Neither Charlotte nor the giant uttered a word. The chaos was just outside the door. Charlotte knelt in the corner, hands over her head, glancing up only from time to time. She prayed for her family.
The banging subsided after a few moments, the gang apparently satisfied with their destruction. Their voices still echoed through the basement kitchen.
“What are they saying?” Charlotte whispered in the now quiet room.
“Looking for things of value.”
“Thank God.”
The voices soon yielded to silence too. The giant slumped down onto his behind and took a deep breath, still leaning against the door.
“We need to get out of here.” Charlotte couldn’t stand the confines of the cell any longer.
“No.” The giant was adamant. “We’ll wait until we know they are gone.”
For what seemed like an eternity, Charlotte remained in the corner, recovering. She didn’t weep for her husband or family or fret about her own fate. The giant didn’t speak either.
Twenty minutes later, the cautious steps of someone whispered through the door.
“Xiao,” the giant mouthed.
The volume of the padding steps increased until they came to a stop right outside the door.
The giant started to stand and turn as the heavy door burst open. He was hurled backward onto the table. A thick smoke filled the room. Charlotte heard him struggle to free himself, but another force was keeping him down.
Charlotte’s wrist was pulled through the fog, and when she resisted, her assailant threw her onto his shoulders. She grabbed for the doorjamb but couldn’t hold on. She was being carried through the kitchen and up the stairs, taken.
Her eyes burned from the smoke and she couldn’t open them. A rush of cool air told her she’d been taken outside, where a hectic drumming noise overwhelmed her senses. Sand and dust flew in a stiff wind, stinging her face.
She was laid on a cold metal floor. She tried to see, but the fiery stinging forced her eyelids shut again.
60
WEST BANK, SNAKE RIVER. NOVEMBER 1.
10:45 A.M. MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME.
It was midmorning when Jake’s phone buzzed. Divya had spent the night in Jake’s bed again, while he took the cold leather couch downstairs. Her flight was at 3 p.m.
They had coffee and a quick breakfast in Wilson, all the while making sure their cell reception remained strong. The mood grew tenser with each passing hour.
When the message finally came, Jake opened it and immediately stood from his seat at the bay window overlooking the creek.
Divya popped up from the couch and walked toward him.
“She’s safe,” he blurted.
A wide smile came across Divya’s face. “I got it too.”
* * *
The roads were slick from the blowing snow on the way to the airport. Traffic from canceled flights moved at a snail’s pace, and by the time Jake pulled up to the curb Divya had to rush for her flight.
“Call me if you get canceled.”
“Will do.” The winter storm brought out a rosiness in Divya’s dark skin. She looked content. And gorgeous.
“I’m sorry, Jake. For putting you through all this.”
He waved it off.
“Gimme a hug.”
* * *
Jake waited in the 4Runner, sipping coffee and watching the weather until Divya’s 747 took off eastward. He pulled out onto 89 toward town and put the wipers on high to deflect the incessant flakes.
A few elk had moved into the refuge during the night, hounded by the even more perilous weather in the mountains. He pulled over to observe a herd of mature males and called Deputy Layle.
“Charlotte is safe.”
“Thank God. I’ll go over the hill and tell the family.”
“That’s a tough job. Thank you. Looks like we have a new chief in town.”
Layle chuckled. “I’ve got a wedding to plan and a fiancée who says I don’t spend enough time with her. I have half a mind to put your name forward for the job.”
Jake looked south toward the town of Jackson, barely visible through the storm.
“Not a snowball’s chance in hell.” He wasn’t sure whether he meant it. “Do me a favor and tell Noelle that Charlotte’s okay.”
“Of course.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Enormous thanks to all those who helped along the way; I couldn’t have done it without you: Margaret Riley, Paul Whitlatch, Kyle Radler, David Lamb, Tom Bair, Molly Lindley, Benjamin Holmes, Dr. Jeff Dreyer, Dr. Arwind Koimattur, Dr. Rahul Tendulkar, and Lara Bertsch.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photograph by Katie Bertsch
David Riley Bertsch, a native of Pittsburgh, graduated from Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Since 2009 he has lived in Jackson, Wyoming, where he is a professional fly-fishing guide.
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ALSO BY DAVID RILEY BERTSCH
Death Canyon
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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First Scribner hardcover edition January 2015
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Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bertsch, David Riley.
River of no return : a Jake Trent novel / David Riley Bertsch. — First Scribner hardcover edition.
pages ; cm
1. Fishing guides—Fiction. 2. Missing persons—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3602.E7688R59 2015
813'.6—dc23
2014030186
ISBN 978-1-4516-9803-9
ISBN 978-1-4516-9805-3 (ebook)
ookFrom.Net
River of No Return : A Jake Trent Novel (9781451698053) Page 31
