âDid you two kiss and make up?â Naomi asked
âNo.â
âWhy not?â
Lindsey exhaled with annoyance. âI know youâre under a lot of stress, Naomi, so Iâm making allowances. But do me a favor, would you? Back off.â
Naomiâs brows rushed together just as her twin brotherâs did when he was upset. âSomeoneâs got to make you see sense!â
âYour timingâs lousy. I have to go out into that blizzardâwith a crazy gunman somewhere nearby. Excuse me if my mindâs on my job right now.â
âSpare me the dedicated ranger act, Lindsey. I know you better than that.â Naomi paused. âI thought we were friends.â
Lindsey straightened, her eyes narrowed. âWe were never friends.â
The other womanâs flushed cheeks acknowledged the truth of Lindseyâs words. âNo, but later on, I wanted to be. I know I went about things wrong, but I needed my twin! I swear, Lindsey, I never meant for my relationship with Eric to damage yours. Or to cause bad blood between the two of us.â
Lindsey held up a restraining hand. âNaomi, I didnât come back here to assign blame. Eric didnât trust me. Whatever you said to him made no difference in that department.â
Dear Reader,
Many of you know that I love to write about my countryâs national parks. Each park has its own traitsâits own character. While some places are definitely âuser-friendly,â others are not. The setting of this story, Yosemite Park in the dead of winter, can be formidable.
Yosemite is located in the four-hundred-mile-long Sierra Nevada. This is the main freshwater source for San Francisco and the Central Valley. But the huge volume of snow that ultimately provides water for Californiaâs coastal population is also the scene of deadly winters. California isnât all beaches and sunshine.
Only two parks in the United States have rangers who live in total isolation due to winter weather conditions. Yosemite is one; Alaska is the other. The heavy loss of life sustained by the Donner Party members is only one of many tragedies to occur in this snow-locked area. During the winter, these mountains are just as inaccessible today as they were in the 1840s, the time of the Donners.
I have taken some liberties by making the existing town of Lee Vining larger than it is and setting a fictional hospital, municipal airport and ranger office there. And in reality, Yosemite has only two rangers on duty in the winter, not four.
Todayâs rangers must be mentally and physically self-sufficient to survive in a winter climate so harsh thatâas in the Antarcticâeven snowmobiles and helicopters canât be relied upon. Rangers must also be able to protect and, if needed, rescue any visitors to the parks. Rangers who hold these jobs are very special people.
I hope you enjoy my story about Lindsey Nelson and Eric Kincaide. Welcome to winter in Yosemite! (And please visit my Web site at www.annemarieduq.com.)
Anne Marie
This book is dedicated to my fraternal-twin nephews, Richard and Patrick Ferraro. And to all cancer survivors, especially those in my own family.
Although this is a work of fiction, any resemblance to my old dog Ginger and my sisterâs dog Rocky is purely intentional!
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Yosemite National Park, California
WINTER SNOWâ¦FEBRUARY SNOWâ¦killing snow continued to fall throughout the High Sierra as the rescue party advanced. Aluminum poles in hand, the three rangers probed the white depths in a straight grid pattern, searching for their missing fourth. Seconds ticked mercilessly away, even as the lead ranger, Eric Kincaide, listened to his homing beacon, trying to zero in on the battery-powered locating device all rangers were required to wear.
Neither he nor the other two rangers spoke of the irony of the situation. Tomorrow, following Ericâs orders, Keith Arroyo, alias âTNTâ Arroyo, planned to set charges in this very area to trigger a controlled avalanche.
Controlled avalanche. Now, that was an oxymoron. Like walking corpseâ¦or buried aliveâ¦
Eric glanced toward his twin, Naomi. The ranger teamâs emergency medical technician had bitten through her lip. Eric noticed the tiny bloodred bead glittering under the noon sun, contrasting with the bronze of her cheeks. Naomi didnât look up at his scrutiny. Her eyes remained focused on the massive amounts of snow beneath her probing pole.
Keith, however, lifted his head. âOf all the stupid things to do!â He spoke in a hissed whisper to avoid triggering any other slides. âBad enough weâre supposed to find an armed felon and the child heâs kidnapped. Eva knew better than to use this shortcut! Sheâs probably got the dog killed, too. How are we supposed to find the missing girl now? Or find Eva without her dog?â