Fly Me Home (Rescue Squad Shifters Book 1) Read online

  Fly Me Home

  By Victoria Flynn

  Acknowledgements

  To my editors Dawn Yacovetta and Karolyn Henick, you guys did a stunning job on this manuscript. Not only was I so comfortable working with you, you both knew these characters as well as I did. To Alecia Harrington, Megan Guiler, and Grace Brennan, y’all gave me the best advice and made this book spectacular. It’s your suggestions that brought Talon and Genevieve’s story to life. To Amber Shepherd, your tireless work on this cover gave me a masterpiece. You knew what I needed before I even knew myself. To Becca Vincenza, you have given up so much of your time to teach me this business and how to make the best book I possibly can. You’ve dropped everything to help format when I was in a pinch. You’ve been not only a fabulous mentor, but one of my absolute best friends. All of you women have been invaluable to me and I can’t thank you enough. Thank you to my husband and family for putting up with my crazy writing routines and sprinting marathons. Lastly, thank you to all of the readers. You guys make my job fun and love my characters as much as I do.

  Copyright

  ©2018 by Victoria Flynn

  All rights reserved.

  This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,

  photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the copyright owner and/or the publisher of this book, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Dedication

  For Love.

  Chapter 1

  Talon

  It’d been a long night, and the stress of it all was beginning to wear me down. Two days. That’s how long it’d been since I’d slept or had any rest at all. There wasn’t time. Another winter storm was rolling in, threatening to dump nearly a foot of snow over the search area.

  Two hikers had strayed from the trails and gotten turned around. They’d been out there for two days, and being Search and Rescue, I wouldn’t give up until I found them. Time was against us though. We’d lose all traces of their trail if we didn’t find them before the storm rolled in.

  “T, what’s your coordinates?” Justin’s voice crackled from my radio.

  “I’m at the base of the peak, west side. Moving higher. Any sign of them from above?” I asked.

  Justin was my eyes in the sky for the time being. He was combing over the mountain with the chopper, but the forest was too thick to make much out clearly.

  “Negative. We’ve only got an hour before I’ve got to put this damn thing on the ground. The wind’s going to start kickin’ up,” Justin radioed.

  Shit.

  “All right, can you get Barry back to base? It’ll be faster if I go alone.”

  Barry was the chief and, like the rest of the town, was oblivious to the things that went on in the small town of Elk Springs. Justin knew exactly what I was talking about. He’d known all my secrets since I’d been a boy, my only friend. He was the only one I could trust.

  “Yeah, I think so. It’s going to have to be a fast pass though. This is turning into a shit show real quick.”

  Justin was right. The pressure was changing along with the wind direction. The storm was getting worse and picking up speed.

  “Justin, we’re out of time. I’ve got to go now.”

  Up ahead, an old pine had fallen. The termites and ants had hollowed it out, leaving a perfect hidey hole. Shrugging off my orange vest, I stuffed it into the space and kicked out of my boots. The wind whipped around me, whistling through the trees. Stripping out of my clothes, I stood naked in the forest and felt for wind direction.

  Northwest.

  The wind held the icy chill of the harsh early winter storm. Not for the first time, I was grateful I ran hotter than humans. I moved further into the dense copse of trees, searching for the perfect place that would provide enough cover to ensure I wouldn’t be seen from above as I used my last option.

  Not too far from where I’d stopped was a large pine with enough high branches to provide the cover I was looking for. Crouching under it, I let the bird have my body. The tiny downy feathers pushed their way out of my pores. Bones broke and reformed; joints popped and cracked as my other form took hold. It was agony, but if I pushed it, made it go faster, the whole thing was over fast. Time was the enemy, so I pushed damn hard.

  The eagle exploded from me, taking flight mid shift. I caught the updraft and soared higher, feeling the wind lift me like I was weightless. If I’d had the time, I’d savor the peace and freedom flight gave me, but there were lives on the line. If these folks didn’t get off the mountain, they’d be facing almost certain death.

  My eyes were trained on the ground, scanning for tracks or signs of the missing hikers. I could hear the chopping of helicopter blades as they headed back to base.

  I stayed low, close to the tree tops, as I searched for feet impressions in the snow. The wind blew hard, whipping the snow around and covering any traces of them. Movement caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Giving the object my full attention, I realized it was only a fox running for cover with the coming storm.

  The needles of the pine trees almost scraped my belly as I soared over them. It wasn’t enough. I needed a higher vantage point if I was going to have any luck finding the hikers. With a powerful thrust, my wings caught the air current, and I pushed, forcing it all behind me, and shot another thirty feet higher, but it still wasn’t enough.

  I could see the helicopter retreating in the distance, the chopping of the blades fading as Justin and Barry got further away. I was on my own, which was exactly the way I preferred it. The wind was brutal, making it hard to stay on course. The pressure and temperatures were dropping quickly.

  A faint whiff of smoke reached me, but before I could tell which way it was coming from, it was gone. I circled around, trying to find it again. Just as I was sure it had been a mistake or my mind playing tricks on me, a plume of red smoke began to billow above the trees.

  Rescue smoke flares.

  That had to be them.

  Sure enough, when I got closer, I found a man and a woman, fitting the description, huddled between a felled tree and a massive boulder, trying to keep out of the wind. They were further off course than we’d anticipated, and it would take me at least twenty minutes to reach them from where I’d left my clothes. We’d need an airlift out, but that would require an area large enough for the helicopter to land and take off, and that was no easy feat on this sort of terrain. The ground was uneven, and I was certain there were more trees on that mountain than people in the entire state of Colorado.

  My gaze narrowed on the area where I’d left my clothes. Pushing myself to the brink of my limits, I soared back toward the hollow. Angling my wings, I attempted to slow when I got close enough to see the tree, however with the wind at my back, it was nearly impossible. I was going too fast and being tossed about by cross winds. Unable to decelerate enough, I slammed into the branch above where I was aiming for. The force of it spun me around and slung me off the limb. I tucked my wings and began the shift as I plummeted the last twenty feet toward the ground below.

  The pain was blinding, and I slammed into the dirt with enough force to knock the wind out of me. With the last of my feathers receding, I laid there gasping for air. My diaphragm didn’t want to cooperate, and my lungs refused to inflate. After a minu
te of flopping around like a suffocating fish, I could finally drag enough oxygen into my body that I could manage to get to my feet.

  Still breathing heavily, I pulled on my clothes as fast as I could manage while I started to move in the direction the smoke was coming from. I could smell it from where I was, but I had to hurry. The smoke flare would only last so long.

  I grabbed my radio as I moved along the mountainside and radioed Justin.

  “J? It’s T, man. I’ve found them. It’s getting a bit hairy up here, and I haven’t been able to assess their condition yet. We’re going to need a lift out of there.”

  The radio crackled as I waited for his reply. Seconds ticked by as I got closer to the missing hikers. I changed the frequency so I could reach the base.

  “Becker to base. I’ve got the hikers. The conditions won’t allow for an on-foot extraction. We need a lift out of here.”

  “Base to Becker, we’ve got the smoke flare and your coordinates. Dispatching a chopper now. Walker is already on his way. Projected touchdown in ten minutes. Update us on the conditions up there, Becker,” Pauly, the dispatcher, crackled over the device.

  “Wind speeds are picking up, and the pressure’s dropping quick. We don’t have much time before an airlift will be too dicey. We’ve got to go now.”

  I picked up my pace, racing toward the smoke and the hikers. If we missed the last lift window, we’d not only be placing the hikers in harm’s way but Justin as well. High winds and helicopters don’t tend to mix well.

  Scanning the dense forest, I zeroed in on the massive boulder peeking through a narrow gap in the trees. I’d found them.

  “Hello?” I called out, straining to hear any sort of response.

  “Hello? Please, help us! We’re over here!” a scared feminine voice shrieked.

  In the matter of a couple minutes, I closed the space between myself and the missing hikers. I rounded the shed-sized boulder and almost tripped over a booted foot.

  A large man laid unconscious, his head resting on a hysterical blonde’s lap.

  “Ma’am, are you alright? Can you tell me what happened?” I asked, dropping down beside her to evaluate the man’s condition.

  The coppery tang of his blood filled my nose. Pressing my fingers to the side of his neck, I felt a strong pulse, but that didn’t rule out the possibility of a head injury.

  “We came out here to check out the view. Dillon thought he might get a better view from the top of the rock. He tried climbing the tree and jumping over, but he slipped and hit his head on the way down.”

  “How long has he been unconscious, and has he come to at all? How long ago did he fall?” I hurled the questions at her, becoming increasingly worried about the man’s injuries.

  Inspecting his head closer, I pushed aside his near black hair to get a better look at the wound. A gash nearly two inches long split his ivory scalp, not bleeding profusely yet enough to need to be stopped.

  “It’s been almost an hour since he fell, and he hasn’t woken up since. Is he going to be alright? Is he dying?” she sobbed.

  “We’re going to airlift you out of here. Dillon, here, needs to get to the hospital as soon as possible. The helicopter will take you both there immediately.”

  I ignored the fact that we’d been searching for the pair for almost four hours since their camp reported they had missed their rendezvous time. With the impending storm, they’d raised the alarm.

  “Is he going to be okay, though? Oh my God, he’s going to die isn’t he?”

  “Ma’am, what’s your name?” I asked.

  “Tricia. Oh my God, Dillon.”

  “Tricia, listen to me. I need you to follow my directions exactly as I tell you. Can you do that? If you get yourself worked up, Dillon here could go downhill fast. I’ll be honest with you; it’s serious. He’s not out of the woods, but he has a strong pulse. The doctors will be able to tell you more, but we’ve got to get him there first. Here,” I explained, handing her a gauze patch I’d pulled from my pack. “Put this over the cut on his head and apply pressure. We need to get that bleeding stopped.”

  Her hands were shaking almost uncontrollably though she grabbed the gauze and followed my directions.

  “Now take some deep breaths, and calm down. I have to radio the helicopter.”

  I snatched the radio from my hip and flipped to the frequency Justin always used.

  “J, are you there?”

  “I’m here, T. I’ve got your coordinates. Evac in five minutes. You gonna be ready?”

  “Yeah, we should be, but there’s no landing area in the vicinity. It’s going to have to be an aerial evac. I’ve got an unconscious white male, mid-thirties, with likely closed head injury. I’ll need the backboard and a harness.”

  “I’ve got you covered, man. Send up a flare for a better pinpoint.”

  “Roger.”

  I snatched my pack from where I’d dropped it and fished out the flare gun, loading the cartridge. Aiming for the narrow gap in the trees, I fired. The flare flew high into the sky, thrown off course by the wind. It exploded, sending a shower of short lived sparks raining down on the forest above us.

  In the distance, I heard the chopping of the helicopter blades getting closer. Checking over the man, I noted his temperature was good, despite the near freezing conditions. Nothing else appeared to be injured, but we couldn’t take the chance with him also possibly having a neck injury.

  “Tricia? I’ve got this,” I said as I replaced her hand with my own on the gauze. “In my bag over there is a neck brace. I need you to grab it out of there and bring it here.”

  She seemed dazed by everything that was going on. Tricia quickly did as I asked without saying anything. Handing me the brace, she took back over applying pressure to the man’s head.

  Snowflakes began to fall all around us. The storm was arriving right on time. I fastened the brace around the man’s neck and checked his pulse again. It was still beating steadily though he still hadn’t regained consciousness or shown any signs of coming to. That was worrying and could easily be a sign of some sort of brain damage. My business mask slid into place so as not to alarm his partner. The bleeding had begun to slow.

  No more than two minutes later, Justin finally arrived overhead, dropping a rope with a harness. A second later, the back board was lowered. Barry’s ruddy face peeked out the chopper’s open door.

  Justin was busy trying to keep the helicopter steady though I could tell he was having a difficult time. We were protected on the ground with the tree cover, but he was catching the full force of the storm.

  Standing, I grabbed the harness and loosened the straps.

  “Tricia? I need you to come here. Step into this. They are going to lift you into the helicopter, and while they’re doing that, I’m going to get Dillon secured and ready for his turn. All right? Can you do that?”

  She shakily nodded and stepped into the harness.

  I helped tighten everything down and made sure she was secure before giving the rope a tug. Barry began to lift the woman to safety.

  I turned my attention to Dillon. Any other member of the rescue squad would need an assistant to lift and move a patient onto the backboard. Luckily, strength was a useful trait I’d inherited with the eagle. I heard my father’s voice in the back of my mind telling me, “One day, you’ll see what a gift the eagle is.” He’d been right even if my stubborn teenage mind couldn’t accept it at the time.

  Without wasting any more time, I grabbed the backboard and situated it next to the man. His neck was stabilized; I just had to watch for any other unexpected injuries. There didn’t appear to be any as I got my arms under him and moved him to the board. Crossing his arms over his chest, I laced the straps through their holders and secured him. Once I was sure he wouldn’t be going anywhere, I shouted up to Barry.

  “Lift!”

  Barry nodded and began to lift the man while he tossed another harness rope down for me. When I was secured, I gave another tu
g and was immediately lifted to the relative safety of the helicopter. Justin didn’t wait to head out. By the time I’d cleared the trees, he was already heading toward the closest hospital.

  It was a good day by my standards. We’d rescued live people instead of not finding them and launching a body recovery mission. When we’d almost reached the medical center, Dillon was beginning to show signs of regaining consciousness, and we delivered the couple to the care of the waiting trauma team.

  Another successful mission in the books.

  Chapter 2

  Gen

  I glanced at the next name on my list for close to the twentieth time in as many minutes.

  Talon Becker.

  He was the last name on my list of residents in Elk Springs to talk to, if you could call most folks avoiding me like the plague talking. I reached for my coffee cup, which was sloshing away in its holder as I made my way over the broken concrete of the road. The hot liquid warmed me to my bones. I hoped it would perk me up a bit after a very long and grey day. I’d been in town for about a week and had yet to see a day of sunshine. As a California girl, I couldn’t understand why you’d voluntarily live someplace where the sun was so scarce, but different strokes and all that jazz.

  My belly was in knots, anxious to be done with the list, or so I thought. I’d been anxious since I’d arrived in the small town even though I didn’t have too many reasons to be. My thoughts were re-examining the nuances of the conversations I’d had with my superiors before I’d taken this assignment when the road narrowed to a single lane. It was only wide enough to fit a full sized truck through; anything larger would get stuck on the thick swath of trees on either side. The road curved and began to climb. If it was my guess, this was the start of Mr. Becker’s driveway.

  The reclusive man was much harder to find than I would have thought, and by the looks of the dozen No Trespassing signs I’d passed, he liked it that way. The road to his solitary mountain cabin wasn’t much more than a two track trail over more gnarled roots than I could count, but trudging up the side of the mountain had to be done.