Consequences

Consequences
Bjorn 

I was staring at the beautiful woman in my arms as she looked on worriedly at Jackson and Kevin who were carefully searching the edges of the ravine in front of us. In the back of my mind, I was still acutely aware of the potential danger we were in.  
Kevin had told us that the assassin's hideout wasn’t far away from here and there was a heavy weight in the pit of my stomach that told me that danger was near. I had a strong suspicion that this was a trap of some kind.  
I knew we wouldn’t be able to get Jennifer home safely until she had Maya safely in her arms first so all I could do was to keep my senses open. Suddenly a dark shadow flew overhead, emitting a low hum.  
I instinctively tried to shield Jennifer, but then she shocked me by laughing. I looked around to see Kevin and Jackson also cowering slightly whilst Jennifer stood tall, looking right at the dark shadow which was coming right for us.  
“Welcome Kathy.” She simply said. The object was now in view and my torch shone on the dark plastic covering which had been crafted in the shape of a black hawk. It bobbed in the air in front of Jennifer as if bowing to her.  
She reached forwards and opened a compartment underneath on what I could now see was some kind of fibre glass shell, it must be a specialist light weight material, but I had no idea what it was.  
Still, I could now see the blades pocking out of the crook of its wings with two more just above the tail. The craftsman ship was impressive; whoever had made this had obviously spend a lot of hours carefully working with it.  
She pulled the length of rope out of the anatomical birds under belly “Thank you boys.” She said but it didn’t fly away, instead, it hovered over the crevasse and another hatch door slid open on its neck.  
A bright light shone down and lit up the area we were intending to climb down to. The five foot or so wingspan of the bird was too wide to fit into the gap without risking damage to its wings, but we could now see what we were dealing with at least.  
It looked to be about a fifteen-to-twenty-foot drop and the way the water had carved out the landscape below had left many ledges and exposed rocks. The drop wouldn’t be so bad, but the raging river and the muddy, slippery surfaces would make this extra dangerous. 
“There!” I pointed to a muddy head with patches of mottled white fur that were showing through, which weakly lifted. I almost missed the movement; it was so slight. Now the boys had Kathy shining right onto the puppy, but the out cropping above made it hard to get a good view.  
Jennifer was on her phone right away. “The boys say there is no obvious blood or injuries that they can see but she looks very weak.” She reported. “Wrap that end around that tree there “Kevin said, and I realised the other end of the rope he was handing me was already tied around his torso.  
I leaned Jennifer against a tree and went to secure it round the tree as Jackson got back into his saddle. “Here, pass me the rope.” He said, once I had it wrapped securely, and I did just that.  
With Jackson on horseback, holding the rope for Kevin who was lowering himself over the edge, I returned to Jennifer who was trying to lean forwards for a better view. I held her where she could see better and I could ensure she wouldn’t fall over the edge.  
We watched as Kevin reached the ledge where Maya was, carefully picking her up and cradling her in one arm so he could use the other to start climbing back up. One step, two steps, slip.  
He lost his footing, and I saw the horses' hooves start to skid on the muddy forest floor next to us. He might be strong, but it would do no good without purchase. Jennifer was already reaching for Miss Holy to hang onto, so I let her go and ran over.  
Sweat beaded my brow as I grabbed the rope and strained to stop the motion. My heavy boots dug into the ground, and I was able to use the tree as leverage to kick-off it and start bringing Kevin back up with Jackson and his horses help as they regained their footing too. 
As they emerged over the edge, a palpable sense of joy filled the air. Once they reached solid ground, Jackson dismounted his horse and hurried to take the little dog from Kevin's arms. 
He walked over to Jennifer “I can’t see any injuries although something could be hidden under all this mud. I think she is mainly just exhausted, cold and dehydrated.” He explained. 
“We can get her a warm bath when we get home, Bjorn, can you help me up onto Miss Holy’s back?” Jennifer said. She tried to climb herself, but I just lifted her on, using my height to my advantage. 
 As soon as She was settled, she reached out to Jackson, motioning for him to give her the dog. She opened her jacket and popped her inside. Since it was actually my jacket, she could easily fit Maya in with her and still zip it around both of them, only leaving a little gap for her muzzle so she could still breath easily. 
I leashed Daisy again, praising her for her work, she had done so well. It really was a shame that she wouldn’t pass the academy’s health standards for a police dog now she no longer had her hearing. 
“Seems I owe you both steak now,” Jennifer said as she waited for me to catch up with her. “And a new jacket.” She grimaced, noting the mud that was caked onto both the inside and outside of my coat now. 
“Neither of us would turn down an offer of steak but don’t worry about the jacket.” I replied. We chatted pleasantly on the way home, but I could feel Jennifers exhaustion so as soon as they were safe and sound, I headed home. 
I checked my work phone out of habit when I got in the car. Well fuck, I thought to myself. So, it wasn’t a trap, it was a distraction.