Read Drake Sisters 04 - Dangerous Tides for Free Online Page A

excitement. In a few minutes they would be airborne.

    "Doors."

    Sean inspected the doors. "Right door open and pinned. Left door is closed and latched."

    "Seat belts."

    "Fastened," Sean confirmed.

    "Rescue supervisor and crew chief safety harnesses."

    Sam and Sean checked the harnesses very thoroughly. "Crew chief secured. Rescue supervisor secured."

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    "Rescuer rigging."

    Sam stepped forward to inspect the rigging, giving Sean the thumbs-up. "Secured."

    "PFDs." Brannigan continued with the checklist.

    Tension rose in the helicopter perceptibly. They were going over water and the pilot and crew chief were required to wear personal floatation devices or PFDs, as the pilot was more apt to be trapped in the helicopter should it go down over water.

    "Donned," came the response.

    "H.E.E.D.S. and pressure. Pilot's H.E.E.D.S. is on and pressure is three thousand."

    The H.E.E.D.S. was the Helicopter Emergency Evacuation Device, which was a mini-scuba tank with a two-stage regulator.

    "Crew chief's H.E.E.D.S. is on and pressure is good."

    Sam answered as well. "Rescue supervisor's H.E.E.D.S. is turned on and pressure is good."

    "Carabineers."

    Ty gripped the edge of the seat. This was it. They were going up and he hadn't done a short haul over water other than in training in two years. He'd kept up the training and was confident he wouldn't let the others down, but the rescuer was determined by rotation and today he had the short straw. He was going out on the rope.

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    Sean responded to the pilot. "Unlocked." Over water they always flew with the carabineers unlocked as it would take too long to unlock them in the event the helicopter went down.

    "Airborne," Brannigan announced calmly to command center as he took the Huey into the air.

    The adrenaline poured into Ty's veins, a rush unlike any other. Nothing compared to it, not even the time when he unlocked the key to cellular regeneration and won a Nobel Prize in medicine. Nothing felt like this, soaring into the air inside a helicopter, surrounded by the other men as determined as he was to do whatever needed to be done.

    Command responded with latitude and longitude, distance and asmith, the compass bearing. Brannigan loaded the information into the GPS and plotted a route directly to the victim.

    Ty listened to the fire captain on scene giving details. There was a short conversation about the victim and whether the on-scene firefighters believed they'd have to do a short-haul rescue. A high-angle cliff rescue had already failed. Ty's heart jumped in his chest. Short-haul rescue was one of the most dangerous of maneuvers and they only performed the rescue if every single member of the team agreed it was necessary to save a life and they could perform it safely. He knew the flight crew would decide for themselves whether or not to perform the rescue, but Ty was already gearing up for it.

    They could fly in the rain and even steady winds of up to sixty miles an hour, but not in gusts over twenty. It was raining on the coast, but the wind was steady with no sign of fog. This was exactly why he chose to join every year. It was why he went skydiving and parasailing. He needed something that required his full attention. The adrenaline rush was the only thing he found that cleared his mind of biochemistry and DNA strands and allowed his thoughts to be consumed completely by whatever was at hand.

    He felt Sam's gaze and smiled at him in reassurance. With Aunt Ida gone, Sam was the only person he had left that gave a damn. He didn't want his cousin worrying he wasn't up to this. His nerves were already settling down and his hands were steady. Even his heart had resumed a rhythmic beat. Yeah. He was ready. The rigorous training had been well worth it to get him back in shape.

    It was surprisingly fast flying over the