Beneath the Tombstone (The Tombstone Series) (34 page)

“Yes,”
she responded, her face brightening a bit.

“Do
you have a question?”

“Yes,”
she replied, and all eyes turned to her as she pushed her way forward through
the crowd towards Jason. “Mr. Hathaway, your fans are wondering…”

“Fans?”
Jason asked cutting her off short. “I have fans?”

“Yes,”
she laughed. “You have fans… fans who would like to know what it is that
prompts you forward. In other words, what keeps you going even though you know
you may very well be headed to your death?”

“That’s
simple,” Jason replied. “The only thing stronger than the fear of death is
love.”

“Wow,”
she said. “That was, wow, um, that’s really special.”

“Yes,
he is special,” Tomas cut in. “Whenever this whole thing started, I knew one
thing from the get-go… Jason Hathaway is not a quitter. You should’ve seen him
when...”

“Yes,
that’s very nice,” the reporter cut in with an edge to her tone. “If you don’t
mind, sir, I’d like to ask Mr. Hathaway a few more questions… just him.”

“Oh
yeah – sure, sure,” Dr. Throckmorton said, trying to make it sound like he
didn’t care one way or the other.

“Can
I ask a favor of you?” Jason asked the reporter after the doctor had taken a
few steps back.

“Sure,”
she replied.

“I
need to get a message out to the men who kidnapped my wife,” he said.

“No
problem,” she assured him. “What’s the message?”

Jason
looked away from the reporter, straight into the camera that rested on the
shoulder of the man next to her, and said, “I want evidence that my wife is
alive before I climb.”

There
was a brief silence before the reporter spoke. “Don’t worry,” she assured Jason
with a smile, “your message will be sent.” She paused for a second before she
spoke again. “I said I had a few more questions for you, but I’ve heard you
hired a rock climbing coach. Is that correct?”

“Almost,”
Jason said with a smile. “I didn’t hire him. I’m swapping work for the training
but, honestly, I think I’m getting the better end of the deal.”

The
reporter smiled. “Instead of just you, what’s the chance of getting an
interview with the two of you together?”

“I’m
not sure,” Jason replied. “Let me ask him.” With that, he turned and shouted up
towards the porch where the others were. “Hey Tyler!” After a moment, the tall
cowboy turned his head around. “You
wanna
do an
interview with me?” Jason asked.

“No,”
came the honest reply.

“Sir,”
the lady reporter spoke to Tyler, “the more light we shed on this kidnapping,
the more the word will get out, and the chances of getting Jason’s wife back
alive will get better and better.”

The
tall cowboy flung his hands in the air before rising to his feet. After a few
moments, he came trotting down the steps and over to Jason’s side. “Here I am,”
he spoke grudgingly.

“What
is your name, sir?” the lady reporter asked.

“Tyler.”

“Well
Tyler, how good do you feel about Jason’s odds of getting to the top of the
Tombstone?”

“He’s
got a shot at it,” the tall horseman replied.

“Have
you ever trained someone for such a dangerous climb before?” the reporter asked.

Tyler
turned and looked at Jason before he replied, “No I haven’t… but everyone else
had a choice. My friend here has none.”

“But
no one is forcing him to climb, right?” one of the other reporters questioned.
“They wouldn’t set his wife free, but he still has a choice, right?”

“What
kind of choice is that?” Tyler demanded. “None at all,” he said, answering his
own question.

“Jason,”
the lady reporter from the first interview spoke, “how do you feel about Tyler
as a rock climbing coach? Do you think he’s done everything possible to get you
ready in such a short amount of time?”

“Everything
possible and more,” Jason replied with a chuckle.

“What
do you mean by that?” the reporter asked with a curious smile.

“I
mean, I’ve learned that a lot of the things I thought of as impossible actually
are not.”

“Pretty
intense training, huh?”

“Oh
yeah,” Jason assured her. “Definitely.”

The
reporter, who had taken the lead when they had all first thronged Jason, spoke
up again. “We’ve learned that the Royal Gorge is actually closed to climbing at
this time,” he said, directing his attention to Tyler. “How do you to plan to
overcome that?”

“I
cross one bridge at a time,” Tyler replied calmly. “I’ll do the same with that
one when we get to it.”

“Fair
enough,” the reporter said. “One more thing…”

“No,
that’s enough for me,” Tyler said. “
Y’all
ask Jason
some more questions if you want, but I’m done.”

“
Naw
, no more questions for me either,” Jason said as he
followed the tall cowboy through the crowd of reporters and a few spectators
that had gathered.

“Well,
I guess we’ll see them next week at the Tombstone,” Jason over heard the lady
reporter from his first interview closing out her report.

“Let’s
get out of here,” Tyler said, casting a nervous look around at all the people
staring.

As
they ascended the steps up to the tall porch where Susan, Rye, and Ken waited;
Jason turned around and spotted Tomas on the other side of the crowd. Jason
lifted his hand and gave the doctor a big wave. It was returned much less
energetically.

On
their ride back to the ranch, Susan, Ken, and Rye sat in the backseat, leaving
Jason and Tyler alone in the front. They rode along in silence for a while
before Jason spoke something that had been weighing on his mind. “It may be
none of my business,” he said then turned to the tall cowboy, “but for a
reconverted Christian, you sure don’t forgive easy.”

“What
makes you say that?” Tyler asked, taking his eyes off the road long enough to
give Jason a confused glance.

“The
way you treated Tomas,” Jason stated. “You don’t seem to have forgiven him for
spooking that heifer.”

“It’s
not about forgiveness,” Tyler said calmly. “The way I treated him has nothing
to do with his stupidity. I just don’t trust him.”

“You
only met him once before today,” Jason pointed out.

“That
was more than enough,” Tyler said without a doubt. “He’s proud and arrogant,
and a wannabe leader.”

Unsure
of how to respond to the accusations thrown at the doctor, Jason just remained
silent and pondered over Tyler’s words during the rest of the ride home. He had
a point. The doctor did seem to be proud and arrogant, always making a pathetic
attempt at control. Jason thought back to the day when he’d first met Tomas. The
doctor had spoken of control like it was everything. After today, Jason knew
better. Control was nothing. It was only an illusion that caused men like Tomas
to strive their entire lives in hopes of obtaining it… and still, they could do
nothing but come up empty.

The
old horse stood calmly, gently swishing its tail at the occasional pesky fly
buzzing around. Tyler sat on its back without saddle or bridle, coiling up his
rope after successfully looping it around the heels of the roping dummy placed
several feet in front of his horse.

Jason
walked up beside the horse, giving it a pat on the rump. “Hey,” he spoke,
coming to a stop at the horseman’s side, “what that reporter said about the
Royal Gorge being closed to climbing… that true?”

“Yep,”
Tyler responded.

“How
long have you known?” Jason inquired, going a bit on the offensive.

“Long
time,” the tall cowboy responded. “I guess about the time they closed it –
years ago. It’s a shame, you know. Got a lot of good routes. I have to admit
though… the Tombstone was my favorite.”

“If
they won’t allow climbing, how am I going to?” Jason questioned… a lot of
things, including Tyler’s sanity.

“God
will provide a way,” the tall cowboy assured him as he began to build a loop in
his rope. “Plus, I’ve put in an application with
Cañon
City. They seem like a good bunch. Considering the cause, they should give us
the sign off.”

“Why
didn’t you tell me this from the beginning?” Jason asked bluntly.

Tyler
paused from his task for a moment and looked down at Jason. “When you came to
me, your wife had been kidnapped, and you showed that you were willing to give
your own life to save hers. In light of that fact, I didn’t figure you’d need
anybody’s permission,” the tall cowboy added, returning to his task of building
a loop. “If you want it bad enough, you’ll do it.”

“You
sure seem certain,” Jason observed.

Tyler
shrugged. “Jesus said if you got enough faith, you can move a mountain. Some
will spend their entire lives telling the mountain to move… others get a
shovel.” With that, the tall cowboy began twirling the rope around his head. He
let the loop fly, and it settled around the roping dummy’s head. Without
pulling the slack, Tyler let it sit there for a moment as he spoke. “I guess
what you need to decide is which you are – a teller or a doer?”

“You
got a shovel?” Jason asked with a smile.

Tyler
chuckled as he flipped the loop off the roping dummy’s head and began coiling
up his rope once more.

- - - - - -

“You
see that ninety degree angle?” Tyler asked, pointing towards one of the corners
in the climbing pit. A small joint separated the cliffs in the corner, forming
a crack big enough for a man to wedge his hand into. “That’s called a
dihedral,” Tyler said. “And you climb it like this.”

With
that, Tyler approached the corner rock and began to climb. “You grab the crack
with your hands, like so,” he instructed, “then place your feet on the other
cliff and make your way up it a little at a time, pushing with your feet and
pulling with your hands.” The tall cowboy worked his way to the top of the
crack using that method then came back down doing the same thing in reverse.

“Your
turn,” he said, turning to Jason.

“Okay,”
Jason replied. “Give me a minute to drag the mattresses over.”

“We’re
through with them,” Tyler said bluntly. “If you fall and hurt yourself on this
little cliff, it’ll be doing you a favor. It’ll mean you weren’t ready for the
Tombstone.” Seeing the look of surprise come over Jason’s face, Tyler added,
“At least you won’t be dead.”

Jason’s
heart began to race as he approached the dihedral. “Deep breaths,” the tall
horseman instructed. “You get scared and hold your breath, you’ll run your body
out of oxygen much faster.” Up until it was pointed out, Jason hadn’t realized
he wasn’t breathing. He inhaled and exhaled deeply. “Good,” Tyler said. “Focus
on your breathing. Always keep it in mind.”

Jason
felt the cold rock beneath his hands and the pressure beneath his feet as he
began working his way up. “Good,” Tyler coached. “Keep it up.” Jason finally
reached the summit and pulled himself up over the edge to safety, giving out a
relieved sigh. “Good,” Tyler called out once more. “Do it again.”

Jason
popped his head back over the edge. “Again?” he asked in surprise.

“Yes,
again,” the tall horseman repeated like doing so caused him much displeasure.
“I want you climbing all over these rocks before this is over.” And that is
exactly what Jason did… climbed the cliffs – then climbed them again, over and
over and over.

- - - - - -

The
following day, as Jason was helping Tyler work horses in the round pen, a shiny
new car turned down the driveway and headed towards the ranch.

“Who
you reckon that is?” Tyler asked thoughtfully, seemingly more to himself than
to Jason.

“Not
sure,” Jason replied anyways.

The
vehicle came to a stop, and a man not much shorter that Tyler stepped from it
and placed a cowboy hat on his head.

“Well,
I’ll be,” Tyler mumbled in an astonished tone before pushing open the little
gate that led from the round pen, trotting his horse through. Jason followed on
his mount, closing the gate behind him.

“Dodd?”
Tyler asked as he brought his horse to a stop beside the man. “What on earth
brings you up to this part of the world?” With that, he stepped down and gave
the man’s hand a hearty shake.

“Not
business,” the man assured him. “Just paying a friendly visit.”

Jason
came to a stop beside Tyler who turned to him and said, “This is Dodd. He’s a
bona fide Texas Ranger… a captain – and a real good friend.”

“
Ain’t
‘cha supposed to have a badge or something?” a young
voice asked before Jason and the ranger had a chance to exchange greetings. The
three men turned to the boy who stood staring up at the intruder.

“Well,
young man,” the ranger said with a smile, “I’m a little out of my jurisdiction
here, so I figured I should leave my badge in the car. I can show it to you
though if you need it for verification purposes,” he added with a laugh.

Ken’s
eyes brightened. “I sure do, sir,” he exclaimed.

“All
right,” Ranger Dodd said, reaching into his car. He opened the glove box and
fished something out. “Here it is,” he said, handing the badge to Ken.

“Wow!”
the boy exclaimed. “Wait until I tell Rebecca! I met a real Texas Ranger!”

The
three men chuckled as the boy handed the badge back before rushing off. “Well
Tyler,” the old ranger said, “I’ve been hearing a lot about this guy, Jason
Hathaway,” he said, pointing a friendly finger up in Jason’s direction. “Saw
you two on TV, and when I realized you were his climbing coach, I had to come
see if there was anything I could do to help.”

“Much
appreciated,” Tyler replied then thought for a moment. “Actually, there is,” he
said with a nod. “I need one of those little ear things.” He paused for a moment,
seeming to fully expect the ranger to know what he meant. “You know,” he went
on, “when you have a secret mission, and you don’t want any of the bad guys to
know you’re listening to an agent or somebody… you know, all that spy stuff.”

“You
mean an earpiece?” the ranger asked.

Tyler
tipped his hat back and stood perplexed for a moment. “I really have no idea,”
he confessed. “Sounds right.”

“Yeah,”
the ranger said with a laugh, “I can probably get you one of those.”

“Can
you make it two-way?” Tyler asked.

“Sure,”
Ranger Dodd replied. “It’ll require an induction neck loop, which can be
concealed under a shirt but, yeah, it can be done. You can use it with either a
two-way radio or cell phone.”

“If I
got Jason here hooked up with something like that, what would I need on my end
to talk with him?” Tyler asked.

“Well,
it depends on what you rigged his end up to; if it was a two-way radio, all
you’d need is another two-way radio, same with a cell phone,” the ranger
answered. “Why all the covert operations questions, anyways?”

“Part
of the kidnappers’ demands was that Jason could make no practice runs. Plus,
currently, there is no climbing allowed in the gorge. That being the case, I
figured I could at least talk him up that big piece of rock. The secrecy is because
I don’t know how the kidnappers would feel about that.”

“Makes
sense,” Ranger Dodd said. “One question though – if they’re not allowing
climbing, how do you intend for your guy here to climb?” Yeah. Jason was still
wondering the same thing.

“I
think they’ll change their minds,” Tyler assured the ranger. “If not, I may
have to revert back to my old and less desirable methods.”

“You
might not get off so easy again,” the ranger warned.

“Yeah,
I still can’t believe they let me walk,” Tyler said somberly, “twice.”

“Well,”
Ranger Dodd responded, “sometimes, even in the eyes of the law, the end
justifies the means.”

“I
thought you said we’d do it by faith,” Jason stated.

“Oh,
believe me,” the ranger said with a smile. “Tyler here isn’t lacking in the
faith department. He believed when no one else did – saved that boy’s life,
too. Where is
Ryeson
, anyways?”

“He
just goes by Rye now,” Tyler said. “He’s around here somewhere.”

“So I
assume the whole making you his legal guardian thing went through?” Ranger Dodd
asked.

“Got
it finalized before we left Texas,” Tyler responded.

“Dodd?”
a surprised voice behind the ranger asked.

They
all turned. “
Ryeson
!” the ranger exclaimed. “Good to
see
ya
, my boy!” Much to Jason’s surprise, he wrapped
Rye in a big hug. “How you been?” the ranger asked when he released the younger
cowboy.

“Good,
sir. Good,” Rye said with a big smile.

“Now
what’d I tell you about that calling me ‘sir’ business?” the ranger asked,
pretending to give the young man a lecture. “Oh well,” he laughed. “Unlike a
lot of these other kids running around now-days, at least you’ve got some
manners on
ya
.”

“Well,
thank you,
ss
… I mean Dodd,” Rye laughed, catching
himself. He paused for a moment before adding, “If you want, you can stay for
dinner and crash on the couch.”

“I
just might take you up on that offer,” the ranger said. “Tomorrow I need to run
to town and order a few things for our secret mission,” he added, giving Jason
a wink.

Rye
looked confused.

“The
whole ear listening, talking thing I told you about the other night,” Tyler
informed him.

“Ah,”
Rye said, understanding.

Tyler
turned back to the ranger. “If you can, let’s go the two-way radio route,” he
said. “I’m afraid that at the bottom of the gorge, Jason won’t get no cell
phone service.”

“I
bet I can make that happen,” Ranger Dodd assured him. “I’ll see what I can do
tomorrow.”

“Well,
grab a horse and help us work a few, if you want,” Tyler invited Dodd. “It
ain’t
as exciting as chasing bad guys along the border, but
you’re still horseback.”

“
Y’all
still chase bad guys on horses?” Jason asked in
surprise.

“Very
rarely,” the ranger admitted with a chuckle. “But every now and then,” he
added. The way his eyes danced said those times were the highlights of his
career.

That
night after supper, they all gathered in the living room. Jason, Susan and Ken
sat in silence, listening to the other three swap stories of life down close to
the border of Mexico.

After
a while, the ranger turned to Jason. “Let me tell you the story of how me,
Tyler, and
Ryeson
all met,” he said excitedly.

“
Naw
, we better save that for another time,” Tyler cut in
before the story began. “It’s getting late. Let’s turn in, get some rest.”

The
following day, true to his word, Ranger Dodd rounded up all the gadgets needed
to make communication between Tyler and Jason possible during the climb. After
ensuring it was all connected and working properly, the old ranger said his
goodbyes and headed back to Texas, the word of increased drug activity along
the border shorting his visit.

Jason
continued with his climbing. Grappling with the rocks around the circle every
day was paying off, and so the time soon came that he could climb all over the
cliffs in the rock pit, up the thin boards attached to the side of the barn
using only his hands, and anything else he wished to ascend.

A few
days later saw the sun rise on Sunday morning… also, unfortunately, the week of
Jason’s climb. Everyone got up at five, took part in feeding the horses and
fixing a big breakfast before they got dressed in their best and headed off to
church. The preacher had an excellent sermon about a man named Caleb.
Apparently, Caleb had been in a situation close to the one Jason was in. He had
a mountain he needed to conquer and that is exactly what he did. Jason wasn’t
sure, but he had a funny feeling that the sermon was meant for him. And so when
he told the preacher, “good sermon,” he meant it from the bottom of his heart.
He realized risking life and limb for family and love was something men had
been doing for thousands of years.