Desperate Rescue - Janet Feldman Series

Shad took off instantly and ran to greet Greg. Janet waited for him to reach her and tried not to appear too eager to see him even though she was. Shad could hardly contain his excitement, his tail wagging with great enthusiasm. Greg gave his dog a good ear rub and repeatedly told him what a good boy he had been. Shad stood looking down the passageway with a whimper and looked at his master. Greg reached into his bag and produced a treat of some kind, which Shad devoured with great pleasure. “Good boy, Shad,” he said. “Come on, boy.” Shad took one more look at the passage and then followed Greg into the room.

  “I think he wants to leave,” Janet remarked.

  “Hmm? Oh yeah,” Greg glanced back at the tunnel.

  “Hey, I hope the wait wasn’t too bad,” he said to Janet. “I brought some other things back for us too,” he said as he began to unload his bag.

  “So,” she began, “did you hear anything?”

  “Huh?”

  “Did you hear anything? On the radio?”

  “Oh, uh...no, not much.” He was placing the extra items in the crates and seemed unconcerned.

  “Nothing at all?” She sounded distrustful. “Excuse me, but we are holed up inside a mountain, at your insistence, by the way, because there seems to be an apparent danger out there involving me! I think you’d show a little more concern!”

  “Look!” He turned to face her. “There is an apparent danger out there, and I do think it involves you, which is why we are holed up, as you say, in this mountain!” Now he was exasperated. “I can’t predict when someone is going to be yakking on the radio, ya know! They may be keeping radio silence most of the time. I really don’t know! You are either going to have to trust me or not. If not, I will gladly take you back out to the cabin and you can go and do whatever you want. You tell me.”

  Janet was taken aback and then burst into tears.

  “Ahh, geez,” he responded.

  Janet pulled the blanket around her shoulders more securely and walked past him to her crate and sat down, wiping her eyes and sniffing. Shad came to her and placed his chin on her knee and sat down. She patted his head and thanked him and said, “Good boy.”

  “I am trying to help you,” Greg remarked.

  “I don’t trust you!” she snapped at him, wiping her face with the blanket. “I trust Shad.”

  “Well, what makes you think you can trust my dog? I could give him an order and he could rip your throat out, just like that.” He snapped his fingers.

  “Shad would rip my throat out.” It was a statement and not a question as she continued to pet him.

  “Yeah, if I told him to.”

  “Okay,” she challenged him, “prove it!”

  “No,” he snapped back, looking annoyed.

  “Yeah, like I’m so scared of Shad. I’ll bet he would come to my defense before he’d ever think about ripping my throat out!” She rubbed the dog’s ears and smiled at him.

  “I just don’t have time to play games with you right now,” Greg defended himself. “We’ve got other things to think about.” He went back to his organizing.

  Janet wiped her face again and smiled, still petting Shad. “You’re such a good boy. You’d never hurt me, would you? No, you like me. In fact I think you love me, don’t you?” Shad wagged his tail and licked her hand. “Yes, you do. You love me.” She bent over and kissed the top of his head, then glanced at Greg. He had been watching but quickly went back to his chore.

  Moments later, he asked, “Are you hungry?”

  “Yes.” Janet remembered she had felt hungry earlier, then repeated, “Yes, I am. So what’s for dinner? More cold beans?”

  “No. I thought we’d have beef stew. Can you handle that?” The sarcasm was thick.

  “Yes, thank you,” she responded ever so politely, paused, then asked, “So do you come back in here very often?”

  “Hmm?” Greg finished opening a can, without turning around. He emptied it into a pot and then proceeded to set up a small propane camp stove.

  “You have all this stuff in here…the crates of stuff and extra food and water. It looks like you were planning on being back in here for a while long before you brought me here.” She watched him, then continued, “Are you sure you’re not looking for gold or something?” The question was innocent enough. At least, she hoped it sounded that way.

  Greg didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Coffee?”

  “No thanks. I don’t like coffee.”

  “Really. I don’t think I’ve met anyone before who didn’t like coffee.”

  “Well, now you have.”

  “How about some bottled water then?”

  “Sure,” she replied.

  Greg tossed her a bottle.

  “You still didn’t answer my question.”

  “Oh...well, yeah...okay. Maybe I am going to do some looking around.” A short while later, he announced dinner was ready. The hot stew tasted good, and she savored every bite. They ate in silence for a while until Greg asked, “You want some more?”

  “No thanks.” Janet sat quietly, still watching him. “I’m sorry I’m on edge,” she finally said.

  “That’s okay,” he said. “I think we’re all on edge, even Shad.” He rubbed his dog’s ears again. “How about we get things cleaned up, and then we can go listen to the radio again.”

  “We?” she asked, a little surprised. “You mean all of us?”

  “Sure, why not.”

  Within a short while, Greg, Janet, and Shad made their way back to the tiny cabin. The sun had dipped below the mountains and dusk had settled in. They carefully made their way down the narrow porch steps without the use of flashlights. Greg didn’t want to draw any attention to their whereabouts and thought that even a small pinpoint of light might give them away.

  “Where’s the jeep?” Janet asked as she stepped off the porch.

  “I moved it.” Greg led Janet beyond the cabin and into some trees. He turned on the radio, keeping the volume down. Tuning it, he found a frequency with some chatter.

  “How can you get any reception here in the trees?” she asked.

  “Ssshh,” he responded. A conversation was in progress.

  “…and found some tire tracks leading away from the cabin up into the hills. Looks like two sets of tracks. Could be nothing, but you never know. Also found a small packet of tissues. I don’t think Danes uses little packets of tissues. Over.”

  “Sounds like maybe he has seen her, or at least she’s been at his place. Was he home? Over.”

  “No. Over.”

  “He may have her with him. Continue searching up in the hills. Over.”

  “Roger that, but it’s getting dark, and we won’t be able to track very well, even with the dogs. Over.”

  “Dogs!” Janet whispered excitedly.

  Greg motioned for her to be silent.

  “Did you say you saw two sets of tracks? Over.”

  “Yes, sir. Over.”

  “She couldn’t have gotten very far with that little car of hers. Keep looking for it. We’ll start searching up in the hills tomorrow morning. Over.”

  “Roger. Over and out.”

  “They have dogs!” Janet whispered again.

  “Yes, and a packet of tissues for a scent,” Greg added, then looked at her with a wry smile.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  “We wait for morning.”

  “That’s it?”

  “What would you suggest?”

  Janet realized that there probably wasn’t much more they could do, as late as it was getting. Then she had a thought, “Well, couldn’t we sneak down the mountain during the night and escape?”

  “Sneak?” he asked. “We’d have to walk to be sneaky. My jeep makes quite a bit of noise, you know.”

  There was a glint of humor in his eyes, which she detected even in the growing darkness. “Stop making fun of me! I’m just trying to think of ways
to help,” she defended herself.

  “I know,” he replied with a little chuckle. “Actually, it would be best if we got some sleep. We will be able to think better in the morning.”

  Greg switched off the radio, and the three of them walked back to the small cabin. Momentarily, it crossed Janet’s mind that she could run and hide in the trees instead of going back into the cave with Greg. Then he mentioned something else. “You know,” he said, “they are aware that I have a CB radio.”

  Janet stopped in her tracks. “I never thought of that.”

  “They might be giving out bad information just to throw us off. It could be they are using some other frequencies too. I may have to check on that.”

  “Let’s go back then and listen.” Janet was eager.

  “Let’s get some sleep first,” he suggested. Then he added, “Maybe your idea isn’t such a bad one after all.”

  Janet didn’t respond but was surprised at his comment. Instead, she quietly followed Greg to their cavern room and got ready to bed down. Greg picked up a couple of bundles of canvas and, in a few moments, had put together two army-type cots, and tossed a second blanket on one. Janet picked up her blanket and draped it over the second cot, then sat down. She watched Greg organize the crates against the back wall. He then brought an empty one over and placed it between the two cots upside down, setting the lantern on it.

  “There we go,” he seemed pleased with the arrangement then added, “I think one blanket should be enough for each of us.” He sat down on his cot unfolding the blanket. “The actual temperature inside here is pretty comfortable to start with and will stay the same no matter how hot or cold it gets outside.” Then he looked at Janet still sitting on her cot. “You gonna be okay?”

  “Yes. Yes, I think so.” She lay down on the cot, covering up with her blanket, and tried to get comfortable. Greg did the same. He reached over to dim the lantern but didn’t put it out completely.

  “Night,” he said and rolled over.

  “Good night,” she answered back and closed her eyes. But she didn’t go to sleep right away. Greg, on the other hand, had begun to snore slightly after a short while. She guessed he could sleep anywhere.

  Chapter 10