He knelt and examined it more closely. It had a thinner, knife-like slicing entry point, almost more like the wound from an arrow. He’d seen a hole like this once in the throat of one of his own men back in North Dakota. No question the wounds were one and the same. “Son of a camel humper,” he mumbled, nearly smiling. Lazzo gave him a questioning glance. “Laz, give me camera.”
Lazzo handed him the camera. “What is it?” he asked.
Eddie stared at the picture from the hotel again. The large black stick on the small person’s back wasn’t a stick at all. It was a bow. “Son of a mother camel humper,” he said loudly.
Then it all made sense. He knew exactly who he was following. He looked up the canyon. A trail of blood led away from the cats. A good amount of blood. Odds were the source wouldn’t last long.
He filled Lazzo in on what he’d realized and then walked to the truck to radio the helicopter. However, the pilot’s voice came over the radio first, and told Eddie he’d found signs of life up the canyon. As expected. He had traced some kind of trail to an overhang east of Bighorn Mountain, where his radar had detected three heat targets. Where were they going? Eddie scratched his head and looked at Lazzo. Three targets? Where were the other two? Had the lions killed them? More damn questions. He was curious.
Lazzo was quick to remind him that they had decided to let the Americans go for the winter. He was right. They had earned it, they both felt, saving both of their lives. While the Russian commander and several others he’d encountered here may not have abided by Eddie’s personal code—or any code for that matter—Eddie considered both himself and Lazzo to be men of honor. Where they came from, that meant something.
There didn’t seem to be a right answer—chase or let them go.
The other men looked like they were itching to get out of the snow. It was freezing, and they were wet—it was miserable. Eddie didn’t think they would object to calling off the hunt. But then, if this was indeed the Americans and they were just miles ahead and injured, they would be easy to overtake. Eddie ordered the helicopter to meet them at the base of the canyon road, find a place to land, and await their arrival. They’d be down shortly. Eddie and his men hopped on the snowplow trucks, riding them down to the helicopter. As the other men climbed into the helicopter, Eddie turned to Lazzo and said, “What you think, man?”
Lazzo shrugged. “Are you sure it is them?”
“Pretty much,” Eddie replied. “Has to be.”
“Doesn’t seem right, man,” Lazzo finally said, suggesting they let the Americans go.
Eddie nodded. Then the pilot yelled at him. “Major. It’s Russian commander.”
“Mother Russian,” Eddie muttered, taking the radio.
“Bring chopper here now,” the Russian said curtly.
“Sir,” Eddie replied, making his decision to go back on his word. “We have found the girl.”
There was a pause and then another abrupt reply. “It no matter. Vice president dead.”
What? WHAT?
SIXTY-TWO: “Calm Down”
“I don’t get it,” Blake said aloud beside Danny. The others were deeper under the ledge behind them. Danny didn’t respond. The helicopter had hovered directly over the ledge they were under for more than a minute. Then it disappeared back down the valley. They could still hear it, so they stayed hidden, and then fifteen minutes later it flew back over them, hovering again for another thirty seconds or so before continuing up the valley. “It absolutely had to have seen us,” Blake reasoned. “Either they have the world’s worst radar or—”
“They don’t need us anymore,” Danny said, and Blake stared at him.
“What?” he asked in surprise.
“I’m with you,” Danny replied. “I think they knew at least a few of us were here. I’m pretty sure they tracked us to the lions, and the helicopter followed the trail all the way up here. They knew we were people, and they knew we were here. I’m not sure who they thought we were, but I’m pretty sure they were coming for us.”
“So why leave?” Blake asked, taking it all in.
Danny looked back at Hayley, who was giving water to Cameron. Abbey was wrapped in a blanket but shivering like mad and staring back at Danny. “Think about it,” he redirected, turning back to look at Blake. “We saw the helicopter come in last night, right?” Blake nodded. “This morning it comes up the valley the way we came. It comes all the way up to us and doesn’t go any further. It goes back down the valley, comes back up and keeps going. There’s nowhere to land up ahead. They knew we were here, but for some reason they don’t need us anymore. For some reason, they don’t need the girl anymore.” Danny looked him in the eye. “Why do you think?”
Blake had an idea. The vice president had to have given up the information they were trying to get out of him…or he was dead.
Hayley came up to them. “Danny, Cam is awake. We need to try to keep him moving. He desperately needs to be taken care of.”
Danny nodded, moving instantly. “How’s Abbey?”
“She can keep going,” Hayley replied. “She’s a tough little girl,” she said a bit louder so Abbey could hear her. “She’s a little groggy from whatever drugs they had her on. It’s taken a long time for them to get out of her system.”
“Unbelievable,” Danny muttered.
Hayley went back to assist Cameron, and Danny turned to help her, but Blake grabbed his arm. “Do you think he’s dead?” Blake whispered.
Danny glanced at Abbey briefly before answering, but then turned calmly back to Blake. “I know he is.”
Eddie demanded the chopper pilot ask how the vice president had died, but there was no reply. Angrily, he hopped into the front of the chopper, and ripped the radio from the pilot’s hand. He repeated the question but again received no reply. “Get in Lazzo.” Eddie yelled at him.
Lazzo hopped in the back. Eddie commanded the pilot to get them to the alpine base immediately. They lifted off and headed towards the summit of Trail Ridge Road. That the VP’s death had occurred while Eddie was here on assignment burned him to no end. He was going to be viewed as partially responsible by the other six commanders. If not exclusively so, were the crazy Russian to throw him under the bus. He had to get up there and find out what the hell had happened.
As the helicopter climbed through Black Canyon, Eddie watched the radar screen. Sure enough, as they reached the overhang the pilot had mentioned earlier, they could see three small red dots on the screen below the rocks. Eddie had the pilot hover above them for about twenty seconds as he watched one of the dots move further under the rock. He wanted them to know they’d been seen, and he was confident that message had been delivered. Then he twirled his finger and pointed upward towards the Alpine Visitor Center. “Let’s go,” he ordered the pilot. And they moved on again.
The helicopter landed at the alpine base a few minutes later, and Eddie leapt out, storming towards the front door. Lazzo caught up to him and stepped in front of him. Ordinarily, Lazzo would have attempted to tackle him because he could sense the fire in his brother’s body language. But that would have been blatant insubordination, and he probably would have been shot. Instead, he stepped in front of him, weaving back and forth to slow his brother down. “Eddie,” he said several times before his brother finally stopped.
“What?” Eddie replied angrily.
“Look. I get it. You mad. Fine. You must calm down,” Lazzo reasoned.
Eddie tried to push past him again, but Lazzo insisted, his hands still up by Eddie’s chest.