Reddy strode confidently through the mountain darkness, his steps steady and measured. The woman in his arms still lay unconscious from the sleeping gas, her breathing slow and even.
He worked his way back the same way he had come in. Fifteen minutes of cautious walking found him back in the staging area from which the operation had been started.
Equipment lay just as he had left it, neatly arranged in military rows.
As Reddy approached, a figure emerged from behind the large boulders at the edge of the staging area.
Alex.
"Well done, Reddy," Alex said, stepping forward into the moonlight. His voice conveyed real appreciation. "The footage is excellent. It was truly beyond our whole crew expectations."
Reddy laid Lucy carefully on the ground near the pile of equipment, on her side in the recovery position. Many years of medical training made the movement instinctive.
"Nine minutes, barely," Alex praised with impressed admiration. "That is incredibly fast."
