Free Spin Out by James Buchanan

with rocks and trees on the way down. Luckily she hadn’t rolled over. Figured the door might be jammed, but maybe it was just locked. “Can you unlock the door for me?” She hit the electronic switch, but nothing happened. Then she tried the handle and that wouldn’t budge either.
    I fished my Houdini Pro out of the left thigh pocket on my uniform pants. “Look it, I’m gonna break your window here. I need you to cover your face.” While she put her hands over her face, I wrapped the tool in my fist and set the button tip right in the center of the passenger’s side window. “It’s gonna jar some and maybe hurt a little, you hang in there though, okay? I gotta check you out.” Then I started to push…could feel that plastic sheath pushed back to the lock and I tensed as I sensed the punch drive released. Snapped my spine straight at the sound of the window shattering.
    With gloves and the side of the Houdini I cleared out as much as I could of the door window. I leaned into the passenger compartment some, flicking the light on the end of the rescue tool to help me see inside the dim space. I scanned around, enough to pick up the details hidden by lack of direct sun. My biggest worry was that the car might roll a bit more…like through the trees and over the edge…taking her, and me, with it. Still, I needed to check the occupants of the vehicle.
    This quick search confirmed my earlier scan, only one soul was in the car. A small woman, maybe twenty-something, sat in the driver’s seat. The seatbelt twisted itself all up around her and I could see just a hint of blue tinting her lips.
    “How’s it look, Joe?” Kabe’s voice came from up by the road.
    I hauled myself up outta the car enough to yell back. “We’re gonna need a neck brace and a back board here! I got to cut her down.” With as short as she was and with the shoulder harness locked up, the belt pulled right across her neck. She’d twisted her head to the side to give herself some breathing room, but it couldn’t have been much. “Seatbelt’s constricting her airway.”
    “Okay!” He acknowledged. “I’m sending the guys down your line with the backboard and stuff!”
    “I tied it off.” I let him know I heard. “They should be good to go.” Now that the rope gave the others a line to clip to, they didn’t need to be climbers to follow me down. I turned my attention back to her. “Look, miss,” didn’t know if she really cared much what I had to say, but I always talked folks through things, “I’m gonna cut your seatbelt off. You’re gonna drop forward some, but I gotta do it.” If I didn’t she just might strangle.
    Flipping open the hook blade of the Houdini, I scooted back into the cab of the car. The trick would be keeping her from sliding forward onto the steering column. She seemed to get what I was up to because she reached out and braced her hand against the dash. With her that lucid, I decided to take one more precaution. “Can you set the parking brake?” She nodded as much as she was able, moved her leg and I heard the grind as it in engaged. We might still slide, but at least the car wouldn’t roll. I grabbed the belt above her head, caught the webbing with the hook end of the Houdini an inch or so above my grip, and pulled it towards me. Slit that thick fabric like a hot knife through butter. Then I tossed the belt away from her as she sucked in a deep breath with a sob.
    I did a quick vitals check. Everything seemed as normal as possible under the circumstances. “Okay, miss. ‘Nother minute more and the EMTs will be down.” I squeezed her hand when she reached up for me. “Don’t panic. But I got to make sure this car don’t go no farther down this hill.” When I saw her eyes go wide, I got a little strict. “Just hang in there. You got to do it.”
    She whispered, “Okay,” as I stepped back.
    Turned away and saw the EMTs slowly making their way down. Up on the lip of the road, Kabe’d dropped