Reed nodded. “Thank you.” He started to turn toward the group of rescuers but the woman grabbed his hand. “Please, please find our son.”

Erika looked away. It was too hard to watch. She’d had families plead with her in the past, early in her career, to save a loved one and it put a lot of pressure on. She never knew what to say. She couldn’t promise anything and therefore she could rarely offer the comfort they sought. Not having the answers for them had eventually caused her to retreat from dealing with the families. Now, she left that communication to the assisting surgeon or head nurse. Someone better at it than she was.

But Reed hugged the woman quickly and whispered, “I’ll bring him back to you, I promise.”

She swallowed hard. Fear made her chest tighten. She had no idea what to expect once their search began. Was she really ready for this? Reed was right—the injured skier was nothing like a real rescue.

“You have the best of the best heading out there. Try to relax as much as you can and think of anything else that could help the search,” Tank said, taking the woman by the shoulders and leading her back to her husband.

A moment later the search officially began, and eight hours after that, the only thing keeping Erika awake was pure adrenaline. Freezing cold wind whipped through her jacket and pierced her skin like needles. Dampness in the air chilled her to the bone. Despite her thick gloves, her fingers hurt and her toes were numb even in the extra pair of minus forty winter boots Tank had given her at the station. Every minute felt like hours. A shiver ran through her and her blood ran cold. How could anyone survive out here in this weather?

Luckily the teens had been camping. According to their parents, they had packed all the right supplies to keep them warm and safe in unpredictable weather and they had enough food and water to survive days.

Still, the concern on Reed’s face as each hour ticked by with no sign of the kids or their campground made her feel that she was right to be worried. At first, he’d been confident and calm as they’d headed out toward the camping grounds the kids had reserved, but now she could tell he was starting to question the reassurance he’d given the mother.

They’d slowly trekked through the area for hours. They’d walked the trails surrounding the campsites. Talked to other campers in nearby areas. No one had seen the kids that day...or at all that week.

That wasn’t a good sign. The teenagers hadn’t been completely honest with their parents about this trip. Suddenly any predictability they’d had based on the teens’ plans disappeared. They could be anywhere.