by Dawes, Casey
After they’d set up camp nearby, the three searched the immediate area, making a wide loop southwest of Brice’s hunting zone and toward the Two Sisters Mountain Range, with no luck. By early sunset, they agreed to head on back to camp and continue the search at dawn.
Now they sat, surrounded by the warm glow of the fire and the wild dangers of the dark forest deep in the mountain range. After a quick meal, Jess’s friend sat staring at the fire with her knees drawn to her chest and chin resting on top. Jess herself whittled away on a stick she’d plucked from a tree earlier in the day. Gage couldn’t help but stare at the way the firelight highlighted the tan Jess sported and made it shine with a gold shimmer.
To answer her question from earlier in the day, only love would compel him to leave the security of the mountains for the lowlands, but his chance for love had already come and gone, leaving him alone in the world.
“I’m going to lie down in the tent,” Michelle said, and stood to dust off her backside. She sent a questioning look to Jess.
Jess shook her head. “I’m not ready yet.”
With a nod of her head in acknowledgement, Michelle disappeared into the darkness.
The crackling of the fire and chirp of nearby crickets filled the silence while he and Jess sat in comfortable silence.
Jess broke the night silence. “Why were you in the tree that day? And how did you know I went there almost every day that summer?”
Gage picked up a twig near his foot and broke it in two, thinking back to that day. “I spent the summer with my grandparents. And I suppose I was in the tree simply to be alone. We’d buried my grandmother that morning.”
“You’re the Jenkins’ grandson?”
“They were my mother’s parents. We used to visit them every summer, until she died a few years before my grandmother.”
“Do you miss your grandparents?”
Gage shrugged. It had been so long since their deaths he hadn’t really thought about it. “As much as any grandson would.”
“My father bought their land, you know.” She plucked at a small tear in the knees of her jeans. “He takes real good care of it. You can visit whenever you want. The house is still there, like it was when your grandpa died. My father never knew quite what to do with all the stuff inside so he left it there thinking your dad would come back for it. But then a few years ago your father passed away, so I assume now he’s keeping it the way it is for you.”
Gage nodded and gave Jess a thank-you smile, not that he had any plans of doing such a thing. Her father had offered him the land back many times in the past, but that’s what the land was to him—the past. Now if he could only view Isabelle like that, maybe he’d have another chance at love. One last chance.
“Are they the reason you like to be alone?”
Gage held his breath at the unexpected question. He studied her face. She was just like her father, honest and true. Someone who could be trusted. How should he answer?
“No. My fiancée is.”
Jess’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You’re fiancée?”
He nodded, and studied the fire as he took a deep, cleansing breath. “She was killed by a drunk driver years ago.”
Gage glanced at Jess. Her lips firmed. “I’m sorry.”
“Brice was the driver who killed her. I was an EMT in Bozeman, but she always wanted a little parcel of land and a few cattle. We were on our way to your father’s place to take him up on his offer, when we were hit by Brice’s truck just outside of Willow Creek. She died on impact.”
“Is that why you beat him to a bloody pulp?”
Gage flexed this right hand as the memory of that night filled his mind. “I buried her next to my grandparents on their land. Her parents didn’t object. The night of her funeral I found out that the whole incident had been swept under the rug because he was the Mayor’s son and would lose his scholarship to Princeton. He should have been charged with manslaughter and gone to prison, but he didn’t get as much as a slap on the hand.”
“And now you have to save him so he can run for office next month.”
“Everyone says he’s going to be the next State Senator.” Gage couldn’t help but let the sarcasm drip from his words.
“I’m sorry you have to do this.”
He shrugged and stood. “That’s life, right?”
Jess stood as well. “I suppose, but not everyone would save the life of a man who killed his fiancée.”
“We’d better get some shut-eye. We have an early morning.”
Jess nodded as Gage shoveled dirt over the dying embers until the flames were doused. Tomorrow would be a challenge, but Gage couldn’t help but feel compelled to save the lives of others if he could, no matter who they were or if they even deserved to be saved—if the man happened to be alive when they found him, which by the looks of things so far, was highly unlikely.
****
The jagged peaks of Lake Mountain, northwest of Two Sisters and still out of Brice’s intended hunting zone, towered above Jessica’s head when she slid off Starfire and tied him to a tree branch near an animal trail. “Do you think we should be worried that Shelle isn’t here yet? She said she’d meet us at noon, and it’s now one-thirty.”
“Let’s give her another ten minutes and I’ll go looking for her. She has Junction with her, and I saw her on the other ridge a few times as we searched.” Gage tied his saddle horse and the one packhorse he’d brought, next to Starfire. They’d left the string of packhorses in a makeshift corral at camp earlier that day and set off to search.
A loud whistle sounded above their heads on the other side of the ravine and Jess looked up as Shelle motioned frantically to the rock face above where they stood. Shelle kicked her horse and headed down the hill at a fast, but safe speed.
She disappeared for a few seconds then emerged from the copse of trees down the trail. “I saw something on the cliff face.”
“An animal?” Gage asked, spine straight.
“No. It was a flash of orange. Could be something left over from a hunter or camper that got blown up to the cliff by the wind, but I think it’s worth climbing the cliff face to check out.”
Gage shook his head. “Not you. I’ll go.”
He untied his horse, mounted, and left in the direction Shelle had come. In a few minutes, he appeared on top of the ridge and stood tall in the saddle, scanned the rock face, and returned to where they were gathered. “I see the orange. I have some gear in the packhorse. You two stay down here in case I need you.”
Gage tossed down the Stokes litter, dug through the large canvas pockets of the packsaddle, and yanked out a few supplies. He tied the first aid kit to the center of the litter, slung a rope around his torso and put something in his pocket. Then he walked the base of the cliff, and looked back. “If I toss down the rope tie the stretcher to it and tug on the line. I’ll pull it up.”
“That means you found him, right?”
Gage nodded then began his ascent up the treacherous precipice. In a few heart-stopping seconds, he disappeared around a large jutted section of the cliff.
Jessica exhaled the breath she hadn’t realized she’d held and faced Shelle. “Well, I guess we wait.”
“What if that is Brice, Jess, and he’s alive and well? What do we do next?” Shelle walked to her horse and patted his neck.
“Call the chopper and go home, but I doubt that is Brice. Why would he be that high up on a cliff? It’s not like he could use a perch that high like a tree stand.”
“What about our horses? I don’t want to suggest one of us stay behind, but I spent all my savings on Sox here.” She ran her hand down his brown and white nose.
“I’ll either come up and get them myself or ask my dad to once the snow is clear. I’m sure Gage understands and will watch them for us i
f we pay him.”
“Are you sure he won’t eat our horses? It get’s mighty cold up here and crazies are known to do stuff like that.”
“So he’s crazy and not a killer now?”
Shelle shrugged. “I did my questioning and came to the conclusion that even though he almost killed Brice, he is not a murderer, just insane.”
“I think you should know that what he did, although wrong, was justified in his mind.”
Shelle shook her head. “What do you mean?”
Jessica told her friend all that she’d learned of Gage the night before, and sat back as Shelle digested the information.
“I don’t know how I would have handled myself in the face of my fiancé’s killer, either. I guess I’ll give the guy a break, but I still think he’s a bit crazy.”
“I don’t.”
“You’re blinded by love.” Shelle crossed her arms over her chest.
“Not love, but compassion and admiration, maybe.”
If Shelle had a response, it was interrupted by a shout and the gentle slap of the rope tumbling down the rocks.
“It’s him,” Shelle squeaked when the tail end of the line settled in the grass at the base of the rocks.
“And he’s injured,” Jessica said with a concerned sigh. If he needed the stretcher and medical kit, then Brice was in trouble.
Jessica and Shelle lugged the Stokes litter close to the rope and secured it to the line, testing the knots to ensure they wouldn’t become unraveled mid-air. Jessica checked to make sure the medical kit was secure enough, then tugged on the line. It slowly lifted off the ground, banging against the grey rock mountainside until it became stuck against a large overhang.
“Damn,” Jessica swore and started toward the same vertical path that Gage had taken to go up.
“What are you doing?” Shelle grabbed her arm just as she was about to start up the rock face.
“Someone’s got to dislodge that.” She glanced up to where the Stokes litter wiggled with each apparent tug from Gage.
“I’m sure with some muscle, Gage can get it.”
Jessica shook her head. “One of us has to do it.”
“Climbing the rock wall at Stouts Sporting Goods in Bozeman isn’t the same as climbing a rock cliff on a mountainside, Jess.”
“I’ll be fine.” Jessica grabbed tight onto a handhold and looked back at Shelle. In her comical voice, she added, “Send up the rescue squad if I don’t come back. Oh wait, that’s us.”
The climb took all of her strength and what skills she had to scale the rocks to the Stokes litter. Her heart beat like a hammer on a railroad track as she reached out to the metal stretcher. It slammed against the outcrop and she jerked her hand back.
“I’m going to free it. Hang on,” she called up to Gage.
The jolting stopped and she grabbed the metal bar and yanked it.
“Okay. Go ahead!”
The litter eased over the overhang and disappeared. She glanced down to see Shelle, standing rigid with her hands on her hips and chest heaving with nervous breaths.
“I’m going up!” she yelled down to her friend and continued the treacherous climb.
Her arms burned when she neared the ledge where the rope disappeared over the top.
“What the hell are you doing up here?” Gage chided as he bent over the ledge to help her climb over the last hurdle.
“I climbed halfway up for the stretcher and decided to see if you needed help.” Looking down to where she’d just been, she took a step back. “It may not have been the best decision.”
“Since you’re here, you can give me a hand.”
Jessica slid her gaze to Brice, lying still next to an emergency blanket. “Is he dead?”
“No, but he’s in-and-out of consciousness. He’s lucky to be alive. It looks as though he kept himself warm with these blankets. His canteen is empty, but I don’t know how long he’s gone without water. I gave him a sip of my water. We need to get him to the hospital as soon as possible, before he dies.”
Jessica nodded and knelt down next to Brice.
With the expertise of his past training Gage slid a neck brace around Brice, tended to his wounds and treated him for frostbite. Once he was finished, Jessica helped him carefully inch Brice onto the Stokes litter and strap him in.
Gage stood and dusted his knees. “There. He’s got a broken rib and I think it collapsed one of his lungs, but he should be fine until the chopper gets here. It will be close. I’m going to ride to the forest service cabin and call it in. Will you be okay watching over him while I’m gone?”
She gave a nod and he continued, “Give him only small sips of water every once in a while. Not too much. If I go alone then I should be able to get back by the time the chopper gets here. If not, then connect the Stokes litter like this to the wire line.” He showed her how to secure the stretcher to the chopper cable. “When they send a line down for you, strap in tight and give them the thumbs-up. They’ll take you home. I’ll tell your friend the same thing before I leave.”
He walked to the side of the ledge and studied the footholds.
“Gage!” she shouted.
“Yeah.” He stepped back and turned to face her.
She wanted to beg him to come back with them, to come down off the mountain for good. The thought of never seeing him again made her heart ache and a hole burn deep in her stomach. She’d never before met a man so worthy of the name hero, so willing to help others, despite his claims otherwise. But she couldn’t ask him to take such a leap knowing he would turn her down. Knowing that on the off-chance he did, he may come to resent her. His life was how he wanted it. He was happy…enough.
“I’ll send my father up for the horses and my truck once the snow clears.”
He nodded and tipped his hat, then disappeared over the side.
Jessica sat down, deflated. She glanced over at Brice, and saw his chest rise and fell as he breathed—proof he was still alive. The end was near. In a few hours, they would all be rescued and her life would go on as before, the perfect job in the best town in the west, and without Gage.
Chapter Six
Jessica latched the gate to the pen housing what remained of Bridget’s cattle, and cursed her bad luck in not hunting down the rest of the cows, or bagging an elk for the winter’s food supply. The only good thing that came out of the trip was seeing Gage.
She remembered back several weeks to the day Gage left her on the cliff to get help. She should have stayed up there until the snow cleared, but then Bridget would be hard pressed to take care of the ranch with only her boyfriend Tom for help.
The pass should be clear soon and her father had happily volunteered to go see his friend and pick up her truck and horses. Maybe she’d tag along with her dad, depending on whether or not Bridget could afford to let her go for the day.
Jessica grasped the twine on the hay bale and heaved it up as the clop of hooves on the road toward her dad’s place reached her ears. Tossing the bale near the fence, she cut the twine and tossed the flakes over the top pole, waiting for her visitor to draw near.
Her breath hitched when she realized Gage rode at a trot toward her, leading Starfire. He stopped both steeds in front of her and smiled. The thick brown beard he’d sported on the mountain was gone, replaced with a clean-shaven, dimpled chin.
She lifted one side of her mouth up in a grin. “Mountain men don’t use trucks?”
He shrugged. “I drove yours down, but it wouldn’t start this afternoon.”
“Good thing for horses, then, eh? Without the beard, you don’t even look like a mountain man anymore…or Ol’man Laughlin.”
He smiled again. “You’re father started calling me that when I grew the beard. I guess you get your sense of humor from him.”
> “I get some sort of humor from him, but he doesn’t verbally stumble through life like I do.”
“You’d be surprised. I see more of him in you than you think. The good traits, that is. Your looks, you must have gotten from your mother.” Gage grew silent for a second as Jessica blushed, and then he motioned behind him. “I brought you something. I got it early this morning.”
She peered around his horse to Starfire. Resting high on his back was a large cow elk. “That’s for me?”
“You haven’t bagged your elk since you left, have you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Is there somewhere I can put it?” He dismounted and tied his saddle horse to the fence.
“In the barn,” she said and motioned for him to lead the way into the large building.
He started to take care of the elk. “Your father brought Michelle’s horse to her this morning.”
“I’ll make sure to call and thank him. How long are you down for?” She concentrated on the words, not wanting to spoil the moment with an ill thought up quip.
He worked to secure the elk over the beam. “I’ve made an agreement with your father. We’re partners. I’ll do the cowboy work, and he can handle the office side of it all.”
Her heart seemed to beat in her throat, cutting off part of her airflow. “You’re staying?”
“The only thing that could bring me off the mountain is love. The way I see it, this is my last chance. I’ve never met a woman who made me laugh as much as you do. Not even Isabelle made me feel the way you do when you’re near. I don’t know if we’re meant to be together, but I’m willing to give it a shot if you are.”
“A double aught buckshot,” came out of her mouth in a silly tone before she could control her impulse. He gave her an amused look as she shook her head. “Sorry. I would love to give us a try.”
