“Help,” Kate said then—I actually heard her.
“What, baby?” I choked out in a whisper. Baby? “Kate, what do you need?”
Kate shook her head and pointed in the direction of the cries I’d been hearing. “Help.”
“It’s not Ollie.” I shook my head. “I need to find Oliver. But we’re stuck here.”
Kate was not like me. I’d had people tell me I was strong, but I wasn’t like Kate. She could tell I was frozen in place—that on my own I wasn’t going to do anything. Without her I was going to stay here—in shock—cry, and probably even die. Kate wasn’t willing to accept that.
Where she found the courage and strength to pull herself up and away from me, I’ll never know. But she did, and she turned to look me in the eyes. In doing so, she grimaced and grabbed her stomach. Somewhere in my mind I knew that wasn’t good, and I was pretty sure she did too, but Kate became like Wonder Woman in that moment. She got right in my face and snapped me out of my stupor.
“Tara, listen to me. There is someone down there. We have to try to…” She paused and squeezed my hand, grunting as a wave of pain shot through her. She leaned over the edge and threw up, but then found a way to continue. “We have to help them.”
I shook my head again, but this time I didn’t object with words. As I watched her try to stand against the part of the tree that still held us in place—and listened to her groan in agony—I found a little spirit of my own. If she can do this in her state… I helped her stand and slowly stood beside her. It was still so dark we couldn’t see anything else around us, but we knew the wall of water was gone, so twelve feet below us there was dry—or at least muddy—land. In theory.
“How do we get down?” I asked her.
“You’re still tethered to the tree. My tether won’t hold anymore. It’s a wonder it even…” Another searing wave of pain washed over her. “…held me at all.”
Don’t know how mine did either. “So you want me to try to climb down?”
“No.” Kate shook her head—perhaps afraid I’d freeze up again down there. “Let me put your tether on, and you can help lower me to the ground.”
I knew there was no way she should be able to keep going in the amount of pain she was clearly in. But she fastened my tether around her, and I helped lower her down the tree as far as I could. I heard her call up for me to unhook it, and I did. I heard her fall and give a sharp cry of pain. “Kate.” No response. “Kate.”
Still no response.
I don’t know if she was aware enough to have had this sequence be intentional, but I started thinking about someone other than myself. I knew I was strong enough to lower myself down and hang from the remaining boards of the deck. I knew if I dropped from that point, at the worst I’d fall six feet or so. I knew I could probably handle that.
I suddenly became much more aware of my immediate surroundings. The wind and rain were picking up again. My hair was matted to the side of my face, and when I tried to move it, the associated burn was so searing I knew I must have cuts and blood all over my face. I gingerly ran my fingers across my arms and legs and found they too were layered in cuts and bruises. My shirt was shredded and barely clinging to me, and my jean shorts were about the only intact article of clothing left. I slid carefully to the edge and slipped over it, eventually hanging freely in the air—six to seven feet above the ground. I took a breath and dropped, landing hard but rolling as soon as my feet hit the ground. The rain was pelting my cut-up body now, and I cringed as I lifted myself out of a large puddle of mud. I remained kneeling for a second until I felt someone beside me.
Kate was doubled over but extending her hand to me. “Good job.”
I shook my head. I didn’t deserve her praise. “You’re amazing.”
She didn’t acknowledge my reply. She kept her head down, and we listened for the cry for help. Instead we heard a different noise—a wonderful noise. A baby crying. Ollie!
“Ollie!” someone screamed—might have been me. It was still so dark we couldn’t see much—a few feet ahead at most. Kate couldn’t bend down to crawl, so I did, and she held my hand as we slowly moved toward what I knew was the edge of the cliff—which was also where the crying was coming from.
As we neared the edge, we came to a large part of the tree house. It seemed to be wrapped around another tree that had fallen and was hanging precariously—miraculously—over the edge of the cliff. The crying was coming from below. Ollie was somewhere down there.
“What’s the tree caught on?” I asked Kate.
“No idea,” Kate grunted. “But it can’t be much.”
“Ollie,” I called out. “Mommy’s coming.” Then I heard the cry for help again. It was quiet, but clear. Jenna. Waves of joy and disappointment converged on my heart simultaneously. It wasn’t Ryan. “Jenna. Where are you?”
“I’m trapped.” Her voice was clear but pain-filled. “The house has been slipping. I’m afraid to move. It’s pinned me against the rocks.”
“Is Ollie with you?” I realized immediately how insensitive that probably came across.
“Yes.” Jenna didn’t hesitate. “I have him. He’s okay.”
Thank God! I was suddenly aware Kate had left my side. I turned frantically to try to find her. “Kate, where are you?”
“Kate’s with you?”
“Yes. She’s here somewhere.”
“Thank God. Please tell her I love her.”
“You can tell her yourself in a minute, Jenna.”
And then I heard Kate behind me. “Tara,” she groaned. “I need to try to get to the bunker under Blake’s house. There was a bunch of rope there. If it’s still there, I can tie it around the tree and try to lower it to Jenna.”
“Do you want me to go?” I asked.
“No.” She shook her head. “It hurts less to walk than it does to talk, so you stay here and keep Jenna company, okay?”
“Got it.” I nodded.
And then Kate was gone again.
--------------------
Kate stumbled and staggered toward where Blake and Kaci’s house had stood an hour or so earlier. It was still incredibly dark, and the torrential rain was mixed with tiny shards of ice again. It tore at her skin and pounded at her aching shredded body. Kate knew she’d lost the baby. She knew she was bleeding and possibly even dying herself, but she had to try to get that rope. She had to save Jenna and Ollie.
The path leading down to the door of the bunker under the Brady house had washed away, meaning there was only one way in—through the floor of Blake’s office. Kate found where his office used to be and discovered the covering to the bunker had been swept away. The bunker was full of water.
Kate dropped to her knees and stared at the water, knowing it was some fourteen feet deep—to the bottom of the bunker. She shook her head, and finally the tears started to fall. She shuddered and sobbed as the small pieces of ice and sheets of rain continued to pelt her. She shook her head again, begged God for a smidge of good luck, and then took a deep breath. “Do it for Jenna,” she told herself. Another deep breath and she lowered herself into the manhole. The water in the bunker—though strangely warm—still shocked her, stinging like lemon juice as it filled the cuts covering her body. She tried to blot out the agony and remember where she’d seen Danny put the coils of rope. She’d be blind down there, and there was no guarantee she’d even find her way back to the manhole, but she knew she had to try. She closed her eyes, took one last gulp of air, and dove deep.
Immediately she struck something sharp with her head, almost causing her to black out, but she gritted her teeth and reached her arms out in front of her, pushing down toward the racks lining the walls. She felt around frantically for the rope, but she couldn’t find it. She could feel panic filling her chest, but Kate did her best to blot it out and kept reaching.
Finally her hands grasped a long piece of rope, and it pulled free. She grabbed it and pulled it toward the surface, but it hooked on something. She tugg
ed at the rope with all her strength, but it was stuck. Frantically, she realized she’d run out of air and needed more desperately. She glanced toward the surface and saw nothing but darkness.
And then there was light. It was faint, but Kate kicked toward it. She exhaled and rose with the bubbles, surging up through the opening of the manhole. She took a huge breath of air, rain, and ice crystals and shook her head, glancing up toward the light that was now in her face. Kate squinted and blinked repeatedly, wiping the hair out of her eyes as the light moved slightly. A person was standing behind it.
---------- (Tara) ----------
“I thought this might help.” I held the light down to her.
“I don’t know about that. But it definitely saved my life.”
“Did you find the rope? Shit, ouch.” A particularly large chunk of ice struck my head. “How the hell is it hailing?”
“I don’t know,” Kate replied through gritted teeth. “It was earlier too. Grandpa Dan said there’s sometimes hail in the outer edges of hurricanes. Maybe it’s almost over.”
“If only.” Grandpa Dan. He was gone too. I shook my head sadly. “Did you find any rope?”
“Yes, but it’s stuck.” Kate nodded. “I don’t think I can get it.”
“Can we get it together?” I took off my tattered tank and stripped to my bikini.
“Maybe.” Kate shrugged, shivering uncontrollably, but moving aside enough so I could slip into the manhole opening beside her.
“Holy…my…ow. Damn!” I cried out as the saltwater burned through my wounds.
“I know.” Kate continued to shake as my body pressed up against hers. “It’s awful.”
“And warm.” That was weird too. “Kate, are you sure you can do this?”
She dismissed my question. “Will the flashlight work underwater? Where did you even find it?”
“It was in my back pocket. Ryan must have put it there before he…” I shook my head. Don’t think about that! “It should work. It looks like one of Danny’s. Are you okay to do this?”
Kate stared into my eyes. “Are you?”
I couldn’t imagine her physical pain. “No,” I answered honestly, wincing as another ice chunk struck my head. I sighed. “Shall we?” I put the flashlight in my mouth and bit down on it.
Kate nodded and squeezed my hand. “Let’s do it.”
We dove together, and the light thankfully stayed on. With it we were easily able to find the rope and—though it took a couple more dives—we were finally able to pull enough of it to the surface.
As we climbed out of the hole and were able to gain better leverage, we managed to pull a piece of rope nearly two hundred feet long out of the bunker. It was going to have to be enough.
We stood together under a large piece of plywood—a former piece of one of the houses—staring out into the rain. The hail seemed to be gone. Thank God! The rope was heaped in a wet pile at our feet. Although it stung more to do so, I wrapped my arms tightly around Kate. “You’re my hero,” I whispered in her ear. “You are absolutely amazing.”
Kate wiped away tears, still shivering, and squeezed me back. “I don’t know about that,” she whispered in reply, straining to see through the darkness. “I wouldn’t be here without you.” The hail may have disappeared, but the rain was coming down even harder. Still, we couldn’t afford to wait any longer. “We’re not done yet.” She pulled herself free from my embrace. “Let’s go get your son.”
FIFTY-THREE – Big Barely (Hayley)
---------- (Thursday. August 11, 2022.) ----------
It occurred to me as the plane lifted off from the Smokejumper base that they might not need us anymore—Qi Jia, that is. Which—if true—was actually not good. I could sense relief in Ava and Flynn, but I could see in Danny’s eyes—and even Eddie’s—that they were on the same page as me. It was strange that we hadn’t heard any planes last night after they’d pursued the Hummers. Surely Qi Jia had caught them, taken them out, and searched them. Given that they’d captured Keena—and that Baker knew who she was—they had to figure out she’d been with Danny. They had to know Danny had been there.
If that was the case, there could be only one reason why they’d be letting us go so easily. They didn’t need us. They must be confident that they could get everything they need from Keena. And—as a result—they must not need Danny’s book anymore to launch the missiles.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe they had missed us sneaking out, and the decoy vehicles had thrown them completely off last night. It didn’t matter. We were about a hundred miles west of Las Vegas—a little more than two hours into the flight—when all the alarms in the plane went off. We were in a direct line with Barstow, intending to head a little north of Los Angeles, and had just picked up two red dots on the screen. We realized they were fighter jets as they flew past us and swung back around, putting us in missile lock. They didn’t even give us a warning. I was guessing they knew exactly who we were.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere here,” Axel yelled back at Danny. “I need to drop us a little south.”
“Do it,” Danny hollered back. He stepped past me and muttered. “I hate flying.”
You get shot down enough that’s bound to be the case. “Me too,” I replied.
“Two planes, four missiles.” Axel yelled.
As the missiles approached the plane, Danny turned to all of us, “Hold on as tight as you can.”
Here we go again. We grabbed on to whatever we could, and at the last possible second Axel launched the heavy plane into a deep roll left—south—managing to evade the first three missiles, though the fourth clipped our right engine. It billowed smoke as Axel struggled to level us back out. We had managed to survive that first lurch, but as the jets rocketed past and set up for another run, we knew we were going to have to bail.
“What do we have near us?” Danny yelled at Axel.
“Big Bear,” Blake shouted at both of them. “We have to be close to Big Bear.”
“Good idea.” Danny nodded. “Axel, point this sucker out to sea and fly us over Big Bear. We’re going to have to bail there.”
Axel gave a thumbs-up in reply and spun the plane farther south. We had been cruising at about sixteen thousand feet, but Axel had put us into a slight dive when he’d avoided the first missiles. We were dropping at a decent rate, but we would still be between thirteen to fourteen thousand feet when we’d have to jump—a little higher than preferred. The jets were coming back toward us, but they didn’t fire. We knew they’d be making sure they got us on this next run. They’d be taking us out from behind. As they roared past our windows, Danny yelled at Axel to drop the cargo door—which he did immediately. Blake had given us a brief tutorial on solo jumping, but we were all still nervous. He told us to try to find the highest elevation possible to land on. It wasn’t quite 5:00 a.m. yet and was still pretty dark. We didn’t know what we’d be able to see as we landed—if anything—but we nodded like bobblehead dolls. We’d do what we could.
The altimeter read 13,880 when Danny jumped—he and Ava went out first. Blake shouted a number at each of us when we jumped—the amount of seconds we should wait before opening our chutes. Danny and Ava had forty-three seconds. Eddie and Cera jumped right behind them with thirty-nine. Flynn went next, and I was right behind her. We had thirty-six. I knew Blake and Axel would follow.
No more than twenty seconds after we’d jumped, there was a giant explosion in the skies above us. There goes our plane. Flynn and I were holding hands on the way down—balancing each other out. When we hit thirty-five seconds, I pulled on her hand. We were close enough to where she could see me in the early morning light. It was a lot brighter down here than I’d expected. I could see the silhouettes of the other chutes opening around us. I pointed at her chute and pulled mine. It opened and yanked me up, pulling Flynn’s hand from mine. She kept falling. I should have waited to pull my cord. I should have had her open hers first. I could see her frantically yanking on her cord. It
didn’t work—the chute wouldn’t open. Flynn was going to die.
FIFTY-FOUR – Careless (Hayley)
---------- (Thursday. August 11, 2022.) ----------
A billion thoughts screamed through my head as I watched Flynn plummet through the sky. And then someone went rocketing past me. My initial thought was that another parachute had failed—obviously either Blake’s or Axel’s—but then I saw him headed right at Flynn and realized—I hoped—it was intentional. I finally saw a chute open far below me and disappear quickly into the forest. It had opened dangerously late, way too close to the ground—probably no more than a couple hundred feet above the trees. I wanted to cut myself free from my own parachute bindings and get down there faster to check on them, but then reality sank in. They’d either made it or they hadn’t. I’d find out soon enough.
It was a calm morning, but the light wind still carried me at least a mile away from where I’d seen Flynn land. I scanned the sky for the others before I landed, and I saw most of them pretty close to me. I got stuck in a tree—of course—and it took me a good twenty minutes to cut myself free and get down safely. I had my bow and arrows in a pack—tethered to my waist—and I removed them to check for damage. They were fine. I slipped the 9mm I’d also packed into the back of my waistband and set out to reach the highest point of wherever this was we’d landed.
When I reached the summit, Danny was already there with Ava. I saw Danny first and smiled, and then I saw Ava and my smile went away. Why exactly am I wishing she wasn’t here? And then I watched her hug Danny and I remembered. Awesome.
“Thank God you’re all right.” Danny hugged me. “We thought it was your chute that hadn’t—”
His “we” bothered me—given he was referencing him and Ava—but I let it go. “No—Flynn’s chute didn’t open. Was that Axel or Blake who went after her? And where are Eddie and Cera?”
Redemption Page 30
