1 Chapter 1

1

It had been a long day. Sixteen hours long, a double shift. Three heart attacks, four car accidents, a woman who’d fallen down the stairs, and an elderly man who’d fallen and couldn’t get up. Dominic was tired. He was on his way back to turn in the ambulance and head home for a good night’s sleep.

“I hate these never-ending Michigan winters,” he said to his shift partner, Joyce. “Look at how hard it’s snowing. I can’t see more than ten feet in front of me.”

“Yeah, Easter was two weeks ago,” she said. “This snowbelt storm off Lake Michigan almost seems like one of the most intense of the winter. Those snowflakes are huge!”

“Yeah, that’s what you get for living just south of Grand Rapids,” said Dominic, as he slowed the vehicle, the rapidly accumulating snow erasing all landmarks along the roadside. “Four-wheel drive doesn’t help you a bit when you can’t see where you’re going.”

“I think you just took the wrong fork in the road and we’re not on Michigan 37 anymore,” said Joyce. “From what little I can see along the road, things just don’t look right.”

Dominic slowed the vehicle to a near stop, hoping to make out something that would tell him where he was. A sign popped into view: Apple Blossom Road.

“Damn it, you’re right,” he groused. “It’s snowing so hard I took the wrong fork. And all these guys behind me went right along with me.”

The five cars that had been closely following stopped directly behind him, probably wondering what the problem was. A gust of wind buffeted the vehicle, almost as if Mother Nature was laughing at the joke she had just played on them.

The radio crackled to life. “All Units: we have an overturned car in a pond on Apple Blossom Road, two miles north of M-37. The car is in twelve feet of water.”

Dominic responded immediately. “Unit Five responding. We’re just two miles south of that location. ETA five minutes due to this weather.”

“So much for going home to a warm bed in half an hour,” said Joyce. “You’re finishing a double shift, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but we’ve got to respond. Any other unit would take way too long to get there in this weather. If there’s anyone trapped in that car, every second counts.”

He tried to speed up as the cars that had been following realized their mistake and turned around. Using the flashing lights was a mistake as the bright light reflecting back from the large flakes that densely filled the growing darkness just made it harder to see. Time seemed to stand still as they inched along, wishing they could somehow will the snow to taper enough to see and make better time. Finally, reaching a bend in the road, they saw the car in the middle of the pond, down a steep embankment. Only the rear wheels and back end of the car were above the water.

“It mustn’t have completely filled with water yet,” observed Dominic. “That’s a good thing. Maybe the passenger compartment hasn’t flooded too much. We may still have a few minutes.”

“He must have been going awfully fast,” remarked Joyce, looking at the tire tracks to the edge of the pond. They were already filling up with snow.

“Okay, that steep embankment is going to be a problem. It’s going to be slippery with all this snow on it, so we’d better tie a rope to the back of the vehicle for me to hang on to as I head down there. And give me any lights we have, especially the waterproof ones.”

The wind gave them a reality check as they opened the doors to exit the vehicle. Joyce’s door blew back on her, temporarily pinning her, and she pushed back to force it open. Dominic was already at the back of the vehicle, grabbing a coil of rope and tying it to the back bumper. He picked up the first flashlight he saw, but Joyce, reaching the back door alongside him, said, “Take this one. This will work underwater. It should last thirty minutes or so.”

“That should be long enough, one way or the other,” said a grim Dominic as he put his hands around the rope and began his descent down the embankment.

“Wait!” yelled Joyce. “Don’t you want a pair of gloves?”

“They won’t be of any help once I’m in the water,” he answered. “But toss that sledgehammer and maybe a crowbar down to the bottom of the embankment. I’ll probably have to break a window.”

“Yeah, and maybe cut a seat belt. Put this knife in your pocket,” she said, leaning down to pass it to him.