Chapter 6 - RED FIRE
I hit the ground before the flare landed.
Kwon hit Bell.
The two men crashed into the snow.
The flare hissed violently, throwing red light across the wreckage.
Fuel shimmered black beneath it.
"EXTINGUISHER!"
I ran.
Beck grabbed the dry chemical unit from the rescue case and threw it to me.
I pulled the pin.
The flare burned like a piece of the sun.
I buried it under a blast of powder.
For one second it disappeared.
Then red light pushed through again.
"Snow!"
Ramirez kicked clean snow over the flare while I continued discharging the extinguisher.
Behind us, Kwon and Bell rolled downhill.
Bell punched wildly.
Kwon absorbed one hit, trapped his wrist, and turned him face down.
"Stop fighting!"
"Get off me!"
"Stop!"
Bell bucked hard enough to nearly throw him.
Kwon drove a knee beside Bell's shoulder and locked his arm.
"You are next to leaking fuel, you idiot!"
That finally reached him.
Bell stopped.
The flare died beneath powder and snow.
I stood over it for five more seconds.
No ignition.
No flame spread.
No explosion.
Only then did I breathe.
"Secure him."
Kwon used utility ties from his kit.
Bell did not resist again.
He lay in the snow shaking.
I walked over.
"Anyone hurt?"
Kwon flexed his jaw.
"My dignity."
"Survivable."
"Debatable."
Bell rolled enough to look at me.
"You don't understand what you just did."
"Prevented you from killing nine people?"
"Voss will come after everybody involved."
"He can stand in line."
Bell laughed weakly.
"You think this is funny?"
"No."
I crouched beside him.
"I think people who threaten everyone eventually run out of room to hide."
"You don't know him."
"Then tell me."
He looked away.
"Not here."
"Here is what you have."
"No."
"Here is where people almost died because you chose a corporation over a safety report."
His eyes snapped back to mine.
"I did not cause the crash."
"Maybe not."
"I didn't."
"But you tried to destroy evidence after it."
"I panicked."
"You hit Miller in the head."
Bell closed his eyes.
"He grabbed me."
"You cycled the beacon."
Silence.
"Why?"
He said nothing.
"Grant."
"I needed time."
"For what?"
"To get Hale's phone before rescuers arrived."
There it was.
Ugly and simple.
"You were willing to delay rescue for injured people so you could protect a report."
He did not answer.
I stood.
"Kwon, keep him where we can see him."
"Gladly."
"Ramirez, Cross."
We returned to the pilot.
The hydraulic spreader had shifted the cockpit frame enough to free pressure from Cross's thigh, but his lower leg remained pinned.
Dunn had started warmed fluids.
Cross's breathing was shallow.
"Daniel."
His eyes opened.
"Hi."
"I'm Lauren."
"Blizzard Hero?"
I glared at Miller.
He lifted both hands weakly.
"Wasn't me."
Cross managed a faint smile.
"Internet."
My stomach sank.
"You have service?"
"Had."
He winced.
"Before crash."
Of course.
Brianna's post had reached people before we even reached the mountain.
"Forget the nickname."
"Hard to."
"Try."
His smile faded.
"Am I losing the leg?"
Direct question.
Direct answer.
"I don't know."
"That's bad."
"It means I don't know."
"You people train to say that?"
"Yes."
He laughed once and groaned.
"Okay."
I touched his shoulder.
"We're getting you out."
That promise I could make.
Not alive.
Not with both legs.
Just out.
We worked another twenty minutes.
The spreader gained two inches.
Then three.
Kwon joined us after securing Bell to a rock anchor with enough movement to protect circulation but not enough to reach anything useful.
"On three."
He gripped the twisted frame.
Ramirez positioned Cross's leg.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
Kwon pumped.
Metal groaned.
Ramirez pulled.
Cross screamed.
The leg came free.
Blood surged through the mangled tissue.
Dunn clamped proximal bleeding.
Ramirez applied a tourniquet.
Cross lost consciousness.
"Pressure dropping."
"Warm him."
"Already."
"Pelvic binder?"
"On."
"Second line."
"Working."
I looked toward the sky.
Nothing.
No helicopter.
No miracle.
We had to get him downhill.
"Ground team update."
Shaw answered after two calls.
"Seventy minutes."
"Too long."
"I know."
"Can they push snowmobiles ahead?"
"Avalanche team says no."
"What about the east drainage?"
"Blocked by slide."
"Air?"
"Negative."
I closed my eyes for one second.
Think.
The old mine.
The map showed an abandoned maintenance structure half a mile west.
If it still existed, it could provide wind protection and a better staging point.
"We move to the mine shelter."
Kwon looked at the slope.
"With Cross?"
"Especially Cross."
"Terrain?"
"Less exposed than here."
"Fuel?"
"Another reason to leave."
"Bell?"
"He walks."
Bell heard.
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
Kwon looked at him.
"I have fantastic news about how little that matters."
Even Miller laughed.
We built litters.
Cross first.
Price second.
Hale remained on the drag sled.
Miller insisted on walking until Ramirez threatened to sedate him.
"You can't sedate me for being stubborn."
"Want to test that theory?"
Miller got on the litter.
We moved.
It was brutal.
Half a mile in deep snow with casualties is not half a mile.
It is a series of small wars against gravity.
Every slope becomes a problem.
Every rock becomes a decision.
Every gust of wind steals heat.
Thirty minutes later, the old maintenance shed appeared beneath snow.
Three walls remained intact.
The roof sagged but held.
It was beautiful.
We got everyone inside.
Kwon cleared an exit path in case the structure shifted.
Beck set a communications antenna near the doorway.
Ramirez and Dunn turned one corner into a trauma station.
I put Bell at the opposite wall.
Hale watched him with naked hatred.
"He should be arrested."
"He will be."
Bell looked at him.
"You think you're innocent?"
Hale stiffened.
"I reported the defect."
"After eight months."
The room changed.
I looked at Hale.
"Eight months?"
Hale's face went pale.
Bell smiled bitterly.
"Ask your whistleblower when he first saw the cold-soak failures."
"Shut up."
"Ask him."
I crouched in front of Hale.
"When?"
He looked away.
"Victor."
"It was complicated."
My patience vanished.
"People are bleeding on the floor."
"Do not give me complicated."
He swallowed.
"Eleven months ago."
Bell laughed.
"There it is."
"Why did you wait?"
Hale's voice dropped.
"I thought engineering would fix it internally."
"Did you document it?"
"Yes."
"Did you escalate?"
"Not outside the company."
"Why?"
He looked at his hands.
"Stock options."
Nobody spoke.
Hale's face crumpled.
"I had twelve years there."
"My retirement was tied to the company."
"My daughter's tuition."
"My mortgage."
"I kept telling myself they would fix it."
He looked toward Cross.
"Then the test data got worse."
"And I reported it formally."
"Bell changed the package."
Bell shouted.
"Under orders!"
"You still did it!"
"So did you!"
Their voices filled the shelter.
I stood between them.
"Enough."
Both stopped.
"You can confess your failures later."
"Right now, you help us keep these people alive."
Hale looked ashamed.
Bell looked defeated.
Then my radio vibrated.
Shaw.
"Whiteout, command update."
"Go."
"Ground team found your lower trail."
"ETA?"
"Fifty minutes."
"Good."
"There is something else."
I looked at Beck.
He heard the tone too.
"Say it."
"Northstar called the Department of Defense."
"About what?"
"They are claiming proprietary data was stolen by Victor Hale."
Hale closed his eyes.
"They are requesting all Northstar devices be secured and returned to company counsel."
I touched the phone inside my jacket.
"Denied."
"That is what legal said."
"Then why are you telling me?"
Shaw paused.
"Because Northstar's vice president, Daniel Voss, also contacted local authorities."
"For what?"
"He reported Hale for corporate theft and alleged sabotage of the aircraft."
Hale jerked upright.
"That's a lie!"
Bell looked genuinely shocked.
"He blamed Hale?"
I keyed the radio.
"What evidence?"
"Unknown."
"Anything else?"
Another pause.
"Yes."
"Your sister's post is national now."
My teeth clenched.
"How national?"
"Several major outlets are running the Blizzard Hero angle."
"Wonderful."
"It gets worse."
Of course it did.
"A Northstar spokesperson has told one network that the rescue specialist currently on scene may have a prior dispute with the company."
I stared at the radio.
"They named me?"
"Not directly."
"They didn't have to."
"No."
I looked at Hale.
Then Bell.
Then Cross fighting for his life on the floor.
Northstar was building its story while we were still trying to keep people alive.
And Brianna had handed them the most valuable thing they needed.
My identity.
My history with their equipment.
A public narrative they could attack.
I spoke slowly.
"Colonel."
"Go."
"Lock down every recording from this operation."
"Already done."
"Preserve the beacon."
"Copy."
"Preserve the aircraft."
"Once the site is safe."
"And tell legal I have Hale's phone."
Shaw went silent.
"What's on it?"
"A file named NX41_FINAL_TEST_REPORT."
"Do not open it."
"Wasn't planning to."
"Do not transfer it."
"Copy."
"Keep it physically secure."
"Copy."
Bell laughed softly from the wall.
I looked at him.
"Something funny?"
He shook his head.
"No."
"Then what?"
His face had gone gray.
"Voss knows Hale uploaded it."
"How?"
Bell looked at the phone inside my jacket as if it were a bomb.
"Because every Northstar field device has remote management software."
The shelter became silent.
"Can they access the phone?"
Hale answered before Bell could.
"Not if I disabled the agent."
Bell looked at him.
"Did you?"
Hale hesitated.
That was answer enough.
Beck immediately stood.
"Phone."
I pulled it out.
"Air-gap bag."
He opened a shielded pouch.
I dropped the device inside.
He sealed it.
One second later, his own monitoring tablet chirped.
"Network probe."
"From where?"
"Unknown external address."
"Can they reach it now?"
"No."
He looked at me.
"But somebody just tried."
Outside, wind slammed against the old shed.
Inside, every person understood the same thing.
The fight over the crash had already begun.
May you like
And the people fighting hardest were nowhere near the mountain.
