Sneezy spoke up. “He saved two lives.”
“Which one cannot do unless one is on the mountain!” The young officer’s irritation was growing.
“Enough of this hairsplitting!” snapped the ranking official. “Cap Cicero, we are here to inform you of a decision by our government. The boy, Dominic Alexis, is no longer on your climbing permit. He will not climb.”
“You can’t change the rules in the middle of the game!” exclaimed Cicero. “Nepal took big money from Summit Athletic for that permit. Dominic’s on my team. If I climb, he climbs.”
“Should that happen,” replied the younger man, “you yourself, Cap Cicero, will be banned from climbing in Nepal. This would be a lifetime ban.”
Cicero pointed out the window, where a long procession of heavily laden yaks could be seen coming down the trail from Base Camp. “In case you haven’t noticed, the season is pretty much over.”
“You cloud the subject well,” said the senior officer. “But I hope you will listen well, too. This is not an idle threat, and we will not be fooled again.”
The two uniformed men stalked back to their waiting helicopter, their military bearing slightly wilted by the altitude at seventeen thousand feet. Soon the chopper was airborne and gone.
Sneezy let out the long breath he’d been holding. “What are you going to do, Cap?”
The famous alpinist snorted. “You think I’m going to let a pair of tin-plated bureaucrats break up my team? What can they do — climb to the Col and arrest me? Did you see them? They were practically suffocating, and we aren’t even at Base Camp.”
“It’s no joke,” Sneezy insisted. “They’re not just two guys. They’re a whole government. If you get banned, you’re off Everest for good.”
Cicero shrugged. “There are other mountains.”
“But there’s only one top of the world.”
“You let me worry about that,” said Cicero. “And don’t say a word about this to anyone, especially Dominic. The kid’s already stressed that the weather won’t break. The last thing I want to do is mess with his head.”
In the dingy dormitory room directly next door, Tilt Crowley took his ear away from the wall. He was smiling.
* * *
Dominic sprang fluidly up the lower slopes of the small peak Kala Pattar, planting his hands and feet with swiftness and authority. The freedom of this climb exhilarated him. Everest was the ultimate challenge, but there an alpinist was burdened by heavy equipment, footgear, and clothing. To do this — find some rocks and just go — was an undeniable pleasure.
He clamped both hands on a granite knob, chinned himself to the ledge above it —
And cried out in shock.
Strong hands grabbed him under the arms and hoisted him bodily up to the flat rock surface.
“Nice moves, shrimp.”
Dominic stared at Tilt. “What are you doing here? What happened to ‘I only climb when it counts?’ ”
Tilt shrugged. “Gotta stay in shape.” He took in his surroundings with an expression of distaste. “Pretty kindergarten stuff. You know — compared to where we’ve been.”
Dominic nodded. “It’s not exactly the Icefall. But think about it. We’re over seventeen thousand feet. To get this at home, you’ve got to go to Alaska.”
“Listen, shrimp, there’s something you should know, because Cap’s sure not going to tell you. Those two Nepal government guys were back this morning. You’re off the climbing permit now. And they said if Cap takes you on the mountain, they’re going to ban him from Nepal for life.”
Dominic grew still. He had always considered that the National Daily articles could cause trouble for him. But never had it occurred to him that his problems might harm the career of a legend like Cicero.
Cap Cicero. That name had always been spoken with reverence around the Alexis home. Perhaps America’s greatest living alpinist. Even now, after months together, it blew Dominic’s mind that he was actually climbing with the man.
“You know,” Tilt went on, “Everest is a big adventure for you and me. But for Cap, it’s his living. If he gets kicked out of Nepal, it’s not just good-bye, Everest. Three quarters of the world’s highest mountains are right here. It would ruin him.”
“It’s not fair,” Dominic said quietly. “If their problem is with me, why take it out on Cap?”
Tilt laughed mirthlessly. “Not fair! It’s their country and their mountain, so they get to jerk everybody around all they please.”
Dominic sat down on the hard granite of Kala Pattar. From here, Everest’s triangular west side loomed over the valley, its cold indifference taunting him. The upper third of the mountain was shrouded in gray mist — a mammoth snowstorm, no doubt. The summit was still unreachable.
But even if that blizzard passed, opening up a window of clear weather, and even if SummitQuest took one final stab at the top, Dominic Alexis would not be with them.
The thought pained him grievously, bringing tears to his eyes. He could not remember ever wanting anything as much as he wanted to stand on that summit.
But it would never happen. He could not — would not — be the factor that ended the career of the great Cap Cicero.
SummitQuest subscribed to five international weather forecasting services. They all called within the space of half an hour. The British were first with the good news: The impossible had happened. There was no monsoon, at least not yet. The jet stream was pulling north of the mountain, creating a pocket of clear weather that would be over Everest in two days. It would be brief, but a team with the right timing would have just enough of a window to push to the summit and get back down again.
“We’ve got our shot!” Cicero crowed ecstatically.
The news touched off a flurry of activity in Gorak Shep. They were still a day’s walk from Base Camp. They had to leave immediately in order to be in position to take advantage of this gift from the climbing gods.
As they trekked up the path along the lower Khumbu glacier toward Base Camp, Perry’s feet dragged on the moraine. Of all the lousy luck in the world, this had to win the Kewpie doll! He had rooted so long and so hard for the monsoon to come and end his hideous adventure. Even now, as they could physically see the blizzard moving off the peak of Everest, he still couldn’t bring himself to accept the fact that they had a go. Again!
When they arrived at Base Camp late in the day, the place looked so different that it was almost a shock. So many tents were gone, so many camps deserted. Three weeks before, this settlement on the lateral moraine had been a bustling city of more than five hundred climbers and staff. Less than a quarter now remained — the die-hards who had waited against all odds for this one last shot at the top.
So far, this had been the worst Everest season in recent memory. Not one single climber had reached the summit. If that pathetic statistic held, it would be the first time since 1977.
In the cavernous SummitQuest kitchen tent, Cicero briefed the Sherpa staff on what was to come. The climbing Sherpas were to leave before first light to repair the ladders and fixed ropes, and to rebuild Camp Four, which had been destroyed in the windstorm. The summit push would begin the morning after. There would be no margin for error. This late in the season, the good weather simply could not hold. Any delay would spell an end to their chances.
A group of Sherpas from other expeditions came over to welcome Dominic back to Base Camp. Pasang, who worked for This Way Up, confirmed that his team would also be launching a last-ditch summit attack.
“Is Ethan going up?” asked Dominic.
Pasang nodded. “But this time climb with oxygen. Safer.” Most Sherpas spoke with heavy accents. Babu was the exception.
“Gee, what was his first clue?” Sammi asked sarcastically. “When we had to drag him down Lhotse like a sack of potatoes?”
Pasang looked wounded. He had been climbing with Nestor and Ethan that day, and blamed himself for their mishap.
“She doesn’t mean anything by it,” Domin
ic told him apologetically. “She still thinks Ethan’s behind all the trouble with that newspaper.”
“And what about you, little sahib?” Pasang asked, using the nickname the Sherpas had bestowed on Dominic. “No monsoon, you get last chance. But no seem happy.”
Dominic swallowed hard and said the words that he had not yet worked up the courage to speak aloud: “I’m not going.”
Pasang’s reaction was surprise; Sammi’s was something more.
“What are you — crazy? This is what we prayed for! Of course you’re going!”
“I’m not,” said Dominic. “I decided yesterday.”
“Why?” she demanded. “Because of the National Daily? Give me thirty seconds, and I’ll go over there and feed Zaph his sat phone!”
“Keep your voice down,” Dominic hissed. “Cap doesn’t know yet.”
“He does now!” exclaimed Sammi through clenched teeth. She marched off in search of the team leader.
Dominic watched her determined stride and knew she was going to rat him out. Sammi Moon never bluffed.
Pasang looked completely bewildered. “Why no climb?”
Dominic caught a quizzical look from Perry and an approving nod from Tilt. And then Cicero was bearing down on him.
The team leader didn’t waste words. He grabbed Dominic by the wrist, hauled him out of the tent, and confronted him on the Base Camp rocks.
“This better be good!”
Dominic was close to tears. “I can’t go. I’ll cheer you guys on from Base Camp.”
“Why?” Cicero bellowed. “Is it that stupid newspaper? Who cares what they print?”
“I had two shots at the summit and I can’t face it again,” Dominic lied. “I’m scared.”
Cicero snorted in disgust. “I’ve seen you jump off a mountain in Alaska. I’ve seen you use a Himalayan peak like it was a kiddie slide. You’re not scared of anything. Now I want the truth.”
Dominic took a deep breath. “I can’t let you get kicked out of Nepal.”
Cicero was taken aback. “How do you know about that?”
“I hear things,” said Dominic defiantly.
“Ask Babu about Nepalese climbing officials!” Cicero raged. “The Sherpas have a saying — I don’t remember the exact words, but it translates to: ‘Those guys couldn’t find yak droppings in the middle of a herd of yaks!’ ”
Dominic was stubborn. “This could cost you your career.”
“Good choice of words,” the team leader agreed. “My career. Which means it’s my problem, not yours. Listen, kid, I didn’t want you on this team. I tried everything to cut you. But I couldn’t because you’re special. A lot of guys can tackle mountains and get to the top. But when you climb, the whole thing becomes larger than life, like it’s a work of art! And every swing of your ice ax and kick of your crampons is a brush stroke. One of these days, they could talk about the great Everest heroes, Mallory, Hillary, Messner, and Alexis! It all starts right here, right now — if you’ll let it.”
But Dominic was adamant. He couldn’t picture himself as a future climbing legend. The thought that Cicero, his own hero, saw him that way confused and flustered him.
But the fact remained: If he was responsible for the destruction of Cap Cicero, he would never forgive himself.
E-mail Message
TO:
[email protected] Subject: All Systems Go!!
Dear Caleb,
Guess what? The jet stream moved off the summit. Or maybe the summit moved off the jet stream. I don’t really understand which. Who cares? The point is WE’RE GETTING ANOTHER CHANCE!
It’s four o’clock in the morning, but I’m way too amped to sleep. Caleb, it’s so extreme up there that it makes everything else we’ve done seem like patty-cakes. I wish you could go with me. We’d ROCK that hill — ha, ha. Get it? There’s a lot of rock up there — you know, under all the ice. When I plant our picture on the top, I’m going to say, “You haven’t seen the last of this couple!”
Keep your fingers crossed for me, Caleb. The second I hit the Icefall, I’m climbing in overdrive. The only way to beat an extreme mountain is to go totally ballistic.
Love,
Sammi
P.S.: I haven’t heard from you in a while, so please E-mail back. How are exams coming along? I’ll be in summer school to make up what I missed. Maybe you should flunk so we can go together (just kidding).
The next morning, Dominic found Ethan Zaph in the This Way Up mess tent, sharpening his crampon points with a graphite file. The face that had adorned the cover of so many mountaineering magazines glanced up only briefly before returning to work. “Hey, Dominic. All set for tomorrow?”
Dominic swallowed hard. “I’m sitting this one out.”
Ethan stopped filing. “Why?”
Even now, after two full days to get used to the idea, the words were difficult to say. “Nepal took me off Cap’s permit.”
“Because of the National Daily?”
Dominic nodded.
Ethan was distraught. “Dominic — I swear — it wasn’t me!”
“I believe you,” said Dominic. “Sammi and Tilt don’t, but I do.”
“You can still climb,” Ethan told him. “By the time the Nepalese find out, you’ll be off the mountain and gone. What can they do to you?”
Dominic shook his head sadly. “If I go, Cap gets banned from Nepal for life. And let’s face it, Nepal is his life.” He reached under his collar and drew a thin leather strap over his head. On it dangled a small glass vial filled with sand. The necklace belonged to Christian Alexis, Dominic’s older brother.
“It’s Chris’s,” he explained. “Sand from the Dead Sea — the lowest point on Earth. He wanted to leave it on the summit. When he got cut from the team, he passed it on to me. And now that I’m not going — ”
Ethan accepted the trinket, peering through the glass at the loose grains inside. “ ‘From the bottom of the world to the top,’ ” he said, quoting Chris’s motto. He and Chris had climbed together. The American Junior Alpine Association ranked them numbers one and two, with Ethan in the lead after his conquest of Everest. He slipped the strap around his own neck and regarded the younger boy intently. “Why me? Why not give it to one of your teammates?”
Dominic shrugged. “You made the summit before. You’ve got the best chance of getting there again. I can live with not climbing” — a lie — “but I really don’t want to let Chris down.”
“I’ll get it to where it needs to go,” Ethan said confidently.
“Thanks.” The look that passed between them plainly said that both recognized the truth — in the Death Zone, nothing could ever be certain.
The famous face wore a thoughtful expression as Dominic walked away.
E-mail Message
TO:
[email protected] SUBJECT: Tomorrow’s climb
Dear Uncle Joe,
You’re probably going to kill me for this, but …
Perry leaned on the backspace bar, erasing the line.
I know it’s crazy that I waited so long before telling you …
Another line disappeared from the screen of his laptop.
Are you sitting down? This may come as a shock …
Delete.
I DON’T WANT TO GO!!
He slammed the computer shut. Tilt’s right, he thought sadly. I am a wimp.
Not because he was afraid of Everest. Any sane person would be. No, Perry was a coward for not having the guts to tell Uncle Joe the truth. Not even via E-mail from nine thousand miles away.
The SummitQuest camp was a beehive of activity as climbers and guides prepared for action. Wind suits were checked for wear, goggles and Gore-Tex mitts painstakingly counted. The word had just come over the radio from the advance team of Sherpas. They had arrived at Camp Two. The route was in good shape so far, although the days of heavy snow made for treacherous avalanche conditions.
The report had touched off wild celebration. Backslaps a
nd high fives flew in all directions.
Perry stared at the scene of jubilation. Wait a minute! Am I the only one who heard that?
“Uh — excuse me,” he said, tapping Cicero on the shoulder. “What was that last part? You know, about the avalanche conditions?”
“Oh, that.” The team leader shrugged. “There’s a lot of fresh snow up there. Sometimes it falls down.”
That was what he had to say about the very real possibility of all of them being swept to their deaths by a tidal wave of roaring snow. Not that Perry needed further proof that he didn’t belong with these lunatics.
Of Perry’s teammates, Dominic alone was untouched by the outbreak of summit fever. Perry didn’t even try to conceal his envy. Once again, Dominic had a perfect excuse not to climb. And instead of being grateful, he was shattered.
Not shattered enough to change his mind, though. Perry watched as Cicero, Sneezy, Dr. Oberman, even Sammi begged him to reconsider his decision. Cicero was practically screaming: “Don’t you dare do this for me! I don’t care if I never see this stupid hill again as long as I live! I want you up there with me, kid!”
Dominic didn’t budge. He had arrived at a course of action that he judged to be right, and he was about as movable as the mountain he now refused to climb. At five the next morning, when the rest of the team suited up and headed into the predawn chill, the boy didn’t utter a word. He just waved, as if they were going next door, and not to the top of the world.
Cicero was flushed with emotion. “I’ll get you back here some day, Dominic. As long as I’ve got something to say about what happens on this mountain, I’ll find a way.”
They started across the moraine. Dominic did not watch them go.
A quarter mile along, they stopped to strap on crampons — boot attachments featuring twelve sharp metal points for biting into ice and hard-packed snow. They were surprised to see a helicopter parked on the thinning rocks near the entrance to the Khumbu Icefall. Two shadowy figures approached.
Sammi squinted into the gloom. “It’s them,” she confirmed. “It’s those Nepal government creeps.”