Chapter 5 - The Bird Ridge Coordinates
I stared at the glowing coordinates on the screen. Bird Ridge. The northern face—a vertical wall of loose granite and permanent ice sheets where wind gusts regularly exceeded hurricane force. I knew every crevasse, every overhang, and every blind spot on that ridge better than I knew the layout of my own kitchen.
“Bird Ridge?” Brianna read over my shoulder, the name registering with a sudden, icy shock. “That’s... that’s where the university research team went missing yesterday. The local news said the search was suspended because the weather was too dangerous for civilian choppers.”
“Civilian choppers, yes,” I said, tossing a heavy wool base layer and a pair of reinforced climbing trousers into the duffel bag. “Which is why they’re calling us.”
“They’re sending you into that?” Brianna’s voice shook, the anger and jealousy of earlier entirely replaced by a cold, sickening dread. “Ethan said you almost didn't make it back from your last major deployment. If you go up there tonight with broken ribs... Lauren, you could die.”
“People are already dying up there, Brianna,” I said, my movements precise, economical, and unhurried. Every item I packed had a purpose; every second counted. “The temperature on Bird Ridge drops thirty degrees below zero the moment the sun goes down behind the peaks. If those researchers are still in the gully, they have maybe four hours before hypothermia finishes what the wind started.”
Brianna reached out, her fingers catching the edge of my sleeve. For the first time in our adult lives, there was no condescension in her touch, no comparison, no petty sibling rivalry—just raw, human terror for the sister she never really knew.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, tears spilling over her lashes again. “I’m so sorry for everything I said tonight. For treating you like you were nothing. I was so arrogant, and I didn't even know who you were.”
I paused, looking down at her hand on my sleeve. I reached out and gently covered her fingers with my own.
“You knew me, Brianna,” I said gently. “You knew Lauren. And Lauren is the one who’s packing this bag. The rest... that’s just part of the uniform.”
I zipped the duffel bag shut, slung the strap over my shoulder, and walked toward the front door. Brianna followed me step-for-step down the hallway, her phone still clutched tightly in her hand.
When I reached the front door, my phone chimed one final time. It wasn't a text from command. It was a direct call.
I flipped the secure phone open and pressed it to my ear.
“Whiteout One,” Ethan’s voice came through the speaker, crisp, urgent, and stripped of all social pretense. “I just got the secure relay from Command Base Alpha. They’re mobilizing a ground-insertion team for Bird Ridge. They told me you’ve been reactivated.”
“I’m looking at the coordinates now, Captain,” I replied, opening the front door to the cool, damp night air.
“Don't go up there alone,” Ethan said, his voice dropping an octave, carrying the authority of a team leader and the desperate plea of a man who finally understood what was at stake. “My team is staging at the base of the ridge right now. We’re coming with you.”
May you like
I stood on the porch, looking out into the dark, rainy Virginia night, knowing that twelve thousand feet up in the Cascades, a freezing white hell was waiting for us.
“Move fast, Captain,” I said into the receiver. “I’ll meet you at the extraction point.”
