by Dana Mentink
Something in her unconscious brain must have heard him, because she stirred.
“That’s it,” he called again. “Wake up. Open your eyes. I’m going to throw you the rope.”
She raised her head, expression confused.
Breathing hard, he forced his tone from commanding to something calmer. “Here,” he said. “I’m right here. You need to reach out your hand and get the rope, okay?”
She blinked and her blue eyes rapidly widened, a look of panic setting in.
Two seconds later he figured out why as the ice under her body broke, sending out splintering cracks in all directions.
THREE
Ava’s stomach lurched in terror as she felt her legs drop through the ice and into the frigid water below. The breath was driven from her lungs. She’d thought she was numb from lying there for so long, but the cold was like an electric shock, jolting her body to the core. Arms scrambling, she tried to grab on to something, but her fingers raked through loose snow without finding a handhold. Inexorably she was sliding toward the exposed depths of the lake. Her feet splashed into the water.
“Luca,” she screamed.
His body stiffened, mouth open.
Nothing she did slowed her progress. Just before her torso slipped in, she managed to hook her hands into a crack, holding the frozen mass to her body like a bizarre icy life preserver. Her legs remained submerged, but her head and shoulders were above water, at least for the moment.
Luca was shouting something, but the thundering of her heart drowned out his cries. She felt as if the lake was some live thing, sucking her down to the bottom, like it had done to her mother. In a few moments, her body would be claimed by it.
Ava felt the spark of anger light in her belly. Her mother had willingly offered herself up to death, walked into those dark waters and left her sixteen-year-old daughter behind with only an unpredictable uncle and a wounded father to care for her. She chose the lake, she chose her own drowning.
Why? Ava felt the puzzle rise again in spite of the horror of her situation.
Her mind circled the question that she’d wondered about countless times before.
Why did you choose these frigid waters over me?
Ava felt that old pain lance through her, through her frozen legs and into her heart, right up to her fingertips which were rapidly becoming too numb to maintain their grip.
I won’t give up.
Ever.
I won’t make the same choice you did, Mom.
She tried to hug the ice more tightly, but the strength seemed to be leaching out into the water that surrounded her. She kicked her legs to keep the circulation going, but they felt like two pieces of wood.
Luca tossed something at her. A rope, she finally realized. A spark of hope thrilled inside her as it slithered across the ice.
She tried to grab for it, but the motion almost cost her her grip on the ice. The rope fell away and disappeared into the water between two floating pieces. She did not dare let go of the ice to fish around for it.
“I can’t,” she said, breathless.
“Yes, you can,” Luca shouted, enraged. He reeled in the coil and tried again.
The rope hit the water just in front of her, splashing her face with stinging droplets. Blinking, she tried again to grab for it. This time the ice broke into several smaller pieces like a frozen jigsaw puzzle. She struggled to keep her grip on the larger of the chunks. Clinging there, breath coming in desperate pants, her body shivered violently.
Luca was furiously gathering in the rope, getting ready to toss it again. She saw him swinging the rope, strong arm tense.
“I can’t get it, Luca,” she called. “I can’t let go.”
She couldn’t tell if he heard her or not. Despair added weight to her sodden clothes and she felt herself sinking lower into the water. Luca dropped his arm and turned away.
She felt oddly relieved. She did not want him to see her desperation, the fear that made her weak. Help would come soon, she knew. The ski patrol would make it on scene quickly enough, but hypothermia would arrive before they did. It could take less than fifteen minutes in freezing water for death to come. She clung tighter to the ice, trying to calculate how long she’d been in the grip of the frozen lake. Her arms were clumsy, fingers nearly useless.
Her gaze went to the road, to the rut marks left by the snowmobile. Who would want to hurt Uncle Paul? Truthfully, many. He’d crossed a number of people, cheated them even. There were plenty of men eager to settle a score.
She heard a noise and saw Luca with a rope tied around his waist, charging out onto the ice. Blinking to be sure she wasn’t hallucinating, she looked again. What was he thinking? His six-foot muscled bulk would break through the ice in a moment and send him into the frozen water right along with her.
“No, Luca,” she called, voice weak as a kitten’s.
He did not alter course, so she tried to yell louder.
“Go back.” Her words were faint but noisy thoughts crowded her mind.
Go back, Luca. Don’t throw away your life for mine.
She felt sick at the thought, but she knew he would probably do the same for any other man, woman or child he found in the same situation, and probably an animal, too. She remembered the bird he’d told her about that he’d retrieved after it had gotten tangled in some old tree netting. People said he was crazy to climb a fifteen-foot pine to free a sparrow. People were right.
With dread, she watched him step onto the slick surface. Ice crackled around her as he planted one foot in front of the other, as if he was navigating some strange tightrope through the water. He moved closer, teetering slightly as he kept his balance. Face fixed in concentration, he moved slowly toward her until he was close enough for her to hear him.
“Hold on, Ava. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Please go back,” she whispered. Please.
She watched through blurry eyes as he stepped onto the chunk of ice near her, amazed that he had not fallen through. Her body shivered so badly she could hardly keep him in her field of vision.
Slowly, kneeling on a shelf of ice, he crouched over to grab for her sleeve. The green of his eyes was the only thing she could see clearly, just as vibrantly green as she remembered. His fingers gripped her wrist and she imagined they must be warm, warmer than hers anyway, but she could not feel anything. She was having a hard time seeing him through her growing cloud of confusion.
“Let go now, Ava.”
She could not force her fingers to relinquish their grip.
Hold on, her mind screamed and her body obeyed, clinging in manic determination to that small hunk of ice.
“Let go,” Luca demanded again.
She closed her eyes and pressed harder against the ice chunk, her limbs like the twisted branches of the trees that ringed Melody Lake.
His grip tightened around her wrist and he began to pry her fingers away from the ice. “Ava, you’re coming with me one way or another.”
She was tired, more tired than she’d ever been. Her body felt suddenly as if it was heating up, warming from the inside. If she didn’t get her jacket off, she thought she would roast.
She wiggled on the ice.
“What are you doing?” Luca said.
“Taking off my jacket. Too hot.”
He grabbed both wrists now. “That’s the hypothermia talking. You’re not hot. You’re cold and we’re getting out of here.”
He hauled her toward him, her legs sliding out of the water.
Her mind whirled from the sudden movement and she closed her eyes to steady herself. When she opened them again, she was looking into Luca’s grave face. He was pulling her up, grabbing on to the front of her jacket, until she felt herself hoisted over his shoulder. She wanted to say something
, to force her body to work in some way, but she could not. She found herself slung head down, staring at the milky ice beneath Luca’s feet.
There was a sudden lurch, a cry of surprise from Luca and then the view changed as they both plunged through the ice.
* * *
Luca had the presence of mind to hold his breath when they broke through the crust and splashed into the lake. Frigid water enveloped him and he fought the urge to gasp at the pain of it. Holding as tightly to Ava as he dared, he kicked back to the surface. Shaking water from his eyes he turned her, his arms under her shoulders in the only maneuver that came back to him from his days as a high school lifeguard.
He heard her whimper softly, and the sound gave him renewed courage. There was still life in her, that tenacious spark that would be enough to help her survive this. Fighting against the shudders that shook his body, he freed one hand to find the rope he’d tied around his waist.
He tugged them along, one-handed. Their progress was a series of awkward, lurching moves that brought them incrementally toward shore. Broken ice floated around them, and he did his best to avoid the sharp edges, although he felt something cut into his arm anyway. His biggest concern was his hold on Ava which was weakening as the glacial water robbed him of feeling in his extremities.
The distance to the shore was probably only ten feet, but it may as well have been miles. At first Ava had tried to help, leaning into him and kicking feebly at the sharp bits of ice that crowded them. As time wore on, she had grown progressively more still until she was a deadweight.
“Almost there,” he said. “Stay with me.” He squeezed her as tightly as he could, his arm sinking into the pillowy layer of her jacket.
He pulled them both along, every movement an agony. Slower and slower they moved until his hand slipped off the rope. Fear clawed at his insides as he struggled to keep Ava from floating away while he flailed for the rope.
His fingers would not cooperate. Clumsily he floundered, trying to force his hand to clasp the slick rope again.
Come on, Luca.
Grab it.
He felt his hold on Ava loosening. His choice came down to letting go of her or holding on and giving up on the rope, their only chance. He threw up a silent prayer, channeling his remaining stamina into keeping Ava in his arms.
Vision blurring, he looked in desperation at the shore which seemed to be miles away. Faintly he heard Mack Dog barking excitedly. Dark shadows swam in front of his eyes, and his ears began to play tricks on him. From far away he heard an engine approaching up the road at top speed. He imagined his sister roaring up in typical wild fashion behind the wheel of her Mustang.
It was imagination, purely. The logical side of his brain knew a car could never travel at such speeds on iced-over roads. Unable to muster the strength to attempt a one-armed swim stroke, he could only float, trying to keep Ava’s chin above water.
“Luca.”
The voice came from far away.
A woman’s voice.
“Luca,” the voice came again, louder.
He forced his eyes to focus on the face of his sister waving frantically, a snowmobile parked crookedly nearby. Someone was with her, a man wearing the red-and-black jacket emblazoned with the white cross of the ski patrol. There was a jerk on the line, and he was pulled toward the shore. All he had to do was hold tight to Ava.
It’s almost over.
He forced himself to repeat it, although his body was frozen to a state of near agony. Ava’s eyes were closed now, the white circle of her face just clear of the water, sections of hair floating like a corona in the dark water.
Almost there.
Tate, Stephanie’s husband, pulled up on another snowmobile and hustled to the water’s edge to meet them, his stiff leg making him ungainly.
They were close enough for Luca to see the ski patrol guy tugging madly on the rope, Stephanie assisting. In excruciating increments, they finally drew near enough for hands to grab hold of Ava and haul her out of the water. Tate and Stephanie each took one of Luca’s frozen arms and dragged him out, too, immediately enveloping him in a thin, silver blanket.
“She was in the water longer than me,” Luca said, through chattering teeth.
The ski patrol worker wrapped her securely, strapping her into a toboggan. “We’ll get her to the ambulance. It’s just down the hill.”
“Land a chopper,” Luca choked out. “She needs to get to a hospital now.”
“Snow movement near the landing site. Can’t get a chopper in here. We’re working on another accident and too much activity during avalanche conditions is a bad idea.” The rescue worker didn’t slow as he strapped Ava in and called into his radio. “Transporting now. I’ll be there in five.” He looked at Luca. “There’s another ski patrol right behind me to take you.”
Luca was too cold to answer.
Stephanie chafed his hands. “I got your SOS and called Tate. A guy at the lodge loaned me a snowmobile. I found the truck down the road, so I figured there was an accident. What happened?”
“Ava’s Uncle Paul. Abducted.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Here? On the slopes? How did that happen?”
“Snowmobiler shot him with a Taser.”
Luca noted a grave look steal over Tate’s face. “Blue snowmobile?”
Luca nodded.
Ava moaned. In spite of Stephanie’s restraining hand, Luca crawled over to her, his legs too weak to support him.
Her lips were a bluish tint, stark against the milky pallor of her face. She mouthed the words Uncle Paul.
He squeezed her hand with his own frozen fingers. “We’ll find him.”
Tate’s frowned deepened.
“What is it, Tate?” Luca said as the ski patroller readied himself to pull the toboggan away.
Tate hesitated. “I was late because there’s a rescue going on a few miles down the road from here. I had to go around.”
Luca’s stomach tightened.
“A rescue?”
Tate nodded, lowering his voice. “A snowmobile at the bottom of the ravine. Burned pretty bad. They figure it exploded on impact.”
Luca forced out the words. “Blue?”
He didn’t need to hear Tate’s answer. He looked down at Ava and knew she’d heard it loud and clear.
A single tear fell, freezing a trail of grief onto her face.
Whoever had abducted Uncle Paul had probably caused his death, too.
Snow began to fall heavily now, and he brushed it away from Ava’s cheek. The tips of his fingers were too cold to feel her skin, but it looked soft, feather soft.
A brisk breeze kicked up the snow around him, hissing as if it whispered secrets.
With a tingle of fear, he wondered if Ava would be the next life claimed on this rugged mountain.
FOUR
Sergeant Cecil Towers stood politely next to the bed, his dark eyes nearly a match for his dusky skin. His uniform was smartly pressed, fitting his slender frame nicely. A tinge of gray showed on his close-cropped hair. He reached out a hand to straighten the box of tissue on her bedside tray.
Her body reacted viscerally, edging away from the man who was guilty of nothing but informing her three weeks from the end of her senior year of high school that her mother’s body had been recovered from Melody Lake. Even with her eyes closed she would never forget the tiniest detail of that visit, from the curve of his thin lips to his spotless uniform and the way he wiped his feet meticulously on the doormat before he’d entered Whisper Mountain Lodge.
Ava had gotten the gist of her situation from the nurses. She’d been more or less out for ten hours. No, she had not lost any fingers or toes amazingly, and no, they knew nothing about her uncle Paul. She remembered Luca being there and although she’d willed herself to a
sk him, to beg him to tell her of her uncle, her body would not come out of its frozen stupor. Now there was no sign of Luca, but now she had a cop to pump for information.
“Are the police looking for my uncle?”
The question seemed to startle Towers, who raised an eyebrow and leaned closer. “Hello, there. I thought you were asleep, Ms. Stanton.”
She repeated her question.
“First off, I’ll tell you that we have not found your uncle. Why don’t you go over the whole series of events? I was already briefed by Luca Gage, but let’s see if you have anything fresh to add.”
She told him every detail.
The Sergeant wrote with precision on a small tablet. When she ran out of words he smiled, revealing a chipped front tooth. “Did your uncle tell you about anyone who might have wished him harm?”
She shook her head.
He eyed her closely. “But there are people, aren’t there? A long list, as a matter of fact, from disappointed investors, loan sharks...” He flipped back to an earlier page. “Disgruntled husbands.”
Ava felt her face grow hot. “He wasn’t perfect, but he deserves to be found, doesn’t he?”
“Of course. We’ll start a thorough background to come up with a list. In the meantime, we’ve got a crew up on the mountain searching.” He slid his pencil back into his breast pocket. “You should know,” he said, voice soft. “There has been a lot of snow movement where the machine went over, Ms. Stanton. It may be some time before we can locate the driver or anyone else.”
Ava felt the walls crush in around her. She swallowed hard. “Are you saying if he’s down there, hurt or dying you can’t do anything about it?”
He sighed, as if he had been expecting the question. “The dogs are out and Search and Rescue, but the snow is continuing to move and the ravine is extremely deep. There’s a storm coming in.” He patted her hand where it lay on the bed, his palm oddly cool. “We’ll do what we can, I promise.”
Tears fell hotly down her cheeks. “He found something, some sort of treasure, and he was abducted. He’s still alive, I know he is. You’re not doing enough to find him.”
