The Debt of the Blizzard

As the only high-altitude search and rescue operative in the country capable of traversing the Black Wind Gap without artificial anchors, I just received a private rescue contract worth thirty million dollars.

The missing person was trapped down a glacial crevasse at an altitude of 23,000 feet. A massive blizzard had completely sealed the mountain, and his oxygen tank had less than sixteen hours remaining.

Seven years ago, I too knelt just beyond the snowline and begged for a rescue.

My daughter was trapped in a snow cave during a winter camp. The rescue rope team had already reached the base of the mountain, but they were abruptly diverted by my husband, Arthur Rauch. He redirected them simply to rescue a wildly expensive poodle belonging to his childhood sweetheart's son.

He told me the boy had severe trauma, and that dog was his entire life.

But my daughter was my entire life.

My daughter eventually froze to death in that snow cave. I divorced Arthur, plunged into the snow-capped mountains like a woman possessed, and spent the next seven years saving countless people who didn't deserve to die.

Until today. The exact same mountain, the exact same wind corridor, the exact same countdown to fatal hypothermia.

And the person trapped at the bottom of the crevasse was his sweetheart's son.

Arthur offered thirty million dollars for me to head up the mountain immediately.

I looked at the dossier and smiled.

"I can't walk that path."

...

"Boss, look at it again."

Cole slid the tablet across the table, his fingertips tapping the screen so hard they turned white.

"North face glacial crevasse, 23,200 feet. The GPS beacon is still moving, which means he is alive."

"The client is offering thirty million. The deposit is already sitting in the Association's escrow account. If you just nod your head, the chopper will be here in thirty minutes."

I kept my head down, wiping the rust spots off my ice axe. I didn't reach for the tablet.

"Return it."

Cole froze, thinking he had misheard me.

"What?"

"I am not taking this job."

The room plunged into absolute silence.

Cole had been with me for six years. He had seen me drag pregnant women out of avalanche trenches. He had seen me hang off a cliff at thirty below zero for seven straight hours. He had seen me almost lose half my foot to frostbite just to save a kid I had never met.

So he didn't understand.

"Boss, you never cherry-pick your jobs."

"I am picking this time."

"Why?" He flipped the tablet around, his voice dropping low.

"Look at the photo. Oliver Vance. Twenty-three years old. Stepped into a blind void while trekking with a team. He only has one backup oxygen cylinder left with him."

"The weather station says a whiteout gale is going to hit tonight. After midnight, no one will be able to get in."

My hand paused on the ice axe.

Twenty-three.

When my daughter, Josephine, died, she was only seven.

She never got the chance to live to twenty-three.

Cole kept talking. "You are the only one who can cross the Black Wind Gap. Any other team going up there wouldn't be rescuing him, they would just be throwing more bodies into the void. Boss, I know you don't care about the money, but that is a living person."

I looked up at him.

"Cole, you have been with me a long time. When have I ever backed down from a job because of the payout, or because I didn't think the person was worth saving?"

He didn't have an answer.

I hung the ice axe back on the wall and turned to inspect my climbing ropes.

"Then you should know, if I say I am not taking it, there is a damn good reason."

"But you have to tell me what that reason is." Cole's eyes were practically bloodshot with anxiety. "Thirty million could buy the team two brand-new snowcats and fully fund our gear for an entire year. And more importantly, there is a guy waiting down there."

I didn't answer.

The screen was still lit, displaying the client's profile.

Arthur Rauch.

It had been seven years, but the eyes in his photograph were just as sharp, looking like a man who would never bow his head to anyone.

He just looked colder, and much more expensive. Behind him was his Rauch Alpine Resort Group, a massive corporate machine capable of packaging an entire mountain range into a commercial commodity.

I used to think those eyes would protect me and Josephine for the rest of our lives.

Until Josephine was trapped in that snow cave. I knelt in the snow outside the rescue station, begging him not to pull the rope team away. But he just held his phone to his ear and said, "Kia, Chloe's situation is more urgent. Oliver cannot lose that dog."

To this day, I remember Josephine's final voice message.

"Mommy, I'm not cold anymore. I'm just a little sleepy. Did Daddy go get my rescue rope?"

No.

Her daddy went to get someone else's dog.

I closed my eyes and pushed the tablet away.

Cole stood there for a long time before finally asking in a low voice, "Boss, do you know the client?"

I pulled on my insulated gloves, my voice completely flat.

"I don't just know him."

"Then who..."

"He owes me a blizzard."

At nine o'clock that night, the satellite phone rang.

Cole stood in the doorway, his expression complicated.

"The client is demanding to speak directly to the team captain. If you don't want to talk, I'll block it."

I looked at the number flashing on the screen, stayed silent for a few seconds, and finally reached out.

"I'll take it."

The second the call connected, a man's voice came through, heavily suppressing his anger.

"Are you Captain Ziskie?"

Hearing that voice, my fingers unconsciously tightened around the receiver.

Seven years had passed, but Arthur's voice hadn't changed at all.

It was the same deep baritone he used to whisper in my ear when he coaxed Josephine to sleep.

It was the same cold, rational tone he used when he ordered the rescue team to pack up and leave us in the snow.

"I am."

"You should have read the brief. Money is not an issue. I just want him brought out alive."

"I can't take this job."

The line went completely dead for a second.

Then, he let out a short, cynical laugh.

"Can't take it? Captain Ziskie, I am not asking for your willingness. I am giving you the floor to set your price. If thirty million isn't enough, make it fifty."

"It's not about the money."

"One hundred million."

He answered instantly, tossing the number out like it was pocket change.

"Captain Ziskie, I have run a background check on your base. Your equipment is outdated, your funding is bleeding out, and your team's insurance premiums are about to default. A hundred million is enough to keep your operation alive for decades."

"Mr. Rauch, I said no."

His breathing grew heavy over the static.

"Do you even know what you are saying? There is a human life on that mountain. The Black Wind Gap has a window open until tonight. If we miss it, he freezes to death."

"I know."

"You know, and you are still refusing?" His voice plummeted to absolute zero. "Don't you professional rescue climbers preach about saving lives all day long? I have offered you enough money, the boy is still breathing, on what grounds are you refusing to save him?"

I looked out the window.

The ice pellets were violently lashing against the glass, dense and deafening, just like the sound that battered my heart seven years ago.

"On the grounds that I am a human being, not a dog you can buy with a checkbook."

Arthur paused.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what I said," I replied. "Find someone better."

"There is no one better." He gritted his words. "I already checked with the Association. You are the only person who can cross the gap tonight. Captain Ziskie, I don't care what personal issues you have. If you aren't wheels up in two hours, your team will never see another commercial rescue permit again."

Cole's face changed drastically. He opened his mouth to speak, but I raised my hand to stop him.

"Mr. Rauch, you are welcome to try."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I am just warning you." My voice was ragged, ground down by years of wind and snow. "Instead of wasting your time on me, you better start looking for someone else. If you wait any longer, forget about bringing Oliver back alive, you won't even be able to find his beacon."

A suppressed, heavy exhale came through the line.

"Do you know Oliver?"

"I don't know him."

"Then why do you sound so full of hate?"

I lowered my eyes, looking at the brutal, jagged scar across my palm. It was left from when I dug through the avalanche with my bare hands until my fingernails ripped off.

"Because there is a path I have walked once, and once was enough."

I hung up the phone.

Cole stared at me, his lips moving before he finally spoke.

"Boss, who is Arthur Rauch?"

I placed the satellite phone back on the desk.

"My ex-husband."

Cole froze entirely.

I turned back to sort my carabiners, letting a long silence stretch before I added one final sentence.

"He is also Josephine's father."

At 1:00 AM, the heavy metal door of the base was violently hammered open.

When Cole rushed in, all the blood had drained from his face. The zipper of his down jacket wasn't even pulled up.

"Boss, something happened."

I shot up from the cot. My first instinct was to check the radar.

"Did the mountain signal drop?"

"Not the mountain. It's my sister."

He shoved his phone toward me, his hands shaking violently.

The screen displayed a text message from his younger sister, Maya.

[Cole, the company suddenly transferred me to the North Face supply station as a temporary comms operator. They said it is an emergency corporate project and I had to report immediately. The wind out here is terrifying. It is just me and two guys I don't know at the station. Don't worry about me, I will call you in the morning.]

The message was sent forty minutes ago.

Reading it, my stomach completely dropped.

Maya was fresh out of college, working an administrative desk job at a resort hotel owned by the Rauch Group.

She had zero alpine certifications and absolutely no experience operating high-altitude comms at night.

The North Face supply station was situated dangerously close to the Black Wind Gap. Once the whiteout hit, that station would be an isolated death trap.

Cole's eyes were bloodshot.

"I tried calling her, but it won't connect. Boss, it's Arthur, isn't it? He found out I'm your second-in-command, and he is using my sister to force your hand."

I grabbed my heavy parka.

"Don't panic yet."

"How can I not panic?" Cole's voice cracked. "She is the only family I have left. My mom told me to protect her before she died. Maya doesn't even know what snow blindness is! They sent her to that station, they are basically killing her!"

He suddenly dropped to his knees, slamming against the concrete floor with a heavy thud that struck me right in the chest.

"Boss, I know you hate Arthur, and I know I shouldn't be asking you this. But Maya is innocent. I will do whatever you want. If you want me to save Oliver for you, or if you want me to go in your place, I will go. Please, save my sister."

I crouched down and hauled him back to his feet with all my strength.

"Cole, look at me."

He looked up, tears mixing with the melting snow on his face.

"Your sister is going to be fine."

"But..."

"Arthur wants to force me to bow my head. He doesn't actually want Maya dead." I stared into his eyes. "I will bring her back, but I am still not taking the contract for Oliver."

Cole stared at me blankly, looking as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Right at that moment, the deafening roar of helicopter rotors ripped through the air outside the base. The snow was violently whipped into a cyclone, and the blinding white glare of searchlights swept across our windows.

Cole snapped his head around.

A sleek black helicopter touched down on our landing pad, its fuselage emblazoned with the silver mountain crest of the Rauch Group. The cabin door slid open, and Arthur stepped out. He wore a heavy tactical winter coat over a black windbreaker, flanked by two bodyguards.

Trailing closely behind him was Chloe.

Arthur held her arm to steady her. As her snow boots hit the ground, she stumbled slightly, looking fragile enough to be blown away by the wind. Seven years had passed, but she still perfected that delicate, helpless aura. Her eyes were rimmed red, as if the entire world owed her its pity.

I stood in the doorway, watching them walk toward my base.

Arthur's eyes swept over my face, pausing for less than a second.

He didn't recognize me.

Makes sense.

The Kia Ziskie from seven years ago was Mrs. Rauch, the woman who wore elegant gowns to accompany him to galas. The woman standing here now had half her face windburned, a jagged avalanche scar cutting through her left eyebrow, and a voice ground down to gravel by years of shouting over sub-zero blizzards.

Of course he didn't recognize me.

Because he never truly looked at me in the first place.

Arthur stopped in front of the door. His gaze flicked over to Cole, and he spoke with freezing authority.

"You must be Cole."

Cole's fists instantly clenched tight.

Arthur let out a faint smile.

"Your sister is currently in my supply station. She is safe for now. As for how long she remains safe, that entirely depends on the choice your captain makes."

The moment Cole lunged forward, I slammed my hand onto his chest, pinning him back.

"Stand down."

His shoulders were shaking under my palm, strung tight like a bow about to snap.

Seeing this, a flicker of satisfaction crossed Arthur's eyes.

"It seems Captain Ziskie values loyalty. That makes this much easier."

He walked into the base, scanning it like an inspector evaluating a condemned warehouse. His eyes swept over the frayed rope bags, the blunted crampons, and the heavily patched tents. A microscopic frown touched his brow.

"I will say this one last time. One hundred million, wheels up immediately. Once Oliver is brought back alive, I will fund a complete gear overhaul for your team, and I will ensure Maya leaves the supply station unharmed."

I stood my ground, unmoving.

"I'm not taking it."

Chloe finally stepped forward, unable to hold back. Her voice was breathy, hovering on the edge of a sob.

"Captain, I know you think we are being cruel, but Oliver really doesn't have much time. He was always a sickly child. He is terrified of the dark and the cold. It must be so narrow down there in that crevasse. He has to be so scared."

Tears began to fall as she spoke.

"I am begging you. You are a woman too. Can't you understand the heart of a mother?"

I looked at her.

Seven years ago, she had cried exactly like this over the phone with Arthur.

"Arthur, Oliver refuses to leave. The poodle fell into the trench. He says if the dog dies, he won't survive it. I don't know what to do."

A dog.

While my Josephine sat shivering in a snow cave on the other side of the mountain ridge, gripping her last hand warmer with tiny, freezing fingers, waiting for her daddy to come save her.

"Do not use the word mother to manipulate me," I said.

Chloe's face went completely pale, acting as if she had just suffered a massive injustice, and immediately shrank behind Arthur's back.

Arthur's eyes turned lethal.

"Captain Ziskie, my patience has a limit."

"My answer hasn't changed."

"Fine."

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number right in front of my face.

"North Face supply station. Send the new comms operator out to check the exterior perimeter lines. Yes, alone. Tell her to go read the anemometer right now."

Cole completely lost his mind.

"Arthur! You son of a bitch!"

A bodyguard immediately stepped in to block him. Cole was shoved backward, slamming into the sharp corner of a metal desk. The skin above his eyebrow split open instantly, and blood poured down his face. He didn't even bother wiping it. He scrambled up and dropped to his knees right in front of me, his voice entirely broken.

"Boss, please. Forget about me, just save Maya. I'll bash my head against the floor for you if you want."

I looked down at him, suddenly remembering myself from seven years ago.

I had knelt exactly like this.

I knelt in front of Arthur, in front of the rescue crew, in the blinding snow, begging them not to leave, begging them to leave just one rope, begging them to give Josephine just a little more time.

Nobody listened.

Arthur hung up the phone and looked at me.

"It's really quite simple. You go up the mountain, and everyone lives. You refuse, and Maya becomes a tragic little accident in tonight's blizzard. Captain, are you really going to let your second-in-command's sister die just to protect your so-called principles?"

I slowly raised my head.

"Arthur, you really don't want to force me down that path."

He froze slightly.

"What did you just call me?"

I took a slow step forward, locking eyes with him.

"Because if I cross the Black Wind Gap and I actually reach Oliver, I can't guarantee I won't just take a knife to his safety rope."

Chloe let out a piercing scream. "Don't you dare!"

I didn't even look at her. I kept my eyes locked on Arthur, spitting out every word with absolute precision.

"After all, seven years ago, you personally ordered my daughter's lifeline to be cut."