by H. L. Wegley
She cocked her head and grinned. “I do? C’mon, Lee. Just because I let you call me Jenn doesn’t mean you can start the ‘I do’ talk.”
“But you do give me permission to call you Jenn from now on, right?”
She smiled. “Yes, I do, too.”
It seemed to him that, in that moment, they passed a milestone in their relationship. Everything changed. There had been times during their panicked flight for life they’d dropped all formalities. But now all the aloofness disappeared. Despite their precarious perch and the lurking danger all felt informal, warm, and good. Still he was glad the partial darkness of the chimney hid some of his facial expressions. Light might have exposed too much.
Doesn’t matter. She probably deduced it all anyway, because—
“Lee?” Jennifer waved her hand in front of his face.
“Huh?”
“Distracted again? The plan, Lee? How are we going to get out of this cave and off of this mountain, call for help, and make sure the bad guys get caught? You know…that plan?”
Reality—the other reality—the one with danger—the one where things were not all warm and good—came flooding back.
He took a deep breath. “So, here’s the plan. As long as the goons keep looking in the caves for fifteen or twenty minutes—and believe me, they still have a lot of caves to look in—this plan will work. Even if they come out in five minutes it still works.”
“Do I get to have any input?”
“Of course. I value your ideas. They kept us alive last night.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Last night my driving kept us alive.”
“Last night, you’re right about last night.” He raised his index finger. “But today there is one thing that needs to happen exactly as I’ve planned it.”
Jennifer’s forehead pinched into a frown and her gaze bored into him. “I know. It’s the part where you play the rear guard and stay behind to protect me like…like those Cheyenne dog soldiers?”
“I didn’t know you were into history.”
“I’m not. I just learned about them from a movie, Last of the—”
“Dogmen.” He smiled. “So you’re into adventure and romance?”
A brief smile lit her face. “I’m on this mountain with you, aren’t I?”
Not only was this woman sharp, she was intuitive. How did psychologist, Isabel Myers Briggs, classify people like her? The personality type indicator would denote a wonderful, schizophrenic mixture of logic and intuition, that permitted the scientist to run with the logic and then somehow to leap ahead with intuition to places people had never gone before. “INTJ.” Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judgment. That seemed like Jennifer. At least, it represented her intellectual side. The emotional side remained a mystery he wanted to solve.
“That’s what you plan to do, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
“Sometimes I wonder where your mind goes when it wanders off like that. But you know what I’m asking. So tell me right now, or you can forget about your plan.”
“Please hear me out on this, OK?”
She folded her arms and leaned into the cave wall. “All right. I’m listening.”
Sure she’s listening.
He took a deep breath. “I know this mountain like I know the palm of my hand. No, even better than the palm of my hand. There is a way to get us out of here safely.”
Her arms remained folded. “OK, what’s my part? Out with it before I change my mind.”
Before she changes her mind?
Had he actually gained a concession from Jennifer? If so, it might be one that saved their lives.
“OK, first you have to climb the remaining twenty-five feet to the hole in the chimney. I’ll be with you each step of the short—”
Her arms unfolded and she clutched the wall. “You mean this nearly one-hundred-feet-above-the-cave-floor climb?”
“You already climbed about three-fourths of it. You know you can do this.”
Jennifer took a breath and blew it back out. “OK. Once we’re on top, what then?”
“The biggest danger once we’re out of the cave is they might get a clear shot at us if they’re not in the caves.” He illustrated his point with animated hand gestures. “If they come over the ridge top shortly after we exit the chimney we could also be in danger.”
“Lee, please don’t do that with your hands. Hold onto something. And can we please eliminate that clear-shot danger?”
He decided to hold onto her shoulder. “The best thing we can do to eliminate it is to go now.” She didn’t seem to mind, so he continued. “They’re still in the caves, probably in the same cave system where they nearly found us. If they are in or around any of the caves they’re on the wrong side of the ridge to see us.”
She removed his hand from her shoulder. “So you’re proposing that we crawl out the chimney top, and then run like heck down the other side of the mountain? That’s the plan?”
“Something like that.” It felt like he was losing the battle on all fronts. “Please hear me out before you comment. Please, Jenn. I thought this through several times and it’s the safest and best way to go.”
“OK. I’m pretty sure where you’re going. Go ahead, finish.”
“When we crawl out of the chimney we’ll both look carefully to make sure they aren’t near the top of the ridge. I know a lookout spot near where we’re exiting. We can use it for surveillance—to be sure they can’t see us over the ridge top and to make sure they won’t get to the ridge top in time to stop us.”
“You mean in time to shoot us with that flying-dirt machine gun.” Jennifer’s face contorted into an expression that hurt him as much as it apparently hurt her.
Is she going to start crying?
The stabbing pain in his gut returned. “I didn’t think you saw that. You were completely exhausted.”
“I saw enough to know what they were doing and what you did.” Her arms encircled his neck before he could react. She leaned into the wall, drew him close, and squeezed hard. Choking back sobs. When the sobs subsided she stepped away and withdrew her arms.
So tender and weak, yet so strong.
He still had a lot to learn about this incredible woman and he wouldn’t tolerate further interference from the disparaging thoughts coming from the left side of his brain. Learning all about Jennifer was something he now wanted to do more than anything life on earth offered him.
So, where did Lee Brandt stand right now? Fifty feet up on a cavern wall being hunted by terrorists. That was the good news. A moment ago, he murdered the left side of his brain for blaspheming Jennifer. Before that, he told her he cared for her personally. The only thing he left out was how deeply he cared. Well, that’s where he stood, Lee Brandt, a sorry male member of the human species.
Her index finger touched his nose. “You did it again, Lee. It’s becoming obvious where you go. Shall I tell you?”
“No, Jenn.”
She knew all right, but she wasn’t frowning.
That was encouraging.
But right now, he needed to flesh out his plan or he might die a sorry example of a human male.
“So, here’s what we need you to do. When we climb out I’ll show you an old logging road. It will take you down the backside of this ridge to some houses.”
“I haven’t heard about anything taking you anywhere.” She stared into his eyes.
He ignored the comment, not the eyes. “A few years ago this would have been at least a mile run to the houses. But with all of the new development in the area it’s probably more like one-half mile downhill all the way. Can you handle that—two laps around the track, all downhill?”
“I can handle it. What do you have to handle, Lee?”
Jennifer wasn’t going to be happy about him staying behind for any reason, or for any length of time.
He needed to be convincing.
They didn’t have time to argue.
“The part I have to handle can on
ly be a one-man job. It requires intimacy with this mountain.”
She leaned against the cave wall with folded arms again. “I’ve had some of that over the last few hours. But, mountain man, what else does it require? For you to get shot so I can get away?”
“No. But I won’t lie to you. There is some risk, but much less than the risks we’ve already taken. And when it works I can easily join you while the bad guys are so occupied up here on the mountain the police can just walk up and arrest them.”
Jennifer’s frown tightened into a scowl. “Lee, that’s the biggest bunch of baloney anyone has ever tried to feed—”
“It’s not baloney. It’s justice for the goons and freedom for us all rolled up into one.”
“But, you’re not going to tell me—”
“Jenn, I don’t like buts.”
“But the goons—”
“I really don’t like buts, especially theirs. Which, by the way, I have plans for.”
Jennifer closed her mouth, pursing her lips.
He doubted her silence came from an appreciation of his pun. Most likely it was to regroup and attack again.
Unexpectedly, mysteriously, her expression mellowed. “If I agree to this you’ve got to promise me you won’t take any chances. Promise me you’ll do quickly whatever male pride thing you have planned and then run down this mountain to meet me.”
“I promise. And I’ve got some good reasons for keeping my promise.” He tried his most convincing smile, hoping she could see it in the light from the crack in the chimney.
For the first time Jennifer had cut him some slack on something she disagreed with. What did that mean?
“Will you do one more thing for me?” She leaned close to him.
“If I can you know I will.”
“Pray for us before we start. Pray hard, if that sort of thing isn’t being presumptuous with God.”
“I will and it isn’t.” And Lee did pray really hard.
When he finished and raised his head Jennifer put a hand on each side of his face forcing him to look into her eyes. The dim light exaggerated the size of her brown eyes.
The intense look was gone. Her gaze looked warm and inviting.
“Thanks. Now I hope I’m not being presumptuous.” She pulled Lee’s head down until their lips met. The kiss she gave him was warm and full of promise. As kisses went it was a short one. Coming from Jennifer it was long on meaning.
She pulled her head back a few inches and peered deeply into his eyes. It seemed as if she read all of his thoughts and emotions. This time he masked nothing, allowing her to find whatever she looked for.
When she was through inspecting his soul she smiled. Leaving him no time to savor the moment, she pushed him out onto the cavern wall and took two steps up.
“Let’s roll.”
13
For the first time in several hours their world grew light as Lee and Jennifer approached the hole at the top of the chimney.
Lee tugged on Jennifer’s leg and she stopped climbing while he studied the chimney wall above them looking for a way out through the crack in the rock.
He sighed in relief. “Thank you, Lord. Jenn, the opening’s accessible from the wall we’re climbing.”
Jennifer looked down into his face from her perch above him. “You prayed, Lee. What did you expect?”
“What if we climbed the wrong wall and couldn’t reach the opening? You know God doesn’t rearrange the world for us each time we pray.”
He looked at her face, a dark oval against the sunlight pouring in through the crack.
“Wait a minute. Are we talking about that infinite God of yours? Wouldn’t He have known about your prayer before you prayed it? Couldn’t He have chased us up the right wall?”
“Oh, me of little faith.” He climbed beside Jennifer and stopped. “Yeah. He can do that.”
He looked at her and saw Jennifer’s face in full sunlight less than three feet from his.
She was breathing deeply. Her cheeks were flushed from the climb and her hair danced with each puff of breeze from above.
He gasped.
“Lee, what’s wrong?” She looked at him staring at her. “Oh.” Her flushed cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. She looked away.
When she looked back at him, he tried to give her his warmest smile. “Oh…my sentiments exactly.” He paused. “Now I’m going to check out our escape hatch. Watch closely how I wedge my body between the two walls. It’s called jamming. When I get to the top I’ll make sure the area is clear. If there’s no sign of anyone I’ll climb back down. When we both go up I’ll be right behind you. We’ll finally complete this climb we started who knows how long ago.”
When he turned to climb to the top, Jennifer whispered behind him, “However long ago, it was worth it for me to see the light.”
As Lee wedged his body in the crack of the rock, Jennifer’s words wedged their way deeply into his mind. Why did this woman always use phrases having double meanings? And what did she really mean when she said “light?”
His train of thought jumped the tracks when his head popped out of the chimney. Temporarily blinded by the bright world of a sunny, mid-March afternoon, he pictured his pupils shrinking to pinpoints when the sunlight hit his eyes. After a second or two in the light, he could no longer see Jennifer in the semi-darkness below. Looking into the daylight again he carefully scanned a complete circle around his position and then stuck his head down into the crack in the rock. “No one in sight, Jenn. Have you heard anything from the cave?”
“Not a sound.”
“OK. Make some room. I’m coming down.”
Climbing down proved trickier than ascending. His eyes had adjusted to the sunlight so he could see nothing below him. Feeling his way down to the ledge where Jennifer stood he stepped onto it and slid over to the far side to give her climbing room.
“Jenn, just give me a second for my eyes to adjust, and then we’ll go up where we can both see the light.” He watched to gauge her response.
It was only fair that she wrestle with some double meanings, too.
She avoided his gaze. “What I said, you mean, but, Lee, I didn’t…”
Lee let her stumble for a few seconds. He thoroughly enjoyed her discombobulation. Perhaps he enjoyed it because it was a rare event. Or maybe because he enjoyed everything about Jennifer. He put his hand on her shoulder. “You know something, Jenn?” He didn’t wait for a reply. “I don’t think either one of us could survive an Alaskan winter. Think about it—three months without light. Three hours in a cave and I’m already starved for sunlight. Let’s go get some together.”
Jennifer eyed the gap above her with a serious frown. But she started climbing into the base of the crack.
He looked up at her silhouette. “Jam your body in like I did. I’ll be jammed in right below you each time you take a step. You can’t fall.”
“You’d better be right about that, Lee, or I’ll kill you.”
Double meanings. This woman is full of them.
Jennifer worked her way up the crack in the chimney with no problems. After slowly raising her body out of the opening in the huge rock she swept her gaze over the entire panorama. She shielded her eyes with one hand when she looked westward into the sun. “It’s still clear.”
“Good. Wait for me and then we can work our way over to the lookout point.”
A few seconds later they crouched in a small depression near the top of the towering peak. They raised their heads and he pointed to the lookout point thirty yards to the west at the very pinnacle of the spire.
“C’mon, Jenn,” he whispered. “Try to keep low and be as quiet as possible.”
Like the prolonged darkness in the cave, whispering had started to grate on Lee’s nerves. He wanted to use the full range of his vocal expression because there were things he wanted to tell Jennifer for which a whisper was completely inadequate—things where even his words might prove to be inadequate. But first, I need to carry out
this plan.
Jennifer gasped and closed her eyes when they reach the lookout point. “I can’t look down.”
He forgot to tell her they would be perched on the very edge of a sheer three-hundred-foot cliff, the north face of the limestone spire.
“Jenn, open your eyes or you really might fall.”
Her eyes popped open.
“Slip your legs in here.” He pointed to a narrow crack in the rock about two feet from the edge of the cliff. “It’s just big enough to jam your legs into up to your thighs, or in your case, to your waist.”
After Jennifer dropped into the crack Lee slipped in beside her and gestured towards the open space in front of them. “My buddy and I used to fly paper airplanes off this rock. We had to lean over the edge to launch them.” He leaned forward to demonstrate. “See, it’s impossible to fall from here with your legs stuck—”
“Please don’t do that.” She grabbed his jacket and pulled him back.
“Sorry. But look, you can see all of the limestone formation and most of the entire river valley. Look over there.” He pointed down to their right. “No, a little more to your right. That’s your car and there’s the SUV.”
“Lee, can’t we just—”
“Don’t even think about it.” He read the urge in Jennifer’s eyes and face. “If we make a run for your car we wouldn’t make it halfway down before they shot us.”
“But it’s right there, Lee.” Her eyes and voice pleaded as she pointed at her car.
“So close, yet so far away, huh? Well it’s only little further down the other side of the mountain to houses, people, and safety.”
“I know you’re right, but I’m getting impulses to run down to my car.”
“Like dangling a carrot in front of—” He’d painted himself into a corner with his simile.
Jennifer rescued him. “Like a chocoholic with a chocolate truffle dangling in front of her.”
Lee put his hand on her cheek and gently turned her head away from her car. “Think about it, Jenn. What if somehow we did make it? We would end up in another chase just like last night.”
Jennifer placed her fingers over Lee’s on her cheek. She squeezed his hand and met his gaze with her intense, brown eyes. “I’m sorry, Lee. I know we can’t go down there now and there’s no way I want to risk a repeat last night. When you see it in the movies it’s all action and adventure. When you live it, it’s nothing but panic, terror, and hyperventilation.” Jennifer sighed. “So, where is this path you want me to take down the back side of the mountain?”