Rocky Mountain Showdown

by Victoria Austin

  No. Every child knew that you jumped out of bed and flung that door open.

  And Laura really wanted someone to open this closet door. And turn on the light.

  But the monsters in the closet weren’t real and these men absolutely were. She would not put their lives in danger in the long term because it might make her feel better in the short term.

  Seth’s hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her arm. Pulled her to a stop. He never said a word, but his message was clear. There was something up ahead. Something bad.

  Seth silently passed Abby to Laura, and she squeezed her girl. He moved to walk in front of Laura. They seemed to be creeping, not going forward at all.

  But they had to be because they rounded the corner and saw it.

  It was a trap.

  And that trap was about to be sprung.

  Seth led them to a group of boulders that formed a low wall. She set Abby down, and held her finger to her lips. The child had surely picked up on the tension in the air, but it wouldn’t hurt to reinforce the need for silence.

  Seth and Laura both peered over the little wall, and Laura could not stop her gasp. Thankfully, it was not loud. And the men were far enough away to not hear.

  And they were not even looking.

  It was amazing, really. For men who had gone to such great lengths to find Seth and Laura, they were almost lounging. Relaxing.

  Laura saw seven or eight men. All armed. With multiple guns.

  There were several Jeeps with boxes in the back.

  The men were leaning against one of the Jeeps, laughing and talking.

  Laura rested her forehead against the boulder and felt Seth’s hand on the back of her head. She breathed in, trying to find the scent of this mountain she loved under the ever-present odor of smoke. This close to the boulder, Laura could almost imagine she was a child again, alone on her mountain.

  Laura lifted her head back up. It was what it was, so she needed to deal. And Laura had a lifetime of experience at dealing with whatever was thrown at her.

  She started on the left side of the camp and began to scan to the right, slowly looking and trying to see something, anything, that might help them.

  She made it to the far right, and was about to give up, when she froze. How had she not noticed that right away?

  * * *

  “I’m hallucinating, right? This whole thing has finally gotten to me and now I’ve lost all touch with reality.” Laura’s voice was the lowest murmur, but she wasn’t asking a question. It was more like she was muttering to herself.

  “If you’re talking about the small army of armed men standing right there, then no. You’re not hallucinating.”

  Laura didn’t look at him. She was still staring straight ahead like she had been hypnotized into some kind of trance. “No. Not that.”

  Seth looked at her profile, but she was dead serious. “No, you’re not talking about all those men with guns?”

  “No. Look, Seth.” She sounded disappointed that he hadn’t caught on yet.

  He looked. Lots of men, too many to fight. Check. Guns, probably loaded with lots of bullets. Check. Laura reached out and gripped his arm. Not held. Not even pushed or pulled. No, she placed her hand on his forearm and dug her fingers in like she was clinging for all she was worth. She was still staring straight ahead and Seth was moving from confused to some combination of irritated and frightened. What was going on?

  “Rafts, Seth. Look. By the river. Do you see a bunch of rafts, or am I just seeing what I want to see?”

  Seth had been focused almost solely on the men themselves. They were the threat in his view and he hadn’t really taken his eyes off them. Now, though, he scanned the surrounding area. And felt his heart jump. She was right. There. Just over there. Rafts. Three of them. They looked like the kind you would go white-water rafting in for fun or recreation.

  “Yes.” He had to keep his voice calm and low. The last thing they needed was for the men to find them or for Abby to react to their excitement. “Yes, Laura. Those are rafts.”

  “I, I, I... What does this mean? Why do they have rafts?”

  “This Mahoney is determined. He’s prepared. If you’re going to bring a small army to a mountain to kill one woman and one small child, you might as well make sure you have enough equipment for any contingency.” It made sense in a sick kind of way.

  “I want one of those rafts, Seth. How do we make that happen?” Laura’s voice was pure determination. Seth had not ever heard her so focused. So intent.

  “You think we can go down the river in one? We don’t have life jackets or other safety equipment. Even if we made it over there, by the time we get a raft we will not have any time to do more than jump in and hang on.” And they had Abby. Seth didn’t say that last part out loud because no one needed to tell Laura that they had her daughter with them. She knew. She always knew.

  “I can do it.” Again, her voice was absolute. It seemed that Laura was going to use the sheer force of her will to make this happen. And from where Seth was crouched down behind a fallen tree, that will seemed absolute. He felt a military battle yell rising up in his chest. Oh, yeah. They were going to make this happen.

  “Okay, then. Let’s make a plan.” Seth started counting men. There were eight that he saw. They were all clustered, almost loafing around. Of course, there wasn’t much reason for them to be up and actively searching. They had done a masterful job of forcing Seth and Laura to come to them. Right to this camp of horrors.

  The good news was that the men clearly did not know that Laura and Seth were there already. They must have moved faster than the men had planned for. Good. Real good.

  “All I can think about is grabbing one of those rafts. They’re calling to me like a homing beacon.” Seth smiled, even if it did feel a bit grim. Zombie Laura was gone and his wonderful capable Laura was back. They had proven to be fairly unstoppable when practical and capable Laura was around.

  “We need some distraction. Something big enough and far enough away to get all those men to run to it. We don’t need much. Just enough time to get to the rafts, throw one in the water and jump in. Even if they follow us, it will be near impossible for one raft to catch up with another successfully in these rapids.”

  “Do you still have your knife?”

  “I—Yes. Why?” She had sounded a little bloodthirsty when she asked and Seth was momentarily afraid that she was going to try to engage in hand-to-hand combat with these guys. When it came to protecting Abby, Seth wasn’t sure he would put it past her.

  “I’m going to stab the other two rafts. Deflate them. They won’t be able to follow us.”

  Seth nodded his head slowly as he surveyed the area again. “They still have those Jeeps. They could drive alongside the river, catch up that way.”

  “Until they hit that fire they set. Can’t drive through that.” Laura sounded almost smug and Seth smiled. She was right. Again. He handed her his knife.

  “They can also shoot at us. The river will move us quickly, but bullets are fast, too. They could hit us. Or the raft. Both would be the end of our escape.”

  “This is outside my area of expertise. Any ideas how we get past bullets?”

  Seth pulled out his gun. “I can try returning fire, but it’s me against eight men.”

  “So, what do we do?”

  There really wasn’t a choice. They’d been backed into hard positions since this thing first started, but this was by far the hardest. The tightest corner. But it was the corner they were in and they had to just deal. “We try. We pray. We do our best and hope that it works.”

  “Okay.” Laura’s voice was not hesitant or unsure. Seth was so incredibly grateful that he was not alone in this mess. That he had her there with him to help him through. “So what kind of distraction are we going to do? I’m afraid I won’t be any help with that o
ne unless it involves me running and screaming. But I don’t think that will get us what we want.”

  Seth smiled. No, that was not going to be the plan. “I don’t know, yet. There are some crates and boxes over there. See them? I kind of want to check them out.”

  “What do you think is in there?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but I’m hoping weapons. Or maybe even something I could use for an explosion.”

  “An explosion? You can do that?”

  Seth gave her a mock serious look. “Yes, ma’am. I can be real handy with explosions when I need to be.” He’d used them more than once in Afghanistan. It had been a couple of years, but those skills were the kind that stayed with you for forever. Sometimes Seth had considered that to be a curse. Right now, though, he was viewing it as an asset to be grateful for.

  Seth looked at their current location. “Do you think you and Abby will be safe here while I go check things out? Rig some kind of diversion?”

  Laura looked behind her to the grouping of trees they’d been in before almost walking into this trap. “I think so. We might have more cover back there, but we’d have to actually walk that way. I feel safer here without moving.”

  “Yeah. We were fortunate walking in. Movement could catch their attention. Okay. You stay here with Abby. Be ready to go. I don’t know how much lead time I can give us before whatever diversion I come up with, so we might have to move quickly.”

  Seth started to crawl away, not wanting to dwell on the fact that he was about to separate himself from Laura and Abby for the first time since this whole thing started. He was leaving them. Alone. If something happened, he would not be there to protect them. No, he needed to get on with it. Put their plan into action. It was the only way to get this done. If he lingered too long, thought too much, he probably wouldn’t leave at all. Fear could be paralyzing, and the best way was for him to break on through. So he started to go.

  But Laura reached out and grabbed his hand. Her grip was firm and her other hand came around so that his hand was clutched between both of hers. “I, um, you’re leaving. You’re going to leave.”

  He brought his other hand and added it to the pile so it was a mass of hands gripping and clinging. “It’s okay, Laura. I’ll be okay. I know how to move without being seen. This isn’t the first enemy camp I’ve explored, though I wouldn’t mind if it was my last.” He smiled at her, trying to reassure her that this was not the end of the world. He might have a boulder in the bottom of his stomach right now, but he didn’t want her feeling that way. Not now, not ever.

  She blew out a shaky breath and her eyes still looked distressed but she stopped clutching him in that desperate manner. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” Laura looked at Abby, who was watching all of this with wide eyes. She reached over and pulled the girl into her lap, snuggling her neck. “I’m sorry. We’re good. You go save the day and we’ll be ready to run like crazy.”

  He didn’t believe that she was good. But there wasn’t anything he could do right now. The best thing for them was to get off the mountain. To get to safety. That was the goal Seth needed to focus on.

  He turned from them then. Looking away from these two people who had come to mean so much to him. And he faced the camp. The men lounging around, large guns in their hands. Their barricade. Pushing everything out of his mind, Seth began to make his way to those boxes.

  He was a soldier on a mission.

  TWELVE

  He was gone.

  Seth was gone.

  Laura had watched him as he moved away. He’d looked like he was going to make a wide circle around the camp, trying to get to those boxes by staying as far away as possible. Laura could not see him anymore. She kept looking at that grouping of boxes, forcing herself to breathe in and out as she waited to see Seth there. Exploring them, as he put it. But so far, she only saw those men with large guns who were waiting to kill them.

  No. Getting caught by those men would be the end. Done.

  Laura gripped the handle of the knife tightly, squeezing it almost like a pressure ball. She still had the rifle right next to her. Loaded. Ready. But using it would alert every man in this camp that she was here. If she was discovered by one man, she had a fighting chance of protecting herself and her daughter with the knife without bringing the rest of the men running.

  The thought of what she was planning made her sick. It was almost too much. She had come to the mountain to be alone. To find peace and safety. And now she was contemplating how she could use a knife to hurt someone.

  No. Not to hurt someone. To protect someone. To protect her Abby.

  Laura moved Abby off her lap. She had quietly explained to the little girl that they were waiting for Seth and then they were going to run as fast as they could to the raft. Abby had been in boats before, but she had never been white-water rafting. She’d never even seen someone do it.

  Laura had explained about holding on. About lying down on the floor of the raft. About staying right by her mommy so she could be safe. Abby had repeated the instructions back to Laura. Hopefully it would be enough.

  Laura took her eyes off those boxes to scan the area again. It was the same. Too many men and too many guns. She looked behind her, and her fear ratcheted up another notch. The smoke was definitely closer. The fire the men had set behind them was working exactly as planned. It would eventually force them into the camp.

  Laura wondered where Mahoney was. It seemed that the men had plans to get to safety by driving over the top of the mountains in the Jeeps. Or maybe rafting down the mountain. Laura still couldn’t believe that there were rafts here. She supposed she ought to be grateful that they were the well-prepared type.

  But would they be prepared with the things Seth needed? He was going around in a wide circle to reach those boxes. But there was no way they could make it to the rafts or the Jeeps without being spotted. And given how close the fire was, Laura hadn’t even suggested trying to sneak past the men and keep on moving.

  This entire plan hinged on some kind of distraction. Away from the river. That was their only hope of reaching a raft and getting down the river in it.

  Laura looked back to the boxes and gasped. Seth was there. He had a second knife out and was prying the lid off one. There were three men about fifty feet away. They were not facing Seth, and they were engaged in loud conversation. They were laughing. Happy. Laura felt sour disgust on her tongue as she watched the men who were waiting to kill them laugh and be merry.

  She looked back to Seth and held her breath as he lifted the lid. He was moving slowly, and Laura prayed that he was able to be quiet as he dealt with the contents of the box. Laura saw him look inside. She couldn’t read his expression.

  Seth reached inside the box and began pulling things out, but Laura did not know what they were. Did he have what he needed or was he going to try to make do? Laura understood why she and Abby stayed where they were. It was easier for Seth to move around and not be detected. Laura and Abby were currently in the best location to make a dash for those rafts. Even so, Laura found herself wishing she was with Seth right now. Good or bad, she wanted to face the contents of those boxes together.

  Seth filled his bag with the mysterious objects and then faded into nothing again. One minute he was in front of her and the next he was gone. Please, God, be with him. Help him. Make this work.

  Laura quickly went through the pack and took out things she thought they could live without. It was heavy and would slow down their run to the rafts. She kept some food. Some basic first-aid supplies. Taking Abby’s duck from her, she explained that Duckie was going to ride in the bag. It seemed silly, but odds were good that the cabin had been consumed by the fire. That duck might be the only thing her sweet girl had left, and she deserved to take her only friend with her.

  Laura set the pack down, straps up and ready to go. She moved to her knees and told Abby to ge
t ready to run. If Seth came to them already running, they would be ready to join him.

  Laura kept her eyes on the area Seth had disappeared into when he left her and Abby. She assumed he would come back from the same direction. She hoped he would approach them slowly and steadily, the same way he had left. She hoped he would return and tell her everything was going to be okay. That the distraction would happen soon. She hoped he would pick up Abby, and she could shoulder the pack. Laura hoped they could hold hands and wait. And then run. Together. As one. As planned.

  Hopes were nice. They had seen Laura through many dark times. But these hopes all died as the earth literally moved. Something big had just blown up. The men all jumped up. There was yelling. Questions. Smoke rose from the part of the forest where Seth had disappeared with the contents of that box. The men ran toward it then. All of them. The camp was empty and there was a clear path to those rafts.

  But where was Seth? Was he hurt? Was he unable to make a delayed explosion and so he sacrificed himself for them?

  Was she supposed to run to those rafts without him? No, Lord. Please. If she ran now and he was hurt or coming, then he would be left behind. If she did not run now and those men came back, then she and Abby would be caught. Those men had to know they were in the area. That explosion was clearly not an accident.

  What am I supposed to do, God? Help me. I don’t know what to do!

  Laura was looking between the rafts and the place where Seth should be coming from. She stood up. Picked up Abby. Indecision ripped her soul into pieces.

  It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

  And then she finally saw Seth. He was running, full steam, toward her. “Go! Go! Run, Laura!”

  And she did. She started running, ignoring the shakiness in her legs from those moments where she thought Seth wasn’t coming. Seth caught up to her and took Abby out of her arms without breaking stride.

  They reached the rafts. Seth set Abby down and grabbed one. Placed it on the river bank and then put Abby inside. They were getting ready to push it in the water. To push and jump and hold on, when Laura heard the first gunshot.