“It’s going to be slow going,” he warned.
No one said anything. The radio remained silent. Even with that boom? Mac thought someone would have broken radio silence.
“Why would they have left us behind?” Tim asked finally, his voice trembling a bit.
And that was a good question.
“Because whatever they were going to do next, they didn’t think you’d go along with,” Rand said grimly. “You’ve been isolated from the main action all weekend if you think about it. Probably weren’t expecting guys like you to come out this weekend. Did you tell them ahead of time you would be coming?”
“No need,” Tim said. “You just show up.”
“If you’d said something, Norton would have found some reason for you not to go,” Mac said briefly.
Tim subsided at that. Kevin looked sick. Mac thought he’d already figured it out.
“But they left you a vehicle, right? So, you’d get back to camp, see the snow, and figure they headed out ahead of you and head down the mountain,” Mac continued. “And no biggie.”
“Except for whatever they headed out to do before we reached the camp,” Rand said. He didn’t look away from the road. He had his headlights on now. Low beam. High beam just turned everything into swirling white.
Mac knew he was worried about Ken and the others from their camp. “Some of them were probably out looking for us,” Mac said. “That’s who they left the vehicle behind for.”
“What was that?” Angie said suddenly.
They listened. Mac didn’t hear anything. “The other camp going up?” Mac asked.
She shook her head. “No,” she said slowly. “I heard someone.”
Fuck, Mac thought.
Rand stopped, and they listened.
“There,” Kevin said suddenly. “I heard someone too.”
Mac looked at Kevin. “Can I trust you?” he asked, looking at the younger man. He thought he could, but.... “If there is someone out there, it’s going to be you and me who goes and gets them. And if you betray me? I’ll kill you and leave you out there.”
Kevin met his eyes. He looked determined. “I don’t know what the hell is going on,” he said slowly. “But if there is someone out there? We need to go get them. That’s what I joined the reserves to do. Rescue people in weather like this. Help people. If that’s what you’re going out there to do? Then we’re on the same team.”
Mac nodded slowly. He looked at Tim. “You got gloves? Better snow gear? I didn’t pack for snow — I packed for rain, and left most of that behind when I thought we were going to have to walk out.”
Tim nodded and pulled out gloves, a hat with ear muffs, a scarf and gave them to Mac.
“We have first aid?” Kevin asked.
“Yeah,” Mac said. He hopped out of the car, and Angie slid into the passenger seat. “Remember what we agreed to,” he said.
She nodded. “Get the camera to Janet,” she said, her voice wobbling a bit. “And don’t you forget. You’re coming down right behind me.”
“You got it,” he said. He kissed her. Looked at Rand. “Take care. Go on about 30 minutes. Stop. Wait for 30 minutes. If we don’t catch up with you by then? Hightail it out of here. You can send in search and rescue when you get down to Sedro Woolley.”
He didn’t wait for a reply, but slammed the door, and tapped the roof of the SUV. Rand slowly pulled away. Mac shrugged on his pack, and then slung his rifle over his shoulder. “Where?” he asked Kevin. “Which way?”
They both stood still, and Mac heard it too this time. Definitely a human call. He thought it might be Craig Anderson, actually. “That way,” Kevin said, and pointed. Mac agreed.
“Lead, then,” Mac said. “You know this area better than I do. I’ll keep you in sight. If I can’t? We’ll rope up.”
Kevin nodded, and set out, roughly south, by southwest, Mac thought. Not quite downhill, but a traverse of the slope. Mac matched his stride, focused on the florescent stripe on Kevin’s backpack and followed.
Whoever was shouting was smart, Mac thought. About every five minutes, another call. Kevin didn’t rush. He course-corrected a bit after the next call, and slowly moved forward. Mac gained appreciation for his skills, because he would not be able to navigate in this snow together with the dense forest. The snow wasn’t much different than a sand storm, but a sand storm didn’t hide pine trees the size of a man and taller, or shrubs that came up to your knees and could trip you. And all he could see was the swirling, wind-driven snow, and that orange fluorescent stripe. Whiteout was what they called it, Mac thought suddenly. He couldn’t see his feet even. He grimaced and kept his eyes on the orange stripe ahead and walked on.
Kevin stopped and turned to Mac; he waited until Mac got close enough to grab him. “There!” he shouted in Mac’s ear, and pointed. Mac squinted. Slowly the dark shape ahead coalesced into a black SUV.
“Are we near a road?” Mac asked, putting his mouth close to Kevin’s ear. He was puzzled. Kevin frowned, he looked around. He nodded.
“Hairpin turn,” he said. “But they slid some.”
“Will Rand come by here?”
Kevin shook his head no. “Don’t know why they are here, to be honest. There’s a road, but it’s not the one we took to get here. Maybe they took the wrong fork a mile back.” He gestured to the left — east Mac thought.
Mac tried to visualize the map and their trajectory on foot that got them here. He shook his head. Not that it mattered all that much. Here it was. And somewhere there was at least one guy. He studied the vehicle. There were no lights. No signs of anyone moving. It raised alarms. Kevin started to move forward. Mac put his hand on his arm, stopping him. “Wait,” he said. “Wait for the next call out.”
Kevin looked puzzled, but he halted obediently. They waited. The call when it
