Untraceable (6 page)

Heidi held her breath. What had she done or said to give Rhea that impression? “You’re wrong.”

Rhea’s laugh was deep and raspy, a sick, mocking sound. Where had Zach found her? Heidi’s pulse ratcheted up, although it was already near racing. Would Rhea tell Zach, causing him to use Isaiah or Cade—both of whom meant everything—against her?

Wait. Isaiah meant everything? “I don’t love anyone. And I don’t want anyone. But I’ll make you a deal.”

“What’s that?”

“Remember when Zach punched Jason in the nose because he almost told us how much money you stole?”

Rhea was silent, but Heidi knew she remembered. They all did.

“Zach doesn’t want anyone to know how much, but you just told me that he stole two million dollars. That can be our little secret. So I’ll keep your secret, if you’ll keep mine. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes.” Rhea’s voice cracked. Was the woman that scared? “Zach will kill me if he finds out.”

Tension crept back into Heidi’s body. She wouldn’t fall back asleep now. Heidi had some power over Rhea, but she could never use it because then Rhea could tell Heidi’s secret. Not that she’d admitted to anything.

But the images of what Zach could do tormented her like the howling wind outside.

* * *

The radio squawked. Funny the places those things would pick up, and then sometimes when you needed them the most, they failed. But that’s why the SAR teams carried a couple of different kinds as well as a SAT phone. Isaiah also took his cell on rescues, which would give off a ping if kept on. Zach had commandeered all their communications equipment except, well, the avalanche beacons, but those weren’t exactly communication devices unless you were buried in the snow. Isaiah had turned on his beacon to transmit, anyway, but where they were, nobody was near enough to pick up that signal. No one even knew to look.

Snuggled inside the sleeping bag with his hands tied, he bolted up, oriented himself to his surroundings and spotted the radio on the floor next to Zach’s sleeping bag. Didn’t the guy hear that? Admittedly, the noise had to burrow into Isaiah’s head to get him to wake up.

David was calling to check on his team. Isaiah figured it might be better if he didn’t answer, let them start worrying sooner, except there was no getting them out of this place with the inclement weather and gale-force winds still screaming outside. At least morning had broken. That was an advantage they hadn’t had last night, and yet somehow they had survived.

He’d give God the credit.

David sounded agitated. Maybe...maybe Isaiah could somehow let David in on what was happening. Give him a clue, if nothing else, but only if Zach and Liam slept through this.

Isaiah worked his way free of the bag and scrambled over to pick up the radio with his hands tied. “I’m here, David!”

The next thing he knew, Zach sprang from where he slept and pressed his gun against Isaiah’s temple. Tension corded around his throat and tightened. He couldn’t speak.

“Isaiah! Finally. I thought you ran into trouble.”

He found his voice. “You could say that.”

Zach shoved Isaiah’s head with the gun. A clear warning.

Isaiah quickly added, “We’re still weathering the storm. But you can be sure we’re going to deliver the climbers down the mountain into the right hands.”

He wasn’t sure why he added those last words, but he had every intention of doing just that. However that played out. Whatever Zach thought he would pull off here, wasn’t going to happen if Isaiah—and he knew Cade and Heidi would be with him on this—had anything to do with it. He’d think of something before this was all over. Something before Zach killed them.

“How’s Adam? Did his team make it back yet?” Isaiah knew that Cade and Heidi would want to know about their younger brother.

“Yeah. Last night. Found a little boy who’d gotten lost hiking with his parents.”

“That’s good to hear.” At least someone had found success.

“I need your updates more frequently.”

“Sure, every hour?”

Zach snatched the radio from him. “If you do that again, you can say goodbye to the woman.”

When Zach put the radio to Isaiah’s mouth, his eyes narrowed.

“I’ll try,” Isaiah said, “but we’re getting buried here and we’re busy.”

Zach leaned in and whispered, “Heidi.”

Isaiah closed his eyes at his next words. “Don’t worry about us. You know we’ll be fine. I’ll contact you with coordinates for an extraction point. We’ll hike as far as we can first. Could be tomorrow maybe.”

“Is Cade around? Why doesn’t he answer his radio?”

What? Didn’t David trust Isaiah? But then Cade was his brother. Isaiah should understand that. “He’s outside, brushing snow off. Heidi’s in another tent.”

“Okay, then. You guys take care.”

“Tell him over and out.” Zach nudged him with the gun again.

Huh? They never used that. But Isaiah could use it now. The radio at his mouth, he said, “Over and out.”

Would David hear that for what it was? Would he pick up on the clue that Zach had forced Isaiah to drop?

The radio conversation over, Zach shoved Isaiah to the ground. He couldn’t stop the fall with his wrists tied. “You ever try that again and I won’t kill you. I’ll hurt you and leave you to die a slow death.”

“The radio had been squawking for a while, and you guys snored through it. Next time I’ll just let the command center wonder what happened to us. Let them think we need our own rescue team, if you prefer.”

Zach studied Isaiah, considering his words and that outcome. The tent shuddered, fierce wind breaking through the snow wall.

He growled. “It’s April, for crying out loud. Why is this happening?”

“This mountain range has some of the roughest weather in the world. That’s why. Your plane had the great misfortune of crash-landing here.” Isaiah wanted to know where they’d been heading. Had they come from the Alaska mainland running from an armored-car robbery there? Or were they leaving the Lower 48 on their way to Alaska or Canada? But he wouldn’t make the same mistake he’d made before and ask.

“Let’s pack up. We have to get going.”

“No. We have to wait out the storm.”

“There’s no time. I have four days, now three, to get where I need to be for my ride out of here.”

“If you wanted to go on a suicide mission, why did you call for our help? Huh? Tell me that.” Isaiah didn’t bother to rein in his temper. “You called us to help you out of here. Hear those winds out there? It’s a whiteout. We hike out there now and we won’t be able to see a thing. It’ll be worse than last night. At least we had the night vision goggles then.”

“Maybe he’s right, Zach.” Liam rubbed his tired eyes like a three-year-old. “Let’s at least wait until there’s a break in the storm. We could make some headway then.”

“I need to talk to the others on my team,” Isaiah said. “Figure out the quickest and safest way to the ice field. Believe me, I want this to be over with as soon as possible. Just like you.” Isaiah held out his hands. “Mind untying me now?”

Zach nodded to Liam. “Untie him, then go get the other one.”

Liam’s eyes widened. “You want me to go out there?”

“If you don’t want me to leave you behind when we leave, then yes, go and get him.”

Backing down, Liam shook his head. Zach trained his weapon on Isaiah as if he expected Isaiah to try something as soon as his hands were free. And when Liam left, he just might. But then he thought of Cade and of Heidi.

Liam grabbed his coat and put on his gloves. The tent was small, but at least it was warm.

Isaiah rubbed his hands and wrists. “I’m going to need Heidi, too. She’s part of the team.”

“It’ll get too crowded in here.” Zach shifted on his sleeping bag as if he was already feeling claustrophobic.

“Well, I’m sorry about that, but I need her help to plan our next move.” He needed her to be here with him. Needed to know she was all right after a night with Rhea, although he knew that Heidi could win that battle, if it came to that, hands down.

“All right.” Zach glared at Liam.

The guy unzipped the tent and cold and snow rushed inside. Liam hesitated and Zach kicked him the rest of the way out. There was a chance, though slight, that Liam would get lost altogether and wander into the blizzard, missing the tent. “The next tent over is to your left, Liam,” Isaiah shouted.

He wasn’t sure Liam heard him. He should be the one to go out there. “I don’t know if Liam has it in him to find the other tents in this storm.”

Zach scrunched up his face. “He’s not an idiot. He was out moving snow off the tents half the night. I think he’ll be fine.”

“Have you been out in that yet? Do you even know what you’re talking about?”

The man shrugged.

Isaiah sent up a prayer.

“You praying again?”

“Yep. Praying that Liam doesn’t lose his way.”

Zach’s face paled. “How could he? The tents are right there.”

“You’ve never been in a blizzard like this. It’s called a whiteout for a reason. You can’t see where the sky meets the ground. You can’t see where you’re going. You can even get vertigo.”

“That sounds like a bunch of bologne to me.”

Was that the answer? Should they just let Zach have his way and try to lead him and his crew out during the whiteout? No. Then they would all be at risk.

A few minutes passed. “Let’s pull out the food, get it ready for the others.”

Isaiah busied himself starting up the small camping stove. He opened the vents in the tent.

“What’s taking him so long?” Zach raked his hand through his hair. “How hard could it be?”

“You should have been the one to go.” Isaiah decided he took a little too much pleasure in taunting this guy. “I can go check on them if you want.”

“No. You stay right here.”

“Okay, then we’re both left to wonder if he even made it.” Planting the seed of fear in Zach had worked out better than Isaiah thought.

Zach was suddenly in Isaiah’s face, pressing the muzzle of his gun under his chin. “You’d love that, wouldn’t you? One down, three to go.”

Should he wrestle with Zach? Take the gun from him? It was now or never. Squeezing his eyes shut, he reined in the images of taking the gun from Zach. What would that gain him? Jason still had a weapon trained on Cade. He wasn’t sure if Rhea had one, as well.

All he knew was that this wasn’t the right moment.

Someone unzipped the tent and stepped inside.

Heidi.

Isaiah’s heart jumped.

Cade followed.

Isaiah had made the right decision—wrestling with the weapon could have set it off and killed her or Cade.

Liam tried to come inside, too.

“Go with Jason,” Zach said. “There’s not enough room here.”

Heidi sent Isaiah a soft smile, the strain of a restless night in her face. She crawled over next to him, took off her gloves and shrugged out of her coat. “It’s warm in here. How are you holding up?”

“Good.”

She slid her hand over his and squeezed.

Isaiah tried to ignore what her touch did to his heart. He pulled his hand away.

God, I have to get her out of here.

Maybe if he could save her—and Cade, too—then Isaiah could redeem himself. Although he knew that wasn’t true. Only Christ was the true Redeemer. But maybe if he could right this wrong, it would be something. Although he hadn’t been arrested or convicted, hadn’t killed anyone, he knew in some roundabout way, he’d played a role in that murder.

SIX

B
undled in her winter gear, Heidi exited the tent.

They’d stared at the maps long enough.

Conserving what water they had, Heidi had used the camping stove to melt snow to drink, and portioned out the energy bars. When the wind had died down, the quiet drew them outside to assess the damage.

Cade, Isaiah and Zach stood next to the snow wall. The tents were nearly buried again, even though the men had taken turns scraping off the snow. Liam, Jason and Rhea were still eating their energy bars, their gazes drawn to the exquisite splendor surrounding them—a pristine but deadly beauty that had threatened their lives.

Indescribable.

The clouds thinned enough that the sun tried to break through. Heidi wanted to celebrate, but she knew the lull in the storm might not last.

“Let’s get going.” Zach started taking down the tent closest to him.

Everyone followed his lead, that is, everyone except Isaiah.

“I don’t think this is the end of the storm.” Isaiah followed Zach. “We could get stuck out there, in the thick of it, and this time we could all die.”

Zach turned on him. “Do your job, man. Pack up the camp and let’s move.”

Unfortunately, Heidi had made the mistake of watching the exchange, and caught Zach’s attention. Isaiah must have noticed, too, because he looked ready to take Zach down. At some point, they should definitely do that, but not like this. Not without a plan to overpower their captors. She had to intervene before Isaiah did something stupid.

“Isaiah, help me pack the sleeping bags. You know we need to hurry.” She searched his intense, fury-filled gaze, pleading with her own.

Rhea approached and leaned into Zach, kissing him and turning his head. Heidi sighed with relief and gestured for Isaiah to join her.

Isaiah climbed inside the tent with Heidi and they started packing up the bags and gear as quickly as possible.

“What were you doing back there?” Heidi hissed.

“You know we’re in the best place to wait out a blizzard for miles. This isn’t over yet. Not by a long shot. That’s why we brought the tents and food and water. We knew it was coming. So what are you doing, giving in to him?”

Heidi stopped rolling up the bag and looked into Isaiah’s eyes. Something pinged in her heart—she’d missed seeing him at the Mountain Cove Avalanche Center ever since they had traded shifts and no longer worked together. Especially his eyes. The contrast of the striking hazel color with his dark brown hair, and the essence of all that was Isaiah in the depths of his gaze, stirred a crazy longing. But it also stirred other emotions like sadness. Regret.