“You’ll make it,” Berdie said. “Hey, I hear an ATV.”
The roaring machine crested the hill. The fat tires of the all terrain vehicle gripped the lip of the mine and skidded to a stop, spraying those inside with gritty mud.
“Someone injured?” Rowdy asked.
“Lavelle’s got hypothermia,” Millie said. “You need to get her back to camp, fast.”
“That’s so f-far away.” Lavelle’s teeth clattered together.
“Rowdy only needs to get you to the parking lot,” Millie told her. “The bus is heated, and it’ll take you back to camp.”
Bender’s flushed face popped up behind Rowdy’s ATV. “I told you there was a treasure chest in here.”
He clambered into the pit, followed by Irena and Nigel. Next came Candace, her legs mud-splattered up to her thighs. Sotheara thought anyone wearing short-shorts in this weather was insane. Candace jerked open the lid to the treasure chest, then held up the prize: an ink pen that bore the Bender Clips name and logo. She emitted a sound of disgust as she threw it back.
Bender interrupted his study of Candace’s hindquarters to leer at the three women huddled together. “What’s going on?”
“Rowdy’s going to take Lavelle to the bus,” Berdie told Bender.
“If she leaves the hill,” Bender said, “her name goes in the pink slip drawing.”
“That’s not fair.” Sotheara risked the loss of her invisibility to defend the older woman. “Lavelle stayed for the entire game.”
“Ted won,” Berdie said. “The game is over.”
“I knew I n-never had a ch-chance of winning,” Lavelle said. “But maybe I w-wouldn’t lose. Now I’m c-cold to the b-bone, and I just want to go home.”
“I tried to warn you,” Rowdy told Bender. “But you insisted on inviting all these folks, regardless of their age or physical condition.”
“I took the same risks. Hell, a rock damn near took me out.” Bender twisted his arm to show a mud splatter on his elbow. “Someone tried to kill me.”
First Bender claimed he’d been pushed into the mine, then that his drink had been spiked, and now he thought someone had thrown a rock at him. Sothera was glad he was suffering a touch of paranoia. Served him right.
Millie snorted. “A little mud never hurt anyone, you sorry old sot.”
Bender’s face flushed a hideous shade of purple. “What did you call me?”
“You heard Berdie.” The cook was on a roll. “The game’s over. I don’t have to play nice anymore. You’re a pathetic, drunk old man, chasing after that has-been bimbo.” Millie jabbed a thumb toward Candace. “All the while she’s been prowling around my husband like an alley cat in heat.”
“Your husband?” Candace cast a nervous glance at Bender, then faced the woman squarely, her hands on her narrow hips. “You’re mistaken, Miss, Miss, cook person. I have no interest in your husband. Whoever he is.”
“He’s standing right there.” Millie tilted her chin up at Rowdy.
Rowdy spun around, looking behind him.
“You can quit acting like you don’t know me, darlin’.” Millie spat the endearment out like it tasted bad.
Candace frowned at Rowdy. “The cook lady is your—”
“She’s my wife!” Rowdy yelled. “Are ya’ll happy now?” He jumped onto the ATV, his jeans squeeching against the wet vinyl seat. Rowdy gunned the engine.
“Hold on, you selfish bastard,” Millie yelled. “You’re giving this old gal a ride to the parking lot.”
Rowdy threw the machine in gear. Millie sprinted up the lip of the mine pit and rammed into Rowdy. The ATV rocked up on two wheels. Rowdy threw his weight uphill, but the ATV was already sliding. When he gunned the engine, the tires still in contact with planet earth spun wildly, spraying mud.
Machine and man hovered a moment, then flipped over the far side of the mine pit. The engine stopped the instant Rowdy’s hand slipped off the throttle lever. The ATV bounced sideways downhill. Shirley and Edna yelped and jumped out of the way. Rowdy hung on for two full turns before the ATV flung him facedown in the mud. Pieces of ATV flew through the air like shrapnel as the machine crushed grass and bushes, finally lurching to a halt in a creek.
“I d-don’t s’pose I’ll be getting a r-ride back to camp now.” Lavelle shivered.
No one seemed in a hurry to help Rowdy. If he was still alive. Rowdy’s wife folded her arms and glared down the hill. Candace took her chances with her live boss over her possibly dead ex-lover, and huddled next to Bender. Someone had to do something.
Sotheara clambered down to Rowdy. He was breathing, but his left calf bent where there was no joint. Sotheara’s stomach churned.
ROWDY HUNTER’S
SURVIVAL TIPS
There’s a convenient list of gear you need for any trip to the wilderness at the back of my book. You don’t want to go cheap on this stuff, folks. Go to my website, and you’ll see nothing but top of the line. You don’t have to buy gear branded with my name to get good stuff, but I can guarantee your official Rowdy Hunter knife blade won’t snap off in a bear that’s got its teeth sunk into your hindquarters.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
The Buddy System didn’t seem necessary when a person couldn’t escape the crowd even for a trip to whiz in the bushes. Still, Jeremiah stuck by Madison’s side as she scurried to find treasure chests. Between them they only had two keys. They squandered one opening a chest that contained a twenty-dollar gift certificate to the mall. They were searching for another when Madison cocked her head like a finch alert to a skulking alley cat.
“What’s that?”
The roar of an ATV stopped abruptly, followed by screams and a metallic racket. As they crested a hill, they saw a group gathered below a mine pit. Millie and Berdie huddled with a quaking Lavelle. Aubrey hiked toward Sotheara, where the little Cambodian girl knelt beside Rowdy Hunter. Madison hurried to her friends, her useless cell phone clutched in her hand.
“Millie is on her walkie talkie with the rescue dispatcher,” Sotheara told Madison. “There’s no cell signal out here.”
Berdie pulled out her knife and began whittling sticks. A whispered rumor flew around that the receptionist was preparing to barbeque Rowdy.
“Jeremiah,” Berdie said, “set up a lean-to. We need to keep the rain off these two. I’ll start a fire to keep them warm.”
Jack Bender fussed around like he was in charge, but everyone pretty much ignored him, except for Rankin. The oversized Scotsman had abandoned Stockton’s Revenge shortly after their arrival on Gold Hill, attaching himself to Jack’s entourage tighter than a cockleburr on a saddle blanket.
By the time the whupping of helicopter blades signaled the arrival of help, Rowdy and Lavelle were warm and relatively dry under the lean-to. Frank Hardy broke away from a group of hikers and trotted up to Edna, wrapping his wife in a bear hug.
“Where’s Grant?” Aubrey had to yell at Frank to be heard over the helicopter. Debris spun around in a whirlwind.
“The far side of Gold Hill,” Frank yelled. “He was close to a treasure chest.”
“He’s your buddy,” Aubrey yelled. “You were supposed to stick together. Besides, Ted already found the raise. The game is over.”
“Grant wanted the week’s vacation. Said something about the Winsome, and making things up to you. I heard the helicopter and came as fast as I could. Helicopters in the wilderness rarely mean good news.” He bussed Edna on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re safe, honey.”
“It was horrible,” Edna said. “I’ll never get the image of Rowdy’s leg out of my mind.”
Jeremiah had to agree. Thankfully, Rowdy had passed out. Otherwise, he’d most likely be pretty vocal about the world of hurt he was in. The search and rescue EMT hollered that the helicopter had room for three riders. Millie reluctantly agreed to go. Being his wife,
she could sign papers for an unconscious Rowdy to get medical treatment.
“Room for one more,” the EMT yelled.
“Take Lavelle.”
Sotheara pulled the old woman out of the lean-to and toward the helicopter. Berdie’s fire had helped Lavelle stop shivering violently, but she wouldn’t be able to walk to the parking lot. Her face was an unhealthy washed-out gray, her eyes glazed over.
“I paid for the camp,” Bender said. “I get the seat.”
“This woman is obviously in distress,” the EMT said. “She’s going with us.”
When Bender continued to argue, the EMT shut him down. “You don’t get to make that call, mister.” He scanned the crowd. “This isn’t a typical afternoon shower. The forecast predicts extended precipitation. You folks need to get off the hill and back to camp.”
“When will you come back for us?” Shirley asked.
“It’s unlikely we’ll be able to make a return trip.”
The pilot yelled something unintelligible. The EMT hopped into the helicopter.
“Get out of the way, folks. We’ve got to move before we’re stuck here.”
The helicopter lifted into the gray sky. With it went any hope of an easy way off Gold Hill. Jeremiah expected panic and chaos. He wasn’t disappointed. Bender Clip employees had stayed at camp in the hope their careers survived. Now they might actually have to go mano a mano with the wilderness.
Frank Hardy scribbled in a notepad while Bender concentrated on sucking liquor from his silver pocket flask.
“Stand still, people,” Frank said. “I’m taking a headcount.”
“The Wild Cats already left,” Berdie said. “What was left of them. Ted, Belinda, Gwen, Luis and Arianna. I didn’t see Veronica.”
“Shawn followed them,” Shirley said. “He must have realized the game was over. No one bothered to tell me, or I’d be gone, too.”
“We have two wranglers,” Frank said. “Bud, Reba, I’m going to need your help. Let’s divide into three groups. Everyone, count off, one, two, three.”
That didn’t go over well, as most of the campers were determined to stick with their buddies, not split into arbitrary groups. Except Rankin, whose earlier desire to team up with Stockton’s Revenge had been supplanted by his need to kiss up to Jack Bender. Jeremiah stuck close to Madison as she, Berdie, Aubrey, and Sotheara gathered near Reba.
“Frank,” Jeremiah asked, “which group is going to stay here and wait?”
“Wait for what?”
“The people on the other side of Gold Hill.”
“I’m not leaving without my husband,” Aubrey said.
Frank shook his head. “The EMT told us to get off the hill.”
“Grant wouldn’t want you to stay here,” Edna said to Aubrey. “You’ll be safer with us.”
Thunder cracked, and rain poured down in sheets.
Madison shivered. “If we don’t get to camp soon, Lavelle won’t be the only victim of hypothermia.”
Jeremiah turned his back to the crowd and attempted discretion as he moved his .40 from the rain slicker to a vest pocket. He removed his slicker and wrapped it around Madison. She protested briefly before fastening the buttons and turning up the collar. Jeremiah’s Stetson only provided so much protection from the driving rain. As long as the group kept moving, Jeremiah didn’t feel cold, but the instant they stopped to wait on slower people, the chill crept into him.
The trail became a boot-sucking mess. Jeremiah finally glimpsed the parking lot through the pines. One lone bus waited, the headlights shining through the deepening dusk. The other bus had most likely taken the faster hikers back to civilization.
Frank directed Edna and Della to cross to the parking lot. Their boots cast off chunks of mud as they trotted across the wide log bridge. A few more folks made it to the parking lot before Frank blocked the way, waving his arms.
“We’ve got a problem.”
“What now?” Bender asked.
Frank pointed. Part of the bank supporting the far end of the log bridge crumbled and spilled into the raging creek. Further compromising the situation, debris floated downstream, whipping against the bridge.
“Get out of the way,” Bender said. “I don’t plan to be stuck when the bridge goes.”
He tried to push his way past Frank. The men grappled until Berdie pulled a fluorescent orange whistle from her pocket. The shrill sound stopped campers threatening to stampede.
“If you insist on risking your fool necks, we can make it a little safer.” Berdie unfastened a coiled rope from her pack.
“Good idea.” Frank said. “I’ll tie it off on the far side of the bridge.”
Chance appeared, waving a walkie talkie. He began a static-obscured conversation with Bud. Jeremiah gave the fruity wrangler credit for abandoning the dry bus to help rescue campers. After consultation, Bud gave Frank the go-ahead.
Frank sprinted across the bridge, leaping over the gap where there used to be solid earth. He fell to his knees in the mud, sliding backward toward the creek until Chance grabbed his arm. The wrangler pulled Frank to his feet, then both tied the rope to the tree.
“Go ahead!” Frank yelled. “Tie off your end.”
Berdie wrapped the rope around a tree. Jeremiah pulled it taut.
“How do we know it’ll hold anyone?” Bender asked.
“I’ll test it,” Nigel said.
He grasped the rope with both hands and inched his way across the bridge. When Nigel reached the gap, he wrapped his knees around the rope, working his way to the far bank. Frank and Chance reached for Nigel, pulling the small man to safety. Irena went next. Reba sprinted across, then shimmied along the rope.
Jeremiah took inventory. The only bonafide outdoors people left on the wilderness side of the bridge besides himself were Berdie, Bud, and whoever was still on Gold Hill.
When Bender hung back, Aubrey was certain his hesitation was due to cowardice, not loyalty to the employees trapped out of reach from rescue. She didn’t rush forward, either. She couldn’t imagine waiting at camp, warm and safe, while wondering whether Grant was alive or dead.
“Here comes somebody,” Tweet said.
A glinting light pierced the dark cover of the pine and cottonwood trees growing thick around the muddy creek bank. Aubrey rushed up the trail, hoping it was Grant. Instead, Omari Olufemi emerged from the gloom.
Aubrey grasped his arm. “Have you seen Grant?”
“He is behind me, helping Veronica. She tripped and fell. Sam is with them.”
Aubrey was grateful Omari added that bit of information, but that still didn’t mean Grant was safe, from his coworker or the elements. She updated Omari on the bridge saga.
“Then we need to cross soon,” Omari said.
“I can’t,” Aubrey said. “Not without Grant.”
“Look out!”
People screamed as a cottonwood crashed into the swollen creek, sending a wave of water rushing toward the bridge. The tree jammed across the creek a dozen yards upstream.
“It’s too dangerous,” Frank yelled from the far bank. “Don’t try to cross!”
The heat-fogged bus windows glowed yellow.
“I’ll bet they’re warm,” Madison said.
“So close,” Sotheara said. “And yet so far away.”
“The hell with this,” Bender said. “There’s a whiskey sour back at camp with my name on it.”
Bender headed for the bridge, but before he could grab the rope, the fallen cottonwood wrenched free and crashed into the bridge. Wood splintered. Campers screamed. The bridge disintegrated.
“We’re taking the bus to camp.” Frank’s voice crackled over Bud’s walkie talkie. “Tell everyone we’ll be back soon with Search and Rescue.”
Aubrey’s layers of clothing had soaked through, from her windbreaker all t
he way to her skin. Berdie studied the damp crowd.
“And Then There Were None,” she muttered.
Sotheara shook her head. “I count fifteen.”
“I wasn’t being literal,” Berdie said. “Don’t you know your classics? Dame Agatha?”
Sotheara raised her eyebrows but made no reply. Fawn wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. She was one of the folks who had no pack or raingear.
“How l-long do you think it’ll be? B-before we’re r-rescued?”
“We need to build a shelter,” Jeremiah said. “And get a fire going.”
Berdie held her hand out, letting rain pool in her palm. “Not much chance of a fire. But we could try.”
“We can cross the creek at a different spot,” Tweet said.
“Is there another bridge nearby?” Sotheara asked.
“Yeah, there were a bunch,” Tweet said. “The first challenge. All those rope bridges across the river, remember?”
That was comforting, Aubrey thought. A half dozen flimsy rope and plank bridges, when a solid log bridge had just been swept away.
“That wasn’t anywhere near here.” Ellen swept a hand around. “Besides, we can’t see ten feet in this gloom.”
“I can find it,” Tweet said.
Bender grumbled loudly enough to be heard. “Reliant on an idiot savant. Great.”
“Hey, dude,” Tweet said. “That was totally uncalled for.”
“We can’t just stand here,” Madison said.
But they did, for a good thirty seconds, the rain dripping from jackets and pooling around sodden boots.
“We pray,” Omari said. “For those who are so inclined.”
Aubrey joined a circle, grasping the hands of campers on either side. Omari paused, his head bowed and his eyes closed.
“Father, I pray for Your mercy, that You would lead us out of both the physical and the spiritual wilderness, in which we wander, lost souls. We beg You, Father, to shine Your light—”
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