by Nancy Adams
It had been two days since the jet went down, and night was falling over the part of the Rockies where Nate and Katelynn and our flight crew were stranded. I wanted to do something, anything, to bring them all home safely, but I had no idea what it might be. All the wealth at my disposal was worthless in this case, because everything that could be done was already being done.
I had spent the time since the crash in my study at home, making all the calls I could think of, demanding and pleading and wheedling any favors I could manage that might get us some more resources for the search. I'd gotten some headway, of course; money will do that. At least three small air freight companies that flew through there had given their pilots instructions to fly as low as they could legally manage and keep their eyes peeled for any sign of wreckage, tree damage, fire sign or anything else that might be a clue to where my son and the others could be found.
Still, I was sitting there praying to God that there was something more that might be done, and as I said “Amen,” my cell phone rang. I snatched it up instantly.
“Simmons,” I said, and I heard the nasal twang of the senator I'd spoken to the day before.
“Norman, it's me,” he said, “and if you ever tell anyone about this call, I'll deny it and swear you’re a liar, you got that?”
“I do,” I said. “What have you got, Buddy?”
He cleared his throat. “I have an intern who's dating one of the bright boys down in satellite recon, in the Pentagon. She overheard some of your call yesterday, and when she caught me alone this morning, she had an idea that maybe he could turn one of the satellites to take a look in the area where the plane went down. He took some pictures for her today and ran them through all of his software, the stuff they use to study Russian troop movements and such, right? Well, he found your plane. No doubt it's your Lear, even though he said it's scattered over half a mile of forest; he got enough imagery to confirm the make and model from fuselage design elements.”
“Oh, God...” I said. “Was—was there any sign of...”
“Best he could tell, there was no sign of bodies outside the wreckage anywhere, but he couldn't get anything from inside. If someone was killed, even infrared wouldn't pick them up after more than twenty-four hours. I can give you the coordinates, but you'd better swear you got them from an anonymous psychic, you hear me? You blab and you'll put me, my intern and her boyfriend in one of those psychiatric hospitals they use to get rid of people who've become inconvenient! The country might not miss me all that much, but I don’t want anything to happen to those kids!”
“I know just the psychic to blame it on,” I said, “and she'll swear to it if I ask her to. Gimme!”
He read off the coordinates to me, and I wrote them down. As soon as I'd read them back, the call ended, and I'd bet money that phone would never be seen or heard from again; I can tell you it wasn't his own cell number.
The first thing I did was use the internet to determine where those coordinates were, then wrote down directions from the nearest town to them. After that, I called out to Denver and spoke to a CAP officer named Major Stern, who was on the night duty. I told him that a well known psychic had called and told me that the jet had crashed on the southern slope of Derby Peak, thirty miles northeast of Glenwood Springs.
He seemed to think I was kidding, so I reamed him out and made sure he knew I was damned well serious! I told him that if I didn't hear from his unit commander that there was a helicopter on the way to that peak by daylight, I'd see that he never worked in anything to do with aviation for the rest of his life!
He promised to relay the message to Colonel Mason, and then I called Jim Burke.
“Jim, it's Norman,” I said. “Are you where you can talk alone?”
“Yeah. You caught me stepping out to get us some soft drinks. Why?”
“I pulled some strings, and I can't tell you how I know, but the jet's wreckage has been positively identified by satellite, and I've got the information to Colonel Mason. He should get it early in the morning, and get a search team out there.”
He was silent for a moment. “Any sign of survivors?” he asked.
“No, but don't let that make you give up. Nate's not the kind to sit and wait for someone to come get him. He'll be trying to get them all out safely, and he's no fool when it comes to the wilderness, believe me. Hang in there, and if you hear anything before I do...”
“I will,”he said, “because I'll be in that search team one way or another. As soon as I can get back into range of a cell tower, I'll call you.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, and we hung up. Jim was my kind of man, I thought, and I prayed again that we'd have a long association through our children and their love for one another.
Nathanael
Chapter Nine
Bear Me Away
* * * * *
We woke to our third day in the wilds, and Katelynn kissed me good morning so passionately that I didn't even bother to try to push her away. We might be amateurs at some aspects of our new love life, but we were certainly learning fast and enjoying the lessons!
We climbed out of the lean-to I'd built the night before, forced ourselves to bathe in the icy cold stream, and then shivered in the early sun and cool breeze while our clothes dried on some bushes.
“I think I know something,” she said to me, and the mischievous look in her eye made me cautious.
“What?” I asked, and then she grinned.
“I think I know what Adam and Eve must have felt like in the Garden. No clothes, nothing to do but just be together and love each other. Pretty good life, if you ask me, but they blew it!”
I couldn't help but laugh. “True, but they had different circumstances. For us, now, I'll be glad when our clothes are dry, even if I do like seeing you in this condition—ow!” I got slapped on the shoulder, but not all that hard.
“Stop it,” she said, “or we'll have to get back in that cold water and take another bath!”
I laughed and she cracked up right along with me, but we didn't let it get out of hand. We were naked and cold, and hadn't even had breakfast, yet, so I wandered to where she'd found the raspberries the night before and gathered us up a bunch, using my still damp shirt to carry them back. A few got smashed and stained it, but I didn't care; at least I could get something in Katelynn's belly before I asked her to walk another ten miles through the forest.
We ate them together, sitting on a rock in the rising sunlight, and then got dressed. Our clothes were mostly dry by then, and we both felt warmer than when we'd sat naked in the air. We cleaned up our campsite and put all our gear into my makeshift backpack. It was a little heavier, because we hadn't used much of the water we'd purified the night before, and I wasn't willing to waste it. True, we'd almost certainly find civilization within a few more days, at worst, but I wasn't willing to take a chance on running out of those tablets. Getting sick out here from drinking contaminated water could be as fatal as a rattlesnake bite.
This side of the stream made for easier going, because the foliage wasn't quite as dense. We moved out and made a little better time, walking along a wide area near the edge of the water. I kept my eyes peeled for anything that looked like danger as we walked.
“I love you,” Katelynn said, and I looked back at her and smiled.
“I love you more,” I shot back. Like many people, it was a game we enjoyed, and sometimes she let me win. This was one of them, I guess, because she smiled.
“When we get out of here,” she said, “I want a hot bath, a soft, warm bed with you in it and a week of not having to deal with anything.”
“Uh-oh. Yesterday you wanted two days, and now a week? This is getting serious!”
She giggled. “You bet it is! Why do you think I want you in that soft, warm bed with me?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me when I looked back at her.
“You know what?” I asked her, and she tilted her head.
“What?”
“You were right. God
must have accepted our vows, because I feel totally married to you, and I'm lovin' it, Baby!”
Her smile spread out until I was afraid it would split her face wide open. “Yeah? Me, too. I told you so, didn't I? God understands, and since we don't know when, or even if we'll ever get out of this alive, there just wasn't any sense in waiting any longer.”
I nodded. “True, but we still need to do the big wedding for everyone else. Only real difference is that we already have the feelings it would give us.”
“I love you, Nathanael Simmons!” she shouted suddenly, at the top of her lungs, and I spun to smile at her.
“I love you, too, Katelynn Burke!” I shouted back. We laughed at ourselves, and then continued walking along. Katelynn was only a few feet behind me, but I kept glancing over my shoulder, anyway. She was the most important and precious thing in my world, and I wasn't about to let any negligence cause her to be injured or lost. I kept a watch on my wife.
I heard the helicopter, but couldn't tell where the sound was actually coming from, at first. I looked around, hoping to see the thing, but the trees were still dense enough to make it impossible.
“I heard it, too,” Katelynn said. “Any idea where it is?”
I shook my head. “No. It's too far away, and the trees are messing with the sound, makes it hard to tell what direction it's coming from. If I could climb high enough into a tree, I might see something, but these pines are too dense. We better keep going.”
Ten minutes later, I heard it again, and this time it was a little louder. I spotted a tall outcrop of rock, and ran to get onto it, just in time to see a big white rescue chopper moving away from me at what I'd guess to be eight or nine miles away. I started to pull out the flare gun, but then I remembered the first rule of using them: no one in a search plane is looking backwards.
“Baby, come up here,” I called. “They're searching a grid, and I think maybe they've found the wreckage of the jet. If we sit here, there's a good chance they'll be flying back this direction, or at least close enough to it that they might see a flare. We can wait up here for a while and see.”
“Oh, God, I hope they see us! Please, God, let them find us today!” I echoed her prayer with my own.
We sat there for an hour or so, just waiting, and talked about things that weren't at all important. I think that's normal, when you’re in a bad situation and just waiting for something to change it for you; when I was in Iraq, and my unit was pinned down, we sat around and talked about the girls back home, the cars we loved, silly, inconsequential things, rather than the distinct possibility that there was no one coming to help us, and we were going to die. This felt the same way that had felt, and I pulled Katelynn into a hug.
She started to cry. What is it about an innocent act of comfort that can release pent up tears so quickly? I held her and let her cry it out, there on my shoulder, and prayed again that I was strong enough to protect her and keep her safe.
About an hour passed, and there was no sign of the helicopter again. That told me that they most likely had found the wreckage, and were probably removing the bodies of the flight crew, while looking for some sign of us. I was glad I'd left my message on the plane, so they'd know we were alive, at least, but we'd gone east at that point, and now we were heading south. If they had brought search dogs, they might find us, but there had been stretches yesterday where we'd had to walk in water for a while, and then we'd crossed the stream. If they missed any of our sign, they'd never find us, even with the dogs.
We could stay where we were in the hopes that we'd get a chance to get a flare off for them to see; we could keep going south, where I was sure we'd find a main road or a town sooner or later; or we could go back the way we'd come and try to meet them as they tracked us. I sat and thought through these options, trying to decide which one was best.
If we stayed here, and the search team stayed on the ground overnight, we'd lose the rest of the day's travel time. On the other hand, if we went on, we might not be near a place where I could get a flare off whenever we heard them again.
Going back the way we'd come was probably not as sensible as it sounded, because we couldn't be sure how far they might be able to follow our trail. If they lost it too soon, they could take off and leave, and we would have lost all we'd already gained. I ruled that one out.
So, should we stay put, or move on? That was a tougher one to choose, but I finally decided we should stay where we were. If they tracked us, then there was a chance they'd find us there; if not, then the helicopter would be taking off again at some point, and would almost certainly be heading toward Denver. That meant it should pass somewhere close to overhead, or in our general direction, east. Then I'd have better chance of a flare being seen.
I turned to Katelynn. “Babe, we're going to stay here. I think it's our best chance of rescue, now, so I'm going to start making us a camp, in case we're here overnight.” I loaded the flare gun and handed it to her. “If the helicopter takes off and is pointing at least generally this direction, then aim this into the sky and just pull the trigger. They should see it, if they're looking toward the east at all, and if they do they'll be able to come and pull us right up out of here.”
She smiled, hope finally starting to grow again inside her. She took the flare gun and held it carefully, and I set my backpack down beside her on the rocks. I kissed her and then went to start preparing a shelter and look for a meal. I wasn't planning on trying to be one.
The grizzly came out of nowhere, and if I hadn’t heard Katelynn scream, I'd probably be dead. The bear—which the government insisted was no longer present in the Colorado Rockies, despite sightings and photos and even two fatal grizzly attacks in recent years—was coming at me at full speed, and I only dodged it by diving and rolling behind a tree. That distracted it for a moment, and I grabbed for the .45 in my waistband, but it wasn't there. I'd lost it when I dived, I guess, because suddenly I was facing a nine hundred pound grizzly with nothing but a hunting knife that was still in its sheath.
The bear turned and saw me, and came at me again, so I ran behind another tree. That strategy wasn't going to work for long, but it was all I had, so I watched the bear and tried to judge which way he was going to lunge. If I guessed wrong, I was dead—or it might turn to Katelynn, and I couldn't let that happen.
The bear didn't lunge. It dropped down to all fours and began to stalk me, moving slowly, watching me for my next move. This creature was far more intelligent than I would have ever dreamed it could be, and I suddenly had that sinking feeling that I was not going to be able to get out of this one.
Jim
Chapter Ten
Don't Give Up
* * * * *
I had told Rebecca about Norman's call, and set my phone's alarm for five-thirty so I could be up before Colonel Mason arrived in the morning. I got up and showered quickly, then went to grab coffee on my way to the CAP offices.
The Colonel got in a few minutes after I got there, and was going through his overnight messages when I knocked on his door. He looked up at me from whatever he'd been reading, and I saw a wry grin.
“I'm gonna bet I know why you're here,” he said. “Norman Simmons left me a message that some psychic says the plane went down in a certain spot. I'm betting he called you, too, and you want to ride along if we go to look?”
His tone suggested that he didn’t believe in psychics and wasn't planning to go and check out Norman's information. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.
“Colonel, I'm a lawyer, and as such I’m privy to some facts that aren't available to others. Norman Simmons is one of my clients,” I lied, “and I can tell you that his information did not actually come from a psychic, but from a highly placed governmental source that is one hundred percent certain of its validity. Now, that being said, if you repeat what I've just told you, I will be forced to deny it in order to protect my client. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”
The Colonel looked at me
for a moment, then smiled. “I think you're saying that if I don't get a chopper on the way to this mountain, I'm likely going to end up a very unhappy man, and might even be liable for dereliction of duty.” He stood up. “Come on, Jim, let's get you on a helicopter ride.”
The first thing he did was take me to a man who let me borrow some boots and a set of fatigues, because the clothes I'd brought—not really thinking about joining in on the searches—were more what I'd wear in the office. The guy he found was my size, and even his boots fit me perfectly.
It took him almost an hour to get the search team mounted and into a helicopter, but we took off as soon as we were all on board. I'd been introduced to the pilot and flight crew, and they were all the dependable sort; there were also two medics, a couple of forest rangers and a man with a bloodhound who was there in case we needed to track anyone who might have left the scene.
I can admit now that I was absolutely terrified of what we would find when we got there. Inside, I felt that if Katelynn and Nate were alive, they would have found some way to get a signal out, but I tried desperately to hold onto the hope that they had all survived the crash. That wasn't easy, because Norman had said there was no sign that anyone had lived through it.
I prayed, all the way there. I'm not necessarily the most publicly religious man you'll ever meet, but I do know my Creator and my Savior, and so I laid all of the burden at His feet. My hope had to rest in Him, because I didn't have much left in me.
About an hour later, the pilot announced that we were approaching the area, and I got to one of the open side doors and held onto a strap as I leaned out to look down. We were still moving forward, but then we slowed and came to a stop, hovering over some thick trees.