The pilot talked to air traffic control, who informed them that the Sea King was on route, and they’d be the second craft to arrive. Weather on the Col was favourable, though the wind was picking up, and the last group had been able to disembark without much issue. They’d be on the mountainside now, administering first aid, and trying to spread some kind of calm, as well as extinguishing any fires. Kelly rarely carried her radio out with her but today she had, because she wanted to stay in contact with the emergency services. They’d be some of the first personnel on the ground, and Kelly’s body was overrun with adrenalin. Sounds became background wallpaper, and her focus was entirely on scrambling up the mountainside to coordinate a rescue effort – if there were any survivors. They had no idea what to expect.

Chapter 10

Donald opened his eyes. He’d lost all recollection of where he was. He appeared to be upside down, and then it hit him: the pain. And the smell. And the heat. His senses screamed into life and an agonising piercing along the length of his leg jolted his memory into action. He’d been in a crash. Was he alive? It would seem so. He smelled aviation fuel, and he felt the heat. Then he saw Bart, who was on fire, and screaming. That was what had woken him up.

His head throbbed and his vision wasn’t clear but the pain told him that it was so: he’d survived a crash. A helicopter crash. Elation soon gave way to terror when the smell of fuel threatened to overwhelm him. He tried to move, but his belt was stuck tight against his chest. He couldn’t lift his right arm, but his left arm was free and he desperately tried to recall where the belt mechanism was located, so that he could undo himself. His leather gloves gave him no assistance in locating the belt fastening, but he couldn’t get them off.

The smell of burning upholstery, a mixture of sickly sweet smoke and thick toxic waste, was becoming stronger, and he figured out that it was coming from behind him. In the mangled wreckage, he couldn’t see either of the pilots. He guessed, from his view of the ceiling beneath him, and the wires hanging all over the place in a higgledy-piggledy fashion, that he was still inside the body of the craft.