Chapter Twenty-Two
Jackson
I held tight to the rope as I rappelled down. “I’m there,” I called up to Dawson in the darkness.
“Got a hold on you,” Dawson called down in reply.
It was dark and raining. After Shay and I walked over for dinner at the lodge, the clouds hanging low on the horizon all afternoon had let loose the rain. Dawson and I were on call for Stolen Hearts Valley Emergency Response, and a call came in just as dinner was winding down.
While everyone else was planning to relax with a few drinks after dinner, we grabbed our gear and took off. A car leaving a nearby local bar had driven off the side of a cliff on one of the sharp turns along one of the many winding roads through the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Although the eastern mountains had lower elevation and held you close
