by Sharon Dunn
He could hear her soft crying in the darkness. He gathered her into his arms, but no words of assurance came to him. He had none to give. All he could do was hold her.
God, I need Your help. I am at the absolute end of the line here.
He brushed his face over her soft hair and waited until her crying had subsided. She had depended on him and trusted him, and he had let her down. She pulled away.
Without a word, he turned and pushed through the forest and she followed. He kept his freezing hands in his pockets.
Fatigue set in within minutes. He nodded off as they trudged forward. He had no idea where they were going. Nothing looked familiar in the darkness, and everything was covered in snow.
He struggled to keep his eyes open as the voice of condemnation grew louder inside his head. They should have tried to get back to the cabin. He’d been foolish to think he could get them to the resort. His memory of the landscape was imperfect. Nothing looked right in the dark.
If only they had stayed at the cabin in the first place. If only they had gotten on to Lorelei sooner. His foot caught on a log, and his top half lurched forward. His hands went out as a protective measure.
“Are you okay?” Merci was beside him touching his elbow and helping him to his feet. The sweetness of her voice renewed his strength.
He’d caught his fall, but his hands were cold from being buried in snow. “I must have nodded off.”
“We are both tired. Here, put your hands back in your pockets.” He obliged, and she hooked her arm through his before putting her bare hands into her pockets. “We’ve got to try to keep each other awake.”
“That is a good idea,” he said. “What should we do?”
“I suppose singing is out of the question,” Merci said.
“We probably shouldn’t make more noise than we need to.” It was just a matter of time before the thieves found them again.
“Do you suppose they are going to hole up in that downed helicopter or come after us?”
“Let’s just stay alert.” How much longer could they last? They were both beyond exhausted. Daylight was a good six hours away. “Just say something to me every few minutes, so neither one of us falls asleep.”
They came to a field of snow touched only by rabbit tracks. Moonlight washed the snow in a blue hue. Their boots sunk into the snow in a rhythmic pattern. Twice, Merci faltered in her step, and he knew she was falling asleep. They weren’t going to make it until daylight. Maybe they could find some kind of shelter, build a fire and take turns sleeping.
The wind picked up. Nathan walked with his head down. They had gotten so far off track trying to escape their pursuers it didn’t make sense to try and find a familiar landmark. Only the distant outline of the mountains told him approximately where they were. His heart felt heavy as anxious thoughts tumbled through his head. He had to find a way to keep both of them alive.
Merci planted her feet and pulled free of Nathan. “Lights,” she whispered.
He looked in the direction she had indicated, but saw only shadows. Nathan wondered if she had gotten loopy from lack of sleep. “Where? I don’t see anything.”
She pulled her hand out of her pockets and traced the outline of the ridge. “On the other side of there. Don’t you see how it kind of glows up there, just real faint. I’m telling you, there is something just behind that mountain peak.”
It could be a light glowing behind the mountain, or it could be wishful thinking brought on by a lack of sleep. “Maybe,” he said.
“I say we move toward that mountain top, toward that light.” She turned to face him, her voice thick with emotion. “What other option do we have?”
Nathan took in a breath that chilled his lungs. The wind cut through him, and his fingers were numb even though he had tried to keep them in his pockets. Both of them had grown weak and exhausted. Did they have the stamina to make it up that section of the mountain? And what if there was nothing but another mountain on the other side. Fifty yards down the hill was a stand of trees that would provide some shelter.
Merci leaned against him. “It’s not that far a climb.”
He didn’t say anything—only wrapped his arm through hers and stepped forward. She was right. They needed more shelter than those trees could provide. Very little snow stayed on the rocky mountaintop. The incline became steep enough that they had to separate and pull their hands out of their pockets.
His fingers had grown tingling and numb by the time they made it to the top. They gazed down into the valley below and at the source of the light. Orange yellow light glowed in the window of a small cabin. Two dark cabins stood on either side of the occupied cabin.
“What is this place?” Her voice filled with amazement.
“This is the backside of the ski resort. We must have gone almost completely around it.”
“Why would someone be in the cabin?” Fear entered her voice.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean the thieves beat us here. Maybe that security guy did get stranded. Or Dad used to rent the cabins out to people who wanted some mountain solitude even after he closed the ski hill down. Maybe it’s one of those people.”
“So did you rent the cabin out?”
“No, but my brother might have,” Nathan said.
She turned toward him. “You don’t know if he did. Don’t you run this place together?”
The question made him uncomfortable. “We both own it…we don’t run it together. That’s why we’re selling it. Anyway, my brother and I don’t communicate that well. He might have rented it out and not told me.”
“I say we go down there and knock on the door.” Merci took a step down the hill.
Nathan caught her arm. “Let’s go down but watch the place for a while.”
“Nathan, I can’t feel my fingers anymore,” she pleaded.
“I know…me, either. I’m just saying we need to be cautious.”
“Okay,” she said reluctantly.
They walked down the mountain toward the cabin. The snow had drifted up to their calves in some places.
Merci was shivering by the time they came within a hundred yards of the cabin. Neither one of them was in any condition to run anymore if it turned out the thieves had beaten them here.
“I really need to be inside.” Her voice vibrated when she spoke. “Maybe we should go into one of the dark cabins.”
Nathan watched the windows of the lighted cabin, hoping someone would walk by. “I know. We just got to wait a minute here. I’ll move forward and have a look in the windows.”
When he got within twenty yards, the door burst open and a small dog bounded down the stairs. The door closed before Nathan could get a look at who had opened it. The terrier jumped up and down and yipped at Nathan’s feet.
“It’s not them.” Merci rushed toward the cabin. “They don’t have a dog.”
The door swung open again and an older man with snowy white hair stepped out. “What is all that racket, Leo?”
His eyes rested on Merci and Nathan. He took a step back as the dog’s barking became more insistent. “Who are you?”
“Please sir, we are so cold.” Merci stepped forward.
“Where did you come from?”
Nathan wrapped his arms around Merci. “I’m the owner of this resort.”
The man leaned closer, probably trying to get a better look at them. “We rented this cabin from a Daniel McCormick.”
“That’s my brother. I’m Nathan McCormick.”
The man stepped to the edge of the porch to study them. “What are you doing all the way up here?”
The man was obviously struggling to make sense of how two strangers would appear out of nowhere in such harsh conditions. “It’s a long story that I would be glad to share with you,” Nathan said.
Merci stepped closer to the porch. “I know this seems crazy, but we are hungry and tired and cold.”
The man shook his head as though he were not totally convinced. He stared at them for
a long moment. “Well, I suppose you should come on in if you are cold.” He turned back around, leaving the door open as he disappeared inside. The terrier followed after him. Nathan grabbed Merci’s hand and pulled her up the stairs.
Inside, an older woman sat reading a book beside a crackling fire. A look of concern spread across her face when she saw Merci and Nathan. She rose to her feet. “Oh, my, what has happened to you two?”
The old man wandered toward the kitchen. “This is my wife Elle, and I’m Henry.”
Elle walked over to Merci. “You poor dear. Come sit by the heat and get warmed up.”
Nathan looked down at his hands. The fingertips had gone numb and turned white, signs of frostbite. Merci plunged down to the floor and held her hands toward the fire. Nathan sat down beside her.
Elle hustled toward the kitchen. “I’ve got hot water on the stove.”
“Get them some food, too, will you, Elle?” Henry took a chair close to them. “My wife and I made plans to come up here months ago. We go somewhere every year for some solitude and prayer time. This storm was so unexpected. Weather forecast didn’t predict it this close to spring. We came up here in the four-wheel drive, but there is no way we can get out until the road is cleared. The car is buried under three feet of snow. That’s how we got stranded up here. Now why don’t you tell me your story?”
Nathan offered Henry the shortest version he could to explain how they had arrived at his doorstop. While he told his story, Elle brought them both hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup.
Henry shook his head. “And you don’t know where these thieves are now.”
“I’m sure they will be looking for a warm place, too,” Nathan said. “I won’t lie to you sir—these men are extremely dangerous.”
“We’ll deal with what is happening, not what might happen. We got a week’s worth of food for two, we can make it work for four.”
“Thank you.” Merci’s eyes rimmed with tears. The expression of relief on her face did Nathan’s heart good.
Elle gathered up the empty bowls and cups. “One of you can have the couch, and I will put some blankets down on the floor by the window for the other one.”
A few minutes later, after bringing out the blankets, Elle and Henry disappeared into the only bedroom.
“You can have the couch.” Nathan grabbed a pillow and blanket from the pile Elle had brought out.
“I don’t know what would have happened to us if we hadn’t found Elle and Henry here.” Merci settled down on the couch.
Nathan nodded as a sense of gratitude for God’s protection spread through him. He was warm and his stomach was full. “The electricity for the cabin runs on a
generator, but they had to have supplied their own gasoline to get it going. They must have brought all the food, blankets and supplies with them. It’s a good thing they were here.”
Maybe they would have survived the night if they had broken into a cabin, but the frostbite might have cost them fingers, and there would have been no food and no warmth and no kindness.
Merci spread the blanket out on the couch and fluffed the pillow. “Do you think we will be able to get out in the morning?”
Nathan shoved his hands in his pockets and stared out the window at the quiet night as he stood by the window. “Hard to say. I’m sure there will be concern when that helicopter pilot doesn’t come back.”
He clicked off the two living room lamps. If the thieves did make it this far, they wouldn’t see any light coming from the cabin.
After a long silence, Merci said, “Nathan, maybe you and your brother should work a little more on communicating better. It’s kind of sad that you didn’t even know he had rented this place to these people.”
“I suppose so.” His answer was calm, but her comment had stirred him up inside. It was hard to talk to Daniel about anything without unresolved pain rising to the surface. Things with his brother had not been good since Daniel’s teen years, when he had started gambling. The torment had come in watching how Daniel’s addiction hurt Mom and Dad. All the happy childhood memories were overshadowed by Daniel’s later cruelties. “It’s hard sometimes talking to family members.”
He wondered if she would understand if he explained the whole story. He had to sell the acreage. He couldn’t see himself working with his brother. Daniel said the gambling was a thing of the past, but how could he be sure? He’d watched his parents live through the cycle of Daniel vowing to quit and starting up again too many times to count. If he told Merci all of that, would she understand?
Nathan looked out the window one more time before settling down to sleep. He felt as if he could finally take a deep breath. They were warm and fed, but he knew they might not be safe yet. He picked up the remaining blankets and laid them down close to the door. If anyone tried to get in, he would hear them.
TWELVE
Merci awoke in the night to a faint scratching sound. She lay with her eyes open in the dark, trying to decipher what the sound was. Finally she sat up. She could make out the outline of the rocking chair that was opposite the sofa. Across the room, Nathan stirred in his sleep.
The scratching noises continued. When she heard an abbreviated yipping sound, she knew the dog must be trying to get out of Elle and Henry’s bedroom. His scratching grew a bit more insistent. Henry and Elle must be deep sleepers, but why was the terrier so upset?
She wondered if she dared try to make it to the kitchen to get a drink of water in the dark. The longer she thought about it, the more parched her throat felt. She planted her feet on the rough wood floor and moved toward the kitchen. She stepped back when she bumped against a box and then felt for the wall that led her into the kitchen. She clicked on the light above the stove, found a cup and turned on the faucet. She took a sip of the cool liquid.
When she turned to face the window, her breath caught, and her grip on the glass tightened. In the distance, lights flashed and bobbed across her field of vision. She hurried back to the living room, slamming into a chair on the way.
She ducked down to a kneeling position out of sight of the window. “Nathan, wake up. I saw a light outside.”
Nathan went from sleeping to awake without so much as a groan or an incoherent comment. He sat up, threw off his covers and pushed himself to his feet. “Where did you see it?”
They were both crouching beneath the window. “Over by that large building, closer to the rest of the ski hill.”
Nathan raised up to his knees so he could look out. He snapped his head around. “The light in the kitchen. They might see it.”
Merci raced across the living room and turned the light off. The door of the bedroom opened, and the scratching of the terrier’s feet on the floor filled the room. The little dog bounded around the room barking.
A moment later, Henry came out of the bedroom. “What’s going on?”
“Henry don’t turn on any lights.” Nathan’s voice was forceful.
“Are they out there? These men who were chasing you?” Henry whispered.
Nathan and Merci crawled on their knees toward Henry while Leo paced and barked in front of the door.
Nathan spoke in a rapid-fire delivery as he put his boots and coat on. “Chances are, they won’t know we are in this cabin unless they saw the kitchen light on. I am sure they will search this whole place. It is only a matter of time before they find us. All of us have to get out of here.”
Her spirits sank. There was no safe place for them, and now they had endangered Henry and Elle who had been so kind. She grabbed Henry’s hand. “We have to find a way off this mountain.”
“There are three feet of snow on our car. Even if we got it dug out, you couldn’t get it to move.” Henry slumped down in a chair.
Merci scrambled for a solution. There had to be a way to escape. “What about skis? Would there have been skis left behind?”
“Maybe in the rental area.” Nathan had gathered up Merci’s coat and handed it to her. “Dad always planned on reo
pening down the line. Something might have gotten left behind.”
Merci turned toward the older man. “Henry, can you and your wife ski?”
The rocking chair creaked when Henry rose to his feet. “Elle and I are too old for spy games. We’ll take our chances and stay here.”
“But—”
Henry raised his hand to stop Merci’s protests. “It’s the two of you they are after. We can lay low until the plows make it up here.”
Merci squeezed Henry’s hand. Either way, the danger was substantial for Elle and Henry. If they stayed, they ran the risk of being discovered. Even if they got away clean, the physical stamina required to ski out might be too much for the older couple.
“Please stay in here and keep the lights out,” she said.
Nathan stepped toward them. “These guys are hungry and cold. If they wander over this way and figure out you’re in here, I don’t think that any of them has enough of a conscience to not harm you.”
Merci felt a quickening in her heart. Maybe Lorelei had a conscience. Could she have that hope?
While Nathan and Merci got their things together, Henry returned to the bedroom. Merci could hear him talking to Elle through the open door. Merci glanced out the window. The lights bobbed up and down close to the large buildings and then disappeared. The thieves must have located a flashlight instead of the makeshift torches they had used at the camp. No doubt they had helped themselves to the supplies in the downed helicopter.
Elle came down the hallway in her nightgown. She padded over to the kitchen and opened cupboards. She handed Merci several packets. “Here, take this food. It’s a meal in a single package. We have some backpacks you can have.”
Merci gave Elle a quick hug. Henry handed Nathan two pairs of gloves. “We have extra.”
Leo had settled down on the rug but stood up when Nathan and Merci moved toward the door. Henry gathered the terrier into his arms. The dog wiggled in protest, but Henry held onto him.
Merci gave a backward glance as they headed out the door into the night. “Stay safe. Lock the doors. Don’t stand in front of the window once there is daylight.”
