“Don’t be so stubborn,” Black said. “It’s highly improbable he could’ve survived that explosion. Speaking of which, we need to move.”
Hawk stood and started to follow Black through the snow.
“Pick it up,” Black said.
Hawk started to run but stopped suddenly when he heard Alex’s voice crackling over his earpiece.
“Hawk? Black?” she called. “Can either of you hear me?”
“Loud and clear, honey,” Hawk said.
“It’s so good to hear your voice,” she said.
“We're both fine, but I'm afraid we can't chit chat right now,” Black said. “We're in a bit of a jam. An avalanche is shaking loose, and we're going to be right in its path if we don't get to safety quickly.”
“Roger that,” Alex said. “You didn’t happen to get Walsh, did you?”
Hawk was about to tell her the story while he ran, but he lost his balance when sheets of snow barreled just along the surface in his direction. His legs flew out from beneath him as he started to bounce along on his butt. Unable to change course or slow himself down, Hawk was at the mercy of Mother Nature.
The snow whisked him down the slope at an increasing speed. He managed to avoid trees on his left and right, sliding just beneath some branches. After waiting a moment, he stopped and slowly stood to celebrate his survival.
Hawk looked over at Black, who was waving his arms wildly.
“Behind you,” Black said. “Run!”
Hawk glanced over his shoulder to see a wave of snow rolling down the hill. He followed Black’s lead and tried to sprint through the snow. However, Hawk looked more like he was slogging through a swamp as the snow was waist deep.
“You need to jump as high as you can just before the snow reaches you,” Black said. “And hold one hand up in the air. It’s coming in three, two, one . . .”
Hawk didn’t even look, trusting his colleague running parallel fifty meters to the left. As Black counted down, Hawk positioned his feet as close to the surface as he could and mustered all the strength he had remaining in his legs. Hawk didn’t leap very high, but it was just enough to clear the surface and put him on top of the tumbling snow.
But the loose snow didn’t take long to overcome Hawk, burying him beneath it. He came to a halt, stuck in place as the rumbling continued. After about fifteen seconds, which felt like fifteen minutes, the snow stopped.
“You all right?” Hawk asked over the coms.
Nothing.
“Black, are you there?” Hawk asked.
Still nothing.
“Alex, can you hear me?” he called.
She didn’t respond either.
Hawk took a deep breath and went over the protocol for surviving an avalanche. He needed to carve out a pocket in front of his face to breathe, a task that sounded easy in theory but far more difficult in practice. With one arm held high above his head, he was able to create a pocket of air. However, moving either of his arms in any direction was challenging given the weight and pressure of the snow. He took several minutes to inch his arm down into position to shovel snow aside in front of his face.
Next, Hawk activated his avalanche beacon sewn into the pocket of his coat. He wasn’t sure how deep he was buried, but it was far enough beneath the surface that he couldn’t dig his way out. At this point, all he could do was hope and pray Alex would find him soon.
* * *
HAWK'S CONCEPT OF TIME was distorted while stuck like a fly in the ointment. With nothing to do other than think, he felt helpless—and Hawk concluded this was a punishment worse than death itself. To die while being encased in snow would be an ironic end for such a seasoned warrior. Hawk always imagined going out in an epic gun battle or sacrificing himself on a mission to prevent a nuclear detonation. Technically, he was on a mission, but it wasn't one he would consider successful. And his death wouldn't result in anyone's salvation.
Come on, Alex. Where are you?
Hawk's mental state began to deteriorate as another half hour passed. He tried the coms again.
“Alex? Black? Can either of you hear me?”
There was no response.
Hawk had just about given up when he heard a faint but familiar voice calling overhead.
“Hawk! Where are you?”
It was Alex.
“Alex! Alex! I’m down here. Can you hear me?” he said.
She didn’t respond, continuing her call.
“Hawk! Where are you? Can you reach the surface?”
He sighed, still helpless to do anything. She was just a few meters away or maybe even standing right on top of him, yet there was no way for him to signal to her his exact location.
Think, Hawk. Think.
While he knew the most important thing for him to do was to conserve his energy, Hawk figured it wouldn’t matter if he ended up dead. He worked his hand into his pocket and pulled out his knife. Slowly he inched it up to his other hand before carving into the snow to create a wider circumference around the space where his arm had been.
“I’m down right here,” Hawk cried.
“Hawk!” Alex cried.
He heard Alex begin digging above him. In a matter of minutes, she had cleared a large passageway for him to get fresh air.
“Hang in there,” she said.
“Have I told you lately how awesome you are?”
She continued digging for another minute or so until all the snow was removed above him. Then she worked on raking snow away from his upper torso until he could also help dig his way out.
They embraced and shed a few tears together.
“As much as I want to hold you tight and never let you go,” Hawk said, “we still need to find Black.”
“His beacon is activated, but it’s not easy to pinpoint the exact location,” she said.
“We were about fifty meters apart,” Hawk said. “But we were almost parallel with one another.”
“That’s a place to start,” she
