Eyes flashing, Isaiah replied on the radio, relaying all that Zach had demanded. Isaiah’s pensive gaze never left Heidi. Something fierce and protective burned there, and it took her breath away. Now she couldn’t help but fear for Zach. What would Isaiah do to the man once he got the chance?
She didn’t want Isaiah to put himself in harm’s way for her, or to do or say something he’d regret later. Finally, Heidi was able to withdraw from Zach, and she noticed Rhea watching her with those crazy eyes.
“Well, then, we’re wasting time. Let’s gear up and head out.” Cade tossed the heavy packs, along with the bags dropped by the helicopter, to each of the climbers, since they apparently didn’t have their own gear except for the one green bag.
Jason, Liam and Rhea stared down at the stuff and back up at Zach.
“What’s all this?” Rhea asked. “We can’t carry this stuff.”
Zach shrugged. “We have to make it as far as we can tonight. Do the best you can.”
“We’ll need as much of that as we can bring.” Isaiah tossed headlamps to them.
Heidi almost smiled at that. He always thought of everything. And it was a good thing, too, especially for this unexpected situation because these people wouldn’t be able to see their way down. Maybe if the SAR team could show them what exactly they faced rappelling, Zach would change his mind. But he appeared to be a man on a mission and nothing would stop him.
The big question of the day: What was driving him?
This was insane. She didn’t want to be anywhere nearby if one of them fell or got hurt. She couldn’t go through that again. She had no idea what kind of shape this motley crew of criminals was in, but she’d guess they had no clue what they were in for.
Cade folded up the map he’d been looking at and tucked it in his coat. He started off, heading southwest. “Let’s go, then.”
Unmoving, Zach cocked his head.
“Wait,” Isaiah said. “Why that way?”
Are you kidding me? She wished he’d stop talking. Zach looked irritated anytime Isaiah said anything, making her more scared that he would be the first of them to go. Something inside whimpered at the thought. But...how could this end any other way?
“Isaiah,” she said, hoping she didn’t have an audience. Everyone seemed preoccupied with their gear.
When he gazed at her, she willed him to understand, read her thoughts. Don’t stir up more trouble for us. Just follow Cade.
But she knew Isaiah and Cade hadn’t been getting along the past few weeks, and that would probably play into this whole mess. She hoped she wasn’t the cause of the rift between them.
Isaiah directed his next words to Cade. “We need to talk about the best way down. If we choose the wrong way, we could all die.”
* * *
Isaiah knew what Heidi wanted. She wanted him to follow her brother, like always, but maybe neither one of them was thinking right. Maybe Isaiah was the only one capable of thinking this through.
Cade got in Isaiah’s face. He sure wished he could use this to his advantage like he’d seen in the movies. He and Cade distract the bad guys and then punch them. Take them out. But no. That wasn’t going to happen tonight.
Fury rippled in Cade’s overstressed face. “We hike out through Rush Gulley. It’s the only way.”
“Not with the storm coming. We’ll be too exposed and get the brunt of it on that side of the mountains. Our whole purpose in bringing this gear is to make it through the night. Protect them from the storm. The deadly temps.”
Cade worked his jaw and looked away, breathing hard, pondering Isaiah’s words.
Then Zach was in the middle, playing with his gun again. “Do I need to kill one of you so we don’t have to waste time arguing on the best way out? We hike out the safest and fastest way to the ice field.”
“What?” So there it was. Zach’s destination. “Why the ice field?”
“Because that’s my only ride out of this frozen world. I have four days to get there.”
“We’ll never make it,” Cade said. “That’s too far.”
“It’s only thirty miles. We’re that close. So we take shortcuts if we have to. Go over the mountains instead of around them. You can do it. You’re mountain climbers.” Zach grinned.
As if that would appease or charm them into agreeing. Isaiah wanted to punch him. They didn’t have all the gear they’d need for such a trek. Or the food or supplies. It was a death wish at best.
In this weather and terrain, they’d be fortunate to make five or six miles a day, tops, and that wasn’t counting the added burden of inexperienced climbers. Isaiah wanted to inform him there was no possible way, but he’d already done enough damage.
“Safest and fastest don’t go together,” he said.
The temperature dropped as the storm pushed arctic air deeper into the mountains. Isaiah sometimes wondered how it could get colder. They needed to keep moving or they’d get hypothermic right here. They needed to get the blood pumping. Sure, he wanted to take Zach down, but first and foremost, he was part of a search and rescue team, and he’d see this through. He’d get these people out and to safety, and then let the authorities deal with them. He didn’t want to hurt them.
Unless he had to. He would do whatever was necessary to protect Cade and Heidi. His heart staggered at the thought of harm coming to her.
Hands at his hips, he looked at the ground, waiting for Cade to say something. He didn’t want to get into it with him, but he’d needed to question Cade on his decision. He doubted any of them were thinking as clearly as they could under the circumstances.
“Isaiah’s right,” Cade said. “The north face will be tough going down. But it’s the quickest way to your destination, so you should be glad about that. You’ll have to stick very close to us, but I figure we have an hour, maybe two before we have to set up the tents to weather the storm.”
“No. We keep going,” Zach said.
“We won’t make it if we don’t stop. The storm will be a blizzard. A whiteout. Do you get that? We won’t be able to see where we’re going, even with night goggles and headlamps. We couldn’t even if we were in broad daylight. This terrain is deadly all by itself. Be realistic, man.”
Still looking at his boots sunk in the snow, Isaiah shook his head, mostly to himself. There was no good way out of here in the dark during a storm. But if he put himself in Zach’s head, maybe he could imagine why the guy was so desperate.
“I get it,” he said. “You want us to be gone by morning, so if the storm clears out, we’ll be untraceable.”
Zach nodded to Isaiah, respect in his eyes. Isaiah couldn’t say he returned the sentiment.
“So tell me.” He was going to do this thing. Ask the forbidden question that he knew Cade and Heidi wanted the answer to, too. But they were afraid to know the truth. The way Isaiah figured it, their lives were already forfeit. Might as well know the whole of it. “What or who are you running from? What did you do?”
The guy’s eyes narrowed.
“Come on, man. We’re risking our lives for you out here. Tell us what this is all about.”
“Isaiah, no. We don’t need to know what’s going on.” Cade glared at Isaiah, then directed his words to Zach and the others. “It’s none of our business. All we care about is getting you out of here and to safety, and we want to be left to make our own way. Let’s agree on that.”
Cade was right, and Isaiah had proven