by J. T. Cross
He rode north along the face of the brush until it ended where the side of the mountain fell away, plunging straight down for several hundred feet. This was definitely not the way down, Luc thought.
Although most of the mountain fell away, a narrow path remained that hugged the side of the mountain as it continued northward.
Luc rode along the narrow path staying as close to the side of the mountain as he could. At one point, the path split, one side continuing to the west and the other heading east as it wound down into the foggy valley below.
This was exactly what he had been looking for, and best of all, it wasn’t that steep. The only thing that concerned him, though, was that he did not recognize anything. Of all the landmarks he had made note of in his vision, he had not seen one of them that morning.
He carefully turned the quad around and headed back up the narrow path until he rejoined Chuck and Kate.
“I found a way down,” he told them.
“How steep is it?” Kate asked, with a concerned look on her face.
“It’s not bad at all. I just wished I recognized some landmark from the vision.”
Luc walked back to where the winch cable lay and picked it up. He wrapped it around his waist and hooked the loop over the cable. He pulled the remote out of his pocket and started the winch.
He walked to where the slope began and waited for the cable to begin to pull him. As he felt it go taut, he leaned back and began walking up the side of the slope as the cable slowly pulled him upward.
From down below he heard Kate yell, “Hey, that’s no fair. You get to use the winch and we have to crawl back up there on our hands and knees, again?”
He pushed the Off button and turned to face them. “You guys stay down there. I’ll bring the rest of the stuff down to you.”
He watched a smile spread slowly across her face. He started the winch back up and continued walking up the steep slope until he had reached his quad.
He unhooked the cable from around his waist and let it drop. As he looked at the rest of the equipment that had to be lowered down the slope, a flash of light caught his eye from up above. He gazed up to the top of the mountain but didn’t see anything.
He went over to his backpack, opened it, and pulled out his binoculars. He scanned along the top of the plateau close to where they had begun their descent but didn’t see anything suspicious. Even if he hadn’t see anything, that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone up there. He had no idea why anyone would be up there, but just the same, he had a strange feeling about that flash. It just didn’t seem natural.
He scanned the area one more time and then put his binoculars away. He had a lot more work ahead of him before they could continue on the search and didn’t have any more time to waste scanning for the source of the flash.
Chapter 4
Standing on the ledge area next to the two remaining ATVs, Luc looked up at the low cloud cover that completely blocked the sun. It made the day seem dreary and forlorn and he began to feel an overwhelming sense of urgency and responsibility.
They had spent far too much time dealing with Kate’s ATV and the results of the crash. He didn’t even want to think about how close she had come to death. His desire to get to Christie and the kids more quickly and travel at night had been a mistake. One he would never make again. Just the same, he needed to put that behind them and move ahead with the search.
He picked up their backpacks and strapped them onto the rear utility racks next to the gas cans then backed Chuck’s quad over next to his own until its back wheels were at the edge of the ledge. He hooked the winch cable up to its front axle and gently pushed it over the side. It came to an abrupt halt when the slack in the cable ran out. He turned on the winch and the quad began descending the slope.
When it reached the bottom, Chuck removed the hook and waved up to him. He retracted the cable back to the ledge. He then pulled his quad away from the rock and backed it to the edge. He looped the winch cable around the rock and fastened it back on itself with the hook, pulling on it several times to make sure it was secure.
Turning the winch on, he gently eased the heavy machine backward over the edge and watched it slowly descend to Kate and Chuck. Once it was at the bottom, he unhooked the cable and threw it down the mountainside. He then climbed over the edge and slid down to join them.
As Kate and Chuck watched, Luc finished retracting the rest of the winch line back into the reel and turned the unit off. He took the five-gallon gas can that had been on the back of Kate’s quad, opened it, and filled each of their tanks.
“Might as well start out with full tanks. That way we won’t have to stop for a while,” he said as he finished strapping Kate’s supplies to the back of her ATV.
He walked over to his quad and patted the small winch.
“Most people don’t have these on their ATVs. A company over in Germany makes this one and the remote. It’s worth its weight in gold when you need it.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Chuck said, eyeing the compact winch with interest.
Luc once again felt a pressing need for them to get moving. There was no telling what shape Christie and the kids were in.
* * *
Victor took his binoculars and angrily shoved them back into his backpack. He quickly examined the front ends of each of the ATVs. “Son of a bitch!” he yelled out.
“What’s wrong?” asked one of the men.
“Why the hell didn’t we think to bring a winch on at least one of these machines? They just lowered their quads down a slope that is too steep to ride down.”
“Do we have some rope?” The man asked.
We better have rope, Victor thought. He began pulling the supplies off the ATV racks and searching through them. As he searched, he grew angrier by the moment. He slammed the last backpack down to the ground. “Are you telling me that nobody thought to bring rope?”
No one said a word.
Victor climbed on his ATV, started it, and began riding around the northern perimeter of the mountaintop. He stopped several times, gazing down with the binoculars. After ten minutes of searching he realized there was no way he could directly follow Luc and his party. He would have to find another way into the valley.
He glared across the plateau at his two men who were just standing there. Didn’t they realize they were in serious jeopardy of losing track of Luc if they didn’t find some way down? They were worse than useless. He pounded his hand down on the gas tank, turned the handlebars, and raced to the southern end of the mountaintop.
He scanned the region below and saw what he thought might be a way down. He picked up the binoculars from around his neck and carefully followed a narrow circuitous path to a point midway down the mountainside. At that point, it appeared to branch off toward the east. If they were lucky, it might take them into the valley although they would’ve lost track of Luc and his team. There was nothing he could do about that, other than try and pick up their trail once they were in the valley. He raced back to his men.
“We’re going down on the south side and cutting over to the east about halfway down,” he said.
Both men wore reluctant looks on their faces and continued standing next to their ATVs.
“Let’s get moving!” Victor said loudly.
The two men exchanged glances then quickly finished strapping their things back on the ATVs. When they had finished, they started the engines and each downed a protein drink while the machines warmed up.
Victor walked up to them. “Remember, if we meet our objectives, you each make $20,000. That’s good money for a few days’ work,” he reminded them.
The taller man gave him a nod of his head, but for some reason, Victor didn’t completely trust Russell’s dedication to the mission. He didn’t know these men well and decided he would pay more attention to their conversations when they didn’t think he was listening.
Victor climbed back on his quad, gunned the engine, and took off toward the southern side of t
he mountaintop with the two men following. Without hesitating, he rode over the edge and began a controlled slide down the steep slope. The two men followed after him as he began working his way down the southern side of the mountain.
Chapter 5
Luc led Kate and Chuck north past the heavy brush and along the narrow path that hugged the side of the mountain. He was eager to continue the search now that morning had come and they were back on the quads. They rode slowly, in single file, until they came to the spot where the path split.
Luc stopped and sat on the idling quad. He gazed down at the trees and sweeping hills of the valley below from which a warm breeze rose that carried subtle hints of sweet-smelling flowers and lush vegetation.
The weather they were experiencing was very uncharacteristic for the time of year. He knew that outside the valley it was probably in the low forties at that time of the morning.
He put the quad in gear and began leading them down the last part of the northeastern slope. Aside from the wide traversals they were forced to make, the remaining terrain was easier to navigate than what they had faced the night before.
Within twenty minutes, they reached a transitional area that bridged the mountainous region with the more gentle hills of the valley floor. Luc motioned for them to stop.
He remembered in his vision that he had traveled up one side of the plateau-like mountain and then down another. It had been at the base of that mountain where he had seen a waterfall and lake. He knew he needed to find that landmark if he was to have any chance of locating the helicopter.
The night before, he had failed to find any navigable path that remotely resembled the one he took in the vision. Because of that, he had been forced to take them out of their way to the northeast. If he was to put his complete faith in the vision, he knew he needed to head back to the south. He took out his compass, aligned it with magnetic north, and studied the nearby mountains.
Kate watched him studying the compass. She took off her helmet and ran her hands through her hair. “Please don’t tell me we’re lost,” she said with a look of concern.
“I don’t think we’re lost. But I do think we need to head to the southeast for a while.”
“For how far?” Chuck asked.
It was hard for Luc to apply the abstract distances he had experienced in the vision to the steep and challenging trails they had been forced to cover on the ATVs.
He pointed up to the V-shaped peaks that now rose up to the south of them. “I think we need to head back far enough so we’re directly due east of the southern-most peak. It shouldn’t be more than a few miles,” he said, climbing off his quad.
Opening his backpack, Luc removed a bottle of water and drank half of it, putting the rest back. Chuck and Kate took the opportunity to do the same.
“By the way, we’re looking for a waterfall,” he said.
Chuck looked at him with a quizzical expression. “A waterfall? What river would feed it?”
“I have no idea,” Luc said with complete honesty. After stretching his legs, he got back on the machine. “We should probably get moving.”
He pulled away from them and headed to the south. He kept his speed slow and steady so they could easily keep up as he navigated around large boulders, across an east-west running ravine, and finally through an increasing number of pine trees that dotted the landscape.
They had ridden for about half an hour when Luc saw something shimmering in the distance against the southeastern side of the mountain. He stopped and motioned for Kate and Chuck to pull up beside him then reached back and pulled out his binoculars. He gazed out through them and felt his sense of hope rise as he saw a single lone waterfall spewing out from the lower part of the mountain.
From his vantage point, he couldn’t see where the falls ended, but as he stared at them, he felt a strong sense of déjà vu.
“I see them,” he said with a feeling of elation.
“You see what?” Kate asked.
He handed her the binoculars.
“The falls!” she said excitedly as she gazed at them. “I can’t imagine there are many in this valley. It must be the one you saw.”
“That’s what I’m thinking, and if the vision holds true, it should empty into a small lake.”
She handed the binoculars to Chuck who stared at the falls for a moment then handed them back to her. He began slowly shaking his head.
“I don’t believe in none of that mumbo-jumbo vision stuff,” he said in a doubtful tone. “I think you’re just getting lucky.”
If the base of those falls emptied into a lake, he imagined that Chuck might just change his tune. At the very least, he would feel more confident that they were on the right path. “We’ll see,” Luc said, and pulled away.
He carefully picked his way around the pine trees and led them to the south. They continued to lose altitude and the trees gradually thinned until they broke into a meadow-like area that was dotted with red and yellow flowers. On the far side of the field was a small rise that blocked the view to where the falls ended.
Kate pulled up next to him and stared at the falls. “They’re magnificent.”
“All we need now is the lake,” Luc said.
He led them through the meadow, careful to avoid the rocks and deep puddles that covered the area. He then climbed the small rise that stood between them and the falls. As he crested the top, he saw the lake.
He unexpectedly felt a rush of emotion, a combination of hope, ancestral pride, and redemption all wrapped up together. He took a deep breath as his eyes teared. He had never felt quite so connected to that elusive quality his grandfather had always called the Heart of the Hunter. The vision had proven true and his decision to backtrack to the south had been the correct one.
But then, just as quickly as his emotions had risen, a feeling of guilt set in. What right did he have to rejoice in anything until he had righted the wrongs that his earlier decisions had caused? He began a quick descent toward the edge of the lake and came to a stop on its pebble-strewn shore.
He sat there for a moment watching the falls hitting the surface of the lake and took in a deep breath. The air was permeated with the smell of wet rock and there was a misty dampness to the air that caused him to feel muggy and warm.
As he sat there gazing at the falls, he heard the sound of Kate and Chuck’s engines and then the crunching of their tires on the rocky shoreline as they pulled up next to him.
He pointed up to where the falls gushed out of the mountainside through several large cracks underneath a ledge. “I guess we didn’t need a river after all,” he said to Chuck.
Chuck looked at the falls and then out across the lake. “I don’t know what to think,” he said.
“I was here, hovering over this lake yesterday,” Luc said in an almost reverential tone.
The look on Chuck’s face gave him the impression that he felt uncomfortable with what he had just heard.
“I know it sounds far-fetched, but I know what I saw.”
“We believe you,” Kate said.
“Thanks.”
Luc honestly didn’t feel bad that Chuck thought he was just having a run of good luck. Even he had trouble believing this was the waterfall he had seen in the vision. There were parts of him that didn’t even want to believe that what he had experienced the day before was possible.
He looked at Kate and Chuck. “I think this lake would make a good emergency rendezvous point. If for some reason we should get separated, we should try and meet back here.”
He could tell by the look on Kate’s face that the thought of being separated was terrifying.
“I doubt that were going to get separated but just in case, we should be prepared to meet back here,” he said, smiling at her.
“This shouldn’t be too hard to find,” Chuck said.
“Yeah, we’ll just meet at the main watering hole for every carnivore within a ten-mile radius,” Kate said.
“Kate, a meeting spot has to be di
stinctive. It’s not enough to point to a specific mountain and expect to remember what it looks like, hours or days later. A body of water is a better landmark.”
She nodded.
Luc looked around the area. He pointed to a tall tree with lots of branches. “If you are here and need to get up off the ground, remember that tree. It looks like a good place to hole up until we find each other.”
Kate and Chuck nodded. He decided he wouldn’t say anything more. There was no use in causing Kate any undue anxiety.
Luc got off his quad and walked to the edge of the lake. Kneeling down, he put his hand in the water and then looked back at Kate and Chuck.
“It’s warm. No wonder there’s so much mist in the air.” He looked down into the water and saw a small black rock with bubbles collecting on its surface. He had a pretty good idea what he was looking at.
He walked back to his quad and pulled out a half-empty plastic water bottle. He drank the rest of it and walked back to the edge of the lake, motioning for Kate and Chuck to join him. They got off their quads and walked over to the water’s edge where he was kneeling.
He pointed down into the water at the jet-black object. “There’s one of the rocks that started this whole thing. You can see it bubbling down there.”
Chuck squatted down next to him and stuck his hand in the water. His eyes went wide with surprise. “I’ll be damned. It’s as warm as a bathtub in there.”
Using the mouth of the empty water bottle, Luc nudged the small black rock out of the water. The water on its surface quickly evaporated.
“Watch this,” he said as he touched the rock with the bottom of the bottle. Within seconds, white smoke began collecting around the bottom of the bottle. He pulled the bottle up and they saw a thin string of plastic trail behind it.
“That’s amazing,” Kate said.
Chuck stood up. “I just wouldn’t have believed any of this if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Still, I don’t know about all that vision stuff...” He shook his head and walked back to his ATV as he wiped his hand dry on his pant leg.