Throttled

by Stella Bixby

  She thanked him, and Luke escorted her back to her truck.

  “Do you think her cousin has something to do with this kid’s accident?” Greg asked.

  Jerry shrugged. “Can’t ever tell. It would be helpful to find him, though.”

  “Ready?” Luke said when he returned alone.

  Jerry nodded.

  “See you later, guys,” Luke threw up a wave, and we all said our goodbyes.

  “Let’s get up to the shop,” Greg said. “The others will likely be up there ready for training.”

  Antonio, Ben, and Dusty huddled around the bed of Ben’s truck bed in the shop bay when we arrived.

  “It’s about time you showed up,” Ben said with a big smile.

  “Rylie found another body,” Greg said. “But it was alive,” he added quickly.

  “Where was Nikki going?” Dusty asked. “She tore out of here like a bat out of hell.”

  “Her cousin is missing, and it was his best friend we found incapacitated on the beach this morning,” Greg answered. “She’ll do her training another day.”

  Dusty shrugged his hulking shoulders.

  “Let’s get a move on,” Greg said motioning toward the trailer with four snowmobiles on top.

  7

  The cold was enough to freeze you to the bone without driving thirty miles an hour on a roaring machine.

  “Rylie, you have some experience with sleds—I mean—snowmobiles, right?” Greg asked in front of the group.

  “I grew up on a snowmobile.” I nodded.

  “We’re going to work in pairs,” Greg said. “Seamus and Dusty, Ben and me, and—”

  Ugh. Just say it.

  “—Antonio and Rylie.”

  I snuck a glance to my right where Antonio stood with his arms crossed over his chest. He did not look happy.

  “We’ll start with loading and unloading the sleds on the trailer. Then we’ll head out,” Greg said. “We’ll ride tandem into the field where we’ll do the training.”

  Riding tandem.

  With Antonio.

  A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold ran down my spine.

  Loading and unloading the sleds was so much easier with ramps to get them on and off. Unlike the tilt trailer I grew up with, these were stationary. It was just a matter of lining up the skis with the ramp.

  “This area has been completely untouched,” Greg said motioning to the opened gate that held a closed to the public sign. “The city acquired it late this fall and has yet to disclose the plans for its use.”

  The Prairie City property butted right up to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and I could picture Big Mountain—the town where I’d grown up—on the other side of the range. Dense patches of trees left barely enough room to get through on snowmobile. The meadows between the trees had to have several feet of snow, but these machines would be powerful enough to get through it without getting stuck.

  “I’ll lead the pack back to the clearing,” Greg said getting on his snowmobile.

  Antonio and I approached our sled at the exact same time.

  “You can drive,” we said in unison. I looked up at him and smiled thinking we could laugh at our slip, but he looked away, mounted the sled, and grabbed the handlebars.

  I guess that meant he’d be driving. Fine with me.

  It took me a minute to figure out where to put my hands. Normally I’d have held onto his waist, but with the weirdness surrounding us, I decided on the handles next to my hips. Hopefully, he didn’t go too fast otherwise I’d probably fall off.

  Greg and Ben led, and Antonio followed directly behind. Antonio was stiff and non-moving with the machine. My assumption that he’d be more experienced on the snowmobile was apparently wrong.

  We wove through trees and bushes three snowmobiles in a row until we reached a clearing. Antonio turned off the machine and slid off without so much as making contact with me. I kept my helmet on, only flipping up the visor, trying to retain any bit of warmth still left in my body.

  The field in front of us was a snowmobiler’s playground. Fluffy white snow covered what looked like logs and tree stumps several feet below the surface and maybe even a small frozen stream. More trees stood on the far side of the field and to each side were other fields just waiting to be disturbed by two skis, one track, and a whole lot of horsepower.

  I could feel a smile spreading across my face.

  This was exactly what I needed to get my mind off of all the craziness in my life. Some time when the only thing I could hear was the roar of the engine and the only thing I could feel was the vibration.

  “There may be times we need to use the snowmobiles for rescues and the more land we acquire, the more possibility we’ll be needed.” Greg sat on the seat of his sled with his helmet resting in his lap. “Even though people aren’t supposed to be back here, they always come whether on cross country skis, snowshoes, horses, or on foot. When there’s a will, there’s a way.”

  The thought of such pristine land being closed off to recreational use seemed wrong.

  “Rylie, can you please point out some of the hazards you might come across riding through this field?” Greg asked pulling me from my thoughts.

  “It looks like there’s a fallen tree over there,” I pointed to where the snow heaved a bit. “And there could be a small stream with the slight trench in the snow there.”

  “Good observation,” Greg said, an approving smile on his face. “As we make our way through this clearing, I want everyone to remember your body positioning on the sleds, potential obstacles, and the appropriate amount of throttle. This is not a speed course, but if you go too slowly, you’ll end up stuck. Any questions?”

  “Are we doing this tandem?” Antonio asked.

  “No. We’ll take turns.”

  “Good,” Antonio murmured low enough he probably thought I couldn’t hear.

  I couldn’t help but feel a pang of hurt by his constant dismissal. I thought we’d become friends when he helped me with the boat. He’d stood up for me and probably saved my job. He’d even flirted with me shamelessly.

  But since I’d gotten the full-time position, he’d practically ignored me. Maybe it was all about the thrill of the chase with him. He flirted with the summies because he knew they’d be gone by the end of the summer.

  I saw the behavior all the time growing up in a tourist town. People came and went, and there was always the promise to keep in touch, but it was an empty one. Some issued declarations of love at first sight only to never see one another again.

  I’d had my fair share of summer and winter boyfriends. Ones who were gone before my heart could attach, but there long enough to enjoy. It was the epitome of non-commitment.

  Antonio, Greg, and Dusty took the first turn through the meadow. Their joy was apparent as they tore through the powder dodging logs and stumps, jumping over mounds. I couldn’t wait for my turn.

  “Do you think Nikki’s okay?” Ben asked Seamus and me.

  “She seemed pretty shaken up,” I said.

  “She should be.” Seamus brought his gloved hands to his mouth and blew hot air into them. “Her cousin is probably the prime suspect in this kid almost dying.”

  We stood in silence with our thoughts. I hadn’t considered her cousin being a suspect. But it made perfect sense. He was missing, and his best friend had been left half-naked to die.

  Eventually, the others returned and handed the snowmobiles over to us.

  I snapped the visor on my helmet down and slung a leg over the seat. When I pulled the cord, the engine revved to life sending vibrations through my body.

  The field in front of me had practically been destroyed by the other guys so when Seamus and Ben took off in the path of the others, I veered to the left toward a more untouched area of snow.

  Shifting my weight from one side to the other, I was able to control the way I maneuvered through the mounds of powder. Adrenaline coursed through me as I turned left and right sullying the smooth
terrain.

  But the terrain wasn’t completely pristine. In fact, as I came to the top of a small ridge, it was a downright mess.

  I made sure I wasn’t in snow too deep before I let off the gas. The small meadow below looked like it had been the scene of a huge party.

  I called over the radio to Greg.

  “Ranger Seven, Ranger One.”

  “Go ahead,” Greg said.

  “Could you come over here and look at something with me?”

  “I’m helping Seamus get his sled unstuck, Ranger Five could you assist Seven please?”

  Why Antonio? Didn’t Ben have the snowmobile?

  “Copy,” Antonio mumbled into the radio.

  In less than five minutes Antonio pulled up next to me. “What’s up?” he asked not looking at me.

  “I could ask you the same.” My frustration got the better of me and I no longer cared about the meadow. “What is your problem with me?”

  “I do not have a problem with you.”

  “Then why won’t you talk to me? Look at me? Did I piss you off somehow?”

  “There is nothing wrong. Everything is the same as it has always been. Now, what did you need?”

  My breaths came out in irritated puffs of air. I wanted to come back with every example of how things were not the same, but Antonio didn’t look like he was in the mood.

  “Look.” I stepped aside so he could see the meadow behind me.

  His eyes widened slightly. “Someone threw a party out here.” He let out a long exhale. “Why do you always have to find shit like this?”

  He wasn’t joking. His tone was angry. “Ranger Five, Ranger One.”

  “Go ahead,” Greg replied.

  “Could you come over once you get Seamus out?”

  “On my way.”

  Greg arrived momentarily. The three of us left our snowmobiles on the hill and walked down through the knee-deep snow to the meadow.

  “It looks like someone had a rave out here,” Greg said. “It is called a rave, right?”

  “Party. Rave. Whatever it was, it looks like they had a good time,” Antonio said picking up a red plastic cup.

  A pit of charred wood still smoked a bit.

  “They haven’t been gone long,” I said pointing to the smoldering wood. “How’d they get out here?”

  Greg pointed to the south. “There’s an access point just down from here. It wouldn’t be hard to walk.”

  “Did you drive around this before we got here?” Antonio said, his voice accusing.

  “No,” I said. “I stayed up on the hill.”

  “Someone has been riding a snowmobile out here recently.” He pointed to tracks leading away from the fire into the forest.

  “They must not have gotten the snow or wind the reservoir did,” Greg said. “The tracks are still pristine.”

  “Think we need to call PD?” I asked.

  “Probably not,” Greg said. “Take some photos, and I’ll have Seamus set up a trail camera.”

  I pulled out my phone and started snapping photos of the area—cups that smelled of beer, snowmobile tracks, footprints, the fire. I had to have taken a hundred photos before we started the task of cleaning up.

  Training ended with day old coffee, and a debrief at the shop. Antonio was still avoiding me, and everyone seemed tired from the past two days.

  “Lively bunch we are, eh?” Seamus whispered to me.

  I smiled. “Everything just feels weird.”

  “Like Antonio ignoring you?”

  So he’d noticed too. “What’s his problem?”

  Seamus shrugged. “Beats me. What’d yeh do blondie?”

  “I did nothing. He swears everything is fine.”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  Greg cleared his throat at the front of the room. “Good job today. We’ll need to do more to patrol that area in the future.”

  Dusty and Seamus nodded.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was Nikki’s number, of all people.

  I need your help.

  I read the message five times over.

  “Everything okay?” Seamus whispered beside me.

  I showed him the message—the only message I’d ever gotten from Nikki.

  “If there’s nothing else, we’ll dismiss for the day,” Greg said.

  “Are yeh going to help her?” Seamus asked as we all stood and made our way down to where our cars were parked.

  I shrugged. How could I not?

  What do you need?

  Meet me at North-Central Hospital.

  “Just don’t go getting into trouble,” Seamus said reading the messages over my shoulder.

  “Me? Trouble?” I laughed.

  8

  “Thanks for coming,” Nikki said when I pulled into the parking lot next to her.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. Darkness had settled in for the night.

  Nikki started walking toward the hospital entrance. “I need to find Alex. To clear his name.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t want to be found,” I said.

  “Or maybe he’s hurt somewhere,” she said.

  It was plausible. “How will being at the hospital find Alex? Do you think he is here, but no one knows who he is?”

  Nikki looked at me like I was a complete idiot. “No.”

  The front doors made a whooshing sound when we walked through. The change in temperature was immediate with a burst of hot air coming from the ceiling.

  I pulled my coat off.

  “Luke said I should try to be friends with you rather than see you as an enemy.” Nikki pulled off her scarf and hat, her hair perfect.

  “That would probably be good,” I said cautiously. It felt like a trap.

  “So you’ll help me?” she asked.

  “Help you with what?”

  “With finding Alex.”

  “Won’t Luke?” I asked.

  She waved a hand. “He’s helping. He’s being a cop. But he can’t involve me. I’m a civilian.” She said the word civilian as if it was a bitter word being spat out of her mouth.

  “You’ve decided to go behind his back?”

  “Don’t look at me like that. You’ve done the exact same thing . . . twice.”

  She had me there. “Fine,” I said. “But I don’t want to step on Luke’s toes.”

  She smirked. “You let me handle Luke.”

  From what it looked like back at the reservoir, she and Luke were on the outs, but I wasn’t about to tell her that.

  “Are you going to tell me what we’re doing here?” I asked.

  “This is where they brought Jordan—the kid you found.” She started toward the elevator. “I wanted to see if he’d woken up.”

  Jordan’s room was full of people when we arrived.

  “Can I help you?” A small woman with bloodshot eyes met us at the door.

  Nikki froze as if she didn’t know what to say.

  I stepped in front of her. “I’m Rylie. The park ranger who found Jordan this morning. And this is Nikki—er—one of my co-workers.” I didn’t know if I should tell her that Nikki is Alex’s cousin. We might get booted out.

  The woman wrapped her arms around my torso and squeezed. “Thank you for saving my baby.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said. “How is he doing?”

  She released me and looked over at Jordan who seemed so small in the hospital bed hooked up to monitors and tubes. “Not good,” she said. “The doctor said he had alcohol in his system.” She let out a sob. “And the alcohol may have made him think he was warmer than he really was. His body probably didn’t show the normal signs of hypothermia and—” her voice cracked.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  She wrapped her arms around her body. “If you hadn’t found him when you did, he’d probably be dead. At least he has a fighting chance now.” Her smile was an attempt at positivity.

  “Nikki?” A deep voice from the door made us turn. “What are you doing here?”

  Nikki�
��s face flushed. “I’m, um—” She looked at me.

  “We’re here to see Jordan,” I said. “I’m Rylie.” I held my hand out to the man who looked to be about our age and was handsome in a used-to-be-jock sort of way.

  “Brody,” he said. “I’m Jordan’s football coach at North-Central High.”

  Nikki still didn’t say anything.

  “Rylie found Jordan this morning,” Jordan’s mother said.

  “Ah,” he said, his face darkening.

  “Do you know why he might have had alcohol in his bloodstream?” I asked surprising myself that I’d gone straight for the questioning.

  Brody didn’t look as taken aback as he should have. “We have a championship game coming up. We test for drugs before every game—school policy—but not alcohol.”

  He almost acted like it wasn’t a big deal that one of his players had been drinking illegally.

  “Is Jordan a starter?” I asked.

  Jordan’s mom turned her attention from Brody back to her son.

  “No,” Brody said slowly. “He’s a good quarterback, but Alex Ward is the starter.”

  If Alex were the starter, he would have no reason to do something so terrible to Jordan. It would almost be the other way around.

  “Have you found Alex yet?” he asked Nikki.

  She shook her head and looked out the window.

  Brody put an arm around her shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “They’ll find him.”

  She leaned into him, and they stood there for a moment. Jordan’s mother held Jordan’s hand at his bedside. I tried to make sense of what was going on.

  “Nikki?” Another voice—this one more familiar—came from behind me.

  Nikki pushed away from Brody, but not before Luke had caught a full glimpse of them. He frowned but said nothing of it.

  “I’m Luke,” Luke said shaking Brody’s hand in the tug-o-war kind of way guys did when they were trying to get the upper hand.

  “Brody,” Brody said.

  Luke turned his attention on me. “What are you doing here?”