Without Virtue

by Trevor Scott

  The counselors nodded and got into their canoes. Each counselor took the stern, with kids in the front. Max guessed that with 13 in their group to begin with, someone had been forced to ride in the center with six canoes. Now with only five canoes, two girls had to ride in the center among the backpacks.

  They waved them goodbye and went off to their own canoes.

  14

  Before heading out, Max changed up a few things in his daypack, adding additional weapons and gear, along with some food and water. He also had a survival filter straw that he could use to drink out of any body of water without worrying about disease or parasites.

  Then, as the fog started to lift somewhat, they navigated their two canoes toward the north side of the lake. Here the lake got narrow, as if a river entered from this side.

  “Does this become a river?” Max asked Kim and Donny.

  Donny said, “No, I think the lake fills from springs under a floating bog to the north.”

  “It’s not something you want to try to cross on foot,” Kim added. “You fall into a deep spot and it’ll suck you in like a black hole.”

  Good to know, Max thought. He was more used to solid ground out west.

  Remembering the map, Max pointed to a spot on the western shore that seemed like an indentation. “That looks about right for the first lake.”

  Without answering, Donny turned his canoe toward that location. Both canoes pulled in and they hoisted the canoes onto a bed of soft moss under a patch of cedars.

  Max took out his map and compass and checked on their location.

  “You go old school,” Kim said, as she found her GPS. She started to acquire satellites.

  “My compass doesn’t run out of batteries,” Max said. “And I hate to trust my life on some twelve-year-old Asian worker who assembled that thing.”

  “I hear ya,” Kim said. “That’s why I use both.”

  Max smiled and pulled out his own GPS. “Same here.” He also acquired satellites and then punched in a waypoint so he could precisely find his way back to this location.

  “Where are we heading?” Robin asked.

  “I need you all to stay here,” Max instructed.

  “No way,” Kim said. “I’m going with you.”

  He had to admit that he could use her help. Max wasn’t entirely familiar with the Northwoods. “Alright. But if I tell you to head back, you head back. Got it?”

  Kim nodded agreement.

  “Okay,” Max said, checking out his map. “This first lake looks to be the farthest in of the three.”

  “Almost a half mile,” Kim said. “But we won’t be able to move on to the second lake without coming back here first.”

  Donny leaned over their shoulders and said, “She’s right. That swamp will be impassable this time of year. Even in the coldest months of the winter it can be a problem with the warm springs underneath. You’ll need to come back here.” Then he pointed his finger to another location. “We can come around this point and cut through the forest on the other side of the slough.”

  “We might not have to do that,” Max said. “This could be the lake we’re looking for.” He folded his waterproof map and put it into the side pocket on his tactical pants.

  Max and Kim headed slowly into the forest, which consisted of mostly cedar, balsam fir and patches of alder. Although the alder looked like easier walking, Max soon found out that this was some of the most difficult type of woods he had ever tried to cross. He felt like they were moving two steps forward and one step back, trying to weave through the deadfalls and twisted trees. Then his foot would suddenly sink into a hole of black water up to his knee.

  He quickly realized that anyone would have to be crazy to go to this remote lake, especially trying to carry packs and canoes.

  But the two of them stayed on a direct line to the west until they could finally see an opening on the horizon.

  “Here we go,” Kim said.

  They came to a spot alongside the small lake where they could see the entire body of water. The shoreline was almost entirely covered to the edge by alder and cedar. The lake itself was about a quarter mile across in each direction. But it took them only a second to dismiss it.

  “There’s no way in hell anyone is staying here,” Kim said.

  “Even if they could get a canoe in here, there’s no good campsite. It’s no wonder the Forest Service didn’t bother putting in a portage.”

  “This would even be hard to get to in the winter,” she said.

  He checked his watch and pulled out his map again. He found their campsite from the night before and matched that with their current position. “The gunshot must have carried farther than normal across these lakes.”

  She pointed toward the swamp again. “Sound travels funny over this kind of structure. Sometimes cedar will suck up the sound completely. But then you have these three lakes and that could have made the sound travel farther.”

  Max had to agree with her assessment. He was used to more open areas. Iraq was flat and more desert. Afghanistan was mountainous, but much more arid than these north woods. Even his hunting experiences out west were a poor training ground to establish gunshots—especially in the dry mountains of Nevada.

  “Alright,” Max said. “Let’s try to follow our steps back to the canoes. Lead the way.”

  She smiled and looked at her GPS strapped around her neck on a lanyard. “This will keep us on track.”

  As they walked back through the thick forest, Max wondered anew if Kim’s sister could have still been out here on her own. Water was not a problem to find, but the hopelessness of navigating through this type of forest would have been very discouraging after a short distance.

  Despite covering the same distance on their return trip, they made a little better time.

  Robin asked, “Well, what did you find?”

  Max shook his head. “That is one tough forest to cross through.”

  “I meant at the lake?” Robin said.

  “Not a damn thing.”

  “We should grab something to eat,” Donny said. “We got a little late start this morning. We’ll need to make up time this afternoon.”

  Max knew this. If they found nothing at these lakes, they would have to regroup and find a place to camp that night.

  “Also,” Donny said. “Next time you should leave one of the SAT phones with us.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kim said. “That would have made more sense.” She pulled off her small pack and found the Forest Service SAT phone, which she handed to Donny. “I leave it off until I need to use it. Saves the battery.”

  Donny smiled. “I do have a set of walkie talkies with me in my main pack. We could use those.”

  “What kind of range do you get in this forest?” Max asked.

  Shrugging, Donny said, “They’re supposed to work to twenty-five miles. But that’s under ideal conditions across water. In this stuff we’ll be lucky to reach out ten miles. Maybe less.”

  While they ate trail mix and jerky, Donny found his radios. He handed one to Kim and said, “You should keep it on at all times. The batteries will last about a week. Plus, I have spare batteries in my pack.”

  After eating, they got back in their canoes and paddled slowly toward their next potential stop, which put them on the other side of the large bog. Here their lake had widened a bit to a couple hundred yards wide.

  They paddled close to shore to try to find a good place to put in to land, but it wasn’t ideal anywhere. Finally, Donny found a spot that seemed to be a bit harder surface. Which made sense, since the terrain inland seemed to rise up with a strip of rocks, like an arm of magma had bubbled up from an underground volcano and solidified in a straight line for hundreds of yards.

  Once they got ashore, Max found his map and pinpointed precisely where they were. It looked like they would be able to follow the rock structure for its entire distance and perhaps see the lake from that elevated position.

  “You see what I see?” Max
asked Kim.

  “I think so,” she said. “This should give us a view for quite a distance.”

  Robin came up and put her arm around Max. “This looks more like what you’re used to,” she said.

  “I hope so,” Max said. “Give me rocks and dry ground any day of the week.”

  Before heading out, Max dug into his backpack and found his smaller 10x40 binoculars, which he strapped to his torso.

  Just as they were leaving, a light mist came at them from the west, right in their faces.

  “Be careful,” Robin warned.

  Max smiled and gave his sister a thumbs up.

  The walking here was good for a while. Then the rocks started to get much steeper. This happened just as the mist turned to a steady rain. Max had to give it to Kim. She was a trooper, keeping up with his steady pace.

  In a quarter of a mile, they crossed what seemed to be the highest point on the rock formation. But their visibility was hampered somewhat by the rain and some tall white pines to the north of the rocks—the direction of the lake they sought.

  “If we can cross over to that rock formation,” Max said, “we should have a better view.”

  Kim glanced down the sharp drop-off and her eyes seemed to be calculating the ascent on the other side. “Sounds like our only option.”

  Max nodded and took the lead. Going down was only problematic because of the slippery rocks. Luckily, Max had worn his low hikers, which had a great grip on these rocks. Going up on the other side was a little more difficult. In a few places they had to pull themselves up to ledges with trees growing out of the rocks or on narrow outcroppings. At the very top, Max reached to help Kim. Just as he grasped her right hand, her foot gave way and she dangled for a moment. But she was light enough for Max to grab with his second hand and simply lift her up to the top.

  She grasped onto him with her arms around his chest like a bear hug. Breathing heavily, their faces just inches away, she shook her head and said, “That was close.” Then she reluctantly gave up her death-grip on him and straightened out her shirt.

  He glanced down the rocks and realized coming up would be the easy part. Going down would be very tough, he thought. But he kept that to himself for now.

  Now he hiked along this ridge until the lake to the north came into full focus. He lifted his binoculars to his eyes and saw that the rain had done a number on them. Max pulled out his dry shirt and wiped down both ends of the binoculars and then put them back to his eyes. This lake was a little smaller than the first lake they had hiked to, but it was perhaps possible for someone to camp there, since it had a number of higher areas on the north side of the lake. But there was a bigger problem. There would be no way to get a canoe into the lake. He guessed one could hike in with a fishing rod and try to catch something, though.

  “What do you think,” Kim asked from his side.

  “Nobody on that lake,” he said.

  “Could there have been last night when we heard the gunshots?”

  “Doubtful.” He pointed down toward the only way into the lake from their lake. “There’s no good place for a canoe.”

  “Someone could have hiked in,” she said. “But it looks like an alder swamp like the one we crossed to get to the first lake.”

  “Not fun.”

  Max turned around and glanced through his binoculars at the first lake they had hiked to. From this location he couldn’t see the water, but he could tell there was a dip in the land and where the lake sat. He turned farther to his left, finding the lake where they had stayed the night before. Although he couldn’t see their campsite, he could envision where it was situated. Finally, he swept his binoculars back toward the lake where Robin and Donny were at this time.

  “Try to reach them on the radio,” Max said.

  Kim pulled out the radio and hit push to talk. “Base, this is Joki One.”

  “Coming through clear,” Donny said on the radio. “What’s your position?”

  “Top of the rocks,” Kim said.

  “Copy that. See anything?”

  “Negative. Will inform.”

  She turned down the volume and put the radio back in her pack.

  “You sound pretty official,” Max said.

  Kim hit him in the left arm. “Donny has been on a lot of our search and rescue efforts. We’ve worked together many times.”

  “Including last week looking for your sister?” he asked.

  “Yep.”

  Max lifted his binoculars and decided to see what else he could view from up high. He traced the lake they were on to the end. He guessed they would have to go there to find the last of the three remote lakes. Then he slowly moved the binoculars to the left, making sure to determine where the third lake sat. Although he couldn’t see the actual lake, he could see the dip in the terrain where it sat. He suddenly stopped when he saw it. Rising up above the tree line was a narrow strip of smoke.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  Max turned to her and said, “A campfire.”

  15

  Back in his Air Force combat controller days, Max could have simply pinpointed the location of the camp and called in for satellite or drone coverage to see exactly what was there without having to go there. But he didn’t have that luxury now.

  Max and Kim hurried back toward their canoes. The rain was coming down harder again.

  When they came to the steep cliff that they had to descend, Max decided to go first, finding the best route to make it to the saddle below. He got to the bottom and turned, telling Kim to follow, but she was already on her way.

  Suddenly, she lost her footing and careened off the rocks toward him.

  Max did his best to catch her, but it was never easy to catch a falling body, despite the fact that Kim weighed only about a hundred and twenty pounds.

  Together they hit the ground and rolled over rocks. She ended up on his chest, their faces inches apart.

  “Are you alright?” he asked her.

  Based on the look on her face, she wasn’t. She shook her head. “It’s my ankle.”

  He lifted her off of him and set her on her butt on a softer spot. He wasn’t perfect either. A large rock lodged into his back on the final roll, with the extra weight of Kim shoving it into his back.

  “Which ankle?” he asked.

  “Left.”

  He had been trained extensively in first aid during his years in the military, and the ankle was one of the most common injuries.

  Kim was wearing lower hiking shoes like Max. When he pulled down her sock, he could already see that her ankle was starting to swell significantly. He suspected bruising would come next.

  “Well, there’s good news and bad news,” he said.

  “The good news?”

  “The good news is you have no bone sticking out of your skin.”

  “The bad news?”

  “Well, it could still be broken. Even worse, perhaps, is a bad sprain. It takes much longer to heal tendons than bones.”

  “You’re just Captain Fantastic, aren’t you?”

  “Well, I was a captain in the Air Force. I can help you.”

  He had a couple of knives with him, from his standard folding knife to a Leatherman multi-tool with everything from a knife blade to a small saw. He chose the multi-tool to quickly cut some small branches. Then, using some paracord from his pack, he wrapped the sticks on each side of her ankle to hold it in place and keep her from injuring it further.

  “Aren’t you the Boy Scout,” she said. “Thanks. It feels better already.”

  “Alright. Let’s get you back to the canoe.”

  He helped her to her feet. If she was in pain, she wasn’t showing him. But he helped her keep some of her weight off the ankle.

  “Should we call them and tell them I’m hurt?” she asked.

  “We could,” he said. “But I think we should just try to make it back as soon as possible.”

  The going was much slower than normal. The biggest obstacle came right
away, climbing up the other side of the saddle. Once they got back up to the top, the highest point in the area, the going was much easier. It was nearly flat across the top and then a gradual decline on the far end toward the lake. Across the top, Max had simply hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her.

  “You’re a lot stronger than you look,” she said. “I should have known after I saw you half naked coming out of my shower.”

  “We trained for this years ago,” Max said. “Back then I had to carry guys over two hundred pounds. You’re a lightweight in comparison.”

  “Glad we didn’t have pancakes this morning,” she said.

  “I’m glad you didn’t have a breakfast burrito,” he laughed.

  She slapped his back and he grunted in pain. Yeah, he’d have a bruise where he hit that rock, he thought.

  They came down out of the rocks and Max saw the canoes ahead.

  Robin saw that Max was helping Kim so she hurried to help him. The last fifty yards were much easier with the two of them nearly carrying Kim.

  “What happened?” Robin asked.

  “She fell down a rock cliff,” Max said. “Luckily, she hit something soft.”

  “Like what?”

  Kim laughed. “Your brother.”

  They got to the lake front by the canoes, and Max noticed they had a fire going. Donny was wrapped in his sleeping bag.

  “What happened to him?”

  Donny said. “No big deal. I fell in the lake. I’m good now.” He pulled off his sleeping bag and started to roll it up tight.

  “But we have a slight problem,” Robin said. “When Donny fell in the lake, he was carrying the Forest Service SAT phone.”

  “No problem,” Max said. “It should be waterproof.”

  Kim shook her head. “Not these. They’re old.”

  Max took off his backpack and dug inside. “I hope mine is okay after the accident.” He found his SAT phone and it looked pristine. “Should be good.”

  He lifted the back of his shirt and asked Robin to take a look.

  She gasped.

  So did Kim. “Oh, my God,” Kim said. “I’m so sorry. It’s bruised the size of a football.”