“I hope everyone out there pays attention to the weather reports. It would be nice to get through this month without any major incidents.” Justin’s hope was echoed by his brothers. It seemed every year about this time, at least one hiker, group of college kids, or motorist decided to test their mettle against the mountains. Funny thing – the mountains almost always won! Especially with winter arriving so suddenly. The mountains were unpredictable right now, and getting caught unaware in one of the first major snowstorms of the season was never a good idea.
“This storm’s going to blow over fairly quick. Couple of days at most.”
“Good thing. We have hunters coming in next week. Any idea where we’re going to take them?” Kaillar asked, referring to the upcoming big game rifle season that was set to begin in just a few short days.
“Yeah. I think so. I didn’t have a chance to collect the game cameras this afternoon.” Justin glanced at the clock hanging on the wall above the stove and nodded his head. “Maybe I should run up and collect them before it gets any worse out there.” He took a look out the large picture windows in the front of the lodge and then changed his mind. “On second thought, maybe not. It’s really starting to come down.”
“We can go get them when the storm’s over. The hunters aren’t due in until Sunday night,” Mason reminded him.
“Good.” Justin sat back down and dug into his own meal.
The three brothers knew the mountains around their lodge like the back of their hands. They’d been guiding hunters for the last five years now, and found the additional income came in handy during the long months of winter. They occasionally hunted themselves, having first learned with their uncle when they were too young to get their own licenses.
They had thrived under their uncle’s guidance, something that never happened while in their mother’s care. Their mother, Maria Donnelly, had left Silver Springs more than thirty years earlier. The small mountain town of two hundred people was not nearly exciting enough for her. Her quest for fame and fortune had taken her first to Los Angeles, and eventually on to Las Vegas.
Unfortunately, her talents hadn’t been spectacular enough to earn her a place among the stars of the movie screen and she’d quickly wound up getting involved with the wrong crowd. Drugs and alcohol had taken over her life, and then she’d gotten pregnant with Justin.
She’d come back to Colorado, but the strain of trying to live up to her parents’ expectations had sent her fleeing back to Las Vegas, back to the boyfriend who’d discovered she was willing to do almost anything to score her next bag of heroin.
Her brother, Jed, had gone to Las Vegas and hauled her back several times, but nothing had been able to break her addiction to the drugs. She’d tried two more times to get her life together, coming home before Mason was born, and then again after Kaillar had entered the world, but the lure of the drugs always won over her responsibility to the three little boys she’d brought into the world.
When Justin was four, she’d run for the last time – leaving her three children behind with her brother. The Las Vegas authorities had called a few days later to say they had found her body badly beaten and abandoned in one of the seedier parts of the city.
Jed had gone down and collected her body; returning home, he’d arranged for her to be buried next to her parents. Her father had died of a heart attack shortly after Justin had been born, and her mother died of a broken heart a short time later. With no other siblings, her children had been parentless, but not without family.
Jed had applied to become their permanent guardian, and the once confirmed bachelor had become an instant father of three little boys, ages four, two and six months. His sister had neither known nor cared who the fathers of her children were. Jed had more than made up for their absence. He’d treated the three boys as his own, but rather than allowing them to call him dad, he’d made sure they kept the familial connection straight by calling him Uncle Jed.
He’d made many sacrifices for the three boys, leaving behind his preference for a solitary life on his mountain to that of regular interaction with the small town below. He’d learned to socialize with the townsfolk for his nephews’ sake. Something the three brothers would never forget.
He’d passed away several years earlier. Justin had been working overseas as a helicopter pilot in the Middle East, making tons of money by putting himself into dangerous situations. When he’d received the call about his beloved Uncle Jed, he’d quit and come home. And he was still here several years later.
Mason and Kaillar had both expressed a desire to take their Uncle Jed’s outfitting operation to the next level. With their uncle’s life insurance money, and Justin’s more than adequate savings account, they’d remodeled the lodge where they’d grown up, built several tourist cabins, and become well known as one of the best guide services in this part of Colorado.
The phone rang and Kaillar got up to answer it. A few minutes later, he replaced the receiver and frowned at his brothers. “We might have a situation.”
“Might have?” Justin inquired, never having met a situation that was stuck in limbo. Either it was a situation requiring their assistance, or it wasn’t. “What’s up?”
“That was Shelby over at the Frisco dispatch office. She said a vehicle got through the snow gates at the west side of Vail just as the patrolmen were closing the gates. They tried to wave the driver back, but the vehicle just kept going.”
“Oh, yeah?” Mason asked. “They’re on the pass?”
“Shelby assumes so. That was over an hour ago and they’ve been monitoring the cameras along the highway for the vehicle. An older model Ford Explorer, dark blue with a rack on top. Arizona license plates.”
“Maybe they missed it?” Mason offered.
Kaillar shook his head. “Shelby doesn’t think so. They have the vehicle passing the summit thirty minutes ago, but it never made it to the next camera.”
Justin was silent, and then he confirmed what they were all thinking. “Well, that only leaves about two miles of highway. Maybe they pulled off…”
“They never made it to the Minturn turn-off.”
Justin looked at his brothers and then made a decision. “I’ll take a tracker out and look for the vehicle. You two just got back and need some down time.”
“Not happening. You know the cardinal rule is that we never go on a search and rescue op without backup. Since we’re the only available backup, which means you’re stuck with us tagging along.”
“Any other vehicles up there that haven’t shown up?” Justin asked, starting to put the leftover food away in the fridge. If they were going out in the weather, he wanted to make sure everyone that might be stranded was located.
“Shelby mentioned something about two other vehicles as well. There’s something else you should probably know.”
“Yeah?” Justin asked. The more information, the more efficient he could be. The fact that the missing vehicle had Arizona plates meant the driver might have no experience whatsoever in winter driving conditions. A sure recipe for disaster in a storm like the one currently raging outside.
“The vehicle’s being driven by a woman. They have her on camera at the Edwards pullout getting gas. The attendant remembered her because she looked completely exhausted.”
“And they’re sure they saw her car pass the summit?” Justin asked, already thinking how nasty checking the pass was going to be tonight. Even just two miles of it.
“Yeah. Her car headed down thirty minutes ago.” Kaillar looked at his brothers and then stated, “They’re asking for our help to find everyone and get them to safety. At this point, the weather forecast is looking much worse than they originally thought. It’s going to get cold tonight when the snow stops. Really cold. They’re saying it could hit the low teens.”
Justin shoved the leftover lasagna into the fridge and then headed out of the kitchen. “Well, then I guess we better get geared up and head out before it gets
dark. We’ve only got a few hours of daylight left, and I don’t want to be checking those roads in the dark.”
“Me either. I’ll go get the trackers out.” Mason took two more bites of his dinner and then headed for the front doors of the lodge. “Might start a new pot of coffee to take with us as well.”
Kaillar was already in the kitchen, his mind on the same wavelength as his brother’s. “I’ll meet you all in the barn.”
Justin nodded and then headed for the stairs that led to the bedroom suites the brothers each occupied. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket as he climbed the stairs, placing a call to Jeremy Phillips, the pastor of the small church in Silver Springs.
“Justin?” Jeremy answered, concern evident in his voice.
“Hi, Pastor. Sorry to disturb your afternoon.”
“No problem. What’s up?”
Justin sighed. “We’re heading out in a few minutes to check the pass. Shelby called from Frisco and they’ve got several vehicles on the pass that haven’t reached the other side yet. We’re going to try and find them before dark.”
“Son, you and your brothers have my prayers. What can I do to help?”
“That’s more than enough. I just wanted to let you know that I might not make practice tomorrow morning.”
“Justin, don’t worry about that. I’ll get one of the high school boys to step in and help with basketball practice. If we even have it. This storm’s looking rather fierce at the moment.”
“Thanks, Pastor. Gotta go.”
“May heavenly angels guide your steps this afternoon.”
Amen! Justin pocketed his phone and grabbed his winter gear from the closet. His uncle had made sure his nephews went to church and had the opportunity to develop their own relationship with God while they were growing up. Each of them had taken their own path to get there, but Justin had no doubts in his mind that the Donnelly brothers were God-fearing, Christian men. He’d seen firsthand the power of prayer, and he never missed an opportunity to allow the good people of Silver Springs to put their faith into action.
He headed to the barn, seeing that his brothers were already out there and almost ready to go. Joining hands, he met their eyes, and in a tradition that had been first started by their uncle, they bowed their heads and asked for divine guidance for the next few hours.
“Amen. Mount up, boys.” Justin climbed aboard his tracker, the large enclosed vehicle that was the perfect fit for snowy mountain roads. There were skis on the front, and large snow tracks on the rear. The vehicles could only go about thirty miles an hour, but that didn’t worry Justin. According to Shelby, they only needed to check about two miles of highway. Under normal conditions, that would take less than an hour, but in this storm, two miles were going to feel like twenty!
Chapter 3
A half hour later, the Donnelly boys arrived at the highway and they split up. Justin and Kaillar took the eastbound lanes, with Mason taking the westbound lanes. Shelby had called back just as they were reaching the highway stating that two people had just walked in, having gotten a ride from another motorist into Frisco. The problem was of a medical nature, the man desperately needing the medication he’d forgotten in their car. They had pulled over just beyond the turnoff that led to Silver Springs.
Mason had offered to go down, retrieve the pills, and drive them into Frisco. From there, he’d spend the night with friends if it got too late, or he’d take the ridge trail home. Justin and Kaillar would locate the missing vehicles, three of them according to information they’d been given.
Within the first mile, Justin and Kaillar came across the first two vehicles. They had pulled off the highway within thirty yards of each other, making recovery of the people quick and easy. A single businessman occupied the first car, and two college boys occupied the second. All three were grateful for the rescue and Kaillar loaded them into his tracker and headed back to the highway turnoff. There was a small motel in Silver Springs, run by a native of Silver Springs and widower, Sarah Jenkins. She would be more than willing to put up the stranded travelers for a night or two.
Justin continued up the eastbound lane. He was almost at the two miles that would put him at the next camera location when he saw the bright yellow of headlights covered in snow off to the side. As he approached the vehicle, he realized there was a second vehicle, a white oversized truck parked in front of it. It wasn’t until he was right up on the cars that he realized the SUV had crashed into the truck.
He quickly parked his tracker and checked the truck first. It was empty and had an orange patrol tag on the windshield indicating the vehicle had been abandoned there prior to the start of the storm.
The small SUV was a different story. It matched the description of the vehicle that had slipped through the gates just before they were closed. A woman was crumpled against the steering wheel. He tried the door, but it was locked. He rapped his knuckles on the window, but she was completely unresponsive.
A gust of wind and a new shower of snow sent him back to the tracker for something to break the window with. He used the handle of his safety axe to smash the rear passenger window. Once he had the glass cleared, he reached inside and unlocked the doors with the electric locks. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since the crash, but the battery was still working and for that, he was thankful.
He hurried around to the driver’s side door and eased it open. His brows lifted at the attire of the occupant. She had on a pair of thin pants made of a stretchy material, with only a thin t-shirt covering her upper torso. He glimpsed a lightweight jacket sitting on the seat next to her purse and her cell phone sitting in a holder on the dashboard.
“Ma’am? Can you hear me?” he asked her, removing his glove and placing his warm fingers along the side of her neck. Her pulse was strong, but she was out cold. And her skin was icy to the touch. There was a small trickle of blood running down past her ear, and he gently lifted the blonde locks up, seeing a large bruise on her forehead. A small cut near the edge of the bruise was the source of the blood. He reached for the box of tissues sitting in the passenger seat and dabbed at it. He reached for her purse, grabbed her wallet and discovered that her name was Jessica Andrews.
“Jessica? Can you hear me? I need you to open your eyes and tell me if you’re hurt anywhere besides your head. Come on now, sugar. Open your eyes.” Justin jiggled her shoulder slightly, not wanting to cause her further injury by moving her without first clearing her neck and spine. Normally, he’d wait for backup to get there and then remove her, being careful to keep her spine straight. He’d place a collar around her neck as well – everything possible to prevent aggravating any hidden spinal cord injury that might be present. He’d seen firsthand what could happen when those extra protocols weren’t followed, but extreme situations called for extreme measures.
He didn’t have that luxury of following all the safety protocols right now. The snow was continuing to fall, the sun was preparing to set, and it was mighty cold outside! And only going to get colder! He shivered and called to her again, placing his icy hand against her cheek. “Jessica! Open your eyes! Now!” He raised his voice, hoping to get some response from her.
She moaned and slowly her eyelids started to flutter. She opened them a few seconds later and Justin felt his heart jump inside his chest. Her eyes were the most unusual color of green he’d ever seen. He lowered his voice: “Welcome back. My name is Justin and I’d love to get you out of the cold and someplace warm, but I need to know if you’re hurt anywhere besides that nasty bump on your head.”
She blinked slowly and then groaned as she pushed herself back in the seat. She lifted a small hand to her forehead and then winced when she touched the large bruise forming there. “What happened?”
“Well, my guess is that you ran into the back of that truck,” Justin nodded towards the large truck sitting a few feet away.
She started to nod and then winced. “Yeah. I remember it came out of nowhere. I
s anyone hurt?”
“There wasn’t anyone in the truck. It was abandoned before the storm started. You ran into it.”
“Why didn’t they pull it off the road!” she asked, her voice rising slightly. Hysteria was close to the surface and she tried to keep it at bay.
“They did. You weren’t driving on the road.”
Her shoulders slumped as she realized she could have just as easily ran her vehicle off the side of a cliff. She closed her eyes. “That explains it. I couldn’t see…” She opened her eyes and looked outside where night was falling fast. “It’s still snowing.”
“It sure is and we need to get off this mountain pretty quick. Do you think you can walk if you lean on me?”
“Where would we go?” she asked, closing her eyes again in obvious distress.
“Well, as much as I’d like to get you down to the hospital tonight, I don’t think that’s wise now that it’s getting dark. My brothers and I run a lodge about five miles from the summit. It will be warm and dry there until morning.”
Jessica opened her eyes and glanced at him. “My head hurts.”
“We’ll get you something for that as well. Now, hand me your purse and I’ll go put it into the tracker and then come back for you. Is there anything else you need out of your vehicle tonight?”
“I only have one suitcase and a cardboard box with me.”
“Okay. Do you need them tonight?” he inquired, wanting to get moving soon.
“Maybe the suitcase?” she asked softly.
“Got it. Sit tight and I’ll come help you in just a few minutes.” Justin retrieved her suitcase and then put it and her purse in the back seating area of the tracker. The snow was making things very slippery. He grabbed her keys and then held onto her arm as she slowly swung her legs out of the car.
When she slipped on the road, he looked down and realized she was wearing tennis shoes. Her short stature was hard to miss and he placed her at 5’6” and maybe one hundred and ten pounds. She was much too thin to his way of thinking, and he found himself wanting to feed her one of his home-cooked meals.
Three Brothers Lodge - The Complete Series Box Set Page 2
