Rancher's High-Stakes Rescue. Beth Cornelison

Finally he felt like he was an integral part of the Double M, someone more than the reckless and irresponsible brother. He could finally—

      An odd jerk and sudden drop yanked him from his musing. He continued his descent but...something was different. Something was wrong.

      The cable shuddered again, and a growing sense of foreboding swelled in Josh’s gut. He could see the landing platform ahead and prepared to stop. Another strange jerk slowed his progress, and he could see the slack in the line overhead. What the—?

      The first fingers of real trepidation clawed at him. They’d tested the zip line many times, had it inspected, cleared by all the proper authorities. But he didn’t need a professional to tell him something was off.

      He slid closer to the landing platform, perched a good fifty feet above the ground, but the final few yards of the ride were even more jerky and unstable than before. When his feet touched the landing, and he knew he was safely across, he exhaled a breath he hadn’t known he was holding.

      Relief washed through him, but on the heels of that released tension came another hit. As he unhooked himself from the pulley system, he discovered the source of his bumpy ride.

      A chill washed through him, along with panic.

      The tree trunk had been cut, both above and below the metal plate where the bolts holding the main pulley for the cable system were attached. Saw dust littered the platform, and the steel bands that should have been providing additional support for the main cable had been cut away. Deep wedges had been removed surrounding the bolted metal plate such that the wood was splintering as the weight of the cable pulled at the weakened trunk. The gouged section of the trunk, and therefore the steel transverse cable, was in serious danger of failing.

      With his heartbeat roaring in his ears, Josh abandoned his attempts to unfasten his harness and scrambled for the two-way radio. He had to warn Zane before anyone else tried to cross—and died.

      “Come on, Kate,” Dawn said. “You go first!”

      Kate snapped her head toward her coworker so fast she could have given herself whiplash. “What? No!”

      Dawn leaned closer, whispering, “The longer you stand here and watch, the more nervous you’ll get. Just bite the bullet and jump in.”

      “I don’t know. I—”

      “Kate! Kate! Kate!” Dawn started chanting.

      “No!” Kate tried to back away from the platform but bumped into Jake’s wide chest.

      “Kate! Kate! Kate!” the others in the group joined in the chant.

      Dawn seized Kate’s arm and tugged her forward. “You can do this! It’ll be fun!”

      Kate didn’t reply. She had to concentrate on breathing, on swallowing the surge of bile that rushed up in her throat. Brady held out the tangle of straps and clasps, and with Dawn’s help, she found the contraption being slid over her head, buckled across her chest and secured between her legs.

      She had to do this, she realized. To back out now would mean more than humiliating herself in front of the PR firm’s client. If she refused, she would be letting her fear win. She might as well still be trapped in the bottom of that silo. Dawn was right. She needed to face her fears. She just wished she could take baby steps, could wade into the kiddie pool before jumping in the deep end from the high dive.

      Brady adjusted the last of her straps and positioned her hands. “Hold on here. When you get to the platform, keep your feet up, and be prepared to catch your balance. Josh will be waiting to help you.” He patted the top of her helmet. “Ready?”

      She squeezed her eyes closed, and her stomach flip-flopped. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready.

      “Okay,” she rasped.

      “Kate’s ready to go at your signal,” Brady called to Zane.

      “Ready here. Waiting on your ‘go,’ Josh,” Zane said into his two-way radio.

      The group continued chanting. “Kate! Kate!”

      Dawn sidled closer to Kate and squeezed her shoulder. “You got this!”

      Zane was plugging one ear and holding the two-way radio close to his other. “Did you say ‘no’ or ‘go’?”

      Dawn’s face brightened. “Josh says go!”

      Brady nodded and gave Kate a gentle push. The straps tugged as they grabbed to support her weight. Her feet dangled free as she began her descent, and she heard a muted cheer behind her.

      Then, as she gathered a little speed, Josh’s faint static-laced response from the radio. “Zane, no! Hold up!”

      “Zane? Did you hear me?” Josh said, his heart thundering and his gut twisted in knots of dread.

      “Too late, man. Kate just launched. What’s up?” Zane answered through the radio.

      Josh bit out a curse. Already the cables were jiggling and rattling as Kate made her way down the zip line. “Hold everyone else! We have a problem down here!”

      He tossed the radio down, ignoring Zane’s demands for further explanation. He needed to give his attention now to Kate and the very real danger she was in. He spared a moment to study the tree trunk where the terminus equipment was attached. He saw no way to shore up the trunk, no way to stop the inevitable collapse of the line. The gouged section of trunk would continue to give way as more of the tree cracked, shifting more tension to smaller amounts of wood, until at last it broke free completely. Even now, the wood slowly splintered, each time making the line jerk. But how long would the last part of the trunk hold before the entire cable fell?

      Nausea swirled in his gut. He had no way of preventing disaster if Kate didn’t reach the platform before the cracking trunk gave way. Leather gloves or not, one man couldn’t possibly hold the half-ton cable, the passenger’s weight and the other steel parts of the zip-line equipment.

      His heart thrashed against his ribs. He had to do something. And fast.

      His line was still attached to the main zip cable. Think, McCall. Think!

      Even if he couldn’t hold the line, maybe he could redirect it. If the steel plate that the cable was attached to were to snag on something that would hold it, even temporarily...

      Unhooking his harness, Josh cast a frantic glance around for something, anything he could attach his line to. His riser was only long enough to reach a nearby tree branch. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do. Looping the cord around the low branch, he wrapped it twice and tucked it through the end, then quickly hooked the end to an opening in the turnbuckle on the main cable.

      Muttering a prayer under his breath, he turned his attention to the woman whose life hung in the balance.

      The ride down the cable was faster than she’d expected. And jerkier. Kate had thought the descent would be a smooth, brisk glide, but in reality she sped along at a breakneck pace, her stomach swooping as if she were on a roller coaster. And the bumps and twitches in the line were jarring to her. Every buck and sway sent fresh waves of anxiety through her. Kate determinedly kept her eyes ahead and refused to look down. Remembering the snatches of instruction Zane had given moments ago, she applied her hand brake, hoping to ease the bumps and slow her decent.

      She could see the platform ahead, getting closer, and she focused on reaching the deck where Josh stood. If she could just reach that landing platform...

      He shouted something to her, and even from her distance she could tell something had him upset. Was she coming in too fast? She braked again, and he shook his head.

      “Don’t brake! Faster!”

      Faster? She scoffed mentally. She was already going far faster than she wanted. Yet his obvious distress buzzed through her like a thousand stinging bees. If Josh was worried—

      The line jerked hard again, and