Chilled (Bone Secrets, #2)(51)

Alex clamped his jaw as a full-body shudder rocked him. God, I was lucky. So damned lucky.

“Nah, your feet probably would’ve been sticking out of the snow. Might’ve been easier to find.” Ryan forced a smile.

Alex let an answering smile spread across his face. His smile wasn’t forced. He was aboveground, and that was all that mattered. He could smile forever.

“I was awake for a while under there.”

“Fuck. I can’t imagine…” Ryan’s eyes widened.

“Looking back, I’m surprised how calm I was. At first I wanted to scream and dig out and fight. But then after the first panic I just accepted it. I knew there was nothing I could do. And I was OK with that. Peaceful almost.”

He met Ryan’s curious gaze and kept quiet about his dream of Brynn. He’d thought about her a lot since he’d been dug out of the ground. When he’d first seen her above him, she’d looked so damned scared, and then relief had shot through her eyes.

At the same moment, something had shot through him, bonding him with her. Some sort of freaky cosmic thing. He’d heard that rescuers would forever carry a piece of the soul of the people they’d saved. He didn’t know he’d physically feel it when it happened to him.

“Thomas knew where you were. He saw you get tossed in the avalanche.”

Alex bit his lip. What if the big guy hadn’t seen him?

“Jim thought he knew where you were. We started digging in two different spots, but Jim’s spot turned up Brynn’s pack.” Ryan cleared his throat. “I thought Brynn was going to lose it when she realized it wasn’t you under all that snow. We were all about to give up after that.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Maybe it was my ears. I don’t know what I heard, but when we were digging at the hole where we finally found you, I swear a sound was coming up from under the snow.”

“What kind of sound?” Screams? Moans?

“A chime. Just a single quiet chime.” He studied Alex.

Alex blinked. A chime? Like his…he reached in his coat pocket and pulled out his cell phone. The screen showed two missed calls and a voice mail. The chime would sound occasionally until he checked his voice mail. He dialed.

“It’s from Jim.” He stared at a grinning Ryan. “He’s cursing at me to answer my phone.”

Both men burst out laughing.

“You tried to call me? Did you think I could tell you where I was?” Alex gasped between laughs. “I can’t believe the call went through.”

Ryan snorted. “We were trying to hear the ring. I’d gotten through to Collins earlier. It was worth a shot.”

“Fuck. I keep it on vibrate.”

“I knew it!” Ryan exclaimed and clutched at his stomach as if he could stop the pain from laughing too hard.

“The only sound it ever makes is that damned chime every five minutes when I’ve got a voice mail. Do you know how many times I’ve tried to get that annoying noise turned off? You can’t do it on this phone.” Alex’s voice choked as he fought to control another laugh.

Ryan’s shoulders shook. “That damned chime might’ve saved your life. We might’ve given up if I hadn’t heard it. Everyone thought I was hearing things.”

Alex’s nose began to run from laughing. He wiped at it. Another sign he was thawing out. He closed his eyes and smiled. Damn, it felt good to laugh and shoot the shit with someone. He hadn’t done this since…he couldn’t think of the last time. A subtle pounding in his head reminded him why. He’d cut himself off from everyone.

He had to start living again. Doing something with his life. Not hiding.

He’d been given a second chance. If it hadn’t been for the determination of this team… He shivered as a chill rocketed through his nerves and Brynn’s smiling image crossed his mind. She was the type of person who touched lives and made them brighter, lighter. She and all the guys had potential to make big differences in the world.

Alex stared at the tiny stove, chest tightening.

He still had to figure out what to do if he found Darrin Besand. If Darrin was in these woods, Alex might get a chance he never would have had out in the real world. He could meet the man face-to-face, no guards, no bars.

What would he do? His goal suddenly wasn’t as clear as it had been. Could he truly kill a man in cold blood?

Doubt wrapped around him like a cold coat.

Is that Alex laughing?

Brynn stopped and cocked her head. She recognized Ryan’s laughter, and the lower-pitched laugh had to be Alex. Turning, she spotted Thomas and Jim digging in various places, still searching for the missing packs. They’d already partly dug out the cockpit. It had ended up a couple of hundred feet down the mountain, the pilots still strapped in their seats. The marshal had been tossed out, but they found him nearby and moved him back in with the pilots. They’d thought the cockpit was twenty feet under until Thomas had spotted some white metal sticking up out of the snow. Why couldn’t their packs have a strap or two poking up out of the snow to see?

She paced a grid pattern, studying the snow for any signs of their packs. She’d sent Ryan in to rest and to keep an eye on Alex. Hopefully they’d keep an eye on each other. Ryan was a walking ghost. He’d insisted on climbing to the ridge to retrieve his own pack, and it’d taken him three times as long as it should have. The vomiting seemed to have stopped, but she’d seen him frequently touch his abdomen like something still burned. He refused to eat. Could he hike out tomorrow? If they went slowly?