Zero Visibility. Sharon Dunn

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СКАЧАТЬ first woman had wrapped her arms around him and was holding on for dear life. He only hoped the other woman was secure on the seat, as well. The gunmen couldn’t go very fast pursuing them on foot. The route he took on the snowmobile to the family cabin was over the mountain, not on the road, so they wouldn’t be able to follow along in the car. Chances were the men would take whatever was of value in the women’s car and head straight out to the highway.

      They traveled in ever increasing cold, wind and snow for about twenty minutes. He felt a gentle pounding on his shoulder and brought the snowmobile to a stop, but let it idle.

      He flipped up his visor. “Yes.”

      “Where are you taking us?” Fear saturated the woman’s voice.

      She was probably wondering if she had just gotten out of one dangerous situation only to land in another.

      “Sorry, I was kind of focused on getting you away from the gunfire. We’ll go to my cabin. It’ll be safe there. We’ll call the police. I have a truck. I can take you into town to the police station to file a report. Maybe they can catch these guys before they get too far.”

      Her response came after a long pause. “Okay.”

      She didn’t sound totally convinced, but what choice did she have? Going back to the cars was unwise, and they couldn’t stay on the side of the mountain with the wind and snow blowing at them.

      “It’s going to be okay,” he said, hoping to lessen her anxiety.

      By the time they reached the cabin a few minutes later, the storm had become full blown. Tiny sword-like snowflakes came at him sideways. Air seemed to freeze in his lungs.

      He brought the snowmobile to a stop, took off his helmet and leaned very close to the woman in purple to shout into her ear. “You and your friend go on inside. The door is unlocked. I’ve got to put the snowmobile away.” He pointed toward the cabin twenty feet away and almost not visible through the blowing snow. “Get warmed up.”

      After watching them safely enter, he put the snowmobile in the three-sided shed then stumbled toward the house, reaching out for the rough pine stairs.

      He pushed open the door. The two women huddled by the dying fire, bent over and shivering. Both were wearing dressy winter coats, fine for a church service, but nothing that would keep them warm in this kind of weather. They needed to thaw out from the ride on the snowmobile before they headed down the mountain to the police station.

      Nathan stoked the fire and threw on another log. From the guest room, he retrieved blankets for them. He placed the blanket over the shoulders of the woman who wore purple.

      She pulled her long strawberry-blond hair free of the blanket and whispered, “Thank you.”

      The other woman stared at the floor as though she weren’t seeing it. He had worked ten years as a paramedic straight out of high school. His job had taught him a few things about people’s responses to violent crime or any kind of trauma. The blonde would come out of the shock in time. He just needed to keep talking to them, pulling them away from the memory of the violence and back into this safe part of the world.

      “How about I get you guys some hot tea? I’m Nathan, by the way.”

      “Tea sounds nice.” The strawberry blonde lifted her head and looked at him. “I’m Merci and this is Lorelei. We’re students at Montana State in Bozeman.” He liked the trust he saw in Merci’s eyes. At least she had come around.

      “Well, Merci, it’s going to be okay. Soon as you are warmed up, we’ll call the police, go into town and get this taken care of,” he said.

      Nathan went into the kitchen and prepared two cups of tea. They really needed to get moving, but neither of the women was in the state of mind emotionally or physically for a ride down the mountain. It wouldn’t hurt to give them a few minutes to recover.

      The blonde didn’t take the cup when he offered it, so he placed it on the table beside her before returning to the kitchen to clean up. A moment later, when he peeked out, he watched Merci gently place the steaming mug in her friend’s hand and encourage her to sip.

      He stared at the storm through the window as he made his way back through the living room. With the amount of snow falling and the intense wind, visibility had been reduced.

      “I suppose we should make that call to the police,” Nathan suggested. “The sooner we get this done, the faster the police will be looking for the guys that robbed you.”

      Merci set her empty cup down. The color had come back into her face, and her eyes looked brighter. She was kind of pretty. Lorelei had at least raised her head and taken a few sips of tea. The almost invisible freckles on Merci’s cheekbones and her white eyelashes gave her a soft, translucent quality, like a water color painting.

      Lorelei shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t want to talk about what happened. I don’t want to go to the police.”

      “She needs a few more minutes.” Merci rose to her feet and walked over to Nathan. The fear had returned to her eyes. “Could you make the call? You saw what the men looked like and what they were driving. I don’t think either of us is ready to talk about this just yet.”

      “Sure, I can do that.” His heart filled with compassion. Because he was an EMT, he was used to handling traumatic situations. But this might have been the first time these women had even seen a gun. He tempered his voice, hoping not to stir up the fear again. “When we get to the station, they will want more details. Can you tell me what you were doing down there? Did you know those guys?”

      Merci explained about the shortcut and getting stuck and how the men had shown up.

      Nathan kept his thought to himself, but it sounded as if the women had been targeted. The only thing more vulnerable than two college-age women traveling together was one traveling alone. The men had probably been following them and waiting for an opportune time to rob them.

      He kicked himself for not having gotten there five minutes earlier. Then this whole thing could have been prevented. He would have helped them with their car and gotten them on their way.

      Nathan picked up the phone and dialed into the sheriff’s office. He recognized Deputy Miller’s voice.

      “Hey, Travis, I’m up at the cabin and I’ve got two young women here who were robbed up on Jefferson Creek Road.” He briefly described the men and the car they were driving. “They should be able to give more details by the time I bring them in. They’re still a little shell-shocked.”

      “I haven’t noticed a car in town matching that description. Doesn’t sound like they’re from around here.” Travis Miller’s slow drawl came across the line. “So you’re up there playing hostess with the mostest to college co-eds. Tough duty, huh?”

      Nathan rolled his eyes at the friendly jab. Clampett, Idaho, was not a big town. Driving an ambulance in a town of twenty thousand meant that he was cozy enough with all of the first responders to joke around. “That’s right, I’m the Martha Stewart of the mountain. I’ll bring them in shortly.”

      “Better hurry, that snow is coming down fast. Getting the road up to your place plowed isn’t county priority since there is no traffic up there anymore.” Travis said goodbye and hung up.

      Nathan СКАЧАТЬ