Chasing Freedom

by H. L. Wegley

  In a huge explosion, the light breached the dam holding back a flood of emotions Allie had held inside, emotions that had been shredding the place in her heart where faith and hope resided. The flood was freeing but frightening in intensity. And it demanded something of Allie, something she felt inadequate to give. “Jeff, hold me please.”

  “You're not going to explode on me are you?”

  “I've already done that. I … I need you to pray for me. Tell God I'm sorry. So sorry. I blamed Him without even giving Him a chance.”

  “He would love to hear it from you. He loves to have conversations with the people he created, even if they complain sometimes. Go ahead. Tell Him.”

  While Jeff held her, Allie tried to find the right words. But once she started, the words poured out from her heart in a continuous flow to Someone she knew was listening.

  For the first time, Allie understood the real nature of her problem—her rebellion and lack of trust—so the cross took on its proper role in her mind and heart. Her offenses against God had been paid for. She didn't have to condemn herself for complaining to Him. She only had to realize that He understood. He would help her, not desert her just because she didn’t understand.

  When her tears stopped, Jeff took her by the shoulders and held her in front of him so the moonlight lit her face. He studied it.

  She returned his gaze and smiled.

  “Alejandra Santiago, I believe God just took your heart. Stole it the way you ran into my life and stole—”

  “Jeff?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Just call me Allie. I like it much better.”

  “But you gave me such a bad time for—”

  “Only because I thought you were being presumptuous.”

  “I was just being a guy. We don’t do four syllables. We invent shorter names. But, you know something? I’m hungry. How about you?”

  “Starved.”

  “Let me get you a couple of energy bars from my pack. Then you need to get some sleep. I'll keep my eye on that camp for a while.”

  “Standing watch, huh? Wake me up in a couple of hours and I'll take my turn.”

  “If I get sleepy, I'll wake you up.”

  He probably wouldn't. She would have to wake herself up. “Jeff, what do think is going to happen tomorrow?”

  “The goons and the FBI both go on a treasure hunt.”

  “Treasure?”

  “Yeah, treasure. You, Allie.”

  But I've never thought of myself like that.”

  “But I have.”

  She had stopped Jeff while he tried to tell her she had stolen his heart. And, now, he had alluded to his feelings for her in more than just chemical terms. It was time for her to reciprocate. He needed to know how deeply she had begun to treasure him.

  Allie finished her energy bar, took a drink of water, then curled up on the flat, board platform meant for sleeping bags with air mattresses. The moonlight created a profile of Jeff as he sat near the window watching.

  Despite the impending danger, she was at peace. As she sought the right words to describe to Jeff her real feelings toward him, she drifted into a warm, secure place…

  Allie awoke with a start and sat up on her wooden bed.

  Chapter 8

  Something had pulled Allie from her deep sleep. Sitting on the wooden bed frame, she brushed a strand of hair from her face and scanned the cabin of the lookout tower. Darkness filled the lower part of the room beneath the windows. But the moon, now in the western sky, created a silhouette of Jeff's head, a head which had already nodded twice in the few seconds she had watched him.

  Maybe she had awoken because Jeff needed her. Where had that thought come from? He certainly looked like he needed rest and she needed to stand watch. Did God actually do things for people like waking them up?

  If you want to know something, ask and I will answer you and show you wonderful, mysterious things that you don’t yet understand. Didn’t I use your own words to draw you to me?

  She rubbed her arms. Goose bumps. The temperature had dropped in the lookout, but that didn’t account for all the bumps on Allie’s arm. They came from the awesomeness of communicating with the Creator of the universe, her God, something she couldn’t recall ever happening before.

  And if it had happened because Jeff needed her—Allie slid her feet onto the floor and approached him.

  Jeff’s head nodded downward, but this time it stayed down.

  The flashlight stood on end in the window sill. She took it and shot Jeff's watch with the beam. 4:30 a.m.

  She bent over and kissed his forehead.

  Jeff raised his head. “What time is it?”

  “Four thirty. You need some sleep, Jeff. I'll watch now.”

  She led him to the wooden bed.

  He sat down and rolled onto the hard wooden boards, then raised his head. “It gets light about five thirty. The cartel gunmen and the FBI will probably set out about that time. Wake me up.”

  Jeff lowered his head and within a few seconds the deep, easy breathing of a sleeper came from the wooden bed.

  Allie sat down in the chair by the window and looked toward the east where the precursor to sunrise painted an orange line on the horizon. Above the line, lay a royal blue semicircle which darkened to indigo farther up in the sky. But the valley below lay blanketed by darkness.

  An hour passed and, on the eastern horizon, yellow joined the strange, cloudless rainbow, heralding the coming sunrise. Far below Bolan Peak, lights of one vehicle came on. Very faintly, in the stillness of the dawn, Allie heard an engine start.

  She stood, moved beside Jeff and sat.

  His deep, regular breathing had soothed her while she watched. But this tranquil night was ending. Allie shivered at the certainty that danger would come with the day. She shivered again at the uncertainty of what the danger would bring and how it might change her life … or how it might end it.

  “Jeff?”

  His eyes opened, and he smiled at her. The smile quickly disappeared when he studied her face. “What is it?”

  “They started one of their trucks. It's all beginning and it frightens me.”

  He sat up and slid over beside her. “Don't worry. We can watch their movements, so they can’t surprise us. If we need to, we can run down the other side of the mountain to escape. But remember, the FBI's going to be moving out too.”

  “There's something else …you haven't actually been to this lookout before, have you?”

  “No. Why?”

  “If I wasn't so worried about the gunmen, I might take back my offer.”

  “Whatever it is I did, I'm sorry, Allie.”

  She tried to give him a smile. “It’s more about what you didn’t do. Now that it's light, look out the window to the south and tell me what you see.”

  Jeff stood and stepped to the south side of the square room. “Are you talking about that steep slope with all the rocks?”

  “You mean that walkable slope that we could have used if we had circled the cliff last night and approached from the south.” She shook her head. “I didn't have to be terrified by that rock face. We didn’t have to climb anything.”

  “It does look a little easier.”

  “No lie.” She paused. “But forget last night.”

  Jeff placed a hand on her shoulder. “What if I don't want to?”

  “Jeff, listen. What if the gunmen try to come up from the south? They can just walk right in on us.”

  “But they don't know that. The rock face looks like the only way up here. If they try to climb it, I think we can stop them. We let them climb part way up, then we roll some rocks on them from the top. They'll never make it up.”

  “Eventually, they’ll get tired of being brained with boulders and some of them will try the southern route.”

  “There are rocks to roll there, too. But you’re right to be concerned. We probably couldn't stop them.”

  “We need to leave now, Jeff. There's a drivable road th
at comes within fifty yards of the lookout on the south side. Do you know where it goes?”

  “Yeah. It comes off from Highway 199 a little south of the California border. The goons would have to know about that, drive for an hour to reach the road, and then another hour to get up here. They won’t come that way. They'll arrive from the north and we’ll see them coming.”

  “We could use that road to run down the mountain for help.”

  “It's a long run. Probably fifteen to twenty miles. I would've thought you had enough of running through the mountains yesterday. Think about it, Allie. The FBI chopper will be all over these mountains this morning, looking for us. And we're in the best possible place for them to spot us, on top of the highest peak.”

  Allie walked to the opposite side of the lookout. She gasped. “Lights, Jeff. What are they doing?”

  He hurried over and draped an arm over her shoulders. “It's the third pickup. They probably left it guarding the fork in the road last night so we couldn't drive back down and escape. It's coming up the mountain toward my truck. They'll find it and it won’t take them long to figure out the rest.”

  “You said yesterday they must be communicating with each other.”

  “Yeah. Bet they have two-way radios. If so, they'll be swarming all over this peak in another hour.”

  Swarming all over this peak. Allie shuddered. “Whatever happens, Jeff, promise me one thing.” She put her arms around him and pressed her cheek into his chest. “Don't let them get me, even if you have to force them to shoot me, don't let any of those filthy people touch me.”

  “Get you? First, let's concentrate on getting away. I'm not ready to make any plans to throw in the towel, not by a long sight.”

  “We need to pray, don't we?”

  He lifted her chin and smiled at her. “This must be the new Allie talking.”

  She nodded. “Also the scared Allie. Will you do it, please? I just want to hold on to you and listen.”

  Jeff wrapped his arms around her and prayed for protection from the gunmen and wisdom for all the decisions they would have to make. His words asked for help, but his tone was expectant, as if he thought God really would provide for them.

  Would Allie Santiago ever be able to pray with that kind of confidence? To face life concerned but without terror and its paralyzing fear? If she could spend enough time with Jeff Jacobs, she would learn.

  Jeff brushed a wisp of hair from her face. “I need Allie Santiago to come back from wherever she went. It’s time to get busy.”

  She dropped her arms to her sides and heaved a sigh.

  Jeff picked up his pack, rummaging through it until he found the small mirror. He slipped it into his pocket. “From now on, we need to make sure they can't see us, and we have to assume they have binoculars. We’ll only expose ourselves to signal the helicopter if it flies near us.”

  Allie gasped and dropped to her knees. She peered over the window sill on the south side of the lookout. There was movement a few hundred yards below the cliff. “I think I saw two of them below the big rock face.”

  “Then they must suspect we're up here. They found my truck and, since they farm marijuana in this area, I'm sure they know about this lookout tower. They won't do anything until the rest of the men show up. But I'm not sure what they'll try then.”

  “Jeff…” Allie tapped the window with her index finger. “Look toward town. Even with the mountain tops.”

  “The chopper’s airborne.”

  “But it's flying toward the marijuana plantation. That's at least fifteen miles from here.”

  “We've got a decision to make right now. Either we run down that road on the south side, and try to disappear into the forest, or we hold on here until the chopper spots us.”

  “Jeff, I think we should leave and—”

  “Keep in mind that once the chopper arrives, we're safe. If we start running, we aren't safe until we reach someplace where there’s adequate police protection.”

  Allie pressed a hand over her heart, now pounding out a presto beat. “You want to wait here, don't you?”

  “Yes. But if that frightens you too much, I'll run with you.”

  “You prayed.” She took a calming breath. “You prayed for protection. The FBI helicopter, with a SWAT team onboard, is the only sure protection for us. I'll stay.”

  “You are an incredible woman, Allie Santiago. I… I want to … uh, need to tell you…”

  She placed her fingertips over his lips. “Save it for later, Jeff. When we're safe, then you can tell me whatever you want to.”

  * * *

  Jeff drew a sharp breath when movement caught his eye. Something had moved in the trees 200 yards below the rock face. More movement. “I think the cartel army just arrived. We need to buy ourselves some time for that chopper to fly our way.”

  Allie looked up at him. The intense look in her eyes no longer held fear. There was a fierceness Jeff had never seen before. “If they're stupid enough to try climbing the cliff, Jeff, we could give them some real headaches.”

  “I climbed the cliff, too. If you’re calling me stupid, what about that stupid deal you made with me?”

  She gave him a weak smile. “The kiss? That was a crazy deal, Jeff.” The smile grew stronger. “Crazy like a fox. Let's go give them a rocky reception.”

  “We'll go, but only if you promise to keep your head down. I don't want anything happening to—”

  “Shhhh. You’re supposed to be helping me learn to trust, not giving me more reasons to be afraid.”

  She followed Jeff out of the lookout.

  As they moved away from the tower, Jeff took her hand and pulled down on it. “You’re supposed to be staying as low as you can.” He turned away from the sun and pointed ahead. “Let’s go around the west side of the rock. From there, we can get to the top of the rock face without being seen.”

  “Jeff, if we walk down into that notch, we can get right on top of them.”

  “No way am I letting you go near that notch. One burst from their automatics and bullets would be ricocheting all over inside that gap.”

  “I see what you mean. The notch would guide the bullets to—”

  “To us, Allie.” He led her to a high point on the cliff above the notch and stopped behind a large rock. “Stay here until I locate them.”

  Jeff crept around the rock toward the edge of the cliff.

  Muffled voices and the sounds of shoes scraping on the rock came from far below. The gunmen were coming up the notch.

  He scrambled back to Allie's position and scanned the area around them. “See the rock about ten feet from the edge?”

  The men’s voices grew louder, excited voices.

  Allie's eyes widened. “That rock's as big as a refrigerator.”

  “Yeah. But if we can roll it toward that little dip on the right, it will drop straight into the notch they’re climbing.”

  “I hear them coming. We've got to hurry.”

  Jeff moved forward, sat on the ground, and rolled back. He placed his feet against the side of the rock. “Allie, push on the top with your hands. Push as hard as you can. On three.”

  The clattering of metal on rocks sounded a short distance below them. The first climbers were nearly to the top.

  “One, two, three…”

  Allie leaned hard into the rock. He pushed with all his leg strength.

  The rock didn't budge.

  It was too late to run. The gunman would clear the top and mow them down before Allie and Jeff could reach the road on the south side of the peak.

  They were out of time and out of backup plans.

  Chapter 9

  With the cartel gunmen approaching the top of the rock face, Jeff’s mind was a blender full of pureed thoughts. None of them lasted long enough to latch on to before they were chopped and swirled into a useless mixture.

  He looked up at Allie.

  She still pushed on the upper portion of the block of limestone. “Jeff, help me! We'v
e only got a few more seconds.”

  He stood and put his hands near the top of the rock. What had he been thinking? He had more leverage pushing at the top, even if his legs were four times stronger than his arms. “Allie, ready … push!”

  Allie grunted with her effort.

  Had the rock moved?

  “Again, Allie. Ready … push.”

  The rock tilted and inch or two, then rocked back to equilibrium.”

  They're almost on top, Jeff.”

  “This time, we push, then let the rock come back, then push again when it rocks forward. We increase the amplitude each time.”

  Allie looked at him, wide-eyed. “Rock’n roll?”

  “Yeah. Like a rolling stone.” Any other time, Jeff would have laughed at their pun.

  “I am coming, Alejandra.” Words yelled from the cliff below ended all thoughts about humor. “Soon you will be mine.” The man lapsed into Spanish.

  “What's he saying?”

  “Don't ask, Jeff. Just don't ask.”

  “Then let’s shut his big mouth. Ready to rock?”

  “Yes. Right onto his head.”

  “Ready, push.”

  They found the right rhythm and the amplitude of the rocking grew from one to six inches.

  “Keep it rocking, Allie. We need to rock it over the square corner.”

  Twelve inches. Eighteen inches.

  “Push with everything you've got on the next one.”

  Jeff roared out his fury as he dealt the rock a savage shove. The boulder reached its tipping point and slowed to a stop. “Shove again!”

  The rock slowly pitched forward, headed down the slope. With a grinding sound, the monolith smashed smaller rocks. It accelerated and tumbled over the edge, then dropped like a two-ton hammer head guided by the notch in the rock face.

  Allie clenched her jaw. “Take that you scrawny little—”

  A scream came from a short distance below.

  More yells and loud crunching noises reverberated between the rock face and the adjacent mountain.

  A deep boom echoed through the mountains when the rock hit bottom.