“I wouldn’t. I’d be better off in a hospital than in this cabin,” Keith insisted. “That goes for you, too, Naomi!”
“We’ve weighed the odds,” Eric said. “You and Naomi stay here.”
“What kind of brother are you?” Keith spat out. “You’d deny your own sister medical care?”
“Keith, please,” Naomi begged. “I’m the paramedic. I volunteered to stay. You need me.”
“I’m not dying,” Keith said. “I—”
“You’re not up to the journey, either,” Eric interrupted. “The decision’s been made. Drop it.”
“The hell I will! I’ll go pack my own stuff if you won’t do it for me.”
Keith sat up in bed. When Naomi tried to restrain him, Keith argued, and Pam suddenly began to cry. Lindsey gathered the sobbing little girl into her lap.
“Dammit, Keith, you’ve started bleeding again!” Naomi snapped.
“Done showboating?” Eric asked as he went to Naomi’s assistance and helped lay the man flat again. “Or do you intend to make matters worse than they already are?”
Keith’s answer was a swearword that echoed the feelings of every adult present. Sweat broke out on his pale forehead as Naomi lifted his bandage.
“Naomi, please go with them!” Keith pleaded. “You don’t have to stay with me. Get to the hospital, for God’s sake!”
Tears started in Naomi’s eyes. Lindsey watched as Eric grabbed the medical bag and passed it to his sister, her heart going out to both of them. Rotten timing for Keith, for Naomi, for Pam, for everyone… Suddenly she couldn’t bear all the pain in the room, the missed chances at life, the close encounters with death. Before she could start crying herself, Eric spoke in the firm, kind, confident voice she’d always loved.
“Keith, buddy, lie back and let Naomi do her work. Pam, don’t cry.” He spoke gently to the child as Lindsey rocked her. “I know things seem scary, but don’t worry. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be back with your mom. I promise.”
Pam hiccuped and buried her face in Lindsey’s shoulder. Eric stroked the child’s head as he said to Lindsey, “We’ll leave right before sunset. The three of us.”
Rangers’ winter cabin, sunset
“IT’S GETTING DARK FAST,” Naomi called out from her position at the window. “Pam’s ready, and so is Lindsey. You’d better get started.”
Eric nodded, and took one last look around the cabin’s common room. Pam had been bundled in warm clothes, a sleeping bag and blankets, then strapped securely to the flat-bottomed sled. His skis and Lindsey’s were also strapped to the sled, their radios, survival packs and snowshoes just inside the porch. He and Lindsey would put everything on once they’d carried Pam and the sled outside. They’d have to snowshoe up to the incline leading to the pass, but if at all possible planned to ski downhill to prearranged coordinates, where a medi-chopper would be waiting outside the avalanche zone.
“Be careful. Don’t forget to load your gun,” Naomi said in an undertone that Pam wouldn’t hear, but Keith did.
“He wouldn’t. You loaded mine, Boss, like I asked?”
“And it’s under the bed like you asked,” Eric replied. “Within easy reach.”
Keith nodded. “I’ll take good care of your sister.”
Eric caught Naomi’s tremulous smile as he said, “You’ll both take care of each other. I’ve brought in plenty of wood. We’ll be back as soon as we can. Hopefully within a few days.”
“Don’t play hero,” Keith warned. “If the weather’s bad, hole up someplace safe in town. Make sure you radio and let us know.”
“Hey, who’s the head ranger here?” Eric asked. He briefly squeezed the other man’s good shoulder in farewell, then Naomi flung herself at Eric for a desperate hug, despite the bulk of his full outdoor gear.
“Be careful, twin,” she whispered hoarsely.
“You, too.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll check in later by radio.”
“You’d better call on time,” Naomi warned. “Come on, I’ll help you carry Pam out.”
“Just a sec,” Lindsey said.
Eric nodded as Lindsey locked the dog inside one of the empty bedrooms. There was no question that Ginger would have to remain behind. She couldn’t maneuver in the deep snow and, like Pam, would’ve had to be drawn by sled. Lindsey stroked the whining dog’s head before closing the door.
Under Keith’s worried gaze, the three other adults lifted the sled and bore it outside into the snow. A few minutes later, with Pam’s face covered, packs and rifle on their backs and snowshoes on their feet, the party of Eric, Lindsey and Pam started out.
Rays of the setting sun still gave off faint illumination to the east with its lower elevation. The snow picked up some of the light and reflected it back just enough so that they could make their way through familiar territory. With herringbone steps, they snowshoed away from the small copse of trees and the protected shelter of hills surrounding the cabin. By the time they’d reached the open meadows, the sun had dipped below the horizon. Eric continued towing Pam on his own, wanting Lindsey to conserve her strength for later. They weren’t making fast time to begin with, since travel was uphill. He made frequent stops so Lindsey could catch her breath and check on Pam; once full darkness set in, they’d be forced to go even slower.
It wasn’t until they’d been out for a few hours that Eric dared to hope they had indeed evaded Wilson. Although he didn’t relax his vigilance for a second, he did feel confident enough to stop for a longer break and to get out the hot chocolate. He even loosened Pam’s traveling straps.
Pam’s face popped out from her cocoon. “Are we there yet?” she asked excitedly. Her straps hadn’t been loosened during previous stops.
“Sorry, not yet,” Eric said, pouring liquid into the thermos cup. “Here, have a sip. Be careful in case it’s still hot.”
Pam took a sip, then a bigger swallow. “Not that hot. How much longer?”
“You’ll probably see your mother close to morning. We’ll be traveling most of the night.”
“It’s dark. I hate the dark. What if we get lost?” Pam shivered.
Eric couldn’t tell if her shiver was from the cold, the dark, her fever or a combination of all three. “We won’t get lost,” he said. “Lindsey and I have been through this pass on skis, horses and on our feet.” He remembered those sunny summer rides when they were off duty, and the many times they’d enjoyed the beauty of the land and the beauty of their love—the two mingling, increasing, until it seemed as if nothing could intrude on their personal paradise.
“Plus, out here, there’s no such thing as light pollution,” Lindsey added. “We can see the stars, and we can use the moon’s light to find our way.”
“In the snow?”
“It’s stopped snowing, silly,” Lindsey said. “Look up.”
The snow had decreased earlier, then stopped. Once again, Eric’s acute sense of weather had proved accurate, although Pam hadn’t noticed from the safety of her cocoon.
“Is Daddy around?” she asked nervously.
“We haven’t seen him,” Eric replied.
“We purposely left at night so he couldn’t see us,” Lindsey said.
Pam nodded, and Eric hoped she was reassured. “Are you warm enough?”
“My face is cold.”
“Then finish up your drink and get back under the covers.”
“Do you have to go potty?” Lindsey quietly asked as she checked the chemical heaters inside the sleeping bag and decided the poppers were still working.
“No,” Pam said, yawning. “I’m tired, but the sled keeps bouncing.”
“Sorry, I can’t do anything about that. You want to stay awake to see your mother, don’t you?” Lindsey asked before Eric could explain that sleeping in the bitter cold wasn’t a great idea, especially for someone not physically active enough to generate much body heat, despite her fever.
Pam’s yawn changed to a vigorous nod.
“Then get y
our head back inside the covers, and we’ll get going again. If you need anything, just yell, okay?” Lindsey tucked the child in, then tightened the stability straps around the small body.
“Eric, let me pull now,” Lindsey suggested. “I’ve got my second wind.”
“I’m good for a while, yet.”
“I’ll take a turn, anyway,” Lindsey insisted. “See if I can give Pam a smoother ride than you,” she kidded. “Unless,” she said very quietly, “you don’t think I’d be fast enough. No trace of you-know-who?”
“I told Pam the truth. There’s no sign of him. If he knew we were here, we would’ve heard from him a lot sooner.” He was rewarded with Lindsey’s sigh of relief. “As long as the weather holds, we should be okay. We need to keep warm and keep moving. You ready to go?”
“Just make sure you let me take my turn.” She motioned at the sled straps. One thing about Lindsey—she’d never let him down on the job.
“I’ll keep the sled and the rifle,” he said. “But you could carry the torch for me if you’re up to it.”
“I’m up to it.”
He thought of all she’d been through since he’d asked for her as Eva’s replacement. “I don’t doubt it for a minute,” he said.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Rangers’ winter cabin
Day 6, past midnight
“I WISH THEY’D RADIO IN,” Keith said, fretting from his bed. “Isn’t it two o’clock yet?” he asked, the prearranged time Eric had agreed to check in. If Wilson was monitoring their radio with one of his own, Eric hadn’t wanted to tip him off about their escape plan, until it was far too late for the threesome to be caught.
“We’ve got an hour, yet,” Naomi replied. She sat crossed-legged on the other bed in the common room, with only one oil lamp lit. Earlier she’d pushed both beds away from the dying fire and closer to the woodstove, which she’d fueled for the long night, and closed the fireplace damper against the cold. She’d told Keith to rest, while she stayed awake to turn on the radio at the appointed time. They couldn’t afford to waste batteries with the generator down. “I thought I told you to sleep. Why aren’t you?”
“Easier said than done. You know, for an intelligent woman, you ask foolish questions.”
“I’m just trying to be helpful,” Naomi protested.
“Three good people are out there facing God knows what. Until I hear from your brother, I won’t be able to rest.” Keith drew his uninjured arm out of his sleeping bag and gingerly propped himself up in a sitting position. “Anyone with brains could figure that out.”
“Thank you so much,” she replied, stung. “So I’m brainless?”
“You should’ve checked your breasts every month,” Keith continued. “If you didn’t learn that in sex ed at school, I know you learned it in your paramedic classes.”
“So I screwed up,” Naomi said, angry with Keith for bringing up the subject, even angrier at her own stupidity.
“Your husband’s dead, so you don’t care anymore? You just go to hell in a handbasket and leave the rest of us in the lurch?”
“That’s not true!”
“Then what’s the reason?” Keith demanded. “Your family obviously loves you, your co-workers admire you, you have a highly skilled job with responsibility—but you can’t be bothered to act like an adult when it comes to your own health?”
Naomi rose to place her hand on Keith’s forehead. “Is your temp spiking? Is that where this is coming fr—?”
Naomi suddenly broke off, realizing that Keith’s emotional outburst wasn’t from anger at all, but fear—fear for her. Lindsey’s conversation flashed in her memory, then the meaning of that conversation sank deep into her bones. It was one thing to hear Lindsey say Keith was in love with her. It was another to hear it from Keith himself. Keith, who’d never been married. Keith, who had seemed the loner in the group. Keith, who was a good five years younger than she. A man who couldn’t sleep, despite a hole in his shoulder, worrying over her health, her safety, her life.
The realization created an awkward moment that seemed to stretch on and on.
“I’m an idiot about a lot of things.” Naomi’s hand shook as she withdrew it from Keith’s forehead. “Sorry.”
He reached for her hand so quickly that he winced with pain, yet he still held it within his own. “No, I’m sorry. Ordinarily I can keep my big mouth shut.”
Naomi joined him on the bed, careful not to jar him. “Are you really quitting and not coming back next season?”
“Yes.”
“Because of…me?”
“No, because of me. I’m tired of playing with explosives.”
“But you save lives!”
“I start avalanches. I was thinking of going into antiterrorist work—getting hired with the bomb squad.”
“But that’s so dangerous. And depressing.”
“Yeah, like this job is so safe.” He shook his head.
“This place is getting to me. At least if I worked with the police, I wouldn’t be so isolated. I’m tired of being the odd man out.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know what else to think…to say…and was afraid of thinking and saying too much. But she did let Keith continue to hold her hand.
“Your fingers are like ice,” Keith observed. “What’s the temperature outside?”
“I didn’t want to look,” she admitted. “It’s so cold out there, and Pam already has frostbite.”
“They’ll radio after they reach the top of the pass. Then we’ll know.”
Naomi noticed her fingers didn’t feel so cold anymore. Nor did she seem as fearful. She realized that this time Keith was taking care of her, instead of the other way around, and she didn’t mind that, either.
“Then we’ll know….” she echoed.
HOUR AFTER FRIGID HOUR passed as the trio made it to the top of the pass. Even with the aid of chemical warmers, state-of-the-art winter gear and high-tech torches, it was a bone-numbing business made slower by the dark terrain. Lindsey kept Pam awake for her own safety, though privately she doubted anyone could sleep while being jerked along on a sled—except perhaps herself. Every muscle ached, and those that didn’t had progressed to outright pain. She’d taken her turn towing Pam when even Eric’s strong muscles needed a breather.
“We’re almost at the top,” Eric said, his confident voice giving her both encouragement and warmth. “Then we’ll radio the cabin, get onto our skis, and it’s downhill all the way. A few hours from now we’ll be eating breakfast in civilization again.”
Lindsey smiled. “I’ll settle for a cup of hot tea and sack time in a soft hotel bed—with the room heat set on high.”
“I get to see my mom first,” Pam said, raising her face from her cocoon of blankets.
“Only if you cover your head. If your poor nose gets any redder, we’ll have to rename you Rudolph,” Lindsey teased. Pam immediately ducked back into the blankets. “Don’t come out again until we call you. Talk through the blankets.” Lindsey smiled at the muffled agreement and at Pam’s childlike faith in the ability of adults to solve any problems.
A short time later, they stood on the summit of Tioga Pass. Lindsey felt no joy in having come so far. She was glad the child couldn’t see what she did.
Sloping downward lay a huge expanse of snow. Even in the limited darkness, they could see that the sheer volume of snow had completely covered every rock, tree and even the very contours of the landscape. It glowed with a strange luminescence, reflecting the light from above in eerie waves. Lindsey began to sweat in spite of the freezing cold as fear sucked at her lungs. This place was a deathtrap. Beneath that deceptive calm lay tons of snow and ice that could and would kill. Any noise, any movement, could trigger a slide. The skiing necessary to maneuver through such potential danger would be tricky. And towing a sled down the incline exponentially changed tricky to deadly.
“Oh…my…God.” Panic raced through her veins. “We can’t go down there,” she whispered, keeping her voice
low. “We’ll have to go back.” She felt Eric’s arm around her shoulder. It did nothing to dispel her terror.
“We wouldn’t make it back before the next storm hit,” Eric said. “And there’d be even more snow to navigate if we dug in now. I think we can manage it. Trust me.”
Lindsey’s heart sank. The two of them stared at the scene before them, which resembled a giant bowl.
“It’s now or never, love.” His endearment brought tears to her eyes, but didn’t take away the feeling of dread in her heart. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”
“You didn’t drag me into anything. I volunteered.”
“I’m glad you did. I missed you. Wanted you back.”
Disbelief, shock, joy and anger tumbled inside her. “So you had to wait four…whole…years…to tell me this?”
He didn’t answer.
“If Eva hadn’t died, would I ever have heard from you?”
Again, no answer.
“You’ve got a hell of a lot of nerve! And you—”
“Got you to stop shaking in your boots, didn’t I?”
“I—” She was aware that anger had shaken her out of terror’s grip—aware of a deep sense of loss, as well. Had he told her the truth or not? “So…you didn’t miss me after all?”
“Get your mind back on the job, Ranger,” Eric said brusquely. “Now’s not the time for hearts and flowers.”
Lindsey bit back the retort on her lips. Now wasn’t the time. But there never seemed to be any right time when it came to the two of them. “Our plan of action—sir?”
“Let’s not go overboard, Lindsey. We’ll ski down the north side of the bowl,” he said. The Dana Fork cut its way through Tioga Pass on the south side, leaving sheer edges and unnavigable terrain. “Less chance of triggering a slide. I’ll go first and pick out a short path. Then you follow with Pam. I’ll negotiate some, you follow some. That should get us down safely, as long as we avoid the center of the bowl. We’ll keep to the edges as much as possible.”
“Sounds good except that I need to blaze the trail. Not you.”
His head snapped sharply up at that. “As head ranger, that’s my responsibility.”
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