As Blue as the Sky Read online

  As Blue As The Sky

  Cindy Caldwell

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  All the dust surrounding her had stuck on the visor of her helmet, it seemed. What the heck? I was totally prepared for this. This should be my best time ever. Through burning eyes, she struggled to see, but the white-out of swirling dust and sand had settled right on her.

  Her hand tightened on the clutch of her quad, her foot quickly shifting gears as she was forced to slow down a bit. Her knees reacted instinctively to the bumps ahead of her as she couldn’t see them. She’d traveled this course many times, most recently a week ago with her support team in tow, preparing to be the first female rider to win the Baja 250 race on her own in the quad class. She’d practiced and prepared for months ... her father and brother helping her as they had since she’d been old enough to reach the throttle of any quad.

  Feeling her best time, her qualifying time, slipping through her fingers, sweat began to seep into the crevices of her helmet, unbidden, as she tried to see her way through the dust storm surrounding her.

  Just think, Jess. You know this course. The thought looped endlessly as the encroaching darkness over the desert mountains of Baja California added to her inability to see where she was going. She tried to anticipate the course in her mind, with both the recollection of the map and the visual memory she’d created over the many practice runs she’d made in the previous months.

  “Support crew, I can’t see where I’m going. Dust storm,” she shouted into her in-helmet radio. “Anybody there?” she asked as her pulse quickened, her hands tightening on the throttle.

  “We’re with you, Jess. Just a few kilometers behind. Hang in there,” came a disembodied voice over her radio that she recognized as her twin brother, Cade’s.

  “Cade, I can’t see,” she said, slowing slightly again, willing the dust to settle around her.

  “I know, darlin’. You’re in the middle of a dust devil. A big one. We can see it from here,” he said, the cool familiarity of his voice calming her like rain although he was miles away. “Slow down. We’ll be there.”

  She took a quick swipe at her dust-covered visor with her elbow, only managing to create a bigger streak of what was now mud, the dust mixing with the sweat from her lightweight race shirt. The shirt was her favorite, the one with all of the patches from her sponsors that she’d spent years collecting donations from, and she’d always thought it would be her good luck charm. Not so much, she thought. This can’t be happening.

  “Not now,” she muttered, returning her hands to their proper positions on the handles of the quad as the screaming of her engine drowned out any other desert sound. “I can’t slow down. My time isn’t good enough.” Choking on the dust now inside her helmet, her coughs drowned out any reply.

  The radio crackled with Cade’s voice and her father shouting behind him. She couldn’t make out the words, and as she tried to intuitively find the course, the bumps she couldn’t see sent the quad airborne, the tires spinning as it rolled and flipped.

  This can’t be happening, reverberated through her head as she fought against the inevitable. She remembered her father’s face as he watched her, so proud, at the starting line. Her own chest had swelled with pride as she saw Cade behind her dad, with his own stopwatch in hand, a wide grin turned in her direction as she donned her helmet.

  Her hope of a record-breaking time vanished, and the last thing she felt was her body flying through the air, in what seemed like slow motion, and the sound of the quad thudding on the ground before her. Just let go, was the last thought she had, surprising her before she hit the ground, darkness enveloping her as she lost consciousness.

  The call had come over the radio throughout the south campos, the string of small beach communities that dotted the coastline of the Sea of Cortez, south of San Felipe. “Medical emergency, 250 course, kilometer forty-two.” Colin and James had been the first to respond to the volunteer firefighters’ station, and they’d had plenty of practice, both of them ridding the community of an arsonist not long ago, and they quickly donned their gear as the EMT supplies were transferred to the small off-road vehicle they’d need to get to the injured racer.

  “Confirm ambulance has been dispatched, anybody?” the captain said as he strode on the scene.

  James threw the last of the medical supplies in the jeep. “On their way, Captain. We’ll radio with an exact location as soon as we know it.” He quickly grabbed the GPS locator, hoping that the coordinates they’d been given were correct. With darkness falling, a moment of worry fluttered through him that they might not be able to find the scene of the accident.

  “It’s a woman,” filtered through her mental fog faintly, as her eyes fluttered. “Don’t move, ma’am,” she heard, wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her as she thought the accent sounded foreign. If anything, she’d expected a Mexican accent here in Baja California. But British?

  “Just stay still,” she was cautioned once again. It wasn’t like she had a choice, as pain shot up from her wrist, sending what felt like lightning bolts directly to her spine. She inhaled deeply, the pain rushing through her again as she realized that she still had her helmet on and it was full of dust. Slowly, she recalled what had happened and her heart began to pound.

  “I’m going to take your helmet off slowly, ma’am,” she heard, as she felt fingers gently unbuckling the straps beneath her chin.

  The wind circled about her forehead as the helmet was lifted off, a hand cradling her head and laying it gently on the dirt she rested on. She felt it cool her as the sweat matting her brown, curly hair began to dry. Of all days not to put it up in a pony-tail. She usually did, but today she’d been too excited, hoping for her best time on the course and she’d forgotten.

  The two men she saw when she finally opened her eyes were working quickly around her. Vital signs were checked, and as she tried to cooperate, the dust that had settled into her lungs could no longer be ignored. Coughing in spasms, she felt tears prick her eyes as she saw stars from the pain.

  “Ambulance ETA is about ten minutes,” he said as he hurried back to the injured woman. She heard them both laugh as he shot over his shoulder, “I think Kyle’s on call at the clinic tonight. He should have a fun time with this one.”

  She ignored them as thoughts of the race flooded her mind once again. Stay still? Her plan was to get back on the bike as quickly as she could and get back on the course. She sat up, willing her legs to move, and was completely surprised when they didn’t. She sat, staring, her gaze moving from one of the firefighters to the other. They both were in full firefighter gear, and had brought medical supply boxes that now sat next to her.

  “What’s your name, darlin’? Can you tell me?”

  “Jess. Jess McNally,” she said as she again attempted to move her legs. She smiled as she managed to get one of her heels to slide toward her, her knee bending the way it should. “I’m on a pre-run for the 250, and I n
eed to get back on my quad.”

  “Whoa, there, missie,” the tall one said as he turned his head and tweaked it in the direction of the mountains. “I don’t think that’s a possibility at the moment, so you just rest and we’ll get you taken care of.”

  She followed his gaze and her heart sank as she saw her quad, upside down, among a group of cholla cactus, the most wicked ones there were here in the desert. Once the needle-like spines got in, it was almost impossible to get them out. And last time she’d fallen in one, it had taken hours to get them all out. She wiped the sweat off her forehead, happy she wouldn’t be reliving that event. Not today, anyway.

  “My father will be here in a minute. Doug McNally. You know, McNally Tires? He’ll tell you,” she said, content to wait for back-up to get these two set straight.

  “I don’t know him. Not much of a race fan myself, miss. To be honest, I don’t care if you’re the Queen of England. We aren’t going to let you go anywhere until the ambulance arrives.”

  “I just have to finish this race. It means a lot to me,” she said quietly as she gingerly took off her gloves and set them beside her in the dirt. The pain in her right wrist was getting worse, not better, and she made a concerted effort not to show it on her face. She shook her head, running her good hand through her matted hair and wiping her face with the bottom of her racing jersey. Its blue, black and white colors that she’d been so proud of this morning had all been covered with dust, and it was now a uniform gray color.

  She plopped back, lying in the dirt and throwing her arm over her eyes. She tried to wiggle her left leg, hoping that it had just taken a moment for her body to settle and all would be fine now. As she tried to rotate her ankle, she gasped.

  Her eyes still closed, she sensed one of the firefighters down by her feet. “Hurts, does it?” he asked quietly as she felt his hands gently on her leg.

  “Yes, badly. Can you just tape my wrist so I can get out of here?” she asked, fighting back tears of frustration at her predicament. What would she say to her father? And where was everybody, anyway? All she could focus on was getting up, getting out of there and getting on with her race.

  “Sorry, love, I don’t think taping’s going to be enough to get you out of this fix,” she heard, and she sat bolt upright, panic rising in her belly. Finding only sympathy as she searched the firefighter’s face, a heavy sigh escaped her. She tried once more to wiggle her fingers, and was horrified to realize he was right as bolts of pain shot up her arm once more.

  Chapter 2

  Cade McNally’s head and heart pounded as he gripped the steering wheel of the chase truck, his knuckles white against the black leather that his fingers surrounded. They’d jumped in the truck as soon as they’d lost contact with Jess, riding mostly silently as his father barked directions to him while they followed her GPS signal. They’d been following behind her as she headed toward their other crew members, several miles further up the course. Why did we space ourselves so far apart? he chastised himself as worry enveloped him. The sweat on his hands and the blowing sand and dust made it difficult for him to go too fast. Visibility was not good, and his heart beat faster as he wondered what they would find.

  He’d immediately called out to the bomberos, the volunteer firefighters here in this community, who were much closer to where Jess had been when they’d last had contact. Trying to hold his voice steady, he had delivered the coordinates and what little information he had. He silently hoped that they were already there. He tried not to think about the fact that the ambulance wouldn’t have arrived yet as it would be coming from behind them, all the way from the closest little fishing village of San Felipe, on the Sea of Cortez, where the race course originated.

  “Faster, Cade,” he heard his father say. He glanced quickly at him in the passenger seat, and saw the concern etched in his face. A man of few words, he knew his father was as worried as he was as he noted his furrowed brow, his eyes intently on the road ahead.

  “I can’t, Dad. Too much dust.”

  “Forget the dust, son. It’s your sister,” his father said quietly. He knew exactly who she was — Jess was his twin sister and the only woman in the family and on the race team, and she held a special place in the hearts of them all, more so since their mother had passed away several years ago.

  He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the encroaching darkness and all the dust the howling winds had swept up over the course of the day. “Of all days to be so windy.”

  “You can do it, son. Only another mile,” his father said, not taking his eyes away from the road ahead.

  His father continued to provide directions, and Cade focused intently on the roads his father was indicating. A mile over these back roads could take a long while to cover, especially with such limited visibility. “Jeez, she shouldn’t have been going so fast with this dust and wind,” Cade said, realizing too late that it should have stayed inside his head.

  “What did you say?” He didn’t look at his father, but felt his gaze boring into him as he slowly turned to look at his son.

  “Um, nothing. Just thinking out loud.”

  “Well, don’t, if that’s the kind of thoughts you have. You know your sister has a goal, and you also know her well enough to know that nothing’s going to stop her. She is a McNally, you know.”

  Cade exhaled, grateful that his father’s worry over Jessica had made it a relatively short lecture on the goals and responsibilities of the McNallys, a lecture he’d heard what seemed like about a million times in his short thirty years on the planet.

  “Yes, sir,” was what he actually said out loud as he cautioned himself to keep his mouth shut, focusing his attention again on the road.

  A groan escaped Jess’s lips as she heard another car approaching and tried to sit up, hoping it was her father and brother, Cade.

  The firefighters had set up a big spotlight on a stand as it was getting darker by the minute, and by the light of it she could make out the dark blue support truck with the letters “McNally Racing” on the side. She breathed a sigh of relief as the truck slid to a stop next to the rescue jeep.

  Her father jumped out even before the truck had come to a full stop and a lump formed in her throat as she hugged him with her good arm. “I’m sorry, Dad,” she said, knowing that her tears needed to be fought back, now. No time for that nonsense.

  “Are you all right, sweetheart? We came as fast as we could. What happened?” The words rushed out quickly as her father held her in his strong arms, his tall frame crouched next to her on the desert floor. A sense of safety and familiarity washed over her with the familiar scent of her father.

  “I really am sorry,” she repeated. “I couldn’t see with all the dust. I thought I knew where I was going, but it was my best course time ever, and I didn’t want to slow down. Something threw me and I ended up here. And the quad ended up over there.” She nodded her head over toward the quad, which still rested upside down.

  “That’s my girl. You’re a McNally, and I would expect nothing less.”

  Jess heard someone clearing their throat, and looked up to see one of the firefighters, looking down at both of them. “That’s lovely, but she could have been killed,” he said, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips set in a thin line. “You know that, don’t you?”

  She watched as her father slowly stood to his full height equal to the firefighter, even with the firefighter’s 6’ 2” frame, as they stood on opposite sides of her. “And you are...” he asked as his eyes narrowed.

  “Name’s Colin. Just a bombero, sir, trying to save lives. We see it happen all the time out here. We just clean up the mess.” The man’s eyes never left her father’s, and she noticed the other firefighter come up behind him, standing at his shoulder, as Cade calmly took in the scene from near the truck, before turning to walk away toward the desert. She knew her twin brother well, and so knew that he wasn’t about to get involved in anything like this. He’d backed her and her fath
er up more times than she could count. But now, he leaned against the truck, his arms folded, appearing content to know that she was relatively okay and his dad would handle things in his own way.

  She breathed a sigh of relief as the sound of the ambulance’s siren pierced the air and all three men turned toward it as the headlights and flashing red light stopped on the paved road.

  “Do we need an ambulance?” her father asked, peering through the blowing dust toward the flashing red lights.

  “She can’t move her right wrist without gasping, so I think so,” the other firefighter said as he turned back toward Jess. She thought she detected a British accent but couldn’t be sure due to the pain. “Colin, I’ll take the jeep and run the EMT’s in. The ambulance won’t make it out here without four-wheel drive.”

  “Right, mate. I’ll be here,” Colin replied.

  Chapter 3

  Kyle Lewis set the prescription pad back down on the desk in the examination room as Mrs. Garcia shut the door behind her. When he’d first started volunteering as an intern with Dr. Gomez in San Felipe a few years ago, he’d been flustered by the outpouring of gratitude from the patients who came in, usually with simple ailments with relatively simple fixes. It had taken a while to get used to but now, he realized that this, working with kind and grateful patients, was what he’d always wanted.

  When he’d started med school, he’d dreamed about having a small practice like this, with regular people, but had never dreamed he’d be able to do it in Mexico, especially in the place he loved most. Now, that his residency was over, he was still on cloud nine, having accepted Cassie’s, offer to be the doctor in residence at the international resort she was building with her new husband. It was coming along nicely, and after this week was over at Dr. Gomez’s, he’d be moving to the resort to start his new life.