Chapter 37
37
It was so dark in the cave that it took time for Ruth’s eyes to adjust. Visceral memories from the time she’d spent in the potato cellar shook her body. Poor Sarah—she’d gone through that too. Either this imprisonment had brought all the trauma back, or those experiences had given her the tools to get through this. Or maybe both. If she was here.
“Sarah?” she said in a whisper, scanning the cave for signs of life. It wasn’t a cave so much as a crack in the rock with a dirt floor, but it was dry and relatively warm, sheltered from the outside weather. Was there even space here for a human being?
There must be—that man had been in here, and it sure wasn’t for the spelunking.
She kept going, through another tight squeeze between two rock walls. “Sarah?”
And finally, a response. “Hello?”
A light flared at the other end of the passageway. Sarah scrambled to her feet, holding a flashlight in one hand. Thank God she hadn’t been completely in the dark.
“Sarah!” Ruth flew across the space, nearly bonking her head on the roof of the cave. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“No, but you have to get me out of here. I have to find that fucking idiot and rip his face off.”
Ruth let out a shocked hoot of laughter. She’d never heard Sarah curse before. At least her fighting spirit hadn’t been squashed here in this cave.
“How is he keeping you here?”
Sarah lifted her wrist, which had rope wrapped around it about a dozen times. The end of the rope was tied around a large, immoveable boulder. “I tried gnawing it with my teeth, but I didn’t get very far. If only I had a knife.”
Ruth reached into her rucksack and pulled out her Bowie knife. “You know I don’t go anywhere without this, not since we left the compound.”
“You’re the best sister in the world. Now let me out!”
Ruth sawed at the rope, one strand at a time, until it fell away from Sarah’s wrist. The girl unwrapped the rest of the loops herself, then flung it across the cave at the rock wall. “Take that!” she screeched. “You fucking evil bastard!”
“Okay, let it all out, but maybe not too loud. Gunnar’s standing guard outside. We should get out of here as quick as we can.”
“Let’s go.” Sarah wiped her hands on her pants. “If I have to pee in that stupid jar one more time…” She kicked at a lidded jar. It went rolling across the cave floor, then shattered against a rock, releasing the smell of urine into the air.
Ruth was grateful to see her so filled with spunk instead of despair. “Now we really better go. It was bad enough in here before it smelled like pee.”
She grabbed Sarah’s hand and led her toward the crack she’d squeezed through. “Just so you know, we’re going to be asking you a bunch of questions,” she told her sister. “We’re trying to figure out what’s going on in Thunder Pass, and the whole town of Firelight Ridge is blocked off, people can’t go in or out, and Luke has a whole militia doing his bidding. It’s like they’re planning for war.”
“What’s-his-name, the man who grabbed me, he said he didn’t want me to get caught in the line of fire.”
A shout sounded from outside the cave. “Come on!” Ruth grabbed Sarah’s hand and they wriggled through the crack, one by one, then dashed out of the cave.
Outside, Gunnar was in full hands-on battle against the man they’d seen come out of the cave. It didn’t seem like a fair fight, because the man had a military-style knife in one hand and that rifle strapped to his back. He was older, around forty, with a shaved head and a strong build, though with the beginnings of a beer belly. The two men paced around each other in a fighting stance, Gunnar so focused on this opponent that he didn’t even glance their way.
“Stay back,” he said tensely.
“That’s the man who kidnapped me!” Sarah cried out. “Get him, Gunnar!”
“I saved you!” the man hissed. “So shut the fuck up.”
“What’d you save her from that’s worse than you,” Gunnar taunted. “Sounds to me like she thinks you’re the worst option.”
The man slashed the knife at Gunnar, who jumped back, then whirled around and kicked the man’s arm. The knife flew through the air and into the forest. Sarah made a move to go after it, but Ruth grabbed at her to keep her close. Gunnar didn’t need a wild card disrupting the situation. Besides, she had a knife herself, and if she had to use it, she would.
“You have no idea who you’re messing with here,” the man growled, pulling out another knife from his boot.
“Don’t I? You’re former military. I can see that. Now you’re a mercenary because you have no morals. What kind of person kidnaps a young girl and pretends it’s for her safety?” Gunnar aimed a low kick at the man’s knees, and he staggered, nearly falling. He stabilized himself and went into a low squat, switching the knife to a throwing position.
“I’m not a monster.”
“You are too!” Sarah shouted. “I told you I just wanted to go home. You wouldn’t listen!”
“You don’t understand. There is no going home. That little town down there, forget about it. It’s ours now. Everyone down there will either have to go or stay and serve us.”
Ruth and Sarah exchanged a glance of alarm. Wasn’t that what Luke had tried to do before? He’d wanted to wall off the Chilkoots from the rest of the world. But this was different. This was taking an entire town away from the people who lived there.
“Bullshit,” Gunnar spat. He prowled around the man with slow, deliberate steps, ready to react, ready to attack, ready for anything. Strength and power radiated from him, and she could see that the man already saw him as a worthy opponent. “They tried that shit once and got sent to prison. That’s where you’re going too, for kidnapping.”
“Who’s going to make me? There’s no police out here, no judges, no courts. No one is coming to save this stupid little dot on the map and all its burnout weirdos. A deal will be made.”
“What kind of deal?”
“The kind where we can do what we want. You oughta join us. It’s a man’s world. We’ll all be kings.”
Gunnar scoffed as he took a swipe at the other man. “Kings who get gold and sixteen-year-old girls? Is that what Luke promised you? You sound delusional, just like Luke. If you were smart, you’d get off this train now.”
“It’s not just Luke. You have no idea how deep this goes.”
“That’s enough,” barked an all-too-familiar voice.
Sarah clutched at Ruth’s arm as they both swung around to see Luke stepping into the clearing, with about ten armed men behind him.
“Step back,” he told the man with the knife, who instantly obeyed. Gunnar slowly straightened from his fighting stance and faced the posse. Ruth’s heart clenched in fear for what they’d do to Gunnar. But Luke, his face grim, a day’s growth of beard on his jaw, simply nodded.
“Hello, Gunnar. Hello, Ruth and Sarah. You don’t have to worry, we’re not going to hurt you. You all have value.”
“Everyone has value,” Ruth said despite the fear beating a drumbeat through her blood.
“Don’t be absurd. Only some are able to contribute. We only have room for those who add value, not those who drag us down.” He swung his gaze to Gunnar. “But you have a choice to make, young man.”
“What about us? Don’t we have a choice?” Sarah burst out, even though Ruth was holding on to her arm so tightly she was probably numb by now.
Luke ignored her and kept his focus on Gunnar. “Your father has been a thorn in my side for more than two decades. I know he’s in Alaska. If you can find him and get him off my ass, I’ll let you stay in this new world we’re building. You’re a good mechanic. We could use you. You can marry Ruth, as I hear you want to do, and you can live a happy life.”
Gunnar stood so still that Ruth wondered if he’d even heard Luke. “You think I would abandon all my friends in Firelight Ridge?”
“They have a choice to make, too.” Luke shrugged indifferently. “Leave, or go along.”
“Or fight back.”
“There’s no option to fight back. There are too many of us. All communications are shut off, all routes in and out are under our control. No one in the rest of the world even knows what’s going on.” His stern expression cracked for a moment, letting out a sneering smile. “Gotta love this place. It’s so far out there, no one will even notice or care when it disappears from the maps.”
“What happens if I say no?” Gunnar asked.
“You can say no. I told you that you have a choice. If you say no, we’ll take you back to headquarters and keep you locked up until all this is over. Then maybe you’ll make a different choice.”
“Ruth,” Gunnar called to her, making her jump. “Do you want to weigh in on this?”
She caught his eye, the jerk of his head toward Luke. With a thrill, she realized what he was doing—giving her a chance to use her lifelong knowledge of Luke Chilkoot to their advantage.
But how?
If her father had an Achilles heel, it was being mocked. He couldn’t bear that, and so it rarely happened. When it did, it shocked him even more.
“You know what this reminds me of, Luke? That silly prophesy about Ice Falls that you made us swear by. ‘A waterfall frozen in time, destined to be ours.’ We had to recite it every morning. Then it turned out that Naomi had just made it up!” She elbowed Sarah as she snickered. Her sister got the message and they both scoffed with laughter.
Luke went rigid with anger, his jaw clenching hard.
“It was complete crap, that prophesy,” she went on. “All this might be the same.” She swept her arm in a gesture that encompassed the guards, the clearing, everything Luke had said. “Fool’s gold. A fantasy.” She turned to the guards. “Did you hear about Ice Falls? It was such a fiasco.”
Luke swung his gun toward her. “Don’t talk to my men.”
“What, they can’t handle being spoken to by a woman? That’s weak, Luke. Really weak. What makes you think you can beat the U.S. government if you can’t even control your own daughter?”
“Daughters,” corrected Sarah. Ruth motioned for her to stay out of it. She had a plan here, and Sarah might muddle it.
“I will win,” Luke growled.
“Against the largest military in the world? How? You all are going to prison. Again.”
“No, because I have an ace to play.” His voice rose.
“More bullshit,” snorted Gunnar.
Luke wheeled on him. “It’s not bullshit. Do you even know what’s under this pass?” He waved at the rock wall above them. This place…” He sucked in a breath, as if suddenly realizing he probably shouldn’t say any more. But he’d gone too far to stop now, Ruth could see the urge to gloat overcome him. “I own it now. I own what’s under it. We don’t even know how much gold there is, but it’s enough to make everyone pay attention. The State, the U.S. Government, other countries.”
Other countries…like Russia, Ruth thought. Was that why Dmitri the heavy hitter was involved?
“The good news is, I’m prepared to make a deal,” Luke continued. “On my terms.”