Taken by Storm by Kim Baldwin

Author:Kim Baldwin [Baldwin, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781626391895
Google: 99TongEACAAJ
Amazon: B00NCAKNU2
Goodreads: 23290047
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2014-09-14T22:00:00+00:00

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Rega Control Center

Zurich Airport, Switzerland

“Airman Jurgen Dorflur is here to see you,” Eckhart Glaus’s secretary said from the open doorway of his office.

“Show him in.” Eckhart got up and greeted the airman halfway with an extended hand. “Thank you for coming,” he told the pilot, then turned to introduce the other two men present, already seated in chairs pulled up before his desk. “These gentlemen are officials from the railway and roadway commissions. Will you tell us specifically what you saw up on the Bernina Pass?”

“Of course, sir.”

Eckhart beckoned the man toward the empty chair beside the others before he went around to take his own behind the desk. Spread out before them all was a detailed map of the entire rail line in that area, with topographic detailing of all the peaks and gorges.

“Huge snow cornices still remain on all the peaks along here,” Dorflur said, as he smoothed his hand over the peaks at the northern entrance to the pass, “though there have been many avalanches on both sides of the valley.”

The helicopter pilot put his finger on the rail line about a half mile from where it flattened out on the northern end of the pass. “The first section that is covered by snow is along here. The slide is several hundred feet long and maybe four or five feet deep at best.”

“Our machines can handle that, though it will take time,” the railway official said. The Swiss rail line employed a pair of heavy rail-clearing machines that worked in tandem in the high elevations. The first carved a path several feet wider than the train and funneled the snow between the rails. Then the second machine, a powerful rotary blower, picked up the snow and shot it up and away from the train, handling tons of the white stuff every hour.

“There have been more avalanches all along here, on both sides of the pass.” Dorflur continued moving his finger southward over the line on the map. “The railway is still visible, but all the snow barriers that protect it are full or overflowing.”

When he got to the halfway point of the pass, the pilot paused and looked up at the railway official. “This portion was the next that was buried, and it was much worse. A half mile of the track is beneath a huge avalanche field, maybe forty or more feet deep.”

The railway man blanched. “Are you certain?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Go on,” Eckhart said.

“This area…” Dorflur skipped the next section and put his finger directly on the track where it left the pass and began its descent to Italy. “Is where the train was hit. Where the rail and road run along a ledge cut into the mountain?” He looked at the railway man, who nodded that he was familiar with the area in question.

“A mile or more of the track here is gone. It’s just a…a big white slope, now. Two avalanches, from neighboring peaks, dumped into this same stretch.” He pointed to the gorge, indicated by darker contour lines, very close together.

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