Desperate Rescue - Janet Feldman Series

“You think the sheriff’s up to no good, don’t you?” Seth asked Jake quietly after they had turned off the radio and walked back over to their sleeping bags.

  “I don’t know, Seth,” Jake replied. “It’s just that nothing feels right about all of this. I just don’t get it. Nothing seems right...” His voice trailed off as he stared out into the darkness at nothing in particular.

  “I know. I don’t like it either.” Seth crawled into his sleeping bag and propped himself up on one elbow. “So what are we going to do come morning?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ll think about it tonight and come up with something.”

  Seth lay down and stared up into the night sky. He listened as the tops of the trees sang their soft song as a breeze gently danced among their branches. Jake was getting ready to take off his boots and bed down when Tommy stuck his head out the window and called to them.

  “Hey, guys?”

  “Yes, Tommy, what do you need?”

  “Nothing. But I was thinking about what the deputy was just saying about the girl on the radio.”

  “Were you?” Jake sat up.

  “Yup.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t worry about it right now. Just get some sleep so we can get an early start in the morning.” Jake lay back down. He was tired and just wanted to get some sleep. The radio conversation they had just heard was concerning, but he really didn’t know what to do. If the young woman was with Greg Danes, he sure didn’t know where they could have gone. Sure, it was a big mountain, and there were plenty of trails and fire roads Danes could have taken, but finding the right one was a challenge he couldn’t tackle. “I’m just a dumb kid with a gas station in the valley. What do I know about these hills?” he muttered to himself.

  “I was thinking about that old shack up on the side of Crocker Peak,” Tommy called over to Jake.

  Jake sat up again, now very alert. “What shack?”

  “That old one on Crocker Peak, like I said,” Tommy repeated. “It’s just an old shack that nobody uses no more. Some old miner used to live in it; at least that’s what I heard.” Tommy was surprised that Jake didn’t seem to know anything about it. He thought that if he knew about the shack, certainly everyone else must know about it too.

  “Where is this shack, Tommy?” Jake was pulling on his boots, suddenly very interested in what his young friend had to say.

  “Up on Crocker Peak! Like I said.” Tommy was a bit exasperated.

  “I know that’s what you said, but Crocker Peak is a big mountain. Where exactly is this shack?”

  “Up there.” Tommy pointed in the general direction of the mountain summit.

  “You’re sure about this!” Jake demanded.

  “Sure, I’m sure. I’ve even been there a couple of times with my dad when we went hunting.” He hesitated a moment and then continued, “He won’t take me anymore ’cause he says I…”

  “Tommy! Do you suppose you could find it again? Could you show it to us?” He hurried to the truck, his eyes focused on Tommy.

  “Sure, I think I could.”

  “Right now?”

  “Now? In the dark?” Tommy was not so sure about that.

  “Yeah. Do you think we could get to it from here? What do you think, Tommy? Could you do this? You could be the hero, if we find the girl. Wouldn’t you like to be the hero?” Jake was coaxing him.

  “Sure, I’d like to be the hero, but it’s so dark outside. I thought we were going to sleep first and wait for morning.” Tommy pulled back inside the truck and started to roll the window up again, but Jake put his hand on it after a couple of cranks.

  “That girl needs our help, Tommy. You’d like to help her, wouldn’t you?”

  “Yeah, I’d like to help her, but I thought the sheriff was trying to help her.”

  “Well, remember, he asked us to help too, right?”

  “Y-yeah,” Tommy stammered.

  “Okay then.” Jake hurried back over to Seth and roused him. He had already drifted off to sleep.

  “What?” he asked groggily. “What’s going on?”

  “Time to go.” Jake was matter-of-fact as he hurriedly rolled up his sleeping bag and gathered up a couple of other items.

  “Hey! What’s going on?” Seth demanded.

  “We have a small shack to find.”

  “A what?” Seth was dumfounded.

  “Tommy will explain. Let’s get going! Jake tossed his gear and other items in the back of the truck. “Come on, Seth,” he demanded. “Toss your stuff in the back. We need to get going. Now!”

  “What's got into you?” Seth was irritated at having been awakened so abruptly.

  “I’m not sure, but I have this gut feeling that if we don’t find that shack soon, it may be too late.”

  Without further discussion, the two of them finished tossing all their gear in the bed of the pickup then hopped in the cab and resumed their journey higher into the hills. The road, if you could call it that, wound around and between the trees, often obscured by rotted branches and thick layers of pine needles. Even so, there was a slightly discernable trail that was wide enough for the truck as it labored along. The headlights cut through the darkness like a knife. Twice they startled some deer.

  Tommy gripped the dashboard once again, his eyes wide with anticipation and fear. He was beginning to wish he hadn’t said anything about the shack. How did he know that Jake was going to get all excited and decide to chase up the mountainside looking for the girl in the middle of the night? It would have been much better to wait for sunup.

  After about a half an hour of rough driving, Jake brought his poor old truck to a stop. “We’re gonna have to hike it from here.”

  “What?” Tommy seemed incredulous. “In the dark?”

  “Yes, Tom, in the dark!” Jake was getting exasperated with Tommy’s constant whining about the dark. But he also knew his short temper was due in part, to exhaustion and quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, Tommy, but we really need to find that girl.”

  “I know,” Tommy said quietly.

  Seth just stared at Jake. He really liked and respected his friend, but he thought they were now taking this too far. “Jake. How do we know where to go?”

  “We’ll keep following this trail. If my truck had four-wheel drive, we could’ve kept driving, but it doesn’t, and the engine was beginning to heat up. It just isn’t cut out for this type of terrain.” He looked at his friends. “I’m sorry, guys, but we really need to find that shack. My gut tells me that girl is in real danger. Don’t ask me why because I can’t tell you. I don’t even know myself, but the feeling is so strong.”

  “Okay, Jake,” Seth said. “Let’s get going.” He opened the passenger door and hopped out. “Come on, Tommy. We’ll be okay. There are three of us. Three men.” He tried to be reassuring. “We can do this.” Timidly, Tommy exited the truck while Jake quickly threw some items in a small backpack and put it on.

  “I’m glad you’re with us, Tom,” Jake said. “You’re the only one who knows about the shack, so you are in charge, okay?”

  “I’m in charge?” He seemed pleased with the idea and perked up. Zipping up his jacket and pulling a stocking cap from his pocket, Tommy took the lead as the three friends continued up the mountain trail, playing the beams of their flashlights on the ground and doing their best to follow the trail.

  For the next hour, they trudged along in the cold night air, stepping over rocks and debris and occasionally stumbling on half-buried rotted tree limbs. It was tedious going, but they kept at it, moving along in silence, listening and watching.

  Seth was beginning to think it was a fictional cabin. Who would build a place way up here? Jake was getting a little concerned too. It was so late and cold. And if they didn’t find something soon, it would be dawn, and they still would be nowhere. A new moon had climbed high in the night sky and was in position overhead. Here and there, its very faint
glow attempted to assist their flashlights but with little success.

  At last, Tommy spotted something up ahead. As they got closer, they could make out the shape of a roofline and stovepipe in the dime moonlight through a break in the treeline. “There it is!” he exclaimed.

  “Ssshh!” Jake and Seth said together.

  “Keep it down, Tommy,” Jake cautioned. The three of them had stopped and were playing their lights around examining the shack and the surroundings.

  “Look over there!” Seth whispered excitedly focusing his beam. “A jeep!” Parked in the shadows between some trees they saw a beat-up jeep. Seth stealthily made his way over to it and then hurried back. “It’s Danes’ jeep.”

  “Are you sure?” Jake asked quietly.

  “Yeah, I’m sure. I recognize all the dings and mud.”

  The trio looked up at the tiny shack clinging to the hillside. “Doesn’t look like much,” Jake remarked quietly.

  “I know,” Tommy agreed excitedly, “but just wait!” He started toward the porch steps.

  “Wait a minute!” Jake whispered, pulling him back. “You can’t just walk up to it…not yet anyway. We need to check it out first.”

  “Okay.” Tommy was obedient, suddenly remembering the situation they were in. He stepped back and let Jake take over being in charge. His job was done. He had helped them find the shack.

  Cautiously, they approached the steps leading to the tiny porch. It was steep, and required careful placement of their feet on the treads in the process. Finally on the porch, Jake tiptoed to the small window and tried to see inside, but it was pitch-black. He tried the door and found it unlocked. Opening it slowly, he waited for a sound of any kind, but heard nothing. Seth and Tommy, in the meantime, had waited at the base of the steps until Jake motioned for them to follow. Then stepping inside, Jake took a chance and flicked on his flashlight. He was shining it around the room when his friends stepped inside.

  “Wow!” Seth whispered in amazement. “You’d never guess it was this big inside!”

  “I told you,” Tommy seemed proud of himself.

  “You’re a good man, Tom,” Jake complemented his friend, as he continued to gaze around in equal amazement. “A good man.”

  Seth walked to the closet door and carefully opened it. Inside were a couple of jackets hanging on nails on the back wall, but nothing more. He showed his light on the floor, looking for anything else that might be a clue, and then called to Jake. “Hey, take a look at this.”

  Jake and Tommy joined him and looked at the floor where the light was shining. “That’s interesting. Why would there be dirt here but nowhere else?” Jake wondered out loud. He bent down to take a closer look and detected a slight draft of air. Standing up, he looked toward the cabin door. It was still standing open. “Hey, Tom, you wanna go close the door for us? Quietly, okay?”

  “Sure, Jake.” Tommy did as he was asked, and Jake bent down again.

  Even though the cabin door was now closed, Jake still felt a draft of air coming from somewhere.

  “Either one of you have a match on ya?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I do,” Seth handed him a book of matches. Pulling one off, Jake lit it and then moved it around. It began to flicker more toward the back wall of the closet, then went out. “What’s going on?” Seth asked.

  “There’s air coming from behind this back wall.” Jake stood up and began to feel around the edges. He pushed and pulled in various places, but nothing gave way. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “There’s just something odd about this.”

  “Maybe there’s a key in the pocket of one of those jackets,” Tommy suggested.

  “Uh...well...that’s a good thought, my friend, except I don’t see any lock to open with a key.”

  “Oh” was all Tommy could think of to say.

  Even so, Jake decided to take a look in the jacket pockets anyway. There was an extra nail on the back wall, so he hung his flashlight on it to search the jackets, but in doing so, he heard a faint click, and the back wall moved slightly inward.

  All three boys stood motionless for a moment; then Jake gently pulled on it. It swung into the closet revealing a tunnel.

  “Wow,” all three said slowly and quietly. Jake hesitated a moment, then took his flashlight and shone it into the tunnel. It seemed to go for quite a distance.

  “What do we do now?” Seth asked.

  “Follow the passage and see where it takes us,” Jake replied as he stepped into it.

  “Are you sure?” Seth asked with uncertainty.

  “Well, it seems like this is the only real clue we have to work with. How else are we going to find that girl?”

  “Well, how do you know she’s in there somewhere? I mean, maybe we should wait until it’s light out.”

  “What difference will that make? It’ll still be dark in here.” He shone his light down the passage again. “Come on. We’ll just go a little ways. We’ll keep our ears open for voices, and if we hear the girl, we’ll keep going. If not, we’ll turn back. How’s that?”

  “I...I guess,” Seth replied. “But what if we hear other voices?”

  “Ah...good point. Well, if we hear any other voices, we’ll just...get the heck outta here! Okay?”

  “Okay,” Seth and Tommy replied in unison.

  Slowly, the threesome entered the passageway. Seth decided to prop the door open just in case it started to swing shut. He didn’t want to get stuck in here. He found a small log near the old stove and used that for the doorstop, then joined his friends, taking up the position at the rear with Tommy in the middle and Jake leading the way. Their feet made an eerie crunching sound in some places in addition to the fact that they found themselves shuffling rather than taking full steps.

  The tunnel was spooky and even though they had three flashlights, they still didn’t generate enough light to effectively brighten things up. They continued on for about five minutes, ducking to avoid banging their heads on low ceilings, until they found themselves in a more open chamber filled with fascinating colors and shapes. They were awestruck with the sight, but continued on in silence. The light from their flashlights seemed to be swallowed up in the darkness as they entered another narrow passage. A couple of minutes later, they came upon a larger and smoother-looking tunnel. This one had obviously been widened by someone or purposely made entirely. It led to a small room with a cot and other things indicating that someone had been there and, judging from the looks of things, recently.

  Uneasy with this find, they all decided to exit the room…the sooner the better! Without a word, the trio hurried back out into the natural passage and stopped for a moment. The decision was whether to continue deeper into the mountain or go back to the shack and hightail it back down the mountain to Jake’s parked truck. In the quiet, all they heard was a steady drip-drip of water from somewhere nearby. Then Jake held up his hand and motioned for them to continue being silent. He took a step farther in the passage and listened.

  “Wha…,” Seth began.

  “Shhhh!” Jake whispered back instantly. He took one more step then turned to his friends. “Seth, take Tommy and get out of here, now!” His voice was a tense whisper. “Go!”

  Seth didn’t wait for a second invitation. He grabbed Tommy and pulled him in the direction of the shack, not knowing what Jake was going to do.

  Jake stayed put until he couldn’t see them any longer, then slowly made his way farther along the passage. He kept shining his light ahead and then would dip it down to examine the ground every couple of steps. Then he stopped again and listened, thinking he could hear footsteps, but hurried ones, in the distance. They continued to get louder until he thought he could also hear the heavy breathing of someone headed toward him. He quickly went back to the man-made tunnel to step out of the way and flicked off his light, waiting. His heart pounded, and his breathing became rapid. “Calm down,” he silently told him
self. “Just calm down.”

  Chapter 15