Escape From the Badlands

by Dana Mentink

  Unhooking quickly, he fought the disequilibrium and ran across the slippery ground in the direction of the car, thinking all the while that the driver could have used a dose of common sense. As little as two feet of water was enough to carry away a full-size car, and driving into a boxed-in canyon in the middle of a storm was a recipe for disaster.

  Tripping on a root exposed by the torrential rain, he fell, skidding in the sandy earth for a yard or two before he regained his footing and pushed himself to go faster. The driver wouldn’t have much time before the car was completely inundated. He reached the spot closest to the half-filled canyon where he could secure a rope to a sturdy pinnacle of rock. The wind tore at him as he lowered himself down. Water swirled up to the driver’s window. Rain stung his eyes, and he could make out only the pale gleam of a face.

  Pulling a flashlight from his belt, he yelled over the wind. “Get back!” It took two blows for the window to break. Hundreds of rounded bits of safety glass were snatched immediately away by the pull of the water now rushing in through the gap. Using his boot, he cleared as much of the remaining glass as he could and reached in to grab the person in the car. The tension in that slender arm was palpable as fingers locked around his. It took all Shane’s strength to fight against the water, which poured into the car in a mighty tide.

  Shoulders burning, he held tight to a handful of slippery fabric as he heaved with all his might until the figure pulled free and into his arms, clutching a wet bundle. He noted that it was a woman, long dark hair plastered over her face.

  “We’ll make for that ledge!” he yelled in her ear.

  If she replied, he didn’t hear as he fought against the water, which sucked at his waist and threatened to tear her out of his arms. Hand over hand, he pushed through the foam until they reached the relative safety of a small ledge, just above the water level.

  He held on until the woman found a foothold and turned her face to his.

  Something struck him as familiar about the dark eyes peeking from under the curtain of wet hair. Her hands were full of a bundle of some kind, and she jerked her head to clear the hair away.

  His heart thumped to a stop.

  Kelly.

  He thought he’d gone mad.

  “What?” he managed, so startled he almost lost his footing on the ledge.

  Her eyes rounded as recognition dawned on her face. Her lips parted but she didn’t speak.

  “What are you doing here?” he finally managed.

  Instead of answering, she pushed the bundle into his hands. The bundle turned out to be a little boy, face stark with terror.

  And Kelly grabbed the trailing rope and plunged back toward the water.

  TWO

  Kelly didn’t allow herself to acknowledge the shock of seeing Shane. She had another mission right now. The rope was wet and slick in her hands as she skidded down the rocks toward the rapidly filling car. She could faintly hear Charlie’s high-pitched wail.

  Don’t worry, Charlie. I’ll get her. I’ve got to get her.

  The cat, that old bag of bones with the missing front tooth, was the only thing Charlie had left of his mother, and Kelly was not about to let the animal drown. Feet skidding, knees banging into the sharp rocks, she slid down the rope, grateful that she remembered a few things from her spelunking adventures with Shane in their happier days.

  Shane was here. Right here, in this bit of South Dakota nowhere. Why?

  She pushed away the thought. There was no time to indulge her feelings of betrayal now.

  Find Paddy Paws.

  Her feet hit the submerged trunk of the car. Water swirled around her ankles, so cold it took her breath away. She sloshed toward the broken driver’s window, heart thudding, praying that the water hadn’t overwhelmed the old cat and swept her away.

  Gripping the edge of the window, she slid off the car and into the water, which now poured around her torso. Pulling herself even with the window, she was elated to see Paddy Paws, wet and shivering, clinging to the headrest.

  “Thank You, God,” she whispered. “I’m here, Paddy. I’m coming to get you.”

  She reached out to the cat, and the terrified animal whisked up her arm, clinging to her back, claws sinking into her skin. Though the pain brought tears to her eyes, she persevered, finding the rope in the water and hauling herself onto the trunk in preparation to climb back up, when the car suddenly lurched. Jerked backward, Kelly toppled into the flood, fighting panic as the water closed over her head. Her eyes burned, and she tumbled so violently she could not decide which way led to the surface. Waves tugged and pulled at her, letting go long enough for her to suck in a breath, coughing and sputtering. In spite of her frantic splashing, she felt the press of water sucking her back under.

  She tried to fight her way back to the rock wall, but the ferocious violence of the water sent her spiraling. Her lungs burned and pain shot through her as she banged into rocks that tumbled loose in the water.

  Something grabbed her by the jacket and she fought to free herself.

  She couldn’t get loose. Eyes stinging and lungs burning, she broke the surface and found herself firmly in the grip of Shane Mason. His eyes glittered in a pale face, a sheaf of wet bangs plastered over his forehead, stubble of beard catching the droplets that ran down his face. He held a rope with one hand and quickly tied it around her waist.

  “I’ve got to get the cat…” she gasped.

  He didn’t let her finish, but yelled for someone to hoist her up. Then he disappeared into the thundering water.

  Kelly was frozen to the spot, unsure if Shane had lost his footing or dived into the water intentionally. The tug of the rope at her waist left her no time to ponder as she was slowly hauled up to the top. All the while her eyes pored over the flooded canyon for any sign of Shane or Paddy. Her heart squeezed. Had she just made him risk his life?

  She gritted her teeth to stop them from chattering and peered into the water until she crested the top of the canyon. A big, crew-cut man with silver hair helped her over the edge. He looked familiar, though she couldn’t place him.

  Water beaded in the deep grooves on his forehead. “You all right?”

  Her head spun, still dizzy from being tumbled like laundry in the wash. “Where’s Charlie?”

  “The boy’s okay.” He pointed to Charlie, who was now wrapped in a slicker and sitting in the front seat of a van, being tended to by a lady with a thick braid.

  She felt a surge of relief as she followed the man back to the edge. They both peered down into the violent water.

  “Do you see him?” she whispered, a ripple of dread surging through her.

  “Not yet, but he’s a strong swimmer. Must have slipped off the rocks when he was helping you.”

  She heard the condemnation in the man’s voice. “What can we do?”

  “Nothing,” he said, his face grim. “It’s up to him now.”

  The minutes ticked by in painful slow motion.

  Slowly, the rain died away, leaving the canyon quiet except for the rush of water and the crackle of the radio as the man relayed the situation to someone on the other end. Kelly felt as if she was trapped in some sort of bad movie, only the script wasn’t quite right. It was not her love who fought for his life below. Shane was a man she used to love, until he turned out to be someone else. Now he was just a stranger.

  A stranger who had put his life at risk for hers.

  Anger pricked her insides. Why had he bothered?

  The answer came quickly. Because he hadn’t known it was her and Charlie. As far as he knew, it was some hapless traveler, and he’d lent a hand because it was in his character to do so. She wondered if she would have the chance to thank him before they parted ways again. Permanently.

  She peered harder into the gloom, hoping he would reappear at any moment. She looked for Paddy Paws as well, and thought about the little boy waiting in the van for his cat’s safe return. How would she tell him that Paddy was gone? Just like Rose? And how
would she feel if Shane didn’t come back?

  The man gave her a nervous look. “Maybe you should go wait in the van. You’re shivering.”

  She hardly heard him. A movement caught her eye at the base of the cliff some twenty feet away. “I just saw…”

  He saw it, too, and they both ran, slipping and stumbling until they reached the overhanging rock. The man let down a rope, securing the other end and using his body as an anchor to take some of the weight.

  Soon the rope grew taut as the bedraggled figure on the other end began to climb slowly to the top. Kelly found the tension in her gut ratcheting up the closer he came until Shane appeared, face contorted with effort.

  As the man heaved backward on the rope, Shane crawled over and made it to his feet. His face was torn and bleeding, but the eyes—those eyes which she knew to be a startling blue—were lively as ever. Her legs trembled.

  There was nothing in his hands. Even Shane, the unstoppable outdoorsman, hadn’t been able to save Paddy.

  She swallowed hard, her nurse’s training overriding the strange feeling of misery and relief that coursed through her. She ran to him, stopping so quickly her feet skidded on the slick ground. “Are you hurt?”

  He shook the water from his hair. “Only scratched.” She saw several sets of parallel gouges on his exposed forearms and one nasty set on his cheek.

  Her eyes widened. “Did you…?”

  He reached inside his shirt and pulled out a very wet and terrified cat. “So tell me why I nearly killed myself to save this ungrateful cat?”

  Shane watched Kelly’s face shift from unsettled to joyful in a quick second.

  Her expression made his chest tighten.

  “Paddy,” she cried, scooping the soggy cat from his arms.

  He watched her stroke the exhausted animal, grateful for the darkness that covered his rush of emotion. He’d grown used to surprises, even craved them, but this one left him reeling. Kelly Cloudman. Here. Her smile fired every nerve inside him.

  He saw from the uncertainty on her face that she was as disarmed as he was.

  “Thank you,” she said finally. “For helping me and Paddy.”

  He shrugged. “I was in the neighborhood.”

  Gleeson broke in. “Matthews, you were supposed to be standing down until the storm passed. Didn’t you hear me say Ackerman ordered us off?”

  Shane slicked his wet hair out of his face and kept his eyes on Gleeson, praying Kelly would not ask about his fictional last name. “I don’t take orders from Ackerman or anyone else.”

  Gleeson’s chin went up. “Yeah? Well, you may have just cost yourself a spot in the race.”

  Shane shrugged. “So be it.”

  “So be it?” Gleeson seemed to puff up in anger. “Listen, kid. I gave you a shot and took you on as a partner, but you still have to meet the qualifications and you definitely have to follow orders. I’m in this thing to win, and I don’t need you going cowboy and messing things up for me.”

  A woman Shane recognized as a fellow racer got out of the van and joined them in time to hear Gleeson’s outburst. “He had a good reason.”

  Gleeson wasn’t mollified. “He risked his life without a word. Didn’t even radio for help. That’s the kind of thing that will make Ackerman kick you out of the race, and I don’t have time to keep finding new partners.”

  The woman held up a placating hand. “I’ll talk to Devin. Explain things. He’s quick-tempered but he’s got a soft spot for women and cats.” She cast a curious glance at Kelly. “Devin is my fiancé so I should know. I’m Betsy Falco. I’m competing in Desert Quest.”

  Kelly offered her free hand to Betsy and Gleeson. “I’m Kelly Cloudman, and this is Paddy Paws.”

  Betsy smiled. “Pleasure. I’m racing with my cousin, Gwen. She’s back at camp because we already did the ropes prelim. I’m glad I decided to drive along and watch these guys, or I would have missed all the excitement. Are you a racer, Kelly? Can’t think of any other reason you’d be out here, especially with your son.”

  Shane flushed. The effort of his clumsy water rescue had driven thoughts of the little boy out of his head. Now he glanced toward the van at the tiny bundled figure wrapped in the too-big slicker.

  Kelly kept her eyes away from him as she answered. “He’s my nephew. We were on our way to the campground. I’m the race medic.”

  Shane almost yelped. “What?”

  Kelly finally looked at him, her face a mix of sadness and anger. “I needed a job,” she said simply. “Charlie and I wanted to be closer to my uncle Bill anyway, and his wife, Heather, and my aunt Jean said she would help take care of him during the race events. She’s joining me tomorrow. If I had known…”

  If she had known he was a race participant, she never would have come. The words cut right through him. It couldn’t be. He was here to catch a killer, and he didn’t care what he had to risk to accomplish his task. But Kelly? He looked back to the van.

  The boy’s soft round cheeks and chubby hand pressed to the window brought back memories of his little brother, and the pain almost swept him away until Gleeson smacked him on the shoulder. “You okay? You look washed up.”

  He tried for a smile. “Rough swim.”

  Kelly nodded at them and returned to the van, her slender figure hunched against the violent wind. He heard a low squeal of joy as she handed the cat back to Charlie.

  “You should get her back,” Betsy said.

  He started until he realized that she hadn’t meant the words the way he heard them. “I’ll stay with the bikes. You two drive the van to the campground and come back for me and the gear.”

  Gleeson looked at the sky. “Going to storm some more. Not much shelter here.”

  Not much shelter anywhere from the angry storm inside him. “Go on. Take care of her. I’ll be here.”

  He watched them load up into the van, Gleeson at the wheel and Betsy next to him. Kelly sat in the back now, with Charlie, her long brown hair spiraling into endless curls from the soaking. The cuts the cat had given him burned now, though he felt nothing but cold, the deep-down cold that rooted inside him the moment he’d betrayed Kelly Cloudman.

  Kelly found herself sitting in the backseat of the van, her arm around Charlie and Paddy Paws on her lap. Gleeson drove slowly, and Betsy turned often from her spot in the passenger seat to fill Kelly in on race preparations. The gist of it she already knew; it was broken into three tortuous legs: mountain biking, a canoe and run, and the spelunking/ropes course. Each racer was timed, and the team with the fastest cumulative time at the end of the three events would be the winner.

  “The weather’s been terrible so far. Of course, we’re not scheduled to start for another day but there are a lot of racers who came early to pass their competency tests and get some extra practice in. The campground is nice and quiet, and the trailers are okay.”

  Kelly’s mind wandered as Betsy chattered on. The past few hours felt like a dream, or maybe, more appropriately, a nightmare. Of all the people in the world to rescue her and Charlie at that moment, it had to be Shane. She wanted to forget him, to erase their time together. Absently, she rubbed her palms on her lap.

  She blinked away the memories. The important thing was the little boy sitting next to her, humming to himself. Charlie was unharmed, and his precious feline companion had survived, too. She breathed a thank-you prayer.

  Looking out into the black sky, too cloud-washed to reveal any stars, the detail returned that had been lurking just out of reach in her mind. Matthews. Gleeson had referred to Shane as Matthews, instead of Mason. He could have misspoken, but Shane’s quick reaction, the barest flick of a glance in her direction, told Kelly it was not a mistake.

  For some reason she could not fathom, Shane was using a fictitious last name. She wondered if it had something to do with the terrible news she’d heard the year before, the murder of Olivia Mason, Shane’s sister-in-law.

  I should have called. Should have written.

&n
bsp; There were plenty of good reasons not to at the time. She was desperately trying to finish her nursing degree and dealing with an emotionally traumatized toddler, not to mention wrestling with her own anguish at Shane’s abrupt departure from her life.

  She still didn’t understand what had happened to them. Maybe she never would, but she should have expressed her condolences when Olivia died. Shane loved Olivia like a sister and adored his brother, Todd. She should not have let her own anger and hurt keep her from doing the decent thing.

  Forgive me, Lord.

  Her clothes were clammy, clinging to her like a second soggy skin as the van pressed through the darkness for miles. Ahead she could just make out some lights as they drove into a flat basin, ringed by distant cliffs. It was hard to discern much, but as they passed through the split-rail fence she noticed a half-dozen small cottages, some dark and others with windows illuminated.

  “Those are the cabins,” Betsy said. “Mr. Chenko stays in one; he’s the race producer. Devin’s in another, and there are a few more race officials in the others. The rest of us lowly racers are in the trailers.” She smiled. “Pretty luxurious for an endurance race, I think. Electricity, beds and all the good stuff.”

  “Have you done this kind of race before?”

  “Nothing this big. I got interested after Devin and I met.” She squinted to read the numbers on the electrical boxes outside the trailers. “Here you are, number seven. I’ll go get the key in the office. Be right back.”

  Kelly shivered as they got out. She kept a firm arm around Paddy and held Charlie’s hand tight.

  “Mama Kelly?”

  She smiled at him. “We’re here, Charlie. This is where we’re going to be staying.”