The bed shook as Cavenaugh climbed out, and Gabriel could hear rustling from the adjacent room as Jess slipped out from under the covers. After a long moment of hesitation, Gabriel finally followed suit. He dressed in a fog, adding layer after layer of clothing until he felt as though he were smothering.
Cavenaugh passed him and exited the room as he donned his coat and snowcap.
With a sigh, Gabriel joined the others in the main room and waited while Jess bundled into her massive coat, pulled the hood over her head, and cinched the ties tight to hold it in place.
Cavenaugh left through the back door without a word.
“Are you ready to do this?” Gabriel asked.
Jess looked him squarely in the eyes.
“No.”
***
Jess shouldered the backpack while Gabriel slung the rifle over his back. He was surprised by how light it was. Between the two of them, he was the only one who had ever fired a gun, and not since his father had died. Even then, he had only ever shot on a range. What were the odds that he would have to use it though?
The others appeared ready, but none of them were in a hurry to head out into the storm. All wore matching expressions of apprehension, save Cavenaugh, whose mouth was a tight line of determination. Gabriel couldn’t remember seeing him blink.
Will and Maura had been assigned the spring on the northern slope of Mount Isolation. It was the farthest trek, but the trail looked to be the easiest. Cavenaugh and Kelsey had chosen the northern slope of Mount Haverstam based on the spring’s proximity to the mountain lion’s charted range. Considering his police experience, it made the most sense to gamble that Cavenaugh would make the discovery so it could be handled by the book. Jess and Gabriel had been relegated to the southwestern slope of Mount Isolation, which meant they would follow the stream through the bottom of the valley before scaling the heavily-forested hillside. That placed them in a position to be the second party to reach either of the other sites should problems arise or if they found the bodies.
“Are there any final questions?” Cavenaugh asked. He paused just long enough to slide his Project 25- capable, digital walkie-talkie into his outer jacket pocket. “Good. Now let’s get a move on before—”
“Who’s carrying the emergency transceiver?” Jess interrupted.
Cavenaugh flashed her an angry glance, but it quickly disappeared.
“It’s in Kelsey’s backpack.”
“I want to carry it.”
“It’s most logical to bring it with us based on the probability of our destination.”
“We’ll be in constant radio communication. Any one of us can use it just as well as another.”
“If I give you the goddamned transceiver, will you let us leave now?” Cavenaugh’s face grew bright red.
Jess nodded.
Cavenaugh stomped over to Kelsey, spun him around, and unzipped the backpack. After some digging, he extracted the transceiver, which looked like a long walkie-talkie with a small digital readout and a miniature keypad, and threw it to Jess. She caught it and shoved it into her jacket pocket.
“Can we go now?” Cavenaugh asked through bared teeth.
“After you,” Jess said, gesturing to the door.
Without a backwards glance, Cavenaugh opened the door and stepped out into the storm with Kelsey right behind him. Will and Maura followed, leaving Jess and Gabriel to close up behind.
The snow had slowed noticeably. The flakes were smaller and more sporadic, and the wind only rose in occasional gusts. There was still no sign of the night sky through the thick cloud cover, but at least it no longer felt as though the storm was sitting right on top of their heads. Maybe there was actually a chance they might see the sun at some point during the day. Gabriel couldn’t help but think of that as a good omen.
He and Jess stood on the porch and watched Will and Maura disappear down the driveway behind the island of evergreens. They were to head north once they reached the road before finally branching from it at the designated trail.
Cavenaugh and Kelsey had already disappeared to the south.
“Ready?” Gabriel asked.
“Just a minute,” Jess whispered. She walked away from the cabin and looked around before returning. Gabriel was just about to ask her what she was doing when she pulled the emergency transceiver out of her pocket. She switched on the power and there was a hiss of static.
“Try a different frequency.”
She turned dials and pressed buttons, but the quality of the static never changed. When the steady hiss began to grate on her nerves, she clicked it off and shoved it back into her coat.
“It should be working,” she said.
“We’ll try again at a higher altitude. I’ll bet it’s a combination of the storm and this location.”
“You’re probably right,” she said, forcing a smile. “Just interference.”
They started their journey to the north, prepared to intercept the path that would lead them northeast into the valley.
***
The sun rose somewhere above the rocky peaks to the east, but did little more than cast a gray pall over the forest. At least it was now light enough to watch their footing more carefully. Neither of them could afford to so much as sprain an ankle or their journey would be over. The maze of pines protected them from the majority of the snow and wind, and the accumulation was only half of what it was in the thin meadow lining the stream, which was nearly invisible beneath a rugged sheet of ice. Soon, even that would vanish until spring.
Gabriel had known his physical prime was well behind him, but he hadn’t been remotely prepared for this kind of exertion, especially in the thin air so high into the mountains. His lungs burned and his legs ached. It felt as though he were trudging through peanut butter. Whether Jess was any better off or not, she did a better job of hiding it. Her cheeks and nose were scarlet, and clouds of steam burst past her lips in a panting rhythm, but she waited for him to call the breaks, which he had begun to do with increasing frequency.
They sat on a fallen tree in a small enclave beneath the protective canopy, momentarily shielded from the wind. Jess slipped out of the backpack and set it on the ground beside her. She removed one of the bottles of water and passed it to Gabriel, who tipped it back and took two long swigs, savoring the second. He debated taking off his jacket for a few minutes as he was dripping with sweat beneath, but he knew he needed to preserve his body heat. His best guess was that they were roughly halfway there, and the going on the easy leg had been even more challenging than he had speculated. He was dreading the prospect of scaling the hillside on the opposite side of the stream, which appeared to grow even steeper farther to the east. If they could barely maintain their traction on level ground, how were they supposed to do so on the sharp incline?
The radio crackled before Cavenaugh’s voice emerged from the static.
“How’s everybody doing out there?”
“We’ve reached the trail that leads away from the road,” Maura said. “With all the snow, it took us a while to find it, but we can see timberline from where we are now. Will thinks we should reach our destination within the next two to three hours, barring anything unexpected.”
“Good. Gabriel? Jess?”
“We’re still down in the valley and the mountain looks a lot steeper than it did on the map, but I’d imagine we should reach the spring around the same time Will and Maura reach theirs. So long as neither of us fall and break our necks,” Jess said. “How about you guys?”
Gabriel heard something rustle in the scrub oak behind him and turned toward the sound.
“Same here,” Cavenaugh said. “We would have been there already if it weren’t for the blasted accumulation. Now that we’re into the forest where it’s not as deep, we’re making decent progress.”
There was only the gentle swaying of the disturbed branches.
“I’ll check in on you guys again in an hour,” Cavenaugh said. “Out.”
Gabriel reached into the bag and removed a granola bar. He unwrapped it, took a bite, and climbed over the log toward the bushes.
