Chapter Sixteen #2
Scott squatted down in front of the boy, so that they were eye to eye. “I know you said you don’t know who kidnapped you, but do you have any idea why you were taken?” he asked. “What is it the kidnappers want from your dad?”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Jackson said.
“I thought about it a lot before I fell asleep last night. And I remembered Preston asked me if I had seen any people who spoke with a foreign accent at the house. He was being real weird about it. I asked did he mean French people or people from Mexico, or what? Then he asked if I had seen my dad talking to any people from China, or people who looked Chinese. I told him no, but I thought it was a weird question.”
“Does your father do business with people in China?” Scott asked.
Jackson pulled the sleeping bag more tightly around him. “I don’t know. Maybe. He does business all over the world. It’s all high-tech stuff, but I don’t know much about it. I told Preston that, and he finally left me alone.”
Scott glanced at Lily. She looked as puzzled as he felt. “Preston works for your dad?” Scott asked. He thought he had the connection right.
“Yeah. He’s a new hire. I don’t like him.”
“I don’t like him either,” Lily said. “And it wouldn’t surprise me to find out he was involved in all of this.”
“What are we going to do now?” Jackson asked.
Scott stood. “We’re going to keep walking,” he said.
“Until we get out of these woods. We’ll be near the ridge where you escaped the avalanche.
From there, we can get to our vehicles.” Scott unwrapped the sleeping bag from around the boy.
“Come on. The sooner we get going, the sooner we’ll reach help. ”
Scott led the way, Jackson between him and Lily, the dogs ranging on either side.
The snow had stopped and the sky had cleared, but without the cloud cover, temperatures had dropped.
He set a rapid pace, as much to generate warmth as to hasten the journey.
After the first hour, he thought he recognized some of the terrain.
The trees began to thin. Suddenly, they were standing on the edge of the forest, looking out across the expanse of broken snow.
Sections of earth showed where equipment had been digging, and the terrain was strewn with shattered trees, giant boulders and slabs of snow like icebergs emerging from the ocean.
“How are we going to get over all of that?” Jackson asked.
It was going to be brutal. Scott wondered how far he could carry the boy.
“We can send the dogs ahead of us,” Lily said. “They’ll pick out the best path.”
“We don’t have to cross the whole field,” Scott said. “We just have to get to the cleared area for parking. The vehicles are just beyond that.”
They started toward the parking area, repeatedly falling, helping each other up. In the end, they took turns carrying Jackson. The dogs led the way, guiding them around the toughest obstacles.
By the time they reached the cleared parking area, they were sweating and winded. Several inches of fresh snow had partially filled in the parking area. “It doesn’t look like anyone has been here in a few days,” Lily said.
Her eyes met his, weary and sad. “They must have halted the search.”
“Just as well,” Scott said. “They weren’t going to find anything, because Jackson is with us. Just like you said all along.” He would never forget her reminding him that their job was to save people—no matter what.
“How far is it to the cars?” Jackson asked.
“Not far.” Scott swung the boy onto his hip, steeling himself against the sharp pain in his back. He could do this. Only a little farther to go.
Brian’s truck was still there, parked beside Lily’s Subaru. But they hadn’t gone far before Scott realized something was wrong. “What the—?” Lily asked, failing to finish the sentence.
All four tires of the truck were slashed, and the front windshield had been shattered.
The tires on the Subaru were ruined as well, only the driver’s side window broken.
But someone had raised the hood. When Scott reached the car and looked inside the engine compartment, he could see the battery was missing.
“Who would do something like this?” she asked.
“Someone who doesn’t want us to be able to go for help,” Scott said.
She turned to him, her face pale. Then she looked around them. He could read her thoughts. Was someone watching them now?
Jackson began to cry again. “I’m never going to get home!” he wailed.
Scott passed the boy to her. She rocked Jackson in her arms and kissed the top of his head. “What are we going to do?” she asked.
He looked at the snow-covered road. It was miles to any home or business, but what choice did they have? “We’ll have to keep walking,” he said. “At least it will be easier terrain to cover than the woods or the avalanche field.”
She set Jackson on his feet once more. “I’ve got a better idea,” she said.
“I’ll ski ahead of you. You two can follow on foot with the dogs, but I’m bound to get there faster.
With a little bit of luck, I can send people back to meet you.
” She had already removed her pack and was unfastening her skis.
She dropped them on the ground and stepped into the bindings.
“I want to go with Lily!” Jackson wailed.
Scott wanted to go with her, too, but instead he put a restraining hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Lily will be a lot faster than us,” he said. “She’ll reach help sooner. We’ll follow along at our own pace.”
Lily shouldered her pack once more. “I’ll send help as soon as I can,” she said. Shelby danced beside her. She looked down at the dog. “You’d better keep her here,” she said. “She’s already worn out. I don’t think running all that way would be good for her, and I’m too tired to carry her.”
“Shelby, come.” Scott beckoned. The dog glanced at Lily, then hurried to his side. He took hold of her harness. “Good luck,” he said to Lily. If Jackson hadn’t been with them, he might have kissed her.
She nodded, then turned her back to them, planted a ski pole and set out.