Emergency Calls Excerpt
Love over Troubled Waters
Book One:
Chapter One
Maggie couldn’t see fifteen feet in front of her car. The storm's downpour made her windshield blurry and useless. If she had been smart, she would have left work hours ago, like everyone else. But not her, she needed to finish her project. Her reward for being diligent was to weave around dark, flooded streets, to get home.
“Unbelievable!” She squinted through her window creeping toward Foster Street Bridge. Once she got across the bridge, she’d be halfway home and out of this mess.
A loud rumble penetrated around her windows, and then her car shook. Wanting to blame it on being hit by another car, her quick check in her rearview window showed no other cars behind her. The only cars on the bridge were the ones in the distance approaching her. The rumble sounded again, followed by the shaking of her car. Maggie slowed down to a stop. She looked out the side window and felt the back end of her car give way.
“What the he--” She whispered when the car shook hard and then she was falling.
Screaming, she could only hold on to her steering wheel. The bridge had collapsed! The impact of her car hitting the ground was surprisingly softer than she thought it would be. She quickly recognized that the creek had swollen into river mode. And her car was sinking. No telling how deep the river was and she needed to get out before her car filled with water.
“Don’t panic, girlie! You can do this.” Maggie took several deep breaths, preparing for extra oxygen needed once she sunk to the bottom and equalized the pressure inside her car.
She reached for the door handle and gave a forceful push to opened it. She sucked in one last deep breath as water poured in. Fear rushed the blood through her veins and pounded in her head, but she pushed the door wider and stretched to get out.
The water was cold! It felt like it was freezing but Maggie was determined to escape. As she tried to swim out, the under current pushed the door back in on her. A sharp pain struck her forehead! There was no time worry as she had to reach the surface before she ran out of breath. She pushed again and quickly passed through the opening, and then kicked hard toward the surface.
Bursting through the surface, she sucked in a huge gulp of air and was immediately swept downstream! She tried to grab on to anything in her path but only grabbed debris. People on the side of the bank were tossing out ropes towards her but she couldn’t reach any of them. An approaching low hanging branch she was approaching was her only shot. The water was moving fast! She couldn’t get purchase at all. Her body was completely numbed from the cold. With all of her effort she reached upward and grabbed on to the branch and clung on to it.
Chapter 2
Cal, Scott, Jake, and Ben hopped aboard the helicopter and Ben got her off the ground as soon as he could. As the helicopter dipped and weaved, the men aboard the bird focused on releasing their pent-up tension as Ben fought the severe updraft and the early March, down pour to keep the bird in the air.
“It’s going to be tough to keep this baby still once we get to the extraction point, so you’ll need to do the best that you can to get those people out of danger as fast as you can.” Ben said through clenched teeth as he raced, best that he could, up the small river that turned into a raging rapid of water.
Scott squinted, “Whoa, look at that!” He pointed at the trees, and bicycles raced down the river like some amusement park ride as it crashed into and over the embankment while picking up more debris that was in its path. “Last week, that was nothing more than a creek.” He shook his head in disbelief,
“Wait, I think I see her over there!” Jake noticed the water pattern changing direction around what appeared to be a bright yellow rain coat caught in a tree. It was the first visual of the woman. As the pale face turn and look up at them. Jake checked his harness to be secured one last time and put his helmet and mike on his head. “That’s her! Ben, can you get me closer to the right crest over there? I’ll lower down just over her and then try to get this vest and harness around her.”
Cal began working the mechanical winch that lowered Jake out of the helicopter. Jake held the vest and harness in his arms, while the extra harness was latched to the spare line he was also pulling along with him. As he got lower, he could see the woman. She looked up at him and then quickly down at the rapid waters as if she was looking for something. Or someone. Jake’s breath caught in his throat. He only saw her clinging to the tree, but what if there was someone else with her when the bridge collapsed. Jake could see blood flowing from an ugly gash on her forehead. He was just about to toss the vest and harness to her, when he was unexpectedly swooped up and away causing him to swing violently. Jake looked up and saw that the helicopter was fighting the gust of wind.
“Sorry ‘bout that, Jake. Let’s try it again.” It was Ben’s calm and steady voice coming through the mic and piped into his helmet.
He turned his attention back to the woman in the water and prepared to toss her the vest as soon as he was closer. “Almost there”, he shouted down to her. “I’m going to throw you this life vest. It just goes around your body! It will keep you from going under! Do you understand me?”
She looked up at him with terrified eyes and nodded...
He took a big swing and he threw the vest her way. The pull of the updraft caused his aim to go wild. All he caught was water. He reeled in the vest, swung it again, this time it landed a couple feet from her grasp. The woman clung to the low hanging branch for dear life as she eyed the vest and how to get it around her. Jake could see the hesitation on her face. He could see that she didn’t want to let go of the branch but that she would need to do just that to grab on to the vest.
“Can you get me closer, Ben?” He spoke into his mike.
“Negative. Too many trees.” The response was immediate. The water thrashed her body not allowing her to use her lower body to wrap more firmly around the tree.
“You’ll have to let go of the tree to get the vest!” Jake yelled down. “Once you hook the vest around you, I can pull you out. I can then help you into this harness! But you have to reach for it! Can you do that?” The woman clutched the tree branch. She let go of one arm and reached outward. Floating debris knocked into her. She gripped the tree again. She was scared and he wasn’t sure of how long that tree would stand up against the powerful surging under water tow. It had already eaten away most of the bank and left the tree roots exposed. More erosion and the entire tree would fall into the river and most likely directly on top of the woman.
“Jake, we just got an ID on the woman. Her name is Maggie Connors”. Ben’s voice sounded in the mike again.
Jake didn’t waste any time. “Maggie! Reach for the vest!”
She looked up at him; connected with their eyes. He willed her to trust him to get her out of the water. He didn’t say anything else; just pleaded with his own eyes.
She reached out with both hands and grabbed the vest.
He said a silent ‘yes’ as she struggled to get her arms in it and the strap around her waist. The vest was keeping her afloat. It was loosely latched on to the harness in Jake’s possession, which kept her from floating down river. Jake just needed to drag her out from under the tree so that he could get to her and put on the second harness for the scoop part of the plan. “
“Hang on, Maggie, just hang on and—”
The loud snap had him whipping his head to the right in time to see the branch that Maggie had been clinging to snap and fall into the river. It fell on top of the line holding Maggie above water.
“Maggie!” He strained to look through the branches in hope of seeing her still above water. He saw her! The massive branch was making her into a human bobber. As she would dip below the surface, she’d kick her way back to the surface. She was fighting to stay afloat but with her vest connected to the line that was attached to an unsteady helicopter, she was in danger of drowning. No time to come up with a new plan. Jake did the only thing he could think of. He reached up, released his harness, and fell.
Book One:
Chapter One
Maggie couldn’t see fifteen feet in front of her car. The storm's downpour made her windshield blurry and useless. If she had been smart, she would have left work hours ago, like everyone else. But not her, she needed to finish her project. Her reward for being diligent was to weave around dark, flooded streets, to get home.
“Unbelievable!” She squinted through her window creeping toward Foster Street Bridge. Once she got across the bridge, she’d be halfway home and out of this mess.
A loud rumble penetrated around her windows, and then her car shook. Wanting to blame it on being hit by another car, her quick check in her rearview window showed no other cars behind her. The only cars on the bridge were the ones in the distance approaching her. The rumble sounded again, followed by the shaking of her car. Maggie slowed down to a stop. She looked out the side window and felt the back end of her car give way.
“What the he--” She whispered when the car shook hard and then she was falling.
Screaming, she could only hold on to her steering wheel. The bridge had collapsed! The impact of her car hitting the ground was surprisingly softer than she thought it would be. She quickly recognized that the creek had swollen into river mode. And her car was sinking. No telling how deep the river was and she needed to get out before her car filled with water.
“Don’t panic, girlie! You can do this.” Maggie took several deep breaths, preparing for extra oxygen needed once she sunk to the bottom and equalized the pressure inside her car.
She reached for the door handle and gave a forceful push to opened it. She sucked in one last deep breath as water poured in. Fear rushed the blood through her veins and pounded in her head, but she pushed the door wider and stretched to get out.
The water was cold! It felt like it was freezing but Maggie was determined to escape. As she tried to swim out, the under current pushed the door back in on her. A sharp pain struck her forehead! There was no time worry as she had to reach the surface before she ran out of breath. She pushed again and quickly passed through the opening, and then kicked hard toward the surface.
Bursting through the surface, she sucked in a huge gulp of air and was immediately swept downstream! She tried to grab on to anything in her path but only grabbed debris. People on the side of the bank were tossing out ropes towards her but she couldn’t reach any of them. An approaching low hanging branch she was approaching was her only shot. The water was moving fast! She couldn’t get purchase at all. Her body was completely numbed from the cold. With all of her effort she reached upward and grabbed on to the branch and clung on to it.
Chapter 2
Cal, Scott, Jake, and Ben hopped aboard the helicopter and Ben got her off the ground as soon as he could. As the helicopter dipped and weaved, the men aboard the bird focused on releasing their pent-up tension as Ben fought the severe updraft and the early March, down pour to keep the bird in the air.
“It’s going to be tough to keep this baby still once we get to the extraction point, so you’ll need to do the best that you can to get those people out of danger as fast as you can.” Ben said through clenched teeth as he raced, best that he could, up the small river that turned into a raging rapid of water.
Scott squinted, “Whoa, look at that!” He pointed at the trees, and bicycles raced down the river like some amusement park ride as it crashed into and over the embankment while picking up more debris that was in its path. “Last week, that was nothing more than a creek.” He shook his head in disbelief,
“Wait, I think I see her over there!” Jake noticed the water pattern changing direction around what appeared to be a bright yellow rain coat caught in a tree. It was the first visual of the woman. As the pale face turn and look up at them. Jake checked his harness to be secured one last time and put his helmet and mike on his head. “That’s her! Ben, can you get me closer to the right crest over there? I’ll lower down just over her and then try to get this vest and harness around her.”
Cal began working the mechanical winch that lowered Jake out of the helicopter. Jake held the vest and harness in his arms, while the extra harness was latched to the spare line he was also pulling along with him. As he got lower, he could see the woman. She looked up at him and then quickly down at the rapid waters as if she was looking for something. Or someone. Jake’s breath caught in his throat. He only saw her clinging to the tree, but what if there was someone else with her when the bridge collapsed. Jake could see blood flowing from an ugly gash on her forehead. He was just about to toss the vest and harness to her, when he was unexpectedly swooped up and away causing him to swing violently. Jake looked up and saw that the helicopter was fighting the gust of wind.
“Sorry ‘bout that, Jake. Let’s try it again.” It was Ben’s calm and steady voice coming through the mic and piped into his helmet.
He turned his attention back to the woman in the water and prepared to toss her the vest as soon as he was closer. “Almost there”, he shouted down to her. “I’m going to throw you this life vest. It just goes around your body! It will keep you from going under! Do you understand me?”
She looked up at him with terrified eyes and nodded...
He took a big swing and he threw the vest her way. The pull of the updraft caused his aim to go wild. All he caught was water. He reeled in the vest, swung it again, this time it landed a couple feet from her grasp. The woman clung to the low hanging branch for dear life as she eyed the vest and how to get it around her. Jake could see the hesitation on her face. He could see that she didn’t want to let go of the branch but that she would need to do just that to grab on to the vest.
“Can you get me closer, Ben?” He spoke into his mike.
“Negative. Too many trees.” The response was immediate. The water thrashed her body not allowing her to use her lower body to wrap more firmly around the tree.
“You’ll have to let go of the tree to get the vest!” Jake yelled down. “Once you hook the vest around you, I can pull you out. I can then help you into this harness! But you have to reach for it! Can you do that?” The woman clutched the tree branch. She let go of one arm and reached outward. Floating debris knocked into her. She gripped the tree again. She was scared and he wasn’t sure of how long that tree would stand up against the powerful surging under water tow. It had already eaten away most of the bank and left the tree roots exposed. More erosion and the entire tree would fall into the river and most likely directly on top of the woman.
“Jake, we just got an ID on the woman. Her name is Maggie Connors”. Ben’s voice sounded in the mike again.
Jake didn’t waste any time. “Maggie! Reach for the vest!”
She looked up at him; connected with their eyes. He willed her to trust him to get her out of the water. He didn’t say anything else; just pleaded with his own eyes.
She reached out with both hands and grabbed the vest.
He said a silent ‘yes’ as she struggled to get her arms in it and the strap around her waist. The vest was keeping her afloat. It was loosely latched on to the harness in Jake’s possession, which kept her from floating down river. Jake just needed to drag her out from under the tree so that he could get to her and put on the second harness for the scoop part of the plan. “
“Hang on, Maggie, just hang on and—”
The loud snap had him whipping his head to the right in time to see the branch that Maggie had been clinging to snap and fall into the river. It fell on top of the line holding Maggie above water.
“Maggie!” He strained to look through the branches in hope of seeing her still above water. He saw her! The massive branch was making her into a human bobber. As she would dip below the surface, she’d kick her way back to the surface. She was fighting to stay afloat but with her vest connected to the line that was attached to an unsteady helicopter, she was in danger of drowning. No time to come up with a new plan. Jake did the only thing he could think of. He reached up, released his harness, and fell.