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Cade’s form deflated as he blew out a big breath. The look of pained disappointment he gave Isaiah hit him in the gut. He’d pushed things too far, he saw that now. Cade was right. They didn’t want to know what this was about. Isaiah had just sealed their fates.
“We escaped,” Jason continued. “Made it out. Nobody had a clue where to look. Then we hit a snag in Zach’s big plans when our plane crashed. You want to know how much money?”
Jason opened his mouth and sucked in a breath, but Zach punched him in the face.
Grabbing his nose, Jason howled and cursed Zach. “What’d you do that for?”
With a single look, Zach silenced him. Too bad that couldn’t have worked to begin with, before the punch to the face.
“Now if we’re done with the small talk, lead on.” Zach gestured ahead of him.
The wind picked up and the snow clouds slowly crept across the sky. Once the clouds blanketed the region and hid the moon, this clan would depend completely on the goggles and headlamps. And once the storm hit, their feeble lighting would be of little help.
Before he turned to lead the way, Cade gave Isaiah one long shake of his head. Isaiah hoped Cade could see the regret in his eyes, but he was sure it wouldn’t matter. This wasn’t the first time Cade had given him that disappointed look lately, but at least this time Isaiah knew the reason for it. Now wasn’t the time to try to figure out what had been bothering his friend, especially since he likely already knew the answer to that. He tried to shove the unwelcome thoughts out of the way.
They would have to work together as a team in a way they never had before. This would require all their energy and focus and trust.
Trust. Why had this particular search and rescue scenario hit them when the trust between the three of them was at an all-time low?
Let it go, man. You don’t have time to worry about that now.
Carrying the heavy packs and gear, everything they’d need to survive, the group trudged behind Cade as he led the way off the saddle, careful to stay out of the path of the avalanche that could spill from the cornice above at any moment.
Zach hiked next to Isaiah, pulling up the back, and pointing his gun at Isaiah for fun. “Don’t forget that I have guns. Will kill.”
“Well, Zach, I’m intimidated by you, sure,” Isaiah said. This guy felt big and strong with the weapons he didn’t handle all that well. “But facing off with nature in this part of the world scares me more. If you’re not scared yet, you will be.”
FOUR (#ulink_9accacda-6161-5ecc-95d9-5b618ac39b29)
Heidi struggled to keep up with Cade. With his big strides, he covered the ground quickly, even in the snow-covered saddle. None of the SAR team members had removed their crampons yet, and they hadn’t tasked the climbers to wear them or snowshoes until required. The snow wasn’t loose enough that they sank into it here, but the terrain indicated that they were approaching a sharp drop.
That was only one problem they would eventually face. Added to that, they’d have to be sure this group knew how to use an ice ax for self-rescue, or a technical ice ax if required. Argh. Did they even have all the equipment they would need? She doubted it. Heidi’s breathing hitched. She wanted to pull her hair out. This wasn’t going to work.
Straight ahead, on the other side of the peak across from them, she could see the silhouette of Devil’s Paw, the highest point on the Juneau Icefield, which marked the border between southeast Alaska and British Columbia. And just below that, though she couldn’t see it, Michael’s Sword thrust upward from the ice field, like its namesake blade.
Even if Heidi couldn’t see much through the night vision goggles, she knew they were about to face their first taste of terror. Cade knew that, too, and likely feared how much worse it would be if they didn’t make good time and find a place to hunker down in their tents. All because they had to please the madman who’d called them in to rescue him.
Clouds crept forward, the edges reminding her of pointed fingers, creeping toward the moon. With the summit looming above them to the north, Heidi wished she had her camera to capture this amazing image. But even if she did, she couldn’t fathom stopping to enjoy her hobby.
Once the moon finally died a silent death behind the sword-clouds, Heidi would lose sight of Cade without her night vision goggles. Zach’s gang had been instructed to wait to use their headlamps until absolutely necessary to save the batteries.
Heidi felt as if she was in a space suit again, her clothing thick, her movements slow—only she’d never wanted to be an astronaut. Never wanted to go to the moon. This might be exactly how it felt to be there, except, of course, her steps would cause her to bounce instead of sink.
Snow swirled as the wind picked up. Oh, no. Were they walking right into the screaming wind tunnel again? Or worse, was the storm on them already? She thought her space suit might be running out of oxygen. Though her breaths came fast and hard, dragging in the frigid air, she still couldn’t get enough of it.
Oh, Lord. Not here. Not now.
Breathe in, breathe out. Her lungs screamed. An iceberg of pressure weighed on her chest. And her head.
Heidi stopped and ripped off the helmet and goggles, grabbing her head. Would it explode?
Cade had always been there for her, but no—he trudged ahead as if he was the only one who mattered. Isaiah’s face filled her vision. He’d removed his goggles and helmet, revealing his thick brown hat-hair, the moonlight caressing enough of his face that she could see the undeniable concern in his eyes.
He gripped her upper arms. “Heidi, what’s wrong?”
“I—” she gasped for breath. “I—”
“Slowly.” Isaiah pressed his gloved hands to the sides of her head. “You have to breathe slowly.”
How did he know? Heidi focused on his gaze and the emotions she couldn’t read swirling there. She had the sense that he was barely holding back a torrent of them. She calmed a little, her breathing easing, but the reason for her panic hadn’t dissipated. Everyone stood around her, watching her as if she was some kind of mental case. What if Zach decided to kill her because of it?
“Are we really going to do this?” she asked. “Are we really going to hike down with inexperienced climbers in the dark and—”
“Shh.” He pressed a finger against her lip, and it was surprisingly warm. When had he removed his gloves? “This is a search and rescue mission just like any other. You’ve trained for this, you can do it.”
Zach pulled Isaiah away from Heidi. She hated him for it. Isaiah, whatever happened to us?
Oh, no, here it comes. He’s going to kill me now. She and Isaiah never even had their chance, or rather, a second chance.
“You know I like you, sweetheart, but if you’re not careful you might outlive your usefulness. Let’s get moving.”
Heidi saw Cade ahead of them watching her, but then he turned around and hiked forward at breakneck speed. Isaiah gave her a reassuring nod and tugged his helmet and goggles back on. She followed his example and hiked next to him, drawing strength and confidence from him. She had strength, too. She just had to dig down deep and find where it had hidden and pull it out. This is a search and rescue mission just like any other. She could do this. And as for anything else, like escaping? As long as Zach, Jason and Liam, and possibly Rhea, carried weapons, there wasn’t much else they could do except follow orders.
Wait and pray.
A new team would be sent to search for them at some point when they didn’t show up. But Heidi dreaded how long that would take. SAR volunteers were already stretched thin due to two ongoing rescue operations before Cade, Heidi and Isaiah had been delivered to the drop point near the summit.
How long before David began to worry? How long before they could even send a team to search for them? And if they did, she’d bet David and Adam would both be on that team. But the farther they trekked into the deep mountain wilderness, the less chance they had of being found, especially with a man like Zach, who would do everything within his power to keep their whereabouts hidden.
No. She couldn’t count on being rescued. They were on their own.
No one knew they’d sent the search and rescue team to face a killer. Or killers. No one knew they were headed to the ice field. Making it there in this weather? That was another story altogether.
Cade stopped and held up his hand, signaling for the rest of them to stop.
Heidi closed the distance to stand just behind him. She sucked in a breath. Rush Gulley, Cade’s initial suggestion, would have been so much easier than this jagged, angular descent into the lower ridge on this side of the mountain. She wouldn’t want to do this on a good day, much less a stormy night. What would Zach’s cronies say when they saw this, though their view would be limited?
“Looks like I’m up,” she said. She had more experience in multipitch technical climbing, though both Isaiah and Cade could hold their own.
“Wrong. I’ll go down first, make sure there’s no loose rocks or hazards. And I’ll untie them once they’re lowered to the bottom. That’s all we’re doing here, lowering them down.”
Heidi wanted to argue, but giving him a spiel about working as a team right now would be pure bad timing. Cade had always been the team leader, and that’s just the way it was, so she held her tongue.
He shook his head. “I don’t like this. Why did I listen to Isaiah?”
“He was right, that’s why.” She steadied her breathing, reining in the panic that threatened beneath the surface again. “We’re a team, Cade, so we have to start acting like one. Granted, this is the worst possible scenario, but we pass this test tonight, and we can’t face anything worse.”
Except maybe a bullet to the head.
There. She got in her spiel after all, and reassurance for the both of them, too.
“Whatever we do has to be quick, or we’re going to get caught in the jaws of something driving, cold and wet. I don’t like keeping these people, no matter their crime, out in the elements any longer than necessary.”
Isaiah stepped next to them. “Let’s get busy then. We can rig a seat harness for this, and anything else we face. No point in risking their lives by letting them attempt to climb.”
Even Zach looked a little daunted as he peered into what, for him, with only a headlamp, would be a bottomless abyss. “What’s the plan?”
“You’re forcing us to go on a suicide mission, that’s the plan,” Heidi said. “We need to set up the tents and wait out the storm. Not climb down some insane multipitch terrain at night.”
It was worth a try anyway.
Isaiah dumped his pack and began setting up everything to lower them down.
A creepy grin slid onto Zach’s face. “But here you are, preparing to do exactly that. You’re turning out to be useful, after all. I’m glad, because I wasn’t ready to leave you behind. Not yet.”
Frowning, Isaiah motioned for Heidi to join him and help. She was grateful for the excuse to get out from under Zach’s gaze. But his words clung to her just the same. Isaiah set up an anchor around a rock, and Heidi clipped a carabiner—a small oval ring used as a connector—to hold the belay device, which was used to create friction on the rope, in place for lowering the climbers.
“So, um, what should we do to get ready?” Jason asked. “We don’t have climbing gear.”
Very perceptive.
“Pray. That’s what you should do.” Isaiah worked with the tubular webbing they always carried to create the right seat harness.
Depending on the situation and injuries, they could create whatever kind of harness they needed for the person or persons they rescued.
“That is,” Isaiah said, looking up from his task, “if you consider yourself a praying man, Jason. We need a lot of prayer if we’re going to live through the night.”
* * *
Two hours later, Isaiah knew someone had been praying.
Shivering at the bottom of another ridge cutting between the mountains—which kept them in the upper elevations—they quickly assembled the three tents, all geared with the required flies, sealed seams and enough extra snow flukes to withstand the approaching blizzard. Then supplies of water and food were dispersed among each shelter. They’d only brought one cooking stove with fuel, though.
Regardless of their predicament, relief coursed through Isaiah that they’d been successful in lowering their charges and setting up a camp, all in the middle of a frozen night. All as the storm closed in on them. Still, he wasn’t sure he could ever shake Rhea’s shrieks as they lowered her.
Zach had finally agreed to stop but only after Rhea’s terrifying experience down the terrain had left her crying and pitching a fit. She demanded they stop and wait until daylight. Isaiah could see that she would freeze to death if they kept going, as it was. Inside the tent, she could get warm in a sleeping bag and then get into the better winter wear they’d brought with them.
Isaiah finished building a snow wall around the last tent to protect it from the gale-force winds, and couldn’t wait to climb in and warm up. Rest his weary bones and mind. Except, depending on how fast the snow accumulated, he’d have go back outside to dig them out at regular intervals. Too much snow could collapse the tent.
Zach approached and shoved him with his foot, his headlamp flickering. “One of you sleeps with each of us in a tent. Rhea and Heidi are together.”
Isaiah stood to face the man. “There’s nowhere for us to run.”
“Get in.” Zach held his weapon.
Did Zach know how to clean the snow and weather out of the bore so it wouldn’t malfunction? Just before Isaiah climbed into the tent, he saw Cade and Heidi, and shared a look of regret with each of them.
Isaiah had a feeling he knew what they were both thinking. Once they got Zach and his men and woman to safety, they would likely be killed. They knew more than they should know about the armored-car robbers and killers. Knew their faces and their names. He squatted and crawled into the tent. What a weird twist of fate, to save people knowing they would kill you when you finally delivered them to safety. Isaiah crawled over to the sleeping bag to the right, making it his own. He dropped down and didn’t bother taking off his coat. Not warm enough inside yet.
At least tonight he would be warm and dry, despite the nefarious company.
Their supplies were limited because they hadn’t expected they would be hiking through the frozen Alaska wilderness. They were all too exhausted tonight to use the small camping stove they’d brought to warm up their water. But if they were in this very long, they’d need to conserve the fuel to melt snow. For now, keeping warm was a matter of bundling up in the sleeping bags and combined body heat to warm up the inside of the tent.
Zach and Liam crawled inside, too, looking as haggard as Isaiah felt. He guessed Jason was with Cade and he knew Rhea was with Heidi. Why did they have to be separated in the first place? He wasn’t sure he could sleep for worrying that he would be killed in the night, or that Cade or Heidi would face the same fate.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. God, help us.
“Praying again?” Zach asked.
Isaiah didn’t have the energy for this. “You might try it sometime.”
Zach and Liam laughed, though Isaiah consoled himself with the fact it was tired and weak.
“I’m starving. What have we got to eat?” Liam dug through the pack inside the tent.
“MREs and energy bars. I’d recommend the energy bar. Quick and simple.” Isaiah was too bushed to eat one. He’d get one in the morning.
“They might try to contact us again, you know. So be ready to toss me the radio.” Isaiah prepared to slip into the sleeping bag and prayed he could actually sleep. This was going to be a long night. A long, hard journey to the ice field.
“Don’t give me orders.” Zach held up a rope, then proceeded to tie Isaiah’s wrists. “I won’t bother tying your ankles. You’re not going anywhere.”
Now it was Isaiah’s turn to laugh, and his wasn’t so feeble. “Now that I’m all tied up, you get to go outside and scrape the snow off before it gets too heavy or buries us alive in the tent.”
Liam stiffened. He looked to Zach for answers. When he got none, he studied Isaiah. “How often do we have to do that?”
Isaiah shrugged. “Depends on the storm. I’d say every hour for starters. Then if it snows hard enough, maybe every fifteen minutes.”
“How will we know?”
“You’ll know.” Isaiah lay back down on the sleeping bag, grateful for small things. He wouldn’t have to dig them out tonight. He could actually sleep, maybe, and trust God to make it peaceful.
“I say when. Remember, you’re not in charge. I am.”
A raging retort surged to Isaiah’s lips, and he tried holding himself in check but failed. “Really? We just saved your lives tonight. And we delivered you down to this ridge under impossible circumstances. You couldn’t have done that on your own.”
“Whatever.”
Isaiah sat up, adrenaline coursing through him once again. He needed to say the words. Get them out. He pointed a finger at Zach, holding up both tied hands. “That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, we’ve ever done, as a team. Don’t expect us to do anything like that again. You’re fortunate that we all survived. But don’t push it.”
“You guys are as good as it gets, there’s no doubt there. I know what to expect from you now. How hard I can push.”
Isaiah believed that God had protected them. Answered their prayers. But as to how hard Zach could push them? Isaiah didn’t bother answering. Zach wouldn’t listen anyway. He had nothing to lose by pushing them.
Liam turned the flashlight off. They lay in the darkness, the storm beginning to rage around them. Isaiah couldn’t stand to think about what tomorrow would bring, and hoped he would drift quickly to sleep, but escape plans exploded in his head.
If they’d retained their weapons, they could have won the day. Maybe. But they’d been caught off guard.
And...Heidi.
