Search and Rescue Read Free

charm bracelet. The red bruises on her arm were shaped like fingerprints. Someone had held her too tight. Past her, I saw the cliff beyond. The town lights twinkled below in the evening light.
    I did know where Amber was. She was at the lookout on the top of Little Mountain.
    Was she alive? I tried to focus on her face, what I could see of it under her hair. There was blood on her forehead. She appeared to be unconscious, knocked out. Yet she was still breathing. “Oh, thank god,” I said.
    â€œWhat?” asked Matt.
    As soon as I heard him speak, I lost the vision. I saw only myself in that window now. I looked like I felt: scared. I feared for Amber’s safety, but I also feared for my own. Why was this happening to me? The vision left me feeling dizzy and shaky.
    Still, I had to focus on Amber. I had to save her. “I was right,” I told Matt. “I know where Amber is. She’s still alive, but hurt. I saw her lying on the ground near the Little Mountain viewpoint.”
    â€œWay up there?” Matt asked. “Amber couldn’t have walked all that way on foot.” He frowned. “How do you know where she is? Where is she now?”
    â€œStill there, I expect.”
    Matt shook his head. “I don’t understand. You saw her there, lying on the ground, and didn’t think to drive her down? What is the matter with you?”
    â€œI wasn’t there, exactly,” I said.
    â€œDid you see her at the viewpoint or not?”
    â€œI saw her there, but I wasn’t there myself.” At least, my body wasn’t, I thought. I felt like some part of my mind had traveled to find Amber. “They call it remote viewing ,” I told him.
    Matt shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
    â€œWhen I held Amber’s jacket earlier and again just now, I saw—” I paused. There was no way out of this. I had to tell him. “I had a vision of her.”
    Matt laughed. “A vision ? You mean like the visions your mom has? Hell, she’s forever phoning me up, telling me where to find some lost tourist. All because she saw the poor slob in one of her ‘visions.’ I won’t take her calls anymore.”
    â€œI know it sounds goofy,” I said. “But I swear that’s where Amber is.”
    Matt rubbed a finger over the stubble on his upper lip as he thought for a moment. “I heard the cops, ambulance drivers and firefighters call you Radar,” he said. “You turn up at accident scenes before they do.”
    â€œSometimes,” I said, trying to make less of it. Then I nodded, admitting the truth. “Often.”
    â€œI take it you have these ‘visions’ often too.”
    â€œNo, I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” I said. “I’ve only had hunches, gut feelings. I’ll know I have to turn down a certain road. Then there’ll be an accident on that road in front of me.”
    I glanced down at Amber’s jacket in my lap. “This time was different. I saw Amber as clearly as I’m seeing you.”
    â€œYou were imagining things.” He paused. “Or hallucinating.”
    â€œI’m not seeing things, not in that way. I’m not crazy. I can prove it to you.”
    â€œI don’t have time for this,” Matt said. “There’s a girl missing on that mountain.” He took Amber’s jacket from me. “We’re into winter, and Amber doesn’t even have this to protect her.”
    â€œMatt, please listen to me,” I begged. “I know that’s where she is.”
    â€œGo home, Claire,” Matt said. He looked down at my bare legs under my short skirt. “And put on something warm so you don’t freeze to death yourself.” He went back to studying his map. “I don’t want to have to rescue you too.”
    I raked a hand through my hair as I searched my memory of the vision. I had to convince