The Charity (71 page)

“Base Twelve here. Go ahead.” The voice of a very sleepy man finally answered.

“This is Ridge Team. Any word on the boy?”

“Negative.”

You won’t be hearing anything from him. Not one little sound.

“Well, try to sound hopeful when you speak with his mother.”

A cackle filled the cold air. The mother did her job well.

“We’re resuming search efforts now. The wind has picked up and it’s started to snow. We’ll head further north and then east along the ridge on Chasm Logging Path.”

The old logging trail. Good choice.

“Roger, Ridge Team. How was your night?”

A soft hiss of static filled the air. “Cold.”

“Roger. Keep us posted. Base out.”

A smile rippled along the thick scar.

Jessica and Hoyt spent the better part of their ride up the mountain and camping overnight talking about the search and the strategy employed by Devlin and his team of rangers. Hoyt had been involved in several searches in the past. The search also proved to be a safe topic for them. He still seemed a bit uncomfortable around her and Jessica was not going to force a confrontation. If Hoyt wanted to talk about it, she would, but she was not the one who was going to bring it up.

Jessica tightened the girth of the saddle and checked the fastenings of the gear. She looked at Hoyt and laughed. The man’s face was nearly obscured by the thick face muffler and hood of his red parka. Two bloodshot eyes could clearly be seen.

“You look terrible.”

Hoyt managed a smile. “Well, you can’t say you blame me for preferrin’ a soft bed to that sleepin’ bag, do ya?”

“I hope you don’t really think you’re going to get sympathy from me.” Jessica threw him a quick smile. She gave the horses one more check, placed her left foot in the metal stirrup and threw her right leg over the horse’s back. Her bulky green ranger parka and black winter boots made the movement less fluid than usual. “C’mon. I think we can search for six hours, more if the storm takes it easy on us. If the storm picks up we should head back down to the station. Either way, we should have time to get there before dusk tonight. Ready?”

The two people rode in silence letting the morning and the storm progress. They separated themselves by a distance of fifty feet to maximize their search pattern. Normally Jessica would have suggested more but the snow would occasionally come down heavily and visibility was limited. She took a sip of hot coffee from the insulated container she filled at camp earlier as her eyes looked carefully at the snow covered ground and the landscape around her. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

That’s exactly what bothered her.

“Devlin’s a good man. He’s been around these parts for a while. ‘Knows ‘em like the back of his hand.” Hoyt was answering Jessica’s inquiry about Devlin. She wanted to get a better feel for the man heading up this search. “I’ve seen him find hikers that people gave up for dead. Yup. He’s a good man.”

“What do you think of the search pattern he set up for Toby? That mother sounded like she was pretty frantic.”

“The pattern’s a good one for someone lost from that falls area. It’s a standard ‘bulls eye’ approach with the search parties fanning out from the point where the person was last seen. Most people walk downhill from there and then get stuck in the small ravine. Teams usually catch up with them there.”

Jessica mulled over his words. “That’s what bothers me. We are searching the outer rings. There has been absolutely no sign of the boy in the inner circles. Not even a footprint. I understand the boy is hardy, but even most men would have difficulty making it this far or they would have curled into a shelter and stayed there. Either someone would have found them with the night vision binoculars, or, well, seen
something
.”

Hoyt agreed and understood her question. “Devlin said that the mother was more than panicked about her son and that he really didn’t trust the information she gave him. He guesses she got pretty turned around when she went back up the mountain. I suppose he’s just covering all the possibilities.”

Jessica replayed the night’s conversation in her head as she rode. Pieces of the puzzle were still missing. Gapman asked for a looser rein by stretching out his head. He lowered his head and picked his way carefully along the steep hillside. She glanced over at Hoyt.

The black form of horse and rider was nearly obscured by the increasingly heavy snow. She could tell by Hoyt’s posture on Tuckerman’s back that the man had seen something. Gapman responded willingly to the slight pressure of the bit in his mouth and changed direction. They pulled up alongside Hoyt.

“What’d cha see?”

The man hesitated. “I’m not sure. I thought I saw a form move. Not an animal, but upright and in the trees. ‘Just up ahead.”

Jessica followed his gaze. She could not see anything but smoky shafts of trees and snow. “Show me where.”

“Just up to the right.”

The riders guided their horses carefully along the mountainside. About an inch of snow had fallen since the storm began, obscuring the contours of the ground. Tuckerman’s hoof hit a patch of ice and the big animal scrambled to regain his footing.

“Whoa! Whoa, boy. Easy fella!” Hoyt expertly piloted his horse across the unseen ice. “The goin’s gettin’ pretty bad.”

Jessica nodded in agreement. “We may need to head down earlier if the snow continues the way it is. Let’s just cover as much ground as possible while we’re up here.”

They reached the spot and looked around them. The wind blew the snow around them in tight circles, forming little drifts along the horses’ legs. A faint glow of yellow could be seen a few yards ahead.

Hoyt was the first to reach it. Dismounting Tuckerman quickly, he reached the object and picked it up. Recognition was instant. “It’s a jacket from the school.”

Jessica swept her right leg over Gapman’s neck and jumped off. She looked at the jacket and the spot where it lay. Soft snow shifted across the surface. New flakes joined their companions along the smooth ground. Something just was not right. What was it?

“Gawd! That kid’s up heyah without a coat! C’mon, Jess, we gotta go.” The discovery propelled the man forward.

Hoyt was back up on Tuckerman’s back before she could stop him. “Wait a second Hoyt. You said you saw something.” Her eyes searched the ground for clues. The snow and wind obscured any traces of human footsteps within seconds. Her eyes scanned the trees. Thick arms of pine intertwined in dense patches, masking all daylight through them.

“I musta been seein’ things. C’mon! That boy’s up here. I just know it.”

Jessica held on to Gapman’s reins and looked at her friend. “No. Something is just not right. We’re over five miles from where Toby was last seen. The terrain between here and there is rough and has been scoured by search teams. How could a kid make it this far without leaving as much as a footprint? And if he did make it this far, why take off his jacket now?”

Impatience seasoned his words. “He’s a young kid, Jess. Anything’s possible.” He looked at the slope before him with narrowed eyes. “Looks like he was following the logging trail.”

“People on the brink of hypothermia and exhaustion start to make mistakes. Do you think he is capable of following a trail?”

“We gotta think so. If hypothermia hit, then Toby may have been at the point nearing hypothermic sleep and took off his coat in delirium. If so, he’s in rough shape. Let’s go.” Hoyt turned Tuckerman abruptly and thundered through the woods.

A sudden loud snap terrified Gapman and Jessica found it impossible to keep her hold on the reins. The animal’s eyes were ringed with white and his nostrils flared.

“C’mon, Gapman. Steady guy. Easy fella.” The words came out and drifted through as almost a melody. The big chestnut horse began to respond to the trusted voice.

Jessica watched in horror as Tuckerman reared upward and lost his footing, careening backward onto his rider. The black horse screamed in terror and protest. Hooves and legs struck out wildly in all directions as the panic-struck animal tried to regain a safe foothold to stand. The tree which had sprung violently upward from its vise in the snow, whipped about in frenzy. Everything was moving. Jerking. Except Hoyt.

It was all over in a few seconds. Jessica tethered Gapman to a tree and waded out to help her fallen team member.

“Hoyt! Hoyt!”

He was lying face down in the snow. She reached him, rolled him over and brushed the snow from his face. She took a sigh of relief when his eyes blinked open. His features hardened into an expression of pain.

“Hoyt? How are you doing? Can you move?” Jessica began to expertly assess his condition.

“My Gawd, Jess! What the hell was that?” He winced as he tried to sit up.

Jessica looked over at the still swaying tree. “I’m not really sure. It looks like that tree must have been caught in the snow, or something and Tuckerman’s hooves released it. When it whipped upright, it scared the heck out of Tuckerman.” The horse was standing a few feet away, its head up and legs still braced for action. His breath was coming out in large puffs of steam in the cold air.

Her two hands quickly but gently ran down Hoyt’s legs and arms, feeling for obvious breaks. Her eyes never left his face.

He knew it was no use lying. “One of Tuckerman’s hooves caught me in the side.”

Jessica opened his clothes and felt along his skin. She watched as his jaw muscles clenched.

“You’re lucky. The skin isn’t broken, probably just a rib or two. Hurts like anything, eh?”

Hoyt faked a smile. “You oughtta know.”

She managed a wink at the reference to herself. “Try to stand.” Jessica let Hoyt lean almost his entire body weight on her as she picked him up and brought him to his feet. She positioned him against a tree as she checked out Tuckerman. Over her shoulder she called, “How do you feel?”

“Never better.” He held his side and took short little breaths. “I can ride.”

Jessica retrieved the radio from Tuckerman’s saddlebag and relayed the discovery of the jacket and Hoyt’s fall to base. She finished her report with, “We’re starting our descent now.”

She brought the two horses around. Using their bodies to block the wind, she opened the map and planned the route back down the mountain.

“It’s actually a decent ride down. We need to backtrack along the ridge about a mile. When we hit the Skyler Peak mark, we’ll turn and head down the mountain, using the Skyler trail and its traversed path to make things easy.”

The two searchers were reviewing the map when the radio burst to life again.

“Ridge Team, come in.”

Jessica brought the radio to her mouth. “Ridge Team here. Go ahead.”

It was Michael’s voice. “Say again where you found the jacket.”

Her mouth twitched in irritation. She wanted to get moving, but she repeated their earlier discovery, using the map to offer additional reference points. She knew on the other end that Michael was comparing the transmitter readings to her verbal positions. They synced up.

“How’s your teammate?”

“Hurt, but he can ride. We’re using the Skyler Peak Trail for our descent.”

“Can he make it alone?”

Jessica brought her chin in and straightened her back at the suggestion. “Negative.”

“Put Hoyt on.”

Jessica tried hard to keep her face in one expression as she handed the radio over.

“Hoyt here. Go ahead.”

Michael repeated the question. “Can you make it down alone?”

“Yes. I think that boy’s not too far off. The terrain ahead is too rough for me now or I’d go on.”

Jessica stared at Hoyt in disbelief. “You’re crazy.”

“I can make it down on my own. You gotta try to find that kid.”

There was a long pause before Michael’s voice burst back. “From where you are, Jessica can go on for another two miles then come down the south side of Pine Mountain. I can’t have both of you double back when the boy could be near. I’ll have a team with additional supplies meet Hoyt on the Skyler trail. Jessica can continue on to the Cumberland camp building that’s about three miles down from the Pine Mountain marker. The trail’s well marked, but tough. You might have to leave the horse up there.”

Jessica took the radio from Hoyt’s hands. “Are those
Devlin’s
orders?” She knew Devlin would never order two team members to separate in a storm like this. Especially if one was injured.

“Devlin’s second in command now. Those are my orders.”

Hoyt leveled a stare at Jessica. “He’s right, Jess. That boy does not have a chance. I can make it down the Skyler Trail, but I’d never make it to Pine Mountain. You can do it.”

She had never been on a search team where the members were placed at such an obvious disadvantage to the weather or the territory. “You heard what he said! Leave Gapman up here if the going gets too tough! This is an insane idea. It’s just not safe.” She was much less concerned about herself than she was about Hoyt. What if there was another injury to him that she couldn’t detect? What if something happened to him?

He read her concern. “We’ve got transmitters if something happens to us. I’ll check into base every fifteen minutes. You’ll hear me and you can do the same.” He hesitated. The look in his eyes shone with the depth of emotion of a man who had felt too much pain in his life. “Jess, that boy... he’s gotta be scared out of his wits. Think of him. If he’s just ahead you’ll never know if you turn back. He’s a friend of Karen’s, Jess. You’ve got to find him.”

Jessica put her head down and felt her heart pound in her chest. She knew Hoyt’s pain at having a daughter like Karen and she knew what every friendship meant to the young girl.

“Ridge Team. Respond.” Michael’s voice was more insistent.

Hoyt kept his eyes on Jessica as he pressed the ‘talk’ button. “Ridge Team will separate here.”

“Fine. Good luck. Base out.”

The radio sputtered back into silence and the two people stood in the howling wind on the mountaintop looking at one another. Without a word, Hoyt reached his arms out and gave Jessica an embrace.

Jessica stayed in the embrace for a long while. Finally, she moved away, reached into Gapman’s saddlebags and pulled out a pouch of food. “You’ll need this more than I will. I have more food in my pack.” She knew that having a full stomach would help the injured man generate heat and strength for his solitary trek. Wrapping Hoyt’s ribs for the journey took a little more time. Finally, she said, “I’ll help you mount up.”