Chapter 11 #2
“Anyway,” Harold continued, his tone lightening, “enough about that. You got miles to make. That woman, Claire? Whatever happens with her, with that dog, you be there for her if you can. Don’t try to fix it. Don’t try to save her. Just be there. That’s what she’ll need.”
“I will. If I see her again.”
“You will,” he said.
“You think so?”
“The Trail has a strange way of making people’s paths cross.” He started wrapping up extra food in foil. “Here. Take some for later. Biscuits and bacon. You’ll want real food tonight after eating trail food all day.”
“Harold, you don't have to—"
“I know I don't have to. I want to.” He pressed the package into my hands. “Now get out of here before I make you eat more pancakes. You got people ahead of you to worry about.”
And someone behind me, I thought. I’d have to figure this strange woman out. Someone was way too interested in me. Or too interested in Pike’s Satphone.
Before I left, I tried to give Harold money. He refused.
“No sir. This is free. Always free.”
“Then let me donate to your propane fund or something.”
“Tell you what. Just pass it forward.”
“Pass what forward?”
“Being a trail angel.”
“That’s a deal,” I said, before I could stop myself. I hated making promises.
He squeezed my shoulder once more. “Now git. Tell everyone you see coming this way that Harold’s got hot food here for the next three days.”
Once I was across the road, I continued on for several miles until I found a good spot.
For an ambush. I figured that woman was following me. I wanted to know why. I settled into a concealed spot where I could see anyone coming up the trail from the west. Maggs lay down next to me.
I tried connecting the dots and they led right back to Pike’s satphone.
Someone was still monitoring its signal after all these years.
As I waited, I took it out. It had been dead, buried in that drawer for who knew how long?
Inside a Faraday bag. I didn’t even know if Pike had used it to talk to Herc from Rocky Start.
He’d had a cell phone. The satphone was an old model, one of the first to be used by covert ops.
With the rise of AI and living in a world with constant monitoring it would be easy to set up an automatic alert if the satphone became active.
And someone had jumped on that alert pretty damn quick, calling back within minutes of the first time I’d used it.
And they’d asked for Pike. And they’d be able to pinpoint where I was every time I turned it on.
According to Harold the woman had my picture from the Amicalola trail angel, but she’d been coming from the north.
Which meant she’d gotten the photo, then leapfrogged by vehicle well ahead of my route and was coming back to find me.
She’d been caught off guard by Claire’s presence at Blood Mountain.
Then there were too many campers at the shelter to try something this morning.
Try what?
Damn, I just wanted to complete the Trail. Which meant getting to the spot where I’d been ambushed once before. The entity that controlled the simulation that was my life was probably very amused by all this.
I checked my Satphone and there was a text from Rose.
Jackie says Claire is asking for help since she told you
So help
Love
And Jackie went to school for that? I thought.
I settled down to wait. Hikers came by, alone or in groups. I recognized some. I heard Louis coming long before he hove into view, huffing and puffing under the weight of his ruck. He didn’t look very happy as he went past, unaware I was watching.
Then something occurred to me. I stood up and called out, “Louis.”
He stumbled, surprised, almost over-reacted as he spun about, surprisingly fast for having that big pack on his back.
Then he recognized me as I stood up. “You scared the shit out of me.” He dumped his ruck, glad for the excuse to get it off his back.
I walked to the trail with Maggs, leaving my ruck back in the hide site.
“What were you doing?” he asked. “Taking a dump?”
I ignored that. “Have you seen the one-legged guy?”
Louis shook his head. “One leg?”
“He’s got a prosthesis, but it’s not working quite right.”
“Nope. Maybe he quit?”
“Maybe,” I said. “But if he hasn’t, can I borrow some of your meds? He might be getting an infection?”
Louis brightened up. Someone was asking for his help, proving his excessive preparation was actually normal.
He started digging through his ruck. “I’ve got extra, of course.
Redundancy. For situations just like this.
” He frowned as he searched. “I’ll have to remember to re-order for my next resupply, so I’m topped off. ”
“Certainly,” I said.
He took out a small green case and unzipped it. There were six pill bottles in it. “How many?”
“Enough for a full dose,” I said. “Seven days.”
He squinted, reading the instruction on the side of one bottle, shook his head and put it back. Then another. “This one.” He opened the top and carefully counted out a number. Then found a Ziplok bag from some other place on that massive backpack and put them in it.
He hesitated and I could tell he was loath to part with any part of his backup supply. But the fact I was asking for help implicitly proving him right overrode that and he handed it over.
“Much appreciated,” I said. “I’ll let Tom know you gave them to me.”
“Tom?”
“The Marine veteran with one leg.”
“Oh. Yeah. Good.”
He was replacing the green case in his pack as two more hikers came up the trail and said hello.
Louis looked a little irritated as they tried to chat. I suppose they were crapping on his good deed somehow. He sealed up his pack.
I could tell he was reluctant to put it back on, but he grunted as he lifted and was ready to move out again.
I thought about the times I’d had a deployment ruck so heavy I couldn’t stand on my own and needed two guys to get me to my feet.
The good old days when men were men and the sheep ran scared.
“So you were waiting for me?” He asked.
“For him,” I lied. “But then I saw you and knew you had what he needed.”
Louis smiled. “Yeah. Always ready. That’s me.”
“I’ll see you on the Trail,” I said.
He nodded. “See you.”
And then he trudged off, the other two hikers with him.
I went back to my hide site and lay down. Maggs settled down next to me, her chin on her paws, wondering what we were up to. Wondering so hard she fell asleep. She was gently snoring when I heard someone coming. Maggs’ eyes snapped open.
Limping along, leaning heavily on his walking poles, came Tom. The pain was etched on his face, but he was pushing onward. I didn’t make my presence known, just watched as he made his way by, every step a jolt of agony.
He had heart. Brains? I don’t know. He was a Marine. We made jokes about them all the time, but damn, he was still doing it. I knew I could catch up to him relatively quickly. Right now, I wanted to figure out who this woman was.
He continued on, unaware I had watched him.
There was an occasional day hiker with a small pack or waist pack. But no sign of the woman with my picture. Was she leaping ahead again?
I lay on my back, staring up at the blue sky while counting on Maggs to alert me to trail traffic.
Why did the past always come back to haunt?
In this case, though, it was Pike’s past. She had to know I wasn’t Pike.
Not the right age. I decided she wanted to ask me where Pike was.
There was no reason to wish harm on someone who just carried a man’s Satphone. I certainly hadn’t recognized her.
Finally, an hour before dark. I got up and hit the trail. I didn’t go far, then got off trail and found a level spot, out of view and settled in for the night. I figured Tom was not far ahead. I’d get to him in the morning.
I did not turn the Satphone on or remove it from the Faraday bag.