20. Lana
Lana
Iwoke to the sound of Deke’s voice outside the tent and an arm that had gone completely numb somewhere in the night.
Grimacing, I raised my head off my shoulder and focused all my energy on making it move.
Like someone had picked it up and thrown it, it slammed down to my side, bouncing off my hip.
“You okay?” Toren’s low voice rumbled in my ear.
I rolled onto my back, using my non-numb hand to pick the other one up and shake it. Tingling started in my fingers as the blood flow returned. “Yeah. My arm’s numb.”
“I know the feeling.” With care, he moved his arm out from underneath my head and neck and sat up, flexing his fingers.
Across the tent, Dustin lay facing us and blinking slowly, like he’d forgotten where he was. Then he remembered. I watched it cross his face. The wide-eyed confusion left his face, replaced by a grim, defeated frown.
Toby was gone from the doorway. Outside, the camp was full of noise. Boots crunched on gravel, something heavy dragged across the ground, and Vic—his voice too quiet to make out what he said—answered something Deke asked. My assumption was that they were packing up.
I looked at Toren, then at Dustin, aiming a question at the latter, since we had a moment without any of our three friends listening in. “How are you doing?”
“I’ve been better.” He ran his hands over his face. “Though I’m better now that I’ve eaten and had a good night’s sleep. Thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome.” He’d looked like death warmed over last night. He still looked terrible, but not quite as much. I was glad the food and sleep had perked him up some. He would need the strength for our hike today.
“What are you doing here?” Dustin’s gaze moved from me to Toren. “And who are you?”
“Tina came to me,” I said. “She was concerned about you. I hired Toren to bring me out here to look for you.”
His eyes widened. “Why didn’t you just go to the police?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “You weren’t due back yet, and we all know how unreliable service can be out here. I didn’t think they’d take it seriously. Tina was quite worried, so I did something about it.” I flashed him a quick smile. “You didn’t think I’d let you miss your wedding, did you?”
“About that,” Toren interrupted. “Who the hell goes hunting—alone—the week before their wedding?”
Dustin had the good grace to appear chagrined. “In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea.”
“You think?” I quipped.
“I’d have been fine, though, if it weren’t for them.
” He tipped his head toward the tent wall.
“I walked right into their camp.” His features pinched.
“That younger one… if it weren’t for him, that guy you showed up with would have put a bullet in my head.
The other guy, Vic, he doesn’t really care one way or the other. But the Deke guy? He’s fucking scary.”
I agreed. The man’s dead eyes were colder than the top of Mt. Everest.
“We should head outside.” Toren unzipped the sleeping bag. “I’d like to use the restroom before Walker calls.”
At the mention of using the facilities, my bladder woke up and waved. Toren wasn’t the only one who needed to go.
Jamming boots onto our feet and putting our jackets on, the three of us stepped outside. Toby noticed first and came over, having been right beside our tent, packing up Deke’s. Without a word, he tipped his head toward the trees, making me wonder if he’d been listening to us talk.
I hoped not. Or that he kept what he heard to himself. It’d be disastrous if Deke found out why we were really out here.
Toby led us into the woods, waiting nearby as the three of us took turns relieving our bladders. Toren and Dustin stepped around a tree, while I went a little deeper into the forest, not wanting my butt or my knees hanging out on either side of a pine’s trunk as I squatted.
Once I found a spot, I quickly did my business. Wishing for toilet paper and a shower, I rearranged my clothing, making sure the sat phone was secure and hidden still, then rejoined the others. Toby led us back to camp.
Walker called at two minutes past eight. Deke was in front of me, where I now sat by the fire, holding out my phone before the second ring.
“Speaker.” He handed it over.
I took it and tapped the button to answer. “Good morning.”
“Hey there.” Walker’s voice, calm as ever, came over the line with a crackle. “You all set? Weather looks good from where I’m sitting.”
“We’re ready.” I kept my eyes on Deke. “Looking forward to getting home.”
“Music to my ears. All right. I fixed the issue with my plane. I also did some more digging on that potential landing site closest to you. I pulled some different maps. We should be good to go for that one. It’s a solid surface, not glacial, and has a long, clear approach.
If my calculations are correct, and you don’t run into any complications on the way there, even with Toren’s bum ankle, it should be a two to three-hour hike.
I’m going to take off in two hours. It’ll take me about ninety minutes to fly there.
I don’t want to beat you there, if I can help it.
The snowpack could be unstable and even with my skis on, the plane could sink if I stay too long. ”
“Okay. We’ll watch for you.”
“I’ll do a low pass first to make sure you’re there. I’ll have enough fuel to hang around for about an hour. After that, we’ll have to try again later. Do you know the heading from your current position?”
I looked at Deke. He produced the GPS without being asked and held it out to Toren, who read the coordinates in a flat, even voice.
“Got it,” Walker said. “Head southwest until you hit the river valley. Follow the bend. It opens up to a floodplain. It’s hard to miss. See you in a couple hours.”
“Yep. Thanks, Walker,” Toren said.
“Not a problem. Catch you later.”
He hung up.
I handed the phone back to Deke. Toren passed him the GPS unit.
“Time to move.” Deke looked at Vic, who’d stopped near the downed tents when Walker called to listen in. “Get the product loaded.”
I exchanged a glance with Toren as Vic spun on his heel toward the work area that was now just a pile of logs. They’d already removed the tarp and taken apart the poles holding it up.
The product. Right.
A season’s worth of illegally harvested bear parts, vacuum-sealed and packed into two large duffels and a cooler. The whole reason any of us were here in the first place.
Walker’s Piper Navajo had eight seats, including the pilot’s.
I could do the math from there, and none of it was good. One or more of us wasn’t making it onto that plane if Deke wanted to take all their harvest and their gear. There just wasn’t enough room
Toren met my gaze. By the expression on his face, he’d been doing the same math.
The march to the clearing took almost exactly two and a half hours.
It was downhill once we cleared the ridge and dropped into the river valley, which should have made it easier.
It would have, if we weren’t behind three men hauling duffels heavy enough to make their shoulders roll forward with every step, two of them with a cooler strung between them, and a fourth man who was running on four days of minimal food and no sleep.
How Dustin walked all that way under his own power, I didn’t know. He made it but barely.
Toren dropped back twice on the descent without comment, matching Dustin’s pace, one hand on the crutch and his eyes moving across the terrain as he picked his way over the bumpy ground.
I was happy he was who he was. I wasn’t sure a normal hunter or hiker could have made the trek under the same conditions.
The river valley opened up as we rounded the bend, exactly as Walker described.
Wide and flat, fresh snow covered the ground from the edge of the river to the base of the mountain, much of it in broad, skinny swaths between dips in the terrain that were long enough and wide enough for a small plane to land comfortably.
Under other circumstances, it might have even been pretty.
Finding a cluster of boulders not buried in the snow, we all sat down and settled in to wait.
Except Deke.
He paced the edge of the river, scanning the sky.
I perched on a boulder and crossed my legs and arms, watching our watchers.
Vic sat next to the duffels and flexed his hands, watching his colleague and the sky in equal measure.
Toby sat nearby with his arms crossed and his eyes on the ground, the same expression he’d been wearing since we met him yesterday on his face.
I hoped Toby’s silence was because he just wanted out of this mess and not because he had a plan none of us knew about.
My attention turned to Dustin.
He’d plopped down on a lower boulder. Feet still firmly on the ground, he had his head propped in his hands.
Hang in there, Dustin. Just a little while longer. I sent the silent encouragement out into the universe, then said a quick prayer to give him strength.
Toren shifted beside me, his shoulder brushing mine. I leaned into him, seeking his comforting, stalwart presence.
He leaned back.
I felt a touch of my anxiety over what was about to go down ease.
Eventually, a low drone mixed into the sound of rushing water and the wind blowing through the pines. It threaded down the valley, bouncing off the peaks on either side. My breath caught in my chest as I waited for the first glimpse of Walker’s plane.
My heart skipped a beat as it came into view, flying low around the bend as Walker did his promised pass. The wings waggled once before he pulled up and circled around.
My jittery heart now raced. Whatever happened next would determine our fate.
Walker lined up with the middle of the widest furrow on his second approach. The plane’s skis kissed snow with a soft slice that carried across the whole flat, and the plane rolled to a stop a hundred yards down from where we stood.
And then Deke turned around.
“Here’s how this is going to work.” He looked at Toren. “You and you”—his eyes bounced to Dustin—”stay here.” He turned to me. “You’re coming with us.”