John nodded. “And then continue riding west until you reach the river Mr. Van Buskirk mentioned and locate his campsite.”
Connor smirked faintly. “Shouldn’t be hard to miss since he is using an aircraft canopy for shelter. Has to be mine.”
“At least he has some shelter,” John said. “But he will not stay warm down there for long.”
Though only a month into autumn, the Land’s position in the South Atlantic Ocean meant the Antarctic winds would soon make travel a bone-chilling ordeal. And they were talking about going to the Land’s southernmost tip. The skin on Revel’s spine prickled. “When do we leave?”
John answered quickly, “At first light. Men, ready your packs tonight. I will prepare food for your journey and have Lydia gather the medical supplies you might need to treat Mr. Van Buskirk.”
Connor turned toward John as they made plans, putting his back to Bailey. Before Revel could find a way to include her in the conversation, Bailey moved around him and addressed John. “Wait, you said men. I’m going too.”
Connor crossed his arms and looked down his angular nose at Bailey. “No, you are not.”
“Tim is my friend. I told him I would find him and I intend to keep my word.”
Though her resolve was admirable, the thought of a woman going on a treacherous journey to the Land’s deadly mountain terrain made Revel’s stomach tighten. “It’s too dangerous.”
She drew her head back. “Dangerous? Anything in the Land would be a cake walk compared to what I survived in America.”
Revel tried to talk her out of it with the soft tone that sometimes worked on his sisters. “Bailey, listen—”
“She should go,” John said. His august demeanor silenced everyone. “I have come to know Bailey well enough to believe she will be in more danger if she stays here in Good Springs doing nothing to save her friend than if she went with you.”
A slight smile relaxed her striking features. “Thank you, John.”
Revel wished Bailey was thanking him instead. He wanted to protect her from whatever had kept past explorers from returning from the mountains. But he should have known she would want support for her courageous plan rather than protection.
“Besides,” John pointed at the radio Bailey held, “she has a connection to Mr. Van Buskirk and will be able to stay in contact with him so you can locate him more quickly.”
Connor tightened his crossed arms. “She shouldn’t have used the radio here to begin with. It has to stay turned off. She is endangering the Land every time she turns it on. What about the people here, the children?”
Revel opened his mouth to defend Bailey, but she beat him to it.
“Is that what this is about?” She stepped closer to Connor with her petite chin lifted. “You have your safe life here in the Land and want to keep it that way even if it means someone else dies.” Before Connor could respond, Bailey spun on her heel and faced John. “Tim will still use his radio to contact me, so radio signals are going to be sent inside the Land whether I use mine or not.”
The room fell silent. Bailey was right. Connor was right too.
John leaned against the edge of the divan and scratched his trimmed gray beard.
Connor uncrossed his arms and wiped both hands over his face. Revel hadn’t seen him this agitated since the night Bailey and her crew came ashore. That event had been everything Connor trained Revel and the rest of the security team for.
Still, nothing could have prepared Revel for what happened. The burst of gunfire; the sweat dripping into his eyes as he raised his bow and aimed; a split-second decision. The wrong decision. The heaviness of guilt that pierced his heart when he saw what he’d done…
Revel’s breath burned in his lungs as he awaited John’s response. Not only was John the head of this house and kindly boarding Revel while he sorted out what he was going to do with his future, he was also the village overseer, and as such his wise decisions were promptly obeyed.
Bailey didn’t move an inch, but a strand of sable hair hanging in front of her amber eyes vibrated with her elevated pulse. Revel wanted to trace it off her face.
Finally, John leaned away from the divan. “Bailey may use the radio until Mr. Van Buskirk is located. I trust she will keep her conversations to a minimum and try not to give details that someone outside the Land might use against us. Pack your bag tonight too, Bailey, and be ready to ride out with the men at sunrise.” He looked at Connor for a long moment as if that made his word final, then his shoulders relaxed. “All right, everyone. We have preparations to make.”
Chapter Two
Bailey opened the ornately carved wardrobe that stood in the corner of the Colburns’ guest room and tossed her black waterproof backpack onto the bed. The only spare pair of pants she owned had been cut when Dr. Lydia Bradshaw treated her arrow wound the night Bailey arrived in the Land. She tossed the one-legged jeans to the floor. They were worthless.
The rest of her possessions barely covered the bottom of one wardrobe drawer. She packed each item into the compartments of her backpack: a multiblade pocketknife, stormproof matches, compass, compact hand-crank flashlight, binoculars, and the well-worn copy of The New Testament her martial arts coach gave her in eighth grade. She zipped her reef booties into the shoe compartment at the bottom of the backpack and tucked the note from Justin Mercer in a hidden interior pocket.
She opened another drawer and drew out the possessions that weren’t hers but had meant more to her than her own. Tim’s favorite hat—the white bucket hat he said was lucky—and his eyeglasses. When she’d found them on the beach along with a life vest and an oar, she’d assumed the worst. Thank God she’d been wrong.
It took all of ninety seconds to pack her bag. Eight hours left until sunrise. Great.
She couldn’t sit here worrying about Tim all night. She said a quick prayer for him then sat on the edge of the quilted bed and spun the plastic handle on the radio to charge the battery. Once the indicator showed a full charge, she slid the radio into her backpack’s side pocket.
How many times had she packed a bag in her life not knowing where she would end up the next day? She leaned her palms behind her on the comfortable bed. One more night’s sleep in the warm guest room and then she would be homeless again.
Well, she had never been homeless, exactly. Somehow, God had provided a bed for her every night of her life. Foster homes, dorm rooms, her apartment in Norfolk, and now a room in John Colburn’s house. This time tomorrow she would be sleeping in a tent under the oval moon on her way to find Tim and, hopefully, to save his life with the gray leaf medicine.
She couldn’t stay in here and wait for sleep that wouldn’t come. The others were still up. John was packing their food for the journey, and he’d ordered Connor and Revel to ready the gear in the barn. She’d never ridden a horse before. Maybe if she caught John alone in the kitchen, she could ask him for some horseback riding tips. If Connor knew of her inexperience, he might use it to try to keep her from going on the journey.
She left her backpack at the foot of the bed and made her way through the old house. The living room—or parlor as they called it—was empty. No one was in the kitchen either, but John had laid out squares of cloth and a stack of wax paper to package their rations. The back door stood open a few inches, letting cool air into the kitchen.
A light shone through the curtains in the medical cottage next door. Lydia was probably packing their medical supplies. Bailey needed to talk to the doctor about Tim’s health, and this might be her only chance.
The air outside had dropped several degrees since sunset. It didn’t bode well for the journey into colder terrain. Bailey hadn’t brought a heavy coat to the Land. Maybe she could borrow one from Lydia or Sophia. She hid her hands in the cuffs of her Eastern Shore University sweatshirt as she walked the short path from the big house.
The cottage door was ajar, and several voices flowed from inside the medical office. John, Connor, Revel—they were all in th
ere with Lydia and her assistant, Sophia Ashton. When Bailey heard her name mentioned, she considered staying outside and listening, but she’d never been one to cower in the shadows and wasn’t about to start now.
She opened the door and stepped inside Lydia’s office as if she belonged there too. Sophia was standing on the bottom step of the staircase that lead up to her private room. Revel was leaning against the wall by the door, his thumbs hooked around his suspenders straps. He pressed his lips together and gave Bailey an odd look as she passed him. Just an hour ago they had been alone in the living room, enjoying a comfortable conversation by the fireplace. She knew him well enough to consider him a friend, but not well enough to know what this look meant.
Lydia was standing by her desk, holding a glass vial filled with glittering gas that swirled as she turned it. Must be the gray leaf vapor she wanted Bailey to help research. Lydia’s face was drawn in a frustrated pucker as she spoke to John. “But it isn’t safe for a woman to go to the mountains—” She stopped talking when Bailey stepped into the cottage.
Connor paced the floor by the patient cot opposite the door. “According to the legends, it isn’t safe for anyone. All I’ve heard since coming to the Land was that no one has gone to the mountains and come back to tell about it.” He raised his chin at Bailey. “But if anyone is tough enough to prove the stories wrong, she is.”
John quickly agreed. “That is true.”
Lydia set down the vapor filled vial and pressed a nervous hand to her stomach. “Still, she shouldn’t go.”
Connor stopped his floor pacing and looked at his wife. “Babe, I know you’re worried, but Bailey is a survivor. She’s strong.”
At that, Bailey froze where she was, standing near John with Revel behind her. Weeks ago after sparring with Connor, he’d complimented her fighting skills, but she hadn’t expected him to acknowledge her strength or stand up for her now. “Wow. Thanks, Connor.”
“It isn’t flattery, Jeans. It’s the truth.”
Lydia shook her head. “Connor, you and Revel are putting your lives at risk by going to the mountains, and yes, that troubles me. But that isn’t why I object to Bailey going on this journey.” Her cheeks grew pink. She gave Bailey an apologetic look then said to John, “We have our traditions here, and it’s important we uphold them. It would be improper for a single woman to travel with two men. It wouldn’t look right. Would it, Father?”
Bailey expected the old-fashioned society to have old-fashioned values, but this was taking it too far. She’d been alone with guy friends often throughout her life and hadn’t slept with any of them. The insinuation made her temperature rise. “What? So, if I travel with two men, people will assume we’re having sex?”
Lydia’s eyes bugged at the word. Revel and Connor both spoke at the same time. Sophia’s dark blond bun wobbled on top of her head while she silently watched the exchange.
Bailey was never going to fit in here no matter how much she wanted to.
John patted the air with both hands to quiet everyone. “People, please.” He sighed deeply. “Mr. Van Buskirk is dying. We do not have time to gather the elders for a discussion of decorum. Since this is not only a rescue mission but a medical emergency, Lydia, you may go with Bailey and the men. But remember your calling. This village needs you to come home safely.” His voice caught. “You are very important to us.”
Connor stepped close to Lydia. “And Andrew needs you too.” A flicker of fear weakened his confident expression. He quickly hid it. “Revel and I can find Bailey’s friend. We’ll give him some gray leaf tea and we’ll all be home in a couple of weeks. Stay here with the baby.”
Lydia nestled herself against Connor’s side, her voice soft with doubt. “Maybe I should go with you. There is a sick man out there, and I’m a physician.”
Connor kissed the top of her head. “You aren’t going.”
The strong-willed doctor didn’t try to argue. She didn’t even hesitate to obey her husband. Whether it was out of wifely submission or fear of the mountains, Bailey couldn’t tell. As Lydia’s chin quivered, a sense of doom thickened the air in the medical office. Lydia laid a hand on Connor’s chest. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t lose me. I’ll be fine.”
“Still…”
Bailey was responsible for this. Once again, she’d dragged everyone around into her problems. She’d already sent two crewmen and Micah to their deaths by entering the Land. Now, Tim was dying and she was about to march Connor and Revel to their deaths too.
She couldn’t drag these people deeper into her mess. “Listen, you all have been great about everything, but if you think going to the mountains is a death sentence, I don’t want any of you to go. I’ll go by myself. No hard feelings. Just tell me how to get there, and I’ll do it myself. I will follow the road and stay in contact with Tim. If you really want to help, I need a horse and food and medicine. Maybe a second pair of pants. But I’ll be fine on my own. And if the mountains are as deadly as the Land’s folklore suggests, I’ll die trying to save someone I love, someone who has been like a father to me for the past few years.”
She half expected them to be relieved they didn’t have to go to the mountains and half expected them to tell her she was crazy for going by herself. Instead, they remained silent.
She glanced at each person in the dimly lit office. Connor watched her as he kept an arm around a watery-eyed Lydia. John rubbed his scholarly beard; his crystalline eyes seemed to peer into Bailey’s soul. Revel unhooked his thumbs from his suspenders straps and drew a deep breath, broadening his thick chest.
Sophia’s sweet eyes were about as big as her puffy bun. Her hands white-knuckled the stair rail. She spoke up for the first time. “I will go with you, Bailey.”
Sophia Ashton was the last person Bailey expected to volunteer for this journey. Imagining the dainty young woman lifting her skirt hem to hike up a muddy mountain gave Bailey pause.
Then again, Sophia was offering to go on a dangerous trip just so Bailey wouldn’t have to go alone. Maybe Sophia was stronger than Bailey first thought. How could she refuse? “Cool. Thanks.”
Lydia peeled her hand off Connor’s chest. “No, Sophia. It’s too dangerous.”
A calm determination filled Sophia’s voice. “Greater love hath no woman than this, than to lay down her life for a friend.”
Revel stepped forward and stood beside Bailey, deepening her respect for him. “Well, you ladies are not going alone.” He held up a surrendering hand and grinned. “I know, I know, you can take care of yourselves. But I’ve never rescued anyone and I was looking forward to the chance to help find Tim. I’m going too.”
Bailey looked at Connor. Though she didn’t want to admit it, they would need his survival skills, his military mind, and his leadership. She raised an eyebrow at him, hoping he would get the hint.
He smirked. “Was I ever not going?”
John rubbed his palms together briskly. “Then it is settled. Men, ready the tack and pack the gear. Sophia, gather the medical supplies. And Bailey,” he curled a finger for her to follow him. “Come with me.”
* * *
Revel unrolled the Colburns’ two tents and erected them on the barn floor to inspect them. He’d performed such routine tasks countless times in his years working for the Land’s traders, but tonight’s travel preparations felt different.
With every chore, his excitement for the journey ahead grew. It had been almost three months since he’d come to Good Springs for Everett Foster’s wedding, which meant he’d been in one village two months longer than he usually stayed anywhere. He was due an adventure, and this rescue mission to the mountains with Connor Bradshaw could be the adventure of a lifetime… if they survived.
Cool evening air blew into the barn, but the quickness of Revel’s pulse kept him warm. He checked the tents’ door flaps, ties, and stake lines. All that remained was to inspect the tents’ interiors then roll and pack them.
Even w
ith two overhead lanterns burning in the barn, checking the canvas for tears and mildew was no easy task this late at night. He turned the dial on his handheld oil lantern, increasing its flame.
Connor carried a bundle of saddlebags from a storage area at the back of the barn. “These should be enough to hold the supplies.” He flopped the pile of large leather pouches onto the workbench by the open barn door. “How do the tents look?”
Revel knelt inside the first tent, holding the lantern. He ran a finger along each seam. “So far, so good. No mildew in this one.” He picked a dried gray leaf out of each corner. “Just a few old leaves.”
“That’s what keeps the canvas from mildewing while in storage.”
He peeked out of the tent to check Connor’s expression. “Are you joking?”
Connor shook his head. “It’s a little trick Lydia taught me. She finds all kinds of uses for the gray leaf.”
“Smart lady.” He remembered the terror on Lydia’s face when they told her they had to go to the mountains to save Bailey’s friend. “Will she be all right while we’re gone?”
“Absolutely.” Connor answered quickly, then he paused at the workbench. “She has her medical practice and the baby to keep her busy. And Mandy and Bethany will probably visit her every day. The three of them will worry each other with what ifs until John calms them down. Tears, hugs, repeat daily until we’re back.” He grinned. “You know how women are.”
Connor might paint an easy picture of what it was like to leave a wife at home and go on a dangerous journey, but his insides had to be quaking at the thought of saying goodbye to Lydia and baby Andrew, possibly forever.
Revel didn’t have anyone to say goodbye to and had worked hard to keep it that way. Regrets swirled in his heart. That didn’t matter now. All that mattered was that he found Tim and saved him before it was too late. This was Revel’s only chance to redeem himself after what he’d done.
Uncharted Destiny (The Uncharted Series Book 7) Page 2