by Lee Gregg
Wesley turned off his phone and looked at Drew with a blank expression on his face.
“Wes?” Drew asked. “Well?”
“Dad’s got it handled, Mack says, we shouldn’t call the police.”
“But, Wes—”
“Officers are on the way. Chief Constable Joe is coming himself, too.” Lorne put his phone down and placed his hand back on Drew’s shoulder.
* * *
Ryder Conway, Sunita “Sunny” Kapoor and Fiona Fernandez surveyed the area marked “Checkpoint 4” on Map 8 from the Challenge. It was a small open area surrounded by trees, completely devoid of any signs that it had been a campsite hours earlier. The three huddled under a large tree, using it to shield them from the ferocious wind.
“So let’s head west from here,” Sunny yelled, but the storm seemed to swallow her words as soon as they left her mouth.
“What?” Ryder had a much stronger voice. Sunny pointed and Ryder shook his head.
“Too much debris,” Ryder shouted, pointing to the piles of tree limbs and branches that concealed the footprints Sam had made just an hour earlier. “Let’s head that way for a bit and see where it leads.” He nodded to a much clearer path through the trees.
The trio leaned into the wind as they climbed uphill and over a few fallen tree limbs, making their way to the top of a steep ravine.
Fiona scanned the area below, slowly making her way along the edge with Sunny following closely behind. A powerful blast of gale-force wind forced Fiona to the ground while Sunny managed to grab hold of a tree. Fiona fell onto her side and rolled dangerously close to the edge of the ravine. A small break in the wind gave her a chance to regain her footing, but a second gust caught her off guard and she slipped over the edge onto her belly. She desperately grabbed at the ground, but the loose snow failed to hold her. As though in slow motion, she saw the ground before her slowly disappear as she slid down the slope. Fiona closed her eyes. She braced for a hard landing, every muscle in her body tensing while she held her breath. But it wasn’t the hard ground underneath her that she felt, it was a pain in her shoulder, like her arm was being torn off. She opened her eyes and saw Sunny staring down at her. Sunny’s hands were clasped around her arm and with two powerful yanks, Fiona was up and out of the ravine. Back on her feet and on solid ground, Fiona smiled gratefully at Sunny, who nodded in return.
Fiona took a few steps away from the edge of the ravine and continued her search. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Sunny holding her satellite phone. The wind had drowned out the sound of its ring but Sunny had seen its light flashing.
“Lorne,” Sunny yelled.
Fiona shrugged and shook her head.
Sunny cupped her hands to the side of Fiona’s head and shouted, “It is Lorne calling us back in.”
Fiona nodded and yelled into Sunny’s ear, “What happened?”
“Storm is getting worse. Boy got kidnapped.”
“What?”
“I do not know any more. Let’s get out of here. We will find out more back at base.”
Fiona nodded again. They turned to tell Ryder, but he was no longer behind them.
* * *
Lights flashed in Chief Constable Joe Ackerman’s face as he anxiously stood at a podium sipping from a can of pop.
“Sixteen-year-old boy, Benjamin Black, was abducted while participating in the annual Alpine Survival Challenge sometime between 10pm yesterday evening and 1am this morning. Last known location is near Fool’s Bluff on Black Mountain. His family was contacted at approximately 6:45am this morning with a ransom demand.” Chief Constable Joe read from his notes in front of a small group of people, including Challenge volunteers and participants, reporters from the two local newspapers, and random people from the village, who had seen the lights from the police cruisers and had come out of curiosity.
“We have no further comment at this time as the investigation is ongoing. However, we are currently conducting interviews with individuals involved to gather more information and we are looking to speak to Samantha Shepherd. If anyone has any information on her whereabouts, please contact us immediately.”
The crowd, which had been breathlessly silent while the Chief was speaking, now erupted in a rumble of gasps and chatter. Faceless voices peppered the Chief with questions.
The Chief scowled and his eyebrows came together to form a unibrow as he addressed someone at the front of the crowd. “Is she a suspect? No…No, I cannot comment further on this case, as I’ve said. She is a person of interest and we would just like to speak to her.”
More murmurs from the crowd.
“What’s that? Yes, that is correct, her father is a detective with the Glacier Village Police Department. No, he is not involved in this case. He submitted a request for personal time and we expect him to return to work tomorrow. What? He informed us that he would be out of town. He did not elaborate. Yes, we will be in contact with him shortly, I believe, but as I said, he is not involved in this case, so I don’t see how—no, no. That’s it. No more questions. That’s all for now. Thank you.”
A loud, nasally voice could be heard clearly above the noise from the crowd. “Isn’t it at all suspicious that both Samantha Shepherd and her father seem to be, ah, let’s say, absent? That they’re both unaccounted for just after Benjamin Black was kidnapped? Is it possible that they could be directly involved in the kidnapping?” Jordan Cunningham, lead reporter at the Glacier Times, asked.
The Chief looked at Jordan but ignored his question and the small crowd erupted again.
As they rushed to a quiet corner and opened up their laptops, Jordan whispered to his colleague, Elle MacTavish, “Hurry up. I’ve got the headline, ‘Samantha Shepherd Sought For Involvement In Benjamin Black Kidnapping.’”
14
Ryder watched Fiona and Sunny make their way north along the edge of the ravine. He checked the time and headed south. They needed to cover as much ground as possible, as quickly as possible. Extreme situations called for extreme solutions, he thought, reminding himself that this was no ordinary callout, that the lost hiker wasn’t another nameless tourist. The Black family had a lot of sway in Glacier Village — he had learned that almost immediately after moving to the town years ago — and saving a Black could change everything for Glacier Rescue. If he could do something to give back to Glacier Rescue, to the people who made Glacier Rescue what it was, who made him feel like he had finally found a home and belonged somewhere, then he considered it an honor.
Peering down into the ravine, he yawned and rubbed his eyes. Shouldn’t have taken all those meds, he thought. C’mon Ryde, get your blood pumping and let’s go! Wake up, man. Time to save a life. He stomped his feet and took a big breath, filling his lungs with cold, moist air.
Ryder continued south, winding around dense bushes and shrubs. There, he saw a gentle path leading into the ravine. He took it and slowly made his way downhill. His head felt foggy, but he stuck with his mission, his feet propelling him forward as though they were programmed. Thick cloud and heavy snow enveloped him, spinning in dizzying circles around his head. He stopped and closed his eyes for a few seconds, listening to the fierce windstorm whip through the giant trees around him. The world continued to spin when he opened his eyes, so he closed them once again, keeping them shut for a few minutes. It didn’t work. Ryder blinked with force, shutting his eyes tight and then opening them back up wide, trying to rid himself of his lightheadedness. He braced himself against the side of the ravine, but where he thought he’d feel solid earth for support, he only felt air. By the time he realized his miscalculation, it was too late. He stumbled down further into the deep ravine and lost his footing. Desperate to stop his fall, he grabbed for roots, rocks, anything. Nothing held. He rolled uncontrollably as gale-force winds pushed him down the mountain. The world still spinning wildly around him, he felt the impact of the ground all over his body until he reached the precipice of a ninety-meter cliff. And then he felt nothing at all.<
br />
* * *
“Are the writers at the Glacier Times implying that Sam is involved in kidnapping Ben? Clearly the Chief meant involved because she was with the group of people who were with Ben when he went missing. Not, involved involved, as in, she kidnapped Ben,” Penelope said. “What are they smoking?”
“Well, where is she? Why else would she ghost?” Drew replied.
“Seriously?”
“I mean, she seemed to be in a big hurry to come down from the mountain. And she didn’t even want us to look for Ben with her. Remember? ‘Stay in the tent while I go look for Ben alone.’” Drew used air quotes to emphasize his point. “Maybe she knew where she was going the whole time. Maybe she led us in a circle on purpose or maybe she made those tracks herself.”
“Wow. You really don’t need to use a mountaineering helmet. Your skull is thick enough on its own. Why isn’t it plausible that Sam got kidnapped too? Why isn’t she a missing person instead of a person of interest?”
“C’mon. Ben is a Black. And Sam? I mean, what would her kidnappers demand? Old, smelly hiking gear?”
“Really Drew? That’s so rude. Not elitist or anything.”
“Alright, alright. Just sayin’. I’m not pushing that she did anything, I’m just presenting facts. Truth should come out regardless of who gets hurt.”
“You know what I think is the truth? I think she’s up there looking for him.”
“No way! Why’d she bother coming down then? That’d be a huge waste of time.”
“Last winter, my cousin Molly got married. Now, thing is, Molly is named after Great-grammy Molly because they were born on the same day. And Moll’s big thing was that she wanted to celebrate their birthdays — Great-grammy Molly’s 100th — and have her wedding at the same time. So, it was a very big deal and everyone came to honor Great-grams. I mean, everyone, from all over the world. We filled every single place available to rent in Glacier Village. Hotels, motels, B&Bs, you name it, and I still had to share my bedroom with five cousins. It was total madness for two weeks. And of course, dogs are family, you know, so everyone brought their dogs.”
“And?” Drew’s voice had a hint of impatience and annoyance.
“Listen, I’m giving you the short version. I won’t even tell you about the clam shortage catastrophe.”
“Alright, alright, go on. I think I remember a bunch of people wearing matching outfits last year.”
“That was us. Great-grams knits us all sweaters every year, so we all coordinated. That’s a different story too. Anyway, one of the planned events was this really extravagant party at my cousin Judith’s, who lives, like, two hours from here. She hates dogs and won’t allow them on her property. She’s a total…well, it’s obvious what kind of person she is by the fact that she hates dogs. I mean, who could hate dogs? So, everyone was going to have to leave their dogs in their cars outside to attend the party, but then, we were like, it’d be too cold and we looked into whether we could rent out something to keep them warm, blah, blah, blah. So I suggested that I skip the party and take care of the dogs, take them all out for a little hike even. Everyone loved that idea. So, there I was with forty-seven dogs. Divided them into three groups of fifteen or so, all on leashes, for separate hikes around Mount Blue. Everything’s great, everyone’s happy, no fights, no problems. Except, when I get to the lookout with the last group of dogs, I’ve got seventeen leashes attached to me but only sixteen dogs. And guess which dog is missing? Not any of the Bernese Mountain Dogs. Not the Irish Wolfhound or German Shepherd. Of course, not any of the St. Bernards. It was Peanut, Great-grammy Molly’s twelve-year-old deaf pug. The dog who has never left Great-gram’s side for more than ten minutes in all his life, the dog who had to be pried from her arms before the trip to Judith’s, the dog who has comforted Great-grammy Molly since Great-grandad Paul passed away. Of all the dogs in the group, this was the dog lost on the mountain alone. OMG. Can you say, panic, much? Well, what do you think I did?”
“I dunno, called your family for help like a normal person?”
“Yeah. I called them right away so Great-grams could die of a heart attack on the spot while the rest of my family disowned me. That makes total sense. Not. Call me crazy, but I kinda like having a family, sleeping under a roof, breathing. I know, silly little things, but I’ve grown attached to them. No, what I did was, I made sure all forty-six dogs were locked up and safe. Then I hauled butt to find little Peanut, which, thank goodness, I did. Nobody in my family knows this story, by the way, so keep this to yourself.”
“Well, we all could’ve stayed up there to look for Ben together. I would’ve totally been up for that. Doesn’t make any sense that she came down and then went back up alone.”
“We could’ve helped Sam as much as having forty-six dogs tied around my waste would’ve helped me. She probably didn’t want to lose another member of the group as much as I didn’t want to lose another dog.”
“Alright, but Ben is not a deaf dog.”
“No, he’s a Black, like you just said. You know what the Black name means in Glacier Village. And did you hear Wesley go on and on after his fall about how she was responsible for the group and that if anything happened, she would be to blame?”
“Shh! He’s comin’ over,” Drew said in a hushed voice. He then turned and greeted Wesley with a quick upward flick of his head. “Hey Wes, what did your dad say? Did he talk to the kidnappers?”
“I’m not supposed to talk about it. That old guy shouldn’t have called the cops either.”
“Don’t worry, Wes,” Drew said. “If your dad says he’s got it handled, Ben is as good as home. He didn’t get rich and successful for no reason.”
“I’m not worried.”
“Wesley Black,” a deep voice called out behind them. Mario Bertolozzi handed Wesley a cup of coffee and a bag. “Here, this is a breakfast calzone. You come in anytime for pizza or whatever. You and your family are always welcome. They will find Ben and bring him home safe, don’t you worry, son.”
“Thanks,” Wesley said. “Does this have cream and sugar?”
“Ahh, I knew there was something I was forgetting. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Better if you wait right here. Safer with all these people around. Who would have thought someone would take your brother just for money. For money!? What is this world coming to?” Mario walked away still shaking his head.
“What’s so funny?” Drew asked, watching Wesley smile to himself.
“Nothin’,” Wesley told Drew as he took a bite of the sandwich and thought to himself, I knew it was going to happen.
* * *
Wesley had remained at the community center since arriving with the group from the Challenge. There was no point in going home. Dad was away on a business trip and even though his girlfriend had decided at the last minute not to accompany him, Wesley wasn’t particularly interested in seeing her. Tiffany reminded him of Amber, who had stolen a couple of Dad’s watches and disappeared. They had the same colored hair and drove the same kind of sporty BMW convertible.
Wesley wandered around the community center taking stock of the number of people who had come in. It was getting crowded, just like it was on the Ice Bridge on sunny weekend afternoons sometimes, where people would accidentally bump into each other. But in here, it was completely different. People who saw him coming gave him a wide berth, looked down to avoid eye contact or offered tentative smiles, just like peasants would for kings, or how mere mortals bowed for gods.
And when someone who hadn’t been paying attention made contact with Wesley, the apology came quickly and sincerely, with furrowed brows, soft eyes and a slight forward bow of their head, sometimes with a tilt, like they were offering their neck for the sword. And usually, the “I’m so sorry” was followed by a “Can I get you anything, Wesley?” The offerings kept coming in.
Wesley returned to his seat in the lounge. He had left his backpack on it with a piece of paper on top saying “Reserved for Wesley Black” to ens
ure that no one would steal his chair. Beside him on the table was a pile of men’s fashion magazines. He had allowed one stranger to fetch them for him earlier. Relaxing into the chair, he flipped open a magazine and ripped out a photo of a $756,211 watch. The Ulysse Nardin Classico Hannibal Minute Repeater featured a design with hand-carved figurines of Carthaginian General Hannibal Barca on his horse surrounded by one of his elephants, the jacquemarts and a regiment of soldiers carrying swords, spears and shields. Definitely getting this, he decided, placing the page on the top of his “to buy” pile of ads for clothes, accessories and other luxury items. Gotta look good to match my new life. Wesley’s lips stretched into a satisfied sneer as he sat back, pictured himself wearing his new watch and thought, Ben shoulda gotten kidnapped years ago.
* * *
Sunny and Fiona followed Ryder’s tracks in the snow. Seeing his footprints leading down into the ravine, they secured themselves to a tree using ropes and lowered themselves down to continue their search. Fiona’s heart jumped when Sunny came to a sudden stop and looked back at her. Even though a balaclava covered the lower half of Sunny’s face, Fiona looked through the tint of the ski goggles that protected the top half of her face and knew exactly what she was feeling. In Sunny’s wide eyes, Fiona saw shock. Through the painful pinch she felt when Sunny had grabbed her arm, she registered fear. Fiona looked past Sunny’s shoulder and realized that they had reached the precipice. She gave Sunny’s hand a pat and nodded once as if to say, “We have to move forward.” Slowly, Sunny turned back around and started walking again. They forced one foot in front of the other until they were at the edge. Looking over the rock face, they saw Ryder below. His upper body was buried in snow, his legs were splayed and unmoving and fresh snow was accumulating on top of him. He had not survived the fall.