Expect the Sunrise by Susan May Warren Read Free Book Online Page A

foam,” Emma said, turning to Mac.
    “Foam?”
    “For a C-collar.”
    Aye. He had to admit, she might look rattled, but she thought in a linear, controlled pattern that spoke of experience. How many times had she crashed an airplane? He shook that thought loose and focused on her request while she climbed back inside the plane.
    Maybe he could find a sleeping pad in one of the passenger’s camping gear. He scanned the litter as he jogged over to the pink backpack. His own duffel had broken open, spilling his clothing and the pictures of him and Brody. He nearly stepped on one of Brody hauling in a chinook salmon out of Prospect Creek. He snatched it and shoved it into his back pocket.
    Mac grabbed the remains of Nina’s pink pack. A couple of the pockets flapped in the breeze, shredded. Inside the pack he found clothing, a stuffed orca, two wrapped gifts, and a foam pad at the bottom next to her sleeping bag. Jackpot. Mac snatched it and ran to the plane.
    Nina had pulled herself out of the plane and slumped against the rock, a hand over a gash behind her ear. She looked dazed.
    He poked his head inside the wreckage. Emma was leaning over the seat, assessing Sarah’s injuries. Somehow she’d dug out the first-aid kit from the rear cargo area. He hoped that she also had a survival kit somewhere in her bag of tricks.
    “Did you find foam?” Emma asked.
    He nodded and passed it in to her. Producing the knife again, she made quick work of ripping it into a long, wide strip. Then she wrapped the foam around Sarah’s neck, securing it with medical tape. “I’d rather have a mini-board, but this will have to do.” Emma looked at him, her eyes dark and tense. “We need a sleeping bag or something.”
    “Phillips!” Mac yelled. “Grab a sleeping bag!” He glanced again at Emma. She touched her friend’s cheek, then found her arm and took a pulse. Her tender movements made him wish he’d had someone this calm around when Brody had been shot. Mac had unraveled on the spot. If it hadn’t been for his brother’s thinking, Mac would have remained frozen in shock.
    In many ways, however, he still felt frozen.
    Phillips came running with the sleeping bag.
    Mac untied it, then handed it to Emma.
    “I’m going to unbuckle her and brace her fall,” she said. “Try and move her onto the bag. We’ll ease her out and put her as gently as we can on the backboard.”
    She seemed practiced as she braced her back against the victim and loosed the buckle. Sarah’s weight eased onto Emma. With a grim look she crawled toward Mac. He rolled Sarah as carefully as he could onto the bag. Her face looked gut-wrenchingly pale.
    Phillips helped Mac as they pulled Sarah out as smoothly as possible and lowered her onto the bracings of the backpack.
    Emma climbed out. Other than her rapid breathing, no one would suspect her stress. She knelt beside her friend. “I need a cloth to press against her wound.”
    Mac looked to Phillips, who scrounged up a couple of wool socks in less then ten seconds.
    Emma pressed them to Sarah’s head wound, then wrapped that with tape. “I need a few towels or something to secure her head.” Exhaling hard, she leaned back and pushed bloody hair from Sarah’s eyes while Phillips went in search of towels. He returned and handed Emma a pair of pants and a fleece sweatshirt. She rolled them into tubes, braced them on each side of Sarah’s head, then rolled out more tape and secured the woman’s forehead to the makeshift stretcher.
    Emma closed her eyes. In the silence, the wind lifted her collar, blew her dark hair from her face. Mac saw her swallow hard. “She’s my best friend. She only came to Alaska to celebrate my birthday.”
    Mac didn’t know how to respond to that.
    Emma looked up abruptly, away from him, moistened her lips, and took a deep breath. “We’re going to get out of this.”
    He wasn’t sure her words were meant for him. Aye, she is a tough one, this lassie.
    “What now,