Read Online Just Enough Light by AJ Quinn - Free Book Online

teams synchronize their efforts in an attempt to reach the boy. She heard a familiar voice and realized Kellen was involved in the rescue, and that she was about to jump into a frigid, rapidly moving river.
    She shivered at the thought. But as she watched and listened, more of what Annie had explained in New York began to make sense.
    Alpine SAR was structured functionally into three interconnected teams. Kellen headed the operations team and had overall responsibility for personnel, equipment, and operations from the time of a team’s activation to its return home. She continuously assessed each situation as it unfolded, developed and implemented plans of action, and assigned resources.
    Annie was the logistics team lead. She maintained Incident Command, their base of operations. She was charged with developing and maintaining communications plans and equipment, as well as managing communications with the sheriff’s department and any other agencies involved in a search. She also managed logistical supply and resupply issues.
    And Dana would be medical team lead. Her primary role was to oversee the new medical center once it was fully operational and provide onsite trauma management. That meant working closely with the paramedics that went out with the search teams and ensuring any injuries received prompt and appropriate emergency care before they were transported to a health-care facility for further evaluation and treatment.
    She also had a second and equally important responsibility. She was meant to monitor the health of all Alpine personnel, which included not only the nutrition and hydration needs of the teams, but also their mental and psychological well-being. Looking for any signs of stress.
    As an emergency medicine specialist, Dana knew all about the endorphin high. The post-rescue rush that left first responders amped. But emergency teams often found themselves thrown into situations beyond their control, and they also knew going in they were not going to win every time.
    She remembered that from too many times in the emergency department. Feeling as if she’d been thrust into the middle of a battle zone. Fighting to save the life of yet another youth caught up in a turf war, believing he was invincible only to have his chest torn apart by bullets. Trying to put kids back together even as she watched their lifeblood flow from too many wounds to count and the light dim from their eyes.
    Dana recognized she’d hit a wall in New York and knew she needed something different. Something that didn’t involve moving back to Boston, working in her father’s posh offices, and returning control over her life to her parents. She’d taken a risk when she’d accepted Annie’s offer. But she was beginning to believe she just might have found what she needed.
    Haven came with its own brand of drama. Here it was more likely to be a battle against nature. Storms. Floods. Fires. Avalanches. Even wildlife. More than enough to satisfy the adrenaline junkie in her, while equally enough to fill her need to make a difference. To help, even knowing she wasn’t always going to win.
    But knowing didn’t make it any easier to deal when you didn’t win.
    Like today.
    The tension around her became more tangible with each passing minute as they followed the rescue attempt from the warmth and safety of the dispatch room, from the moment Kellen jumped from the hovering helicopter into the freezing water until the boy was brought to the riverbank and CPR commenced.
    Dana could also see and feel the increasing tension in Annie the longer Kellen remained in the frigid river, although her voice never betrayed any of what she was feeling. She continued to communicate calmly with the rescue teams, remaining externally calm and professional until well after an out-of-breath voice on the radio informed them the boy was dead.
    Once the two field teams transmitted their intent to return to base, Annie asked the paramedic on board the