by H. L. Wegley
“I agree, unless you first understand love.”
Jennifer looked into his eyes again.
“Think about it this way, Jenn. If God wants a loving relationship with people, how love-based would it be if people had no choice—if they were just forced to love God? I mean, if you were God and you wanted me to have a loving relationship with you, you would have to give me the freedom to choose you, or reject you, right?”
Jennifer opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it. She looked down at the gear shift and her eyes narrowed. The frown faded as she raised her head. They each peered into the other’s eyes for a moment, and then Jennifer averted her gaze.
Trying to decipher her reactions, he first thought Jennifer realized she had never personally chosen God. Then he became concerned he had chosen unwisely by making the analogy personal between the two of them. While he vacillated between his two takes on her response a third thought came to mind.
They were being followed again. A car just turned onto the dirt road and moved slowly their way.
Jennifer must have seen it too, because she hit the ignition before he could speak. “What now, Lee? This is your old stomping grounds.”
He locked his gaze on the approaching vehicle. “They’re moving slowly. Let’s do the same. Keep your speed under fifteen miles-per-hour and—”
“I know. Don’t use the brakes.”
They rolled down the backside of the hill. Despite the lurking danger Lee was surprised his mind seemed focused and sharp. Thankful for the moment of clarity he planned their escape.
Rubbing his chin he tried to recall the distance from the hill to the base of the mountain directly below the mountaintop spire—the mountaintop he’d played on countless times as a kid. It was about one-half mile.
They were one mile in on Holten Creek Road. If the gunmen drove towards them at twenty miles-per-hour he and Jennifer would reach the spot below the spire with a three-minute lead. In three minutes he could put nearly four hundred yards between them and the goons. In the big Douglas fir trees on the mountainside that distance should provide protection from gunfire.
Four hundred yards.
It would have to be enough.
“Jenn, speed up a little. When I say stop, hit the brakes, cut the engine, then slide over and get out on my side. Try not to leave obvious footprints showing where we’re going. We’ll be running off to my side of the road through some bushes.”
“When is this all going to happen?”
“In about forty-five seconds. Just remember this. If they were going to find us this was the best place for us to be in the entire county, except perhaps the Kerbyville Police Station.”
“I think you’re an incurable optimist, Lee Brandt.”
“Maybe…but see the big tree on the right?”
“I see it. Is that where we stop?”
“Yes. Crank the wheel to the right and try to block the road with your car. It might make them think we went up the road on foot, but we’re going up the mountain, instead. Do it now.”
8
8:00 a.m., March 18th
Lee led Jennifer from the car nearly two hours ago and somehow had kept them both alive through the physically and emotionally exhausting climb up the mountain. Emotionally exhausting…that was an understatement. The gunmen’s bullets had nearly grazed Jennifer’s legs.
The sun was well above the horizon, now. Filtered by tree branches it provided some badly needed warmth. A night without sleep and slowing after the long climb left him chilled and fatigued.
Jennifer must be on her last legs.
At least she still has legs.
The sun also provided good visibility for the gunmen.
Lee planned to remedy that in a few minutes. He led Jennifer southward along the mountain slope near the base of the limestone spire. When they reached the second limestone outcropping, Lee studied the caves above them. There were several. That fact alone should confuse and delay the men chasing them.
He hoped they’d search the large cave first. If so, they might never come out.
He chuckled.
Jennifer raised her gaze from the rocky ground to his face. “What’s so funny about a bunch of cold, dark holes in a limestone rock? Please enlighten me?”
Despite their situation it was easy to grin whenever he looked at her. “I was just thinking about the big cave at the base of the rock,” he whispered. “That’s the first cave most people would pick to look in. If they go in there looking for us they’ll be bat fodder before they ever find their way out.”
She followed and worked her way through large, moss-covered boulders towards the eastern edge of the large spire. “Bats eat insects, not fodder.” She whispered. “Wasn’t biology required where you did your undergraduate work?”
“It’s just an expression. After last night aren’t you thankful just to be alive?”
Jennifer moved forward until she stood beside Lee. She reached for his arm. “I’m not really a complainer, Lee. And…I am thankful that…that you kept me alive.”
He met her gaze. After what she had been through, she was hardly a complainer. Were those tears in her eyes?
He slid his arm through hers until their hands touched and clasped. “Jenn, thank you for keeping me alive, too. But in a few moments, you might not be so thankful I brought you up here. I’m taking you to the best hiding place I know, but getting there…well, it’s a bit dicey.”
She squeezed his hand. “It’s better if you don’t scare me in advance. Just lead me there and let me get frightened on my own. It minimizes the fright time.”
He wanted to prepare her for what was coming—to encourage her. Instead, he followed her advice.
Fifty yards beyond the large cave they crawled over the eastern shoulder of the large spire.
Jennifer made the steep climb without problems.
At the top, he guided her around a large rock.
She gasped when she realized where they stood. The seventy-foot precipice at Jennifer’s feet formed the partially hidden, southeast face of the spire.
She looked down to the bottom then returned her wide-eyed gaze to his. “Dicey?”
“A little. But don’t worry. We’ve rolled sevens all night long.”
She didn’t laugh. His comment drew only a glaring frown.
Evidently she didn’t appreciate a good pun.
He gave her his most convincing smile. “We’ve got ten minutes to climb down to the ledge.”
“It’s at least seventy-five feet to the bottom. I can’t—”
“Yes you can, Jenn. You showed me the incredible things you’re capable of several times last night. It’s only thirty feet down to the ledge.”
“Just stop. If you keep buttering me up I’ll be too slippery to hang on to anything.”
Maybe he was wrong about puns.
The thirty-foot descent bordered on real rock climbing. Not the rope and piton variety, but still serious enough to get a person killed if they made a mistake.
He prayed she would show the same spirit he had seen so far. The spirit that won his—there would be time to think about that later.
At least, he hoped so.
He crouched at the edge of the rock face below them. His gaze moved from handhold to handhold, foothold to foothold, tracing the path he’d used as a child. Satisfied, he slid his body over the edge.
Jennifer gasped again.
When his feet hit the small ledge four feet below he looked into wide eyes and a frown. He smiled and whirled his hand in a circle. “Turn around. Lie on your stomach and slide your feet over the edge. I’ll guide them onto the ledge beside me.”
After two aborted starts, she made it onto the ledge.
Lee kept an arm snug around her waist.
She was trembling. Jennifer stared down the rock towards its base. The bottom was seventy feet below them. “I only have two phobias, fear of heights and of raging water.”
“There’s no raging water around here and
it would probably help if you’d stop looking down to the bottom. Just look where we’re climbing. Watch my hands and feet closely. If I place my right foot or hand on a hold you do the same. The same goes for the left hand and foot. If you get crossed up you could get stuck.” He didn’t say the rest of it, but she got it.
“Or fall. I get it,” she whispered back. “OK, you lead. And Lee?”
“Yes?”
“Please don’t take any big steps or I will get stuck.”
He whispered softly into her ear. “I’ll make you a regular freeway down this rock wall, Jenn.”
Her body became rigid. “After last night I don’t think I ever want to see another freeway.”
He removed his arm and climbed down four steps. “OK, no freeways, no semis, no SUVs—just a quiet little lane.”
Jennifer’s eyes widened until they created horizontal lines on her forehead. Her body leaned inward towards the rock. Each movement was slow, tentative.
He prayed she would continue following him. If she froze they could become sitting ducks on the side of this rock.
For their descent, he chose to climb down a V-shaped notch in the rock. The indentation permitted him to overlap his body with Jennifer’s for most of the climb. Without climbing gear the notch provided the safest path of descent. Being inside the notch might also reduce her fear.
Ten feet down the rock he paused, waiting for Jennifer to descend so their bodies overlapped. When he looked up to monitor her progress he noticed the smooth soles of her shoes. That concerned him.
Jennifer stopped.
That concerned him, too. He watched until he saw her testing handholds.
At least she hadn’t frozen.
While he waited for her he strengthened his grip on the rock face. He looked down and repositioned his feet.
A scraping noise near his head startled him.
Jennifer gasped. Or was it a stifled scream?
Lee glanced up.
Her right foot had slipped from its foothold.
His whole body became rigid.
The weight of Jennifer’s right side jerked hard on her right hand. It ripped loose from its hold. Her right side was completely detached from the rock. She swung away from it like a door, hinged on her left hand and foot. Her body hung over…nothing.
The strain on Jennifer’s left hand tore it loose from its hold. She gasped loudly, but suppressed the scream a weaker person could not have stifled
His right hand shot upward. For one brief moment her front side came within reach. He squeezed his left hand hold with all his strength. With his right he clawed desperately for some part of her clothing. His fingers curled around her belt.
Jennifer’s body came loose from the rock. Beyond the tipping point she began to fall.
Lee pulled her body downward and in towards the rock face. Adrenaline-enhanced arm muscles jerked her body a few degrees off from the vertical force of gravity. He heard a thump and then a groan.
Her back had smashed into the rock slightly above his face. She slid down the heavy moss coating the limestone until he wedged her body between him and the rock wall. With his heart hammering he pinned her to the rock to prevent her from sliding farther.
He had brought her up to the mountaintop after promising to protect her. But, for the second time, he almost lost her. His promise, combined with the terror of what might have happened, tore at him with ferocity he had never before experienced. His feelings for this woman who would protect him, though terrified and facing her own death, suddenly grew very deep. Or perhaps he suddenly grew aware of how very deep those feelings had already grown.
Jennifer struggled to breathe. Her efforts sounded like an asthma attack.
He recognized the signs. For several years he’d heard them almost every night at football practice. He’d knocked the breath out of her when he smashed her back into the rock.
Jennifer’s wizened voice rasped rough edges onto her words. “Lee, you’re crushing me…my feet…are on the rock, now.”
“Are you absolutely sure, Jenn?”
“Yes…and if you’ll let me turn around…I’ll have two good handholds.”
Slowly he decreased the pressure on her body until she stood on her own with her back against the rock. He slipped one arm around her waist and allowed her to rotate her body until she faced the rock. He scrutinized every movement of her hands until she gained handholds.
When Jennifer stood secure inside the notch he took a deep breath and exhaled his panic. As he waited for the heart pounding to subside he felt Jennifer’s body shaking.
He pulled her close, buried his face in her hair and held her. “You’re safe now, Jenn. I won’t let you fall off this rock.”
She turned her head towards him. “Lee, I…” Jennifer’s voice trailed off, but her eyes revealed her thoughts. They stared at something a million miles away. Though she didn’t fall he realized she had experienced the horror of one of her worst phobias.
“Did I hurt you?” he whispered when she regained her composure.
“No more than you needed to. I’m OK.” She leaned her head onto his shoulder and let it rest there.
He sensed they were being bonded together, not only by forces forged in the fire of shared danger, but also by something else—something that went even deeper.
Lee leaned into the rock and turned. He wanted to see her face while remaining a protective cage around her.
With a penetrating gaze she peered deeply into his eyes.
For the second time his heart and mind were completely exposed to hers.
“Thank you, Lee…I really thought…” Her voice was heavy with emotion. She placed her cheek against his, took a deep breath, and smiled when she looked up at him. “I’m OK, now.”
Seeing the bright, self-confident, young woman so vulnerable and so totally dependent upon him, placed an even heavier burden on his shoulders. Regardless, the two were still exposed on a rock face. They needed to descend to the ledge before being spotted.
“Thanks again,” Jennifer whispered.
He sought an appropriate reply but could only think about the penetrating gaze from her large, brown eyes and the softness of her cheek touching his. He continued climbing down the rock watching Jennifer closely and feeling he had missed an opportunity. An opportunity to what? Answering that question would have to wait until they were safely hidden deep inside this huge monolith.
From the rock face the tiny ledge remained invisible until a person climbed down within a few feet of it. When the two reached the ledge Lee pointed to his right, towards a crevice in the rock, barely visible from where they stood. The crevice hid a narrow cave opening—one Lee and his childhood buddy discovered nearly twenty years earlier.
“Is that where we’re going?” Jennifer spoke softly, nodding towards the slit in the rock.
“Yes. And, Jenn…we need to keep our voices down to a whisper from now on. These limestone formations have amazing acoustics. Acoustics that can easily betray us. Especially inside of the caves. Do you think they can find that cave?” He looked towards the hidden opening.
“I would almost bet my life they can’t.”
He smiled. “You don’t have to. Once we’re inside, you’ll see we’re betting our lives on a sequence of three or four events, all just as unlikely.”
“I won’t even bother doing the math. The odds seem pretty good to me.” A genuine smile on Jennifer’s face so enhanced her natural beauty he could hardly think, hardly—
I’ve got to get focused, or I’ll get us killed.
He turned towards the cave opening. “Slide through and tell me what you see. Try to step on the rocks while we’re in the cave. We don’t want any footprints left in the dirt if we can avoid it.”
Jennifer slid into the cave. “This is a big cavern,” she said in a loud whisper.
He squeezed into the cave behind her. The opening seemed smaller than nineteen years ago when he first entered at eleven years of age. Had the petrogly
phs been left undisturbed by other junior spelunkers? Enough of the good old memories. He needed to concentrate on keeping them alive.
Part of staying alive meant staying warm. He needed to convey that bit of information to Jennifer. He vacillated on his approach to what might be a sensitive subject. “We’re going to be in this cave for…well, who knows how long. We won’t be nearly as active in here. We both have only light jackets and the temperature will be less than fifty degrees inside. That’s well within the window of—”
“Where is this discussion going, Lee?”
“We need to be alert for early signs of hypothermia. After a while, it might become as great a danger as the people shooting at us. If you feel cold, mentally sluggish, or if you start shivering, let me know.”
“And what do you plan to do about it if we start getting too cold? Jumping jacks?”
In the dim light, he couldn’t read her expression. “We’ll have to snug—uh…get close together to stay warm.”
“Brandt, are you trying to take advantage of me?”
Serious or facetious? It was too dark to see her well. He couldn’t distinguish the tone of Jennifer’s whisper. Whispers were like that—they didn’t employ the vocal chords.
Wanting to avoid a fiery outburst he sought a safe reply. “I’m more concerned about just keeping you alive. Anything else will have to wait until we get out of here.” After uttering the words he realized his implication.
He waited for a verbal assault from Jennifer. It didn’t come, at least, not as a direct frontal attack.
Her face tilted up. “Have I given you any reason to believe there might be ‘anything else’?”
“I…no.” He wished he could have answered otherwise.
“Well,” Jennifer whispered. She backed up against him and pulled his arms snugly around her. She relaxed there for several seconds. “I can handle that if we need to.” She slipped away from him and continued as if nothing had transpired. “Now…where were we, Lee?”
Something had transpired. He knew it.
She did, too. Even in the semi-darkness of the cave she was obviously avoiding his gaze.