Chapter 14
Fourteen
All those years of rescue training, and not one of them had covered what to do when the gun was pointed at the woman he loved. But Teague had a plan. Actually, he had seventeen plans. He just didn’t know if any of them would be enough.
Kyle stood ten feet away—close enough for Kyle to have an easy shot, far enough that rushing him was suicide. The gun in his hand caught the fading light as clouds rolled in from the west.
“You’re thinking about it.” Kyle’s voice was almost amused. “I can see it in your face. ‘Can I get to him before he pulls the trigger?’ The answer is no.”
“Wasn’t thinking that.”
“Liar.”
“Fine. I was thinking that.” Teague kept his hands visible. Relaxed. As if his heart weren’t trying to beat out of his chest. “But I was also thinking about how this ends for you. They know you are responsible for Trey and Liam’s injury. If the two of us disappear, they will know it is you.”
“Four disappear. I don’t plan on hanging around.” Kyle’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “And don’t forget poor Marcus.”
Eden’s sharp intake of breath was audible.
“What did you do to him?” Teague kept his voice level.
“Let’s just say he’s sleeping.” Kyle shrugged. “He was getting in the way. Holding a little too tightly to his grandfather’s letter and the information I needed. Not to mention he had way too many feelings about legacy and family and doing the right thing.” His lip curled.
“Sleeping as in unconscious, or sleeping as in—”
“Does it matter?”
“It matters.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to wonder.” Kyle gestured with the gun toward their packs. “Now—gather your gear. We have Roosevelt’s gold to find. According to Marcus’s map, we’re less than a mile away.”
“And then what?” Eden’s voice was steady despite the fear Teague could see in her eyes. “You shoot us and take the gold? That’s your big plan?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” Kyle tilted his head, studying her. “Depends on how cooperative you are. Speaking of which—” He held out his free hand toward Teague. “I’ll take that radio.”
Their only lifeline to the outside.
Teague pulled it from his pack slowly, movements obvious. “This is a mistake, Kyle. The park knows we’re out here. We just talked to them. They warned us about you. When we don’t check in—”
“You just talked to them. Now a storm is rolling in. By the time they realize something must have gone wrong, we’ll be long gone.” Kyle pocketed the radio.
“We? We aren’t going anywhere with you.” Eden took a step toward him, but Teague blocked her way with his arm.
Kyle seemed to study her a moment, and that sick smile spread over his face again. “Of course.”
If he could get Eden away from Kyle, they could find a place to hide. To wait out rescue. But he needed to catch Kyle off guard. “You’ve thought this through, haven’t you?”
“I started planning the moment I got the text from Sierra.” Kyle’s jaw tightened. “Now move. Both of you. We’ve got a mile to hike and daylight’s burning.”
Since the text from Sierra? But that was before he knew anything about the gold. Something wasn’t adding up.
They gathered their packs in tense silence. Teague positioned himself between Kyle and Eden as they started walking.
“Chivalrous,” Kyle noted. “But unnecessary. I’m not going to hurt her. Yet.”
“Yet is doing a lot of work in that sentence.”
“It’s supposed to be motivating. Keep walking.”
The terrain got rougher as they moved north toward the coordinates from Marcus’s grandfather’s map. Boulder fields. Narrow passages. The clouds getting darker above.
Teague stayed close to Eden, hyperaware of Kyle ten feet behind. He lowered his voice to barely a breath.
“The rescue team is coming. We just have to stall.”
“No talking.” Kyle’s voice cut sharp. “You think I can’t hear you? Sound carries in canyons. Basic acoustics.”
“Just telling her I love her.” The words came out before Teague could stop them. “In case I don’t get another chance.”
Eden’s step faltered. She glanced back at him—something raw and complicated in her expression. Yeah, probably not the best way to make that confession for the first time.
“How touching.” Kyle’s voice dripped sarcasm. “Keep moving.”
The rock spire came into view as the first roll of thunder vibrated the air around them. The pillar of stone rose forty feet, weathered and ancient. At the top, a small alcove partially hidden by angle and failing light.
“There it is.” Kyle studied the formation. “X marks the spot. Or in this case, a forty-foot rock pillar marks the spot.” He turned to Teague. “You’re going up. Eden stays with me.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
“Eden climbs with me or I don’t climb at all.” Teague kept his voice calm despite the panic clawing at his chest. “Your choice.”
“Actually, it’s your choice.” Kyle’s gun hand stayed rock steady. “You climb. Find the gold. Bring it down. And if you do anything stupid, anything at all”—the gun shifted toward Eden—“she’s the one who pays. Do we understand each other?”
Teague looked at Eden. Fear in her blue eyes—but determination too. A silent message: Do what he says. Don’t you dare get shot trying to protect me.
What was she thinking? Of course he’d do anything to protect her. Including getting shot.
Teague drew a deep breath. “Kyle—”
“Teague.” Eden’s voice was quiet but firm. “Please. Go. Find the gold. Come back.”
“Listen to her.” Kyle’s voice held an edge. “She’s being smart. You should try it sometime.”
“If you hurt her…”
“What? You’ll fall on me from forty feet? Haunt me from beyond the grave?” Kyle laughed. “Just climb, Hamilton. Before I lose my patience.”
Teague looked at Eden one more time. “I meant it,” he said quietly. “What I said earlier.”
Her eyes glistened. “I know. Now go get the gold. And please”—her voice cracked—“come back alive.”
He nodded once, then started climbing.
The route was straightforward—good holds, nothing technical. But every foot he gained took him farther from Eden, left her more vulnerable with Kyle and his gun.
Trust the Rock.
The words echoed in his head unbidden. Then Eden’s accusation.
You talk about putting your trust in God. But do you? Because to me, it looks like the only one you put faith in is Teague.
His hand slipped slightly on the rock. He steadied himself.
She’d been right. All this time, he’d talked about trusting God, but in his actions, it was clear he was only trusting himself. Jumping gaps alone. Making decisions alone. Carrying Chip’s death as if the world had asked him to shoulder it.
He pulled himself onto the top of the spire—a flat area maybe ten feet across. The alcove was there, carved by wind and water long before humans even knew the canyon existed.
And inside it—
The chest.
A steel box, worn and weathered by the years. The same fifty-year-old military-grade construction as the other two. Just waiting for someone to find it.
“Well?” Kyle’s voice drifted up. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”
“It’s here,” Teague yelled as he wrestled with the latch. The hinges protested—rusty metal groaning. Gold bars, dull under the gray sky. Twenty of them, just like the others. And a velvet pouch.
He dumped the contents of the pouch into his palm. A key. Unique. Heavy. With writing on the side not in English.
Maybe Marcus’s father had been right about the safety deposit box key after all.
He pocketed the key and lifted a bar. And carried it to the edge where Kyle could see it.
“Twenty bars,” he called down. “Congratulations. You’re about to be a very wealthy murderer.”
“I prefer ‘entrepreneur.’” Kyle’s smile was visible even from forty feet. “Now bring it down. Slowly. And remember—any sudden moves, and Eden suffers.”
Teague’s mind raced.
Once Kyle had the gold, he and Eden became liabilities. Witnesses who could identify him. Climbing down was signing their death warrants.
“I said bring it down.” Kyle’s voice hardened. “Now. Or do I need to motivate you?”
The gun pressed harder against Eden’s back. She winced—a small sound that carried up on the evening air.
“You’ve got five minutes.”
“There’s a lot of weight here. I need Eden to help carry—”
“Nice try. Don’t pretend to be weak now, Mr. I-Can-Do-It-Alone.”
The truth of Kyle’s words stung. That was how he’d been acting. But he refused to let Kyle see he’d rattled him. “You’ve been paying attention.”
“I pay attention to everything. Three and a half minutes.”
Teague studied the landscape from his vantage point. Behind Kyle—maybe twenty feet back—the ground sloped into a steeper descent. Smooth limestone carved into a dome by a long history of water runoff.
The kind of rock that would be slick when wet.
Dark clouds rumbled overhead again. The storm couldn’t come fast enough.
If Kyle moved onto that slope…and the rain started…
But how to get him there without endangering Eden?
“Three minutes.”
God, I don’t know what I’m doing. The prayer was silent. Desperate. Raw in a way he’d never allowed himself to be.
I’ve been trying to do this alone. Trying to be enough. But I’m not. I can’t save her by myself. I need You.
The wind shifted. Carried the scent of rain—petrichor and ozone.
Show me what to do.
From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psalm 61:2. The verse tucked in his mirror, written in his mother’s handwriting. The one he’d looked at every morning for years. Reading. Memorizing. But had he ever let the words really take hold?
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Not his own strength. Not his own plans. But trusting that God could see what he couldn’t.
His mind cleared. Not racing. Not panicking.
Just…clear.
And—
Movement in the shadows to the south of Kyle. A figure—wounded, blood streaming from his temple, staggering on legs that barely held him. Marcus. Conscious through sheer fury, adrenaline seemed to be the only thing keeping him upright. A thick branch clutched in white-knuckled hands.
Not dead after all. And running on borrowed time before his body gave out.