“No, they were going up this hill. Dad was holding onto bushes but he kept slipping in his dress shoes. His pants were all muddy. Mom wouldn’t have liked it.”
Uncle Paul grinned. “No, you’re right there, she wouldn’t. But I think your mom might overlook that one tiny detail, just have your dad home. Do you know why they were walking in the woods?” He asked.
“They were looking for water, and that lady said something about the Columbia bunching into and then she pointed at the mountains.” David watched his uncle’s eyes widen.
“You mean a river branching into the Columbia, I bet. Did you hear her say the name of a mountain? And what side they were on? And where was the Sun?”
David felt the dream snatching away, the details fading. But he remembered gray clouds, the Sun he couldn’t see. “She was talking about roots something mountain. I don’t know, but the mountain was big and over there on that side of them.” David pointed to the wall, his left side. “Does this help?” He gazed hopeful and met a far away look in his uncle’s eyes and his hardened jaw, right before he tousled David’s bed head.
“You said you heard her say root about the mountain. Would it be Bitterroot by any chance?”
“Yeah, that’s it. That’s what she said. That’s when she stopped at the top of some hill, and heard water.” His uncle grabbed him in a tight hug and pressed a hard kiss on top of his head.
“Scoot under, back to sleep.” His uncle stood up and lifted the covers to tuck David in.
“But I’m not tired. And what about Dad, did I help?” David lay his head on his pillow. His uncle pressed a kiss on his forehead.
“More than you know. Now back to sleep, and if you dream of your dad again, pay attention to where they are; look for rivers, trailheads, mountains and where the Sun is. Okay?” His uncle ran his fingers through his long hair and when he left David’s room this time, he left the door open.
Chapter 10
“I’ve been on hold for over an hour. Look, I’ve spoken with three different people with your airlines about where to look for the downed aircraft, and the survivors. I know the area on the west side of the Bitteroot, and it’s heavily forested.” Paul clutched the cordless phone and leaned against the backdoor of the porch. It was one in the morning, and he realized after he dialed the phone to the airlines, he didn’t have the foggiest idea of how to explain to these people where he got the information to search. He’d pulled the door closed that lead into the kitchen and yanked on a sweatshirt and jacket as he leaned against the coats hung on hooks that covered one wall. There was no heat on the porch, so it was darn cold. But the last thing he wanted to do was wake anyone and have to explain David’s dreams and the connection he had with his father. Although his wife laughed off and on about his beliefs, and didn’t quite believe as she called it “all his supernatural hocus pocus stuff,” Paul believed that everyone had the ability to see into the unknown, and that children were closest to the supernatural world, to their angels, and saw far more in their dreams and everyday around them that mirrored their reality. But parents and most people had become detached and unable to hear that little voice inside themselves. And ignored their dreams, and entrenched themselves in the material world so that they only believed what they saw, and anything else just wasn’t real. And when kids dared speak up about something unexplainable, parents called it an overactive imagination. But Paul knew the truth, and was careful of who he spoke to, and shared his knowledge with.
And now as he stood on the cold damp porch, listening to the background music play of the airlines, he prayed that the next person who came on the line was open to what he had to say.
···
Some of the survivors weren’t doing well. Several of the injured were propped up near the wreckage, wrapped in the few blankets salvaged, and laying close to the fire. Two of the surviving men fed branches into the fire to keep it going. A pile of green cedar was piled beside the fire to dump on it if and when they heard a helicopter or any search and rescue overhead, to create a billow of smoke.
Sally was arguing with Adam; Jack and Ed joined in. They were getting antsy, everyone was cold and hungry, and the water that took almost all day to find, was almost gone.
Bruce couldn’t remember ever feeling so hungry. His stomach burned and felt as if it were twisting into his spine. Sally had stopped on the way back at a log and lifted it. Bugs crawled on the underside, and she pulled off a couple and munched on them. But Bruce couldn’t bring himself to put something that disgusting in his mouth. She’d just shrugged and said, he’d get to a point where he was so hungry he’d eat anything. But he didn’t care what she said about protein, and bugs being edible. A bug was a bug.
Bruce wanted to lay down in a warm bed and sleep. He even fantasized of his comforter pulled up to his chin. But Jack and Ed were shouting and Adam was looking a lot paler than this morning. He was having trouble standing straight; he staggered and went down a couple times on his knees. Bruce knew that Adam was injured more than he was saying. Sally glanced up and over at Bruce, so he sighed and strode over on two feet that felt more like blocks of ice.
“If they were searching for us,” Jack proclaimed, “they would have found us by now. How many more are going to die before help comes? I say we hike out of here and get help.” Jack was determined, and Bruce was of the mind to let them go.
But Sally stepped in and glanced at Bruce. “I know where we are. But no one is hiking out of here tonight. And only a fool would do it without supplies. If you two take off half–cocked, I guarantee you won’t make it out of here. This is a wilderness. And neither of you are dressed properly. You need decent clothes, dry boots. Food, water. And you need to know where you’re going.”
Bruce didn’t know why he said what he said next. “But you do. You know exactly where we are. And which way to go for help.” Every eye stared at Sally, until she inclined her head.
“Maybe so. But that don’t mean I’m taking these two fools anywhere with me, or I’d be foolish enough to try it in the condition I’m in.” She stared at Bruce. “Our best option is stay with the plane.”
Chapter 11
The fire was beginning to die down as the sky lightened behind the heavy gray. The sudden distinct chop of a helicopter in the distance had several of the survivors leaping to the pile of green damp cedar and dumping it onto the fire. Smoke spewed into the air. The helicopter became louder and louder, everyone shouted and waved. The treetops swayed from the fierce wind whipped up from the blades of the chopper as it hovered overhead. A line dropped down and two rescue workers in bright orange jumpsuits slid down.
It was Adam who stumbled over to greet them first. “Hey, are we ever glad to see you!”
A man from search and rescue lifted off his helmet. “How many injured? Is this everyone?”
Adam stumbled, and the man helped him sit. “Whoa, sit down. Help’s on its way. We’ll have you all out of here soon.”
The other rescue worker jogged over. “One of the survivors over there said that two others hiked out of here at dawn.”
Adam gazed up at the rescue worker, who shook his head in disgust. “You can find them right?”
The other guy said nothing. He unclipped his radio from his orange jumpsuit. “We got two civilians out wandering on foot, they took off at dawn.” The radio crackled, and someone cursed on the other end. He then glanced back at Adam. “We’ll do our best, but it’s hundreds of square miles of wilderness.”
···
Paul was holding the phone when it rang. “Hello. Yeah, she’s right here. But I’m his brother-in-law.” He sighed in relief and closed his eyes, and then shouted to everyone who was still in bed. “They found the plane!”
David raced into the kitchen, and watched as his uncle suddenly frowned as he listened to something said on the phone from whoever he was talking to.
“I don’t think I quite understood what you said. Are you saying Bruce wasn’t with the survivors?”
&n
bsp; David’s mother stopped in front of Paul and burst into tears; David’s aunt Betty came up behind Gloria and wrapped her arm around her slender shoulder.
Paul did something David never heard him do before: he swore and then shouted into the phone. “Well, you call us back as soon as you find him!”
He hung up and tossed the phone on the kitchen table. “Bruce wasn’t with the survivors, apparently he took off with another passenger from the plane at dawn trying to hike out for help.”
“Why would he do something so stupid?! Everyone knows you stay with the plane!” His mother shouted at Paul.
David didn’t think before he spoke. “He left with Sally. She knew where to go for help. She does guiding. She thought Dad was smart, and said she wanted him to go with her.”
Every pair of eyes focused on the boy. And the way his mother watched him, stared at him, he knew he was in for it… but he didn’t expect her tears, too.
“Why would you say something so hurtful? He’s with another woman? Why would, how could you—” She shouted, but Uncle Paul yelled at her before she could finish her tirade, and he picked David up and held him.
“Don’t you talk to him like that, Gloria. David is the one who knew where Bruce was. He saw it in his dreams, and I called the airlines and spoke with every nitwit from here to Timbuktu for over an hour until I got someone to listen, and who would go and check out the area where we thought they were. And guess what? They found them, just where David saw in his dreams. He told me. I told them. And as far as Bruce, he’s responsible and it sounds to me like he thought he had no other choice but to go for help. And if he went with this woman David said, Sally, well he already told me about her. She’s competent in the backwoods, and the one person he should be with. So don’t you dare take it out on David again.” Uncle Paul didn’t wait for his mom to say anything; he carried David to his room and set him down.
“Get dressed, because we’re leaving as soon as you’re ready. The injured have been taken to the hospital in Idaho. They’ll find your Dad, and we’re going to go meet him. Okay?” Uncle Paul started to leave just as his mom appeared in the doorway.
Her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed. She hesitated, and then said, “I’m sorry, Paul. I didn’t mean to lose it like that. Are you telling me that David—” She stopped when Paul rested his hand on her shoulder.
“Gloria, get dressed. We’re leaving as soon as you two are ready.”
She nodded, and then slid around Paul until she stood before her son. “I’m sorry, David. I shouldn’t have said what I did. It wasn’t okay.”
As far as apologies went, it was pretty pathetic. David still ached, for his mother and for his father. His mother didn’t touch him, she just nodded when he said nothing… and left. Paul watched her and glanced back at David. “Shake a leg, David, I’ll meet you in the kitchen for some cereal before we go.”
Chapter 12
“I’m telling you, I heard a helicopter!” Bruce shouted at Sally from the bottom of a steep incline he’d slid down. The wind had picked up and was blowing fiercely and the frigid rain that had held off was now pouring down in buckets. He was soaked, even though he’d borrowed Adam’s down jacket, and heavy-treaded shoes from Ed, which were the only ones that would fit his size 14 gunboats.
Sally climbed up the incline, slid on her knees, and pulled herself up until she had a bird’s eye view from where they’d come. Her hood was up and she placed her flattened palm above her eyes as she scanned the area. “I can’t see anything, and the wind’s blocking any sound. What do you want to do?”
Bruce wondered for a minute if it was his imagination. He was exhausted, and he knew he couldn’t completely trust his senses. “I don’t know. But if that is help coming, shouldn’t we go back?”
Sally shook her head. “Your call, Bruce. Do we keep going, or head back? Ideally, we want to stay by the plane, but remember: it won’t be easy for them to see it from above… especially in this.”
But Bruce didn’t want to be in charge. Even at work, all final decisions came from his boss, Mr. Driscoll. And Bruce had learned long ago not to butt heads, but to play the bureaucratic game, be non-committal. Of course, that was only after his first two significant decisions had been overturned on a whim by Driscoll, without any consultation. But then, working for the state as one of many anonymous minions, he’d realized it wasn’t about right and wrong; it was politics, exactly the opposite of the ethics he taught his son. Maybe that’s why Bruce hesitated now to make a decision.
“Let’s keep going. How long do you think it’ll take us to walk out?”
Sally slid down the incline on her heels. “A day. Maybe two.”
Bruce loosened the strap on the pack that held the bottles of water they’d filled at the river a few hours before.
“Let’s go,” Sally said. “I have an idea of where we can stop, a sheltered area to get us out of the rain, but we need to pick up the pace if we’re going to make it before dark.” Sally moved past Bruce and took the lead once again.
Bruce had just started to follow, when he had this feeling of a dark presence behind him… as if being watched. It had a shiver coursing through him, and every hair on his back standing up. “Hey, Sally—” Suddenly something knocked him down and growled. And then leapt past him.
Sally screamed. Bruce rolled over and jumped up. A blurred vision of a large cat pinning Sally down and biting her finally connected in his brain. Sally was screaming and fighting it off, hitting it with her arms as she covered her face. Bruce froze, unsure, and then he heard a man yell, and then again. And it took him a minute to realize it was he, himself, as he ran at the mountain lion and kicked it, throwing his arms in the air, roaring at top of his lungs and leaping again as he kicked at the cat again, but it wouldn’t let her go. Bruce could see the blood and flesh from her torn pants where it had clawed, and bitten her.
The cat faced him and growled, teeth barred, and took a swipe at Bruce. He jumped back and screamed at the animal again. The cat clawed him but he couldn’t feel it. He roared once more, arms high, and kicked at the cat again and again, and then swung his pack at the cat, trying to beat it back.
A gunshot pierced the air. It was so close, Bruce’s ears were ringing. And the cat took off. Bruce dropped to his knees where Sally was. She was crying, her leg all torn up.
Someone grabbed his shoulder, and when he glanced up he saw a man with a rifle and then two more sliding down the hill behind him, heading right for them.
“Are you Bruce Hines?” A man with a heavy mustache asked.
“Yeah. Oh boy, am I glad to see you.”
The man patted his shoulder. “We’re with search and rescue, you’re the last two we’re looking for. If you hang tough we’re going to have you out of here in no time. I have to tell you, if wasn’t for two people who really care for you, I don’t think we would have found you. You have a very persistent brother-in-law who insisted we weren’t looking in the right area. He pointed us here and gave us a message to give to you. David’s waiting for you and you need a better pair of shoes.”
Bruce fell back on his butt, and laughed until tears streaked his cheeks. And then he cried.
Chapter 13
The doorbell rang again. More people came, even Mr. Driscoll, sitting in the living room with Dad. David had been glued to his dad’s side ever since they met him at the hospital in Seattle to which he’d been flown, with Sally.
Dad had a mild concussion, and was dehydrated. The hospital had kept him overnight for observation. He’d looked thinner and dirty when David had been allowed to see him, once Bruce was settled into a private room. Uncle Paul had stayed with David, and went with him to see his dad. Gloria perched on the side of the bed beside Bruce, holding his hand.
“The whole time in the woods, David, I could not shake this powerful sense of you,” Bruce suddenly said. “As if you were there with me.” Bruce glanced up at Paul, “So I understand I have you to thank for getting search and rescue to the
crash site.”
Uncle Paul shook his head and squeezed David’s hand. “No, not me. I was just the messenger. You have your remarkable son David to thank. He dreamed of you, where you crashed, and he told me the details of when you went to look for water with this lady named Sally, and she told you Bitterroot Mountains, and one of the rivers that branched into the Columbia. And I remembered that area well.”
Bruce paled and blinked. His face softened as he glanced at David. “That’s right. Sally and I did go for water. You dreamed that? How?”
Gloria got up from where she sat, pressed her hands to her cheeks, and strode around the bed toward David.
David stepped closer to Paul. He wanted to hide behind him. But Gloria was on her knees now, her arms out to David. He hesitated until he felt a nudge from a warm hand in his back, and he fell into his mother’s arms. Gloria Hines cried, and thanked little David over and over.
Now, as David sat in the living room of their comfortable home filled with relatives and friends celebrating his dad’s return this Christmas Eve, he glanced over at the piles of gifts under the tree and gazed back at his dad… the greatest gift he’d just received.
Lost and Found
Walk the Right Road Series, Book 2
An Edgy, Powerful, Emotional Thriller that will leave you breathless!
Each choice we make causes a ripple effect in our lives. When things happen to us, it is the reaction we choose that creates the difference between the sorrows of our past and the joy in our future.
— Chelle Thompson, Editor of Inspiration Line
Prologue
“Hey, you two look great.” Richard McCafferty propped his axe against the woodshed and strode away from the large stack of chopped firewood. He wiped away beads of sweat from his forehead with the back of his heavy work glove.
Marcie shivered underneath her purple down vest, her fingers linked with the love of her life, Sam’s. She leaned against him, into him, and couldn’t erase the smile she’d swear was now etched permanently into her face. She couldn’t explain the joyful sense of lightness that filled every part of her. Maybe that’s why she needed to touch Sam, be with him, near him.
From the Heart: Romance, Mystery and Suspense a collection for everyone Page 22
