Free Damaged by Alex Kava Page B

Wilson.
    “We’ve got one rescue, Bailey. Unless you find someone else in the water, that basket is only coming up once. We’re not sending it down again for that dog. You understand, Bailey? This isn’t New Orleans after Katrina. That dog is not coming up. It’ll have to wait for the cutter.”
    She yanked off the helmet without a response. As Liz tucked her hair into her surf hood and strapped on her Seda helmet, she purposely avoided O’Dell’s eyes.
    She readjusted her harness and rechecked her restraints. Her adrenaline was pumping and she needed to calm it down a notch, just enough to let it work for her, not against her. They could talk all they wanted, analyze and discuss to the last detail, but once she was out on that cable it was Liz who’d be balancing on the edge of that tilted cruiser. It’d be up to Liz to maneuver the survivor before a lift could even be made. And it’d be Liz’s ass if it didn’t work.
    She scooted into position at the door. Kesnick waited for her glance then held her eyes a beat longer than usual. “Let me help you on this.” Maybe he had read her mind.
    She nodded and he tapped her chest. She gave him a thumbs-up and crawled out. She slid down just a few feet to stop and wait for the hoist cable to tighten, but instead the wind caught it. The cable looped and bucked then jerked Liz like she was hanging on to the end of a whip. The rotor wash twisted her, pushing her in one directionthen the other. Another jerk wrenched her spine. That’s when she started to spin. It was like getting sucked up into a wind tunnel.
    All Liz could see was a blur as she hung tight to the cable. She closed her eyes and dug her heels down around the cable, managing to keep her feet crossed at the ankles. She tucked her chin into her chest so the cable didn’t wind around her neck. She made her body as rigid as possible.
    She did everything she was taught to do. But the spin only accelerated.

CHAPTER 18

    Maggie watched the rescue swimmer jump out of the helicopter one minute and within seconds she saw the flight mechanic, Kesnick, stumble and slide, diving headfirst toward the open door as if he were being sucked out behind Bailey.
    Maggie reacted on instinct. She ripped at her restraints, her gloved fingers taking too long to break herself free. She grabbed for his safety belt that remained hooked into the deck of the cabin. She hadn’t even seen the hoist cable snag Kesnick’s helmet. Instead, she followed the safety belt’s line, using its tautness to pull herself to her feet.
    She heard Wilson and Ellis trying to figure out what the hell was going on. She couldn’t see them and didn’t take precious time to wait until she could. Instead, she gripped Kesnick’s belt and pulled with all her weight. It was enough to jerk Kesnick out of his freefall stance. But the hoist cable that had caught his helmet still whipped his head back in the direction of the open door.
    Kesnick let out a scream from the pain. For a brief, sick moment, Maggie worried it may have broken his neck. Her eyes followed the cable from its snag on his helmet to a hook on the top of the open door. She couldn’t reach the hoist cable but she could reachhis helmet. She clawed at it, fumbling with the chinstrap, trying to remember what clicked into what.
    Wilson and Ellis were yelling at each other, at Kesnick, at Maggie. Then the helicopter shifted and rocked, slinging Kesnick backward, his head in her gut. His helmet-less head. Thank God. She saw the cable snap and fling Kesnick’s helmet out the door.
    Maggie grabbed on to a leather strap attached to the wall just as the helicopter rocked again and her feet started to slide toward the door. Wilson grunted a string of curses before he rocked it back and held steady.
    Amazingly Kesnick was already on his knees crawling back to his feet.
    Ellis yelled, “Are you okay, man?”
    But without his helmet, Kesnick didn’t hear and couldn’t respond. He hurried back to the open