Worse still, she didn’t know if he’d hurt his neck. Unsure of what to do, River sat back, looking at how far they’d fallen off course. She knew where the path back to camp was, but she didn’t know what was between where she was and where they needed to be. They’d already fallen into one crevasse. River wasn’t interested in going into another. The weight leaning against her grew heavy enough she had a hard time staying sitting upright.

“Easton, are you still with me?”

He mumbled something, but she couldn’t hear what he said over the rising cry of the wind. Seated like this on the frozen ground, the cold was quickly settling into her bones, and the weather was only getting worse. Easton was in no shape to climb, but they didn’t have a choice.

Somehow River was going to have to get him off the mountain all on her own.

Chapter 17

“Ben, it’s River. If you can hear me, please answer.”

She waited with the radio by her ear for a reply, but nothing came. “Ben, I have a big, Easton-sized problem up here.”

Radio silence had a whole new meaning when she was stuck up here with what she guessed was two hundred and a million pounds of semiconscious beard and man bun. She knew the satellite phone was in Easton’s pack, which had taken a beating in the fall. He kept drifting in and out, making conversations about proper rescue attempts impossible.

“Sorry for the breach of privacy, but you’re not available for consultation.” She dug through his pack until she found the sat phone. He’d programmed several numbers in, and among them was his sister’s name. River went straight to that one first.

“Hey, any time you want to get back down here, I won’t mind,” Ash said by way of greeting. “Your clients are both being a pain in the ass.”

“Ash, it’s River. I’ve got a problem. Easton hit his head, and he’s got a bad concussion.”

Ash let out a string of curses so expressive, River was forced to cut her off. “Trust me, I feel the same way. Listen, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to Ben. I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m here,” Ben said. He must have taken the phone from Ash. “What happened?” After River explained, she could hear the concern in his voice. “Do you know if he has any other injuries?”

“He’s not bleeding from anywhere but his forehead from what I can tell. His clothes aren’t ripped. I don’t want to take anything off him to look. The weather’s getting cold up here.”

“How cold?”

River checked her watch. “My watch is stuck on negative fifteen, but it feels colder than that.”