Page 40 of Mountain Impact

Eventually, Drake made his way to the back of the helicopter.

“We’re going to be landing in a couple minutes. Make sure you’re strapped in,” he added unnecessarily. Neither woman had moved since they first sat down.

Drake exchanged a quick look with Isolde. Her eyes were bright with sadness.

This is really hard for her.

He wanted to hold her and lend her some of his strength. He might not have much else to offer, but he was strong. She could lean on him. Always.

But now wasn’t the right time. She’d asked for his help getting to the ridge. He was certainly not going to leave her and Amélie Omont alone up here, but he wouldn’t get in their way. Isolde had a plan, and Drake would support her in making it happen.

Kat landed the helicopter softly and without fanfare, and they all jumped out.

Often during an extraction, Kat stayed with the helicopter, ready to fly out as soon as the team was back with the rescues. This time, however, was different. Any chance to rescue someone had come and gone over a year earlier. Today was just about closure. Kat locked the helicopter and all four of them stepped out onto the path together.

Isolde and Amélie walked up front, talking gently. Drake and Kat followed. He could hear bits of the conversation upfront.

“My heart hurts,” Amélie confided in Isolde. Drake felt like he was snooping, but he couldn’t stop himself from listening in. “He left me behind.”

Isolde’s soft voice carried towards him in the silence of the mountain. “We don’t talk about this enough. The duty to protect is so engrained in police officers … sometimes it overrides everything else. Pierre probably thought he was protecting you.”

Drake swallowed―the phantom pain in his leg flared up again.

“We’re here,” he finally said. He’d spoken to the commander in charge of the search, and was pretty certain they were standing in the right place.

“Some days, I think everything’s going to be okay. Then the cloud comes back.”

“I’m sorry, Amélie,” Isolde said. “There’s nothing any of us can say, but I know how much he cared about you. He told me often enough during our sessions together. He wouldn’t have wanted you to be sad.”

Amélie’s shoulders slumped. “He shouldn’t have left me. If I’d known―”

“This isn’t on you, Amélie. It’s on all of us,” Isolde replied.

Drake bristled at the guilt hidden in Isolde’s voice and bit his lip to avoid speaking his mind. Pierre had decided to take his own life. And as much as Drake wished the man had reached out to somebody beforehand, his failure to do so didn’t transfer the blame onto Isolde’s shoulders.

But Drake wouldn’t―couldn’t―judge the man’s actions. Even at his lowest, after the cable car accident that had taken the girl’s life and shattered his leg, Drake had never touched that rock bottom where taking his life might have seemed the preferable way forward. The fact that he’d never contemplated that had nothing to do with his own strength of character, and everything to do with his team, who’d stood by him and supported him until he’d regained his strength.

But he wouldn’t judge Pierre’s choices, however much devastation he’d left behind.

Beside him, Kat’s hands were clenched into fists. Her red curls fell onto her face but she made no attempt to pull them back.

“It’s peaceful here,” Amélie finally breathed. Tears rolled down her face. “Thank you for bringing me. Before, I couldn’t picture―” She stifled a sob.

Isolde gently brought Amélie back from the edge and helped her sit on a large, flat rock along the path. Isolde whispered something to Amélie, then moved a respectful distance away and sat on an overturned log. Drake and Kat followed. He made sure to take the spot on the log next to Isolde. He needed that connection.

Isolde’s shoulders hunched. Drake couldn’t bear to see her taking on all this weight herself. This wasn’t the time or place to speak about it, but he sat as close to her as possible, his leg pressed up against hers. As time passed, and the air around them grew colder, all Drake could feel was the warm spot where their bodies touched.

Chapter 15

Isolde

Isolde wished she could say that closure for Amélie Omont had meant closure for her as well.

It hadn’t.

The truth was, Amélie Omont had been right. Somebody should have noticed Pierre was so close to breaking. And that somebody was Isolde.

Isolde was too smart to think that Pierre’s decision had been anything but his own. And yet, she’d been the one treating him. She’d believed―and after his suicide had gone through her notes more times than she could count to remind herself of what she’d thought at each moment in time―that he was learning to cope with his emotions and moving in a positive direction now that his dream of joining the PGHM had been shattered.