Despondent, cold, and hopeless, Jamila had been in the dark for over three days now. Her will to live had crumbled, her mind had gone numb… she was neither awake nor asleep. Her breathing was slowing, becoming shallow.
Unexpectedly, a bright light shattered her world, and she curled into a ball, cowering from the pain of its brightness.
“Chet, over here!” came a cry in the dark, as someone knelt next to her, touching her shoulder.
The voice changed to a softer tone, seeming to know that death had been here, and might be waiting nearby. “Check on that one over there. Is she dead?”
Gentle arms helped the girl to sit up, as something large and warm was wrapped around her shoulders, it smelled of tobacco smoke and shaving cream.
Jamila kept her eye closed, so afraid of getting hurt by the piercing brightness again.
“This one’s dead.” Chet’s voice spoke almost in a whisper. This was the first dead person he had ever seen, and it made him sick inside.
“Well this one’s not, thank God,” the voice next to her said. “Run out to the truck and radio for the police and an ambulance. Hurry!” he said a little frantically, for the young woman wasn’t very responsive.
“Please… ” Jamila whispered beseechingly, softly, trying to talk. Her voice raspy with her crying and calls for help, “Get me out of here, into the light, the fresh air, please… outside!”
Strong arms picked the girl up and carried her toward the entrance to the mine. With the old wooden door swung open and the summer day blazing outside, there wasn’t any need for a lantern to find his way out.
Shielding her eyes, she pressed her face into the chest of her rescuer, pulling his jacket over her head.
Sensing her discomfort with the light, he put her on an old stump, under the shade of several, large Douglas Firs. The smell of the forest and fresh air, stirred her senses.
Jamila blinked and peeked from under the man’s coat.
The air smells of pines trees, and fresh air, of life growing from the earth, and it’s wonderful to see the sun, at last.
“I can take you into the storage shed, if the light still bothers you,” he offered.
“No! Please... I so want the light. Just give me time to get used to it. I’ve been away from it for so long,” she told him, coming out from under the jacket.
Jamila sat enjoying the fresh air and the sun, as she lifted her face toward the sky, letting its light fill her soul. Her heart began to want to live again, as she realized she’d been rescued. Blinking, she opened her eyes to the wonderful world around her. A tall forest of pines and fir trees, with stone buttresses protruding into the sky, were all around her.
A grizzly old man in his fifties was standing next to her, looking off at a tall, lanky, young man in his early thirty’s who sat in the front seat of a white pickup truck, with the door open, talking on the radio.
The young man spoke loudly, “They want to know her name. Can you ask her, her name?”
“My name is Jamila Whitney Drummond, and I live at Drummond Hall in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho,” she told them both, having heard the young man just fine, and finding her voice again.
Seeing Chet was relaying the information, Ross turned to the girl and told her, “My name’s Ross Green, and that young man’s Chet Draper.”
“Thank you for saving me,” Jamila’s voice cracked with emotion.
“It was by God’s grace you were saved, young lady. This mine has been closed for over twenty years. No one comes up here,” Ross said gravely, for he knew full well this girl would have died within a short period of time, if they hadn’t come along.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, realizing she probably needed food and water. But was she hurt? Should he give her anything before the ambulance got there?
“Yes, I could eat something,” she said, as her stomach started to let her know, it knew it was going to live too.
“Chet… see if we can talk to an EMT, or a doctor. I want to be sure I can give this poor child some of my lunch. It’ll take a while for anyone to get out here.”
Presently, an EMT was on the radio, asking questions. Jamila wasn’t hurt anywhere, and she told them about the dripping water she was able to drink. She was just hungry.
The EMT allowed her to eat. As she ate Ross’s sandwich and drank from a clean bottle of water, Ross told her how they had come to be there.
“Chet and I are geological engineers. The owners of this mine have hired us to look into finding other precious metals, like Plutonium or Uranium. We came up here today to run some tests. We’d opened the outer gate on the property and had just pulled in here, when Chet spotted a nice car parked in the shed over there. We were startled to see it.”
Jamila looked and stated, “That’s my car, I wonder how it got here?”
“You didn’t drive it here then?” Ross asked.
“No, I don’t know how it or I got here. I just woke up in the dark,” the haunted look in the girl’s face bothered him.
“Do you know who did this to you?” Chet asked as he walked up to them.
“No. I don’t know who, why, or any reason I should have been brought here,” she replied.
“Do you know who the dead woman is in there?” Chet inquired pointing to the mine.
“Dead woman?” startled… Jamila tried to think. Then she remembered the body in the dark. Jamila turned white, and placed her hands over her face in terror.
“Never mind, child. Don’t think about it. The police will figure it out,” Ross said kindly, patting her shoulder.
“I couldn’t see her… I found her in the dark… ” Jamila started to cry.
Both Chet and Ross looked strained, what could they do? What could they say?
“Don’t worry about it. Everything’s okay now,” Chet said, sorry he had ever brought the subject up.
If I was sick at the sight of a dead person, what must it have been like for her to touch it, in the dark?
Eventually, Ross asked, “Jamila, it’ll take the police and volunteer firefighters at least another half hour or so to get here. We are way out in the middle of nowhere. Would you mind if Chet and I go into the mine and do some exploring? We have to get some work done today, if we can. We’ll leave one of our walkie-talkies with you, so you can reach us, if you need to,” he offered.
Abruptly the sound of a helicopter, whopping the air, was clearly heard, out there, somewhere. Looking up at the empty sky, the sound grew.
Suddenly, a helicopter marked MedTrans appeared above the bluff and trees, and descended to the road and the small clearing behind the pickup.
“Wow!” Chet said softly, as he walked up to Ross and Jamila, watching the white machine land.
“They must have sent it up from Moscow or Clarkston,” Ross said. “I’m glad - she needs to get away from here.”
A medic jumped out of the machine, ducking the rotary blades and ran over to them.
Checking her pulse, he started his preliminary investigation into her health. While doing so, he shouted over the noise of the machine, “The police will be a while yet, but I’ve been instructed by the FBI to transport Miss Drummond to the hospital in Moscow, as soon as possible. We’ll check your vitals on board, Miss Drummond. Do you feel strong enough to walk to the helicopter?”
Jamila nodded her head yes, over the din.
“Be sure to keep your head down, then,” he yelled as he helped her up and started to escort her to the flying ambulance.
Without warning she turned and gave Ross a big, heartfelt hug, then turned and shook Chet’s hand.
Smiling she walked with the EMT to the waiting MedTrans. The medic put his hand on top of her head, helping her to stay low and aided her into the medical bay.
The two scientists watched, as the helicopter blades sped up, increasing the pitch in sound, as it lifted straight up into the air and flew away.
The silence was acute, after it had left.
They looked at each other, picked up their gear and started for th
e mine. Chet stopped first. Ross looked at him and realized the body was still in there.
“Well, I guess it won’t hurt to wait one more day to start. I think the Ellingtons will understand. After all, finding a body in their mine is a good excuse to wait, don’t you think?” Ross suggested.
Chet couldn’t agree more. The men sat in their truck, waiting for the police to show up.
About twenty minutes later, they heard the far off sound of a siren. It felt good to hear it grow louder, as the police cruiser neared the mine. Soon it appeared, with its lights flashing and the sound piercing the air.
The siren and lights were turned off, as the cruiser stopped, and an officer got out. An ambulance was following right behind.
Carla’s things were found in Jamila’s car. They were marked, tagged and confiscated. Her body was removed from the place of her death, and put in the ambulance after extensive photos were taken. The emergency vehicle eventually left without lights or siren, transporting her body down the mountain’s dusty roads and through the surrounding forests to a morgue in Moscow.
After the officer took Ross and Chet’s statements, he too left the scene of death and suffering.
The men stood there, watching the officer leave, and then listened to the sound of his engine fade, as he drove away.
The afternoon sun was descending toward the mountains. Ross turned to Chet and said, “Well, it’s been an eventful day. Let’s call it quits and go back to the motel for the evening.”
Locking everything up, they drove away, leaving the mine in solitude, as it had been for so many years, before evil had trespassed.
An FBI agent was waiting on the hospital roof when Jamila arrived in the helicopter. Before long, she was released in satisfactory condition, and escorted home.
* * * *