by H. L. Wegley
“We can’t lose anyone standing here in the open. What do you mean, Drew?”
“I meant to tell you when we were here earlier, but I got distracted by a pretty señorita. There’s a cave at water level on the other side. It has two openings about twenty feet apart. Can you dive? The water’s deep enough here. I’ve done it since I was a kid.”
“I can dive.”
“I’ll go, then you after me. Swim straight across and I’ll help you into the cave.”
“Isn’t that putting all of our eggs into one basket? If they spotted us in the cave, we’d be trapped.”
“No. We can slide out the small opening while their lights are on the other one. The small opening is at water level. I don’t think they will see it.” He paused. “How far can you swim underwater?”
“I can stay under for almost a minute.”
“That should work. If we have to escape underwater, we’ll swim downstream. You’ve got to push it to your limits. Come up for a breath and go under again. When we come back up, we’ll be almost a hundred yards downstream. There’s cover. We can get out unseen and head for that pine tree canyon.”
“What about your rifle, Drew?”
“It’s not much use against AK-47s. I’ll hide my .30-30 and just keep the Governor.”
“Will it be okay after being in the river?”
“Yeah. Thanks to modern ammo.”
Drew hid his rifle under a ledge below the large, flat rock they stood on. He turned, facing the water at the edge of the rock. “Time to take a dip. I’ll surface and wait for you. There’s a bit of a current, so we don’t want to dilly dally, or we’ll end up swimming upstream to reach the cave. That might allow them to get here in time to spot us. When you get out, try to climb out on the left side of the cave opening, where the grass grows over the rocks. We don’t want them to see our wet path. Ready?”
Her shadowy head nodded.
Drew took a step to the edge of the rock and launched his body into the darkness ahead of them. It wasn’t a perfect dive, but the noise of the falls would cover his splash.
He surfaced and treaded water.
Drew didn’t hear Beth hit the water. Where was she? More importantly, where were Suarez and his men?
The flashing lights on the trail were only two- or three-hundred yards away. They could be here in a couple of minutes.
Beth bobbed up beside him. They almost bumped heads.
“Follow me, Beth. We need to hurry.” Drew dogpaddled the ten yards to the rocky shore at the base of the cliff that housed the cave.
When he felt the bank, he pulled his body across the grassy area and waited.
Beth was only a couple of seconds behind.
He took her hands and pulled her out of the water. “Hurry. Into the cave, then we’ll move to our right. It’s about twenty feet to the other opening.”
The cave was smaller than Drew remembered. His adult body had to squeeze through the rocks at the midway point, but he made it to the other opening.
Once again, Beth followed on his heels.
Drew looked back to where they had entered.
A bright beam lit the other opening. The beam focused on the wet rocks that gave away their entry into the cave.
How were Suarez and his men able to follow Beth and Drew at night despite his efforts to lose them? Maybe it was the lightning. If it didn’t stop soon, the thunderstorms might end up killing Beth and him.
Suarez was still inspecting the other cave opening. Time to get out of the cave and into the water.
“Quién puede nadar?” One man pointed down from the rock where he stood to the water.
“No. Ellos estan atrapados. Esperaremos.” It sounded like Suarez’s voice.
“What are they saying?”
“One man is asking if someone can swim across, but Suarez says to wait, because we’re trapped.”
He tugged on Beth’s hand. “Let’s go before we are trapped. The water’s deep. We can just slide in and go under. Stay to the left side of the river. About a hundred yards downstream there’s a slight bend in the river and there’s cover. We can get out behind the trees. They won’t be able to see us. Remember, go as far as you can before you come up for air. Push it until you can’t stand it one second longer. When you do come up, stay low. Only let your face out of the water. I’ll be waiting to swim the second leg with you.”
“How will I find you?”
“You won’t have to. I’ll find you.”
She squeezed his hand and Drew lowered himself into the chilling water.
He sucked in a breath, completely filling his lungs, and pushed his body under.
Drew had forgotten how cold this river’s water feels when swimming below its surface. The glacier-fed water of the Deschutes stings a person’s eyes, freezes their forehead, and produces other discomforts that make a person want to surface.
Was Beth up to this? As Drew frog kicked underwater, he prayed she was. He prayed he was. And he prayed that there would be no lights shining on their heads when they surfaced for air.
When his lungs screamed for air, Drew didn’t give in. He counted slowly to ten and then let his face break the water’s surface. He sucked hard two or three times then pushed against the water with his hands and swiveled to look up the river.
Beth’s head broke the surface about five yards upriver from him. She had done well. She had pointed her feet upstream and was floating down the river with only her face exposed. A smart move. Maximizing breathing time, minimizing her exposure.
He waited for her to catch up with him.
Lights now danced on the water all around the falls. One of them moved slowly down the river, exploring both sides.
Drew spun around to look downriver.
The small point hosting a tree had a small boulder beside it. It was too dark to tell for sure, but it looked like the point would keep them sheltered from prying eyes. The rock would stop bullets if they were spotted.
Beth caught him and took his hand.
“Beth, they’re starting to look downriver. We need to make it to the point that’s about thirty yards downstr—”
A bright flash of lightning lit the entire river valley around them. The sharp crack came only a second behind the flash.
A cacophony of voices rose in volume from the group by the falls. The dreaded tat-tat-tat sounded, and columns of water exploded into the air beside Beth.
They needed the protection of the water.
“Go deep and go all the way.” Drew dove and pulled her down with him.
Beth’s hand slipped from his and she shot ahead of him. Her power as a swimmer surprised him. Maybe they could make it to the bend without surfacing and becoming targets.
Another flash of lightning lit the water. It outlined Beth as she swam underwater, ahead and slightly above him.
She needed to be deeper to—no. The rounds fired at them were hitting the water at an acute angle. That would provide the required eight feet of water to slow the bullets to a harmless speed.
The zip, zip of bullets striking the water above them punctuated the underwater silence. The shots continued for a few seconds then stopped.
Did that mean Suarez thought he’d hit them? If Drew and Beth remained out of sight after surfacing at the point, maybe Suarez would think he’d killed them. If he started looking for their dead bodies, Beth and Drew could regain their big lead, provided the lightning didn’t give them away as they climbed out of the small river valley.
Drew focused on the shoreline, hoping another flash of lightning might show him Suarez’s position.
In a few seconds, a flash and a near simultaneous boom sent pain through his ears though he was underwater. But the lightning had shown Drew a rock directly beside him.
He reached up where Beth’s body had been and felt the smooth skin of her leg. He reached again. His hand found an ankle. He pulled it toward shore.
Beth made the course correction.
They were going to make the sheltered po
int.
Drew pulled hard on the water and broke the surface beside the rock.
The burping of an AK-47 accompanied by flashes of light came from up river. But this time, it came from well below the falls.
Suarez must have seen the ripples in the smooth water. He hadn’t given up, and he was coming downstream, following them.
He and Beth needed to get out of the water and climb out of the river valley before they were spotted again.
Beth glided into the bank beside him. They were safe behind the rock but only until Suarez came another fifty yards downstream.
They didn’t have time to wait for Beth to catch her breath. “We need to make a run for it, now. Take my hand and try to keep up.”
With wet clothes and soggy shoes, Drew seemed twenty pounds overweight as he sought a path up the west side of the Deschutes River canyon in the darkness.
The bank wasn’t as steep here and, once they crossed the ridge above them, they would be near the mouth of the pine tree canyon. But they needed the lightning to cooperate, or they might never make it out of the river canyon alive.
Lightning struck the ridge on the east side of the river. The light revealed a small path ahead of them. “Head for the deer trail on our left. We’ll run the trail to the top.”
“And pray we’re behind a tree when the lightning flashes,” Beth said.
If Suarez spotted them scurrying up the side of the small canyon, he and Beth would be easy targets for twenty-five men all carrying AK-47s. Firing about eight rounds a second, that was what … two-hundred bullets a second coming at them.
Why had he even made that calculation? They would need something more than just luck to get out of the river valley without being hit.
Drew prayed for help to get Beth safely over the next ridge. Maybe that was why he’d made that crazy calculation. It had reminded him of their need and that they weren’t in this drama alone. Regardless, it was time to make their run.
Drew tugged on Beth’s arm and they sprinted along the deer trail climbing the slope. He pulled her to a stop behind the first tree they reached.
A flash of lightning turned the river valley brighter than the noonday sun.
“We can’t let them catch us in the open when it flashes like that.”
Beth nodded. “There’s no excuse for what I did, but I trust you Drew. I always have.”
With all that was happening, Beth’s mind was obviously on her note and her leaving.
Somehow, he had grown so engrossed with protecting her, that he’d forgotten the note. Drew wanted to finish discussing that topic, to remove whatever barriers remained between him and the only woman he had ever loved. But this wasn’t the time.
Regardless, her words lifted Drew up. But at the same time, they weighed him down with the responsibility of keeping Beth alive.
“Beth, let’s go again. But if we do get caught in the open when the lightning flashes, we’ll reverse direction and run back to the last tree we passed.”
“Got it. Don’t let them use the lightning to their advantage.”
Drew nodded then pulled her back onto the deer trail. They ran as fast as they dared in the darkness and, in four or five seconds, reached a large juniper. When they slipped behind it, in-cloud lightning, directly above them, lit the river valley.
“Good timing, Drew.” She squeezed his hand.
“As if I had anything to do with that.”
“Without His help, we wouldn’t have made it this far.”
Drew nodded again, but what had he just acknowledged?
In situations like this, with serious danger and lives on the line, Drew never knew where his responsibility ended and God’s began. Maybe the two were merged such that Drew didn’t have to worry about separate responsibilities. Maybe he needed to do his best and leave supplying whatever was lacking to God.
Leaving anything to someone else wasn’t something Drew West was good at. He was better at pounding opponents into submission than submitting his will to the One who gave Drew his fighting ability.
Beth poked his shoulder. “Time to go.”
“Yeah.” He needed to keep his mind in the game. It seemed like the fourth quarter with Beth and Drew ahead by one point. They were ahead, but if they fell behind, it was game over.
Before they ran from behind the tree, a cloud-to-ground bolt of lightning struck the ridge top above them. In the flicker of light, Drew could see the distance that remained. They had seventy-five yards left with two trees for cover and no obstacles on the trail.
He tugged on Beth’s hand.
They reached the next tree, and there had been no more lightning, so Drew continued their run up the trail.
Another in-cloud flash lit Beth and Drew with its white light. The next tree stood only ten yards ahead. Instead of reversing direction as they had planned, Drew broke into an all-out sprint up the hill.
The staccato burping of multiple automatic weapons echoed through the canyon.
Drew kept running, pulling Beth.
Bullets kicked up dust around them.
Dirt stung his bare legs.
He swung Beth, by the hand, around his body until she was ahead of him. Maybe Drew’s body could stop the bullets before they reached Beth.
They slid to a stop at the next tree.
Drew pushed Beth behind its thick trunk.
Pain!
A stinging in his upper left arm quickly morphed to spasming muscles. His triceps turned as hard as a rock.
Something tickled the skin on his arm. The sensation ran down to his wrist.
Drew touched his wrist with his right hand. Warm, sticky … blood.
The shooting stopped.
He hid behind the tree with Beth and waited for the pain to subside.
Should he tell her he was hit? No. He needed to rest here and see how bad it was. The blood had been trickling down his arm, not flowing. Maybe he’d just been nicked.
“What are you doing.” Beth reached for his arm, before he could react.
She pulled her hand back after touching his forearm. “You’re bleeding. Drew, you need to talk to me. Tell me what’s happening.”
“You’re a fine one to be making that point.”
Beth’s face tilted down toward the ground. Her shoulders slumped.
“I’m sorry, Beth. Getting hit can make a guy say crazy things.”
She looked up. “How bad is it?”
“They nicked my upper arm. I think it’s only a deep scratch.”
“How deep?”
“I can’t tell. It’s too dark.”
“Turn your arm my way.” Beth gripped his shoulders and turned him.
Lightning flashed in the cloud above them and thunder rumbled for several seconds. It lit his wound enough for her to get a glimpse.
“I need to bandage it.”
He couldn’t see the wound on the back of his arm. “How bad is it, Beth?”
“It needs more than a Band-Aid.”
“We had a first aid kit at the cabin. If we hadn’t—”
“Drew, let’s not go there. Not now. Give me your knife.”
“My knife? Can I trust you with it?”
“What do you think?”
He imagined her enigmatic smile, one that would complement her enigmatic words.
Drew blew out a breath. Too bad he couldn’t also blow out the pain. He pulled his knife from a pocket in his cargo shorts and handed it to her.
Beth tugged on the bottom of his shirt. “I’m about to ruin your t-shirt.”
“Just cut my shirt, not me.”
She cut the band from the bottom of his shirt, then cut a piece of cloth from her blouse. Beth put the cloth over his wound and used the strip of fabric from the t-shirt band to wrap around his arm. She tied the makeshift bandage tightly.
“That should stop any bleeding. Here’s your knife.” She placed it in his hand. “See, you can trust me.”
But trust had been shattered when they left the cabin. Coul
d one discussion put it all back together again? Maybe. But only if they survived until they could have that discussion.
Splashing sounds from the river below.
“They’re crossing. We need to hurry to that canyon.”
Several bolts of lightning split the sky to the west.
“Good grief. Did you see that, Beth?”
“I saw the lightning.”
“But the lightning was from several different clouds. They’re just to the west and moving our way. It looked like a line of five or six huge CBs.”
“CBs?”
“Cumulonimbus clouds. Thunderstorms. This is looking like the severe weather they have in the plains. I’ve never seen the atmosphere this unstable in Central Oregon.”
“What does that mean for us, Drew?”
“It means we need to get off this ridge, now.”
Chapter 23
“Beth, we need to get off this ridge, now.” Why wasn’t she moving? “Beth, lightning will be striking anything that sticks up. You know, like us. We could see large hail, microbursts, deluges, possibly even a tornado.” He hooked Beth’s waist. “Come on. I need to get you off this ridge.”
She planted her feet and wouldn’t move. “Drew, don’t you have anything to say first?”
“Uh … thanks for bandaging me up?”
“Getting a thank you from a beta male is like pulling—”
“Alpha male. But I already told you I don’t fit the profile.”
Was she trying to get some response from him that said the note was history? If so, was his lame ‘thanks for bandaging me up’ enough? Probably not.
“Drew, I ought to poke you in that wounded triceps. But, like you said, we need to get off this ridge.”
Something had just changed in her. She sounded like the pre-argument Beth, the Beth he fell for in Texas.
“Let’s run the deer trail to the top then go straight down the other side.”
They cleared the ridge with no more shots fired.
With each lightning flash, Drew took a snapshot of the terrain ahead and adjusted their course. The vegetation had grown sparse and the flashes were frequent, allowing them to run down the ridge at near full speed.
Within a couple of minutes, they reached the mouth of the valley of pine trees.