Zero Visibility (7 page)

In the darkness, Merci pressed against Nathan’s shoulder. Her breathing was a little more labored than his. His heart jackhammered in his chest.

The voices below them were muffled but angry. The stomping of feet overwhelmed the words.

Nathan leaned close to Merci and whispered in her ear. “We need to get to where we can hear them. They might say something about Lorelei. Follow me.” He found her smooth delicate hand in the darkness and cupped his own over it.

“But it’s so dark,” she whispered close enough for him to feel the warmth of her breath on his skin.

“I could go through this place with my eyes closed.” Which was pretty much what they would be doing. Without the generator hooked up, there were no lights in this building. He never would have foreseen that playing hide-and-seek in the dark in this building as a kid would benefit him as an adult.

“Okay, lead the way,” whispered Merci.

He slipped out of his boots. “Take your boots off, so they won’t hear us. We’ll come back for them.”

He grabbed her hand again and reached out for the rough wood texture of the wall. He led her through a narrow hallway to an opening. When he was the designated techie for the performances, he’d crawled along the catwalk and backstage area a thousand times. They came out to the stage manager’s booth above the performing area.

The men’s voices became clearer and more distinct.

If they leaned forward, they’d have an aerial view of the stage, but they also risked detection if they leaned too far out.

“There is no food in here,” one of the thieves grumbled.

Nathan breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn’t given themselves away with the minimal flashlight use or tracks. Hunger had driven the men from wherever they were holed up. Hopefully, their footprints would be blown over enough to avoid detection by the thieves once daylight came.

“There has got to be something to eat around here,” said the second man. “What do you think, boss?”

There was a brief pause and then the sound of footsteps moving up stairs. One of them was on the stage. Nathan lifted his chin in an effort to get a look at what was going on. He could just see the blond head of the third thief, the one who hadn’t been at the initial robbery, as he stepped center stage. He was younger than the other two men and more clean-cut.

His voice had a commanding, smooth quality. “I am sure there is some food around here somewhere.”

“Look, Hawthorne, I don’t work well on an empty stomach.” The man in the orange coat approached the stage and plunked down on the stairs.

Nathan strained to see more without being noticed. It looked as if the men had fashioned torches out of logs and rags. Two torches had been stuck in plant holders. They may have had a lighter with them and must have located some kind of fuel to put on the rags.

“We need to get off this mountain.” The voice came from a part of the room Nathan couldn’t see. “This is way more than we signed up for.”

“Use your brain.” The third thief, the one they called Hawthorne, raised a calming hand. “We are not dressed well enough to go any distance. We nearly froze to death getting here. The weather will probably break up by morning. We’ll find a way out.”

“What are we going to do without any food?” said Orange Coat.

“I bet there is plenty to eat back at that cabin.” Nathan couldn’t see who was speaking but he assumed the voice belonged to the man in the leather jacket, the one that had come for Lorelei.

“I say we go back there and help ourselves.” The other thief’s voice took on a menacing quality. “I know what to do with that redhead and her friend on the snowmobile.”

“Do you really want to walk back to that cabin?” Hawthorne’s voice was insistent and demanding. “We don’t have a snowmobile anymore. The less contact we have with those people, the better.”

The other two men responded with silence.

“There’s got to be a cafeteria around here. They had to feed those rug rats something. Most of the food would have been hauled out, but maybe they’ve got some canned goods or something.” Hawthorne stepped off the stage. “Let’s get moving.”

Nathan stretched his neck to try to get a view of what was going on.

Hawthorne had picked up one of the torn pieces of the wool blanket they’d left behind. He paced the room still holding the fabric scrap. The blanket didn’t give them away. It could have been left there from a previous summer. “Let’s take this. It’ll come in handy to keep us warm.”

Nathan’s heartbeat drummed in his ears as his breath hitched. Merci’s wet sock was still flung over the back of a chair. If anyone touched it, they would know someone had been in the building recently.

Merci let out an almost indiscernible gasp. Her hand clasped around Nathan’s forearm. She must have noticed the sock, too. What he could see of the floor below was limited. As the men moved around the room, they went in and out of view.

Leather Jacket said, “Yeah, I don’t know why we didn’t just barge into that cozy cabin.”

“Going to the cabin means I risk being seen. I don’t want to be connected to this. That’s why I hired you two.” Hawthorne’s voice was condescending.

“Besides,” Hawthorne continued, “this was supposed to be done with no bloodshed until your friend here thought it was a good idea to pull a gun on the redhead and messed up my plan. So you being trapped here and hungry is your own doing.”

“She caught me off guard.” The second thief spat out his words. “She was supposed to stay in the car getting warmed up where she couldn’t see anything.”

“Nevertheless, it’s not my fault that you’re stuck on this mountain.” Hawthorne stepped into view. He was only a few feet from the chair that had Merci’s sock slung over it.

He shook his blond head. “Bickering won’t help us. Let’s go find some grub.”

The wavering light of the homemade torches moved across the floor as the thieves made their way to the door they had torn to pieces.

The voices faded. From the kneeling position in the stage manager’s booth, neither Merci nor Nathan moved for a long tense moment.

Finally, Merci said in a voice that was barely above a whisper. “Lorelei wasn’t with them.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. They might have her tied up somewhere. Let’s not give up hope. It won’t take them long to figure out where the cafeteria is. We need to get there before they do and find that rifle.”

* * *

Though her stomach felt as if it had been turned inside out, Merci nodded in agreement. “I’ll go get our boots.”

“Let’s leave the snowshoes here. Snow is not as deep in the camp, and footprints would be less noticeable,” Nathan said.

It took only minutes for her to find the boots and for them to be ready to head out the door. Once outside, Merci listened to the rhythmic crunch of her feet in the snow as she walked beside Nathan in near total darkness. The decision had been made not to use flashlights. Since they had no idea where the thieves were in the camp, bobbing lights against the blackness of night would give them away.

Nathan moved at a steady pace. He knew the camp so well the darkness wasn’t a huge hindrance. The sound of their footsteps seemed to harmonize.

“There is a tree coming up here on the right. You might want to step behind me,” Nathan instructed. “Just walk where I walk.”

She slowed and slipped in behind him. Without a word, he turned and found her hand in the darkness.

“How much farther?”

“Maybe another ten minutes.” He stopped for a moment.

She pressed against his shoulder, grateful for the sense of safety she felt when she was close to him. She scanned the area around them looking for the telltale torches that would reveal that the thieves were on the move, but could see nothing. “It’s that far away?”

“It just takes longer in the snow and the dark. We’ll come to an open area and then it’s just a little ways after that. It’s at the top of the hill away from the rest of the camp.” Her eyes had adjusted enough to the darkness that she could see his breath when he spoke.

The wind had almost died down completely, and the night had a crisp, cold feel to it.

Nathan said, “Let’s keep moving.”

Every choice they made seemed to be wrought with uncertainty. Would they find the rifle? Would it be enough to protect them against three men with handguns? What if they couldn’t find Lorelei and free her? What if something had already happened to her?

A sense of foreboding and anxiety snaked through her as they stepped free of the trees and buildings.

They came to a sloping meadow filled with snow. The trees that surrounded the rest of the camp had blocked out much of the moonlight. But out here in the open the new fallen snow took on an almost crystalline quality. Flakes glistened like tiny diamonds. A calm came over her as she stared out at the pristine snow. God was in this with them. If they lived or died, they had done the right thing by coming for Lorelei.

“It’s just up this hill,” Nathan said. “Walk around the edge of the meadow where our footprints are less likely to be spotted.”

“It’s really beautiful out here, isn’t it?” she said.

“I’ve always loved it. Too bad you aren’t getting to see it under different circumstances.”

They trekked down into the meadow and up the hill. A large building came into view. Nathan led her to the front door and filed through his keys. She stared down the hill at the way they had come. Underneath the moonlight, the snow took on a blue hue.

Nathan let out a groan.

“Is something wrong?”

“I’m concerned they may have changed some of the locks and not given me an updated key. I have a vague memory of the camp director saying something to me about it.” He shook the doorknob. “With Mom and Dad dying last year, I really wasn’t in any kind of shape to deal with those mundane details.”

“Is there another way in?” Merci bounced up and down to stave off the cold.

“There is no alarm system. We can break a window. You’re small enough to crawl through. Once you get in, I think the back door will open from the inside. Follow me.”

She glanced back toward the camp. Her breath caught. Halfway through the camp, two torches bounced against the blackness of the night. “They’re coming this way.”

He pulled on the sleeve of her coat. “It looks like they are searching the other buildings for food. They’ve got a couple more buildings before they come up this way. We’d better hurry.” He led her around to the side of the building where she could no longer gauge the progress of the thieves as they moved toward the cafeteria.

Nathan stopped and tilted his head. “The window is higher than I remember. I’m going to have to boost you up.” He skirted around, turning on the flashlight and kicking away snow.

“Are you looking for a rock?”

“Anything that we could use to break the window. Then you can just reach in and unlatch it,” Nathan said.

Her boot touched something hard. She reached down and felt through the snow, pulling up a metal cow bell. “Will this work?”

He shone his light on it and took it from her hand. “One of the instruments we used for music class. Someone must not have been too happy with the sound quality and thrown it out. It’ll work for us.” He drew his arm back as though he were about to throw a baseball pitch and tossed the bell.

The bell hit its mark. In the frozen air, the glass had a tinny quality as it shattered.

“You should be able to reach it if you stand on my shoulders.” He put his flashlight in his teeth and held out a cupped hand for her to put her boot into. “I’ll boost you up.”

Her heart raced a mile a minute. “I was never a cheerleader, and gymnastics was not my strong suit.”

“I have every confidence in you,” he said.

She placed her boot in his hand. He groaned.

She froze. “Am I hurting you?”

“Don’t worry about it.” His voice sounded strained.

Merci gripped his opposite shoulder and pulled herself up. She managed to position each of her knees on his shoulders. “I don’t know if I can stand up. Move closer. Let me see if I can reach it this way.”

Nathan wobbled a bit as he stepped forward.

By straightening her spine and stretching her arm, she was able to reach through the broken window pane.

“The latch should be right below the hole,” Nathan said.

She felt around until her fingers found hard metal. She clicked the latch and pushed open the window. She hooked both hands on the bottom of the window frame. “Okay, push me through.”

“Once you get in, check the back door. If memory serves, it opens from the inside even when it’s locked on the outside.” He gave her a final push through and then shouted. “I’ll be waiting there.”

Merci cascaded down to the linoleum floor. Table and chairs lined the walls of the big open eating area. She rose to her feet. When she glanced out the window that faced back toward the camp, she saw the torches as they headed toward the final building before the meadow. Her muscles tensed. They didn’t have much time. Maybe six or seven minutes. She raced down a hallway with closed doors toward what she assumed was the back door Nathan had referenced and pushed it open with force.

A blast of cold air hit her, and she struggled to catch her breath. Panic tickled her nerve endings as she stared out into the blackness. “Nathan?”

She took in a deep breath.

He came around the corner. “They’re on their way up.”

“I know. I saw.”

He directed her toward one of the doors in the hall and pulled out his key ring again to unlock the office. The eating area took up about half the building. The kitchen and pantry must be opposite the offices.

Nathan pushed open the door. He dashed over to a closet behind a desk and pulled out a rifle.

Through the open office door, they could hear the rattling of the doorknob in the cafeteria.

“Do you think they will crawl through the window like we did?”

“They would have to find it first.” Nathan yanked open drawers in the desk. “I don’t think they have that kind of finesse. They’ll probably just break through the door with an ax like they did with the main building.”

Nathan’s mouth dropped open as he checked another drawer. He shook his head.