the helicopter downward. As the tail slewed about, it came dangerously close to the wall.

      “Come on,” Aidan said under his breath. “Come on!”

      Powell practically yanked the joystick out of the floor to give them lift power. For a moment, he was forced to ride the wind backward, getting closer and closer to the wall until he could maneuver the chopper around and fly with a tailwind out of the canyon.

      While Powell battled the wind, Aidan cut off the woman’s wet clothing. Beneath all those soggy layers, her skin was like ice. He rubbed her arms and legs, trying to create enough friction to warm her up.

      Rousing, she clung to him for a moment, as if she didn’t yet realize that she was safe.

      “You’ll be okay,” he assured her. “We just have to get you warmed up.”

      “Don’t let me go,” she whispered.

      “I won’t. I promise.”

      She was tiny, but surprisingly curvy, and her muscles were rock hard. At the moment, though, Aidan was more interested in the temperature of her body than in its shape.

      “F-freezing,” she gasped.

      When he had her clothes off, he wrapped her in a blanket, then pulled her into his arms and held her close to his own warm body. She still couldn’t stop shaking.

      “Is she going to be okay?” Powell shouted.

      She’d better be, Aidan thought grimly as he held her tight. He couldn’t afford to lose another one.