by J. T. Cross
When she reached the bottom, she started across the field. She ran fast, dodging each boulder like a football player making his way down a crowded field.
She stopped briefly, sucking in gulps of air, and looked to the top of the hill behind her. The bear was just coming over the top when it stopped, sat down, and began licking its hind leg again. Abruptly, it stood up and smelled the air then began limping down the hill.
She continued running toward the end of the field where the trees began again. As she ran, she realized she couldn’t continue to do this much longer. She was becoming exhausted and sooner or later, she would have to stop.
When she reached the trees, she dashed into them and began running for all she was worth. Unexpectedly, she burst out the other side and ran headlong into a shallow river.
Stumbling on the small and slippery river rocks, she struggled to keep her balance as she made her way across. On the other side, the trees continued up a gentle rise. She started to climb up into the trees but stopped.
The bear was a damn bloodhound, that was for sure, she thought. If she crossed the river and started up the other side, it would probably just pick up her trail again.
Besides that, she was afraid to go any farther. What if she couldn’t find her way back? She had to find some way to elude the bear and get back to Luc.
Abruptly a plan formed in her mind. She remembered a movie where a man had run down a river to escape from a tracker and his bloodhounds. The water had washed away his scent. It was worth a try, she thought.
From behind her in the trees, she heard the sound of breaking branches. A shiver went up her spine, pushing her forward. She waded into the rushing water then began splashing her way downstream.
The bottom of the river was uneven and filled with rocks and pebbles and she had to struggle to keep from tripping and falling. Even so, she ran about thirty yards until she came to a low-hanging branch.
The branch, part of a large tree, stretched across the river just over her head. She wondered if she would be able to climb up on it and then get into the tree. If she could do that, she would leave no scent on the ground for the bear to follow.
She grabbed the branch, swung her legs up, and looped them over it. With the last of her strength, she slowly pulled herself along the branch until she was close to the trunk of the tree.
Just below her, she found another branch to put her feet on and began climbing higher into the tree. She came to a place midway up where she could cradle herself in a crook between two large branches. It was a position from which she could observe much of the river upstream.
She pulled the knife out of the sheath on her belt. If the bear found her, this would be her last stand, she knew. The bear would get a face full of her knife though, if it came anywhere near her. She began watching for any movement upstream.
After several minutes, she saw the front of the bear step out of the trees into the river and sniff the water. She watched with relief as it began to move upstream.
Without warning, the bear stopped and she felt her heart skip a beat. She watched as it stood on its hind legs, smelling the air as it turned in a circle. It came back down on all fours and started limping back downstream.
“Crap,” she whispered as a terrible thought occurred to her. What if the bear could smell her in the air? She looked at the leaves in the trees and put her hand out to feel the breeze. It was blowing toward the bear, carrying her scent with it, no doubt. She began to pray that it would decide to turn around and leave.
The bear continued limping downstream, stopping from time to time to smell the air. The thought struck her that it must be holding a personal grudge against her to go this far out of its way to find her. She watched it coming closer until it was under the low-hanging branch.
She held her breath as it passed beneath the tree. It continued on for several feet then paused and raised its head up. It sniffed the air, looked back and forth, then turned and looked up into the tree. She didn’t move or make a sound, hoping it wouldn’t notice her.
Then, the worst happened. The bear limped out of the river and over to the base of her tree. Her heart began to race uncontrollably and she could feel sweat breaking out all over her body.
The bear stood upright and placed its front paws on the tree trunk. Reaching up, it grabbed the lowest branch and began climbing up the tree. She could feel the tree shaking as the heavy bear climbed halfway up to her.
She realized in horror that she hadn’t fooled the bear at all. All she had managed to do was to allow it to corner her. She looked around for someplace higher to climb, but the branches were too small. She was as high as she could go without falling.
She looked behind herself and realized she could move out farther on the branch. She couldn’t imagine the bear being able to follow her out that far.
She began to scoot along the branch until she came to a spot where it split into two. She turned around and repositioned herself so that she could strike out with the knife when it approached.
The bear continued climbing higher into the tree until its head was level with hers. It then slowly climbed out onto her branch. She could feel the thick branch shaking as the bear struggled to keep its balance.
Unexpectedly, the bear pushed down hard with its front legs, and she felt the whole branch shake beneath her.
She grabbed on tighter so she wouldn’t fall. The bear shook the branch again. Then she understood, it was trying to shake her out of the tree, so it wouldn’t have to climb out to get her. Well, it was going to have to shake a whole lot harder than that to get her out of the tree, she thought.
The bear repeated the action several more times, but the branch was too thick to move enough to shake her off. It let out a weird-sounding growl and moved farther out on the branch.
If it came much farther, she thought, it might be able to reach her with its long front legs. The bear moved closer and she felt the branch begin to bend under its weight. It reached out for her with its massive claws but was still several feet short of her.
It moved a little closer and reached out again. She slashed out as hard as she could with the knife, feeling it cut across the bear’s paw.
It growled and moved a little closer. It was close enough now to reach her, she realized. She leaned backward just as its massive claws slashed through the air a foot from her face. It moved another foot closer to her.
She took her knife and threw it as hard as she could at the bear’s face. It bounced off and fell to the ground.
She realized now that the bear was trying to knock her out of the tree so it could come back down and get her. She watched as the bear brought its paw up for a final swipe.
The bear’s eye suddenly exploded into a gushing stream of blood and the crack of a rifle shot rang through the trees. The bear roared out at her.
She could feel the branch shaking as the bear struggled to keep its balance. After a moment, it refocused on her with its good eye.
The bear’s head jerked backwards as its other eye disappeared and another rifle shot rang out across the forest. The bear lunged forward and grabbed at the branches with both claws. She heard the branch snap and felt herself falling.
She desperately grabbed at other small branches as she fell, but they slipped through her fingers. She felt her arm crash into a branch as she fell and heard a snap. Before she could react to the pain in her arm, she fell into a dense area of foliage, which slowed her fall but didn’t stop it.
She felt herself plow through the thick branches and saw the ground approaching. She felt her head strike another branch just before she hit the ground.
* * *
Luc looked down from the tree he had climbed and across to where the bear lay on the ground. He had felt lucky enough to be able to follow the bear’s growls. And even luckier to have found a tree from which to take a good shot at the beast. But now, seeing Kate’s body lying on the ground removed any thoughts that luck had been on his side. She wasn’t moving.
>
He looped the rifle strap over his shoulder and climbed down the tree as quickly as he could. Once on the ground, he began running through the trees toward Kate.
As he ran, the memory of her falling from the tree kept running through his mind. As he approached the tree, he could see the bear was dead.
“Kate! Are you okay?” he yelled, as he reached her.
He heard her moaning. At least she was alive, he thought as he knelt down beside her.
“Don’t try to move. Where does it hurt the worst?” he asked.
“My arm. I think I hit a branch when I fell.”
“How about your back?”
“I think I just got the wind knocked out of me when I hit the ground.”
He felt the ground around her. It was soft with a thick covering of pine needles and other dead leaves.
“You’re lucky you fell on such soft ground,” he said as he methodically ran his hands up and down her body checking for broken bones and dislocated joints.
“Can you move your feet?” he asked.
He looked down and saw her feet moving. She moved her arms and began to sit up.
“No, don’t try to move,” he said.
He moved his hands up to her neck and couldn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. He rolled her over slightly and felt her spine then gently moved her head back and forth.
“I can’t find anything broken,” he said.
She turned and looked up at him with a frown. “Can we just get the hell out of this valley?” she asked.
“I’m working on it, believe me. Let’s see if you can stand up,” he said as he gently helped her to her feet. As she stood there, he examined her left forearm, which was developing a large dark bruise.
“Other than the nasty bruise on your arm, I think you’re okay,” he said in a cautious tone.
Luc saw her knife not far from the bear. He walked over, picked it up, and slipped it into the sheath on her belt. She walked over to the bear and looked down at it.
“I think it was holding a personal grudge against me. Let’s get out of here before we run into another one of those,” she said.
Chapter 22
Chuck paced back and forth in the small cabin. “I should’ve gone with her. What was I thinking? Anything could have happened to her,” he said.
“Chuck stop. You’re driving yourself crazy. She wanted to go by herself. She’ll be okay,” Christie said as her feelings of guilt began to build.
It had been a long time, Christie thought. She should have been back by now, even if she hadn’t been able to find Luc. She should have insisted that Chuck go with her. She would have been okay alone in the cabin with the kids, she thought.
She sat down on one of the wooden beds and buried her face in her hands. Things were just getting too insane, but she knew she had to keep on fighting. She had to take care of Kelly and Stuart.
She saw the door latch lifting up from the outside. Feelings of relief began to flow through her just before the door flew open and a tall blond-haired man entered pointing a pistol straight at Chuck.
“No one move,” Victor said as he looked around the cabin.
“Who are you? What do you want?” Chuck asked, looking as if he was a second away from leaping across the cabin onto the stranger.
She saw an odd look come across the man’s face for a moment then he continued, “My name is Victor Solanich. I’m head of security for Northern Energies. I’m taking you all back to be prosecuted for the crash of the helicopter.”
“We didn’t have anything to do with the crash of that helicopter. An explosion caused the crash,” Christie said, spitting out each word.
She didn’t trust a thing the man said. He was probably one of the people who had blown up the cabin and tried to kill them.
The side of Victor’s mouth curled up slightly. “Tell it to the judge.”
Another man walked in and stood next to him. “There’s no one around.”
“No trace of Russell?”
The man shook his head.
Victor turned to Christie. “Where’s Moon and the others?”
“Somebody attacked Luc, and they both went over the falls. Kate went to try to find him.”
“What falls?” Victor asked.
“There’s a cavern behind us with a lake. It empties out the side of the cavern. All we know is that Kate said Luc had been attacked and the two men were sucked out of the cavern by strong currents. That’s all we know.”
A smile came over Victor’s face. “Turner, go back behind the cabin and see if you can find this cavern. Let’s see if she’s telling the truth.”
Turner ran out the door.
Victor walked a little farther into the cabin, and Christie could see his eyes darting around the room and finally coming to rest on her. The way he looked at her made her feel vulnerable.
“Before the helicopter comes to pick us up, we have to go back to the crash site and collect a few pieces of evidence,” Victor said with a smirk.
After a short time, Turner rushed back into the cabin. “There’s a cavern back there, and it does empty out an opening. It must be one hell of a drop. I found this on the ground,” he said, holding up a satellite phone.
“Hang on to that. We’ll take it back with us,” Victor said then turned and stared at Christie.
She had the distinct impression that he was checking her out. She shuddered.
Victor walked over to her and took her chin in his hand. “Get your things together. We’re leaving in three minutes,” he said as he looked into her eyes. He let go of her and walked back over to the door and waited.
The revulsion she felt for the man made her nauseous. She glanced across the room at him and saw he was once again smiling.
“Move it,” Victor said in a stern tone of voice.
Christie turned to Stuart who was holding the piece of helicopter blade he had kept as a souvenir. She took it out of his hand. Chuck stuffed the things on the table into Luc’s backpack.
Victor looked at them. “Grab the backpacks.”
They slipped them on and waited.
“If you people do what you’re told, everything will be fine. Now, everyone out of the cabin,” Victor said.
Chuck left the cabin first.
Victor pointed to Stuart and Kelly. “You two, out next.”
They hurried out, following after Chuck.
He walked closer to Christie. “I remember you from the front lawn down in Seattle.”
“I don’t remember you,” she said, taking a step back.
“I was in the back of the limo. You wouldn’t have been able to see me, but I saw you. I remember you clearly.”
She didn’t like the tone of his voice. The feeling of anxiety in her chest began to grow stronger.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Imagine running into you here,” he said as he placed his hands on her waist.
“Take your hands off me,” she said, pulling away from him.
He grabbed her by the arm and began to lead her out of the cabin. As she passed through the doorway, she dropped the piece of helicopter blade on the dirt floor.
As they headed away from the cabin, Kelly began falling behind.
“You’re going too fast for her. You need to slow down,” Christie said loudly.
Victor stopped and turned to Chuck. “Pick her up. You’re going to carry her down to the quads.”
Chuck suddenly lunged at Victor, but he turned to the side, bringing the butt of his pistol down on his head. He fell to the ground and Victor stared down at him for a moment.
“Get up,” Victor demanded. “The only reason you’re still alive is because I need you to carry the little girl. You understand that?”
“Yeah, I get it,” Chuck said obstinately. He slowly got to his feet and went over to Kelly. He picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he cradled her in his arms.
“Move,” Victor barked.
When they got to
the bottom, he put Chuck on the extra ATV with Christie sitting on the gas tank. He put Kelly on the seat in front of him. The other man did the same with Stuart.
Victor turned and looked at Chuck and Christie. “Don’t get any bright ideas and try to ride off. If you do, I’ll put a bullet in the little girl’s head.”
Christie felt her rage growing. She had never hated anyone so much in her life. How dare he threaten them like that? What kind of an animal was he anyway?
They started the engines and Victor took off in the lead. Chuck pulled behind him and Turner and Stuart trailed behind.
As they rode back toward the helicopter, Christie’s mind went in circles. There was no evidence to collect at the helicopter. She wondered what kind of a sick game Victor was playing.
There was something terribly wrong going on here. She prayed that somehow Luc was okay and that he and Kate could figure out what happened and come after them.
* * *
Kate and Luc retraced their steps back to the lake where they retrieved her backpack. Then Kate led them along the edge of the river back to the falls. After another thirty minutes of hiking, they were making their way back up the face of the plateau.
As they approached the cabin, Luc sensed there was something wrong, as the door was standing open. He motioned for Kate to be quiet.
“I’m going to need your knife,” he whispered.
She pulled the knife out and handed it to him. With the knife in hand, he began moving quietly up to the cabin. He waited by the side of the door listening, but heard nothing.
He carefully peeked around the edge of the doorway. He didn’t think anybody was inside. He moved in quickly with the knife ready. His heart sank when he realized everyone was gone.
On the dirt floor in front of him was the broken piece of helicopter blade Stuart had taken as a souvenir. He picked it up. He looked around and saw that the backpacks were missing. He walked back out.
“The cabin’s empty. They left and took the backpacks with them.”
“Let’s check the cavern. Maybe they’re back there,” Kate said.
