Cover Of Night

Blake looked. "What’re we gonna do?" he finally asked, evidently agreeing with the sandbag assessment.

"Nothing we can do, other than what we’re already doing. Don’t let anybody get by you: keep them hemmed up until they’re reach’ to give the city boys what they want.’" Could take longer than what he’d planned on, though, which wasn’t good. This whole house of cards could come tumbling down at any time if the wrong person decided to come poking around. That was a risk he’d accepted, but he wasn’t going to let this situation drag out indefinitely. He’d stay with his own timetable, regardless of what the city boys thought.

"Belay on?"

‘"Belay on."

At Cal’s quiet reassurance that he had her if she fell, Cate stretched for a grip on the rock. Cal had searched for a better route, because scaling rock was time-consuming, but he hadn’t found anything that wouldn’t have left them exposed to rifle fire. Going up this rock face was the safest, most direct route. She was glad it wasn’t one of the tougher, higher climbs, since neither of them was in practice, and neither was wearing climbing shoes. She wasn’t in good shape to be climbing, either; her leg muscles were strong, from climbing the stairs she went up and down every day. but her upper-body strength was probably half what it had been when she climbed regularly.

The weather wasn’t great for climbing, either; the wind was picking up, and the clouds were pressing lower and lower. If it started raining, they wouldn’t be able to go back down and wait for better weather; they’d have to press on, even though rain would make the rock more slippery. They’d just have to be extra careful. She thanked God this was what she would have considered an easy climb, back in the day. It was about a hundred yards, maybe a hundred and twenty, to the top – and it wasn’t vertical.

Other climbers had been there before them; bolts and anchors were already hammered into the rock in various places. Some climbers removed them as they went, leaving the rock as they’d found it, others didn’t bother. Generally Cate didn’t like trusting a bolt she hadn’t set herself – or that Derek hadn’t set – but in the name of speed she was prepared to use some of the presets if they felt sturdy.

Both of them were harnessed and securely roped together. Because she had the most experience, she was the lead rope; she set the way, and when she reached, literally, the end of their rope, she would stop and he’d follow. With the belay set, he would catch her if she fell. When she stopped, she became the belayer and would catch him if he fell.

Part of her was exhilarated to be back on the rock, even an easy rock. It was the stretch and play of muscle, her strength and skill against the rock. At the same time, she knew deep down in her bones this would be her last climb – at least until her boys were grown – and the only reason she was doing it now was because of the severity of the circumstances. Because she knew this was the last time she’d experience this particular thrill, she paid attention to every second, every scrape and smell and sound, the whisper of the ropes, the wind in her face, the cool, rough rock beneath her fingertips. Every time she looked around and saw how high she’d climbed, she felt intense satisfaction.

She gained a solid foothold, set a chock, and securely clipped herself to the rock. At her signal, Cal began climbing toward her, following her established route. She watched his every move, her brake hand ready on the rope in case he slipped. The boots he wore were even less suitable for climbing than her sneakers, so every move he made was risky. His upper-body strength compensated somewhat for his boots. Despite the chilly wind, he’d taken off his jacket and rolled it up before adding it to the supplies strapped to his back, so she could see the flex of muscle and tendon in his bare arms. A climber’s strength was sinewy and flexible, like a steel coil, not bulky in the way of bodybuilders’. Cal’s arms looked as if he’d been climbing all his life.

A cold mist swept over them, and in a matter of seconds, visibility was down to about zero as the cloud engulfed the mountain.

She knew he was still there, she could feel him on the rope, but she couldn’t see him. "Cal!"

"I’m still here."

He sounded as calm as if they were out for a stroll. One day soon she needed to have a talk with him about this; it wasn’t natural. "I can’t see you, so talk to me. damn it. Tell me everything you do, every step. I have to be able to anticipate."

He obliged, talking steadily to her until the wind blew the mist away and he once more emerged into sight. That was the way it went for the next hour, with the mist blowing in and out as the low clouds engulfed them. At one point the mist was like a heavy fog, and they both stopped to put on thin, cheap ponchos that would at least keep most of their clothing dry. That was the rain gear they d brought, because the ponchos weighed so little, but climbing was impossible with them on. So they simply waited for the mist to clear again. When they could take the ponchos off, they climbed.

The weather slowed them considerably, and it was just after ten in the morning when they finally reached the top of the rock face, which was nowhere near as high as they needed to get ultimately. Stretching ahead of them was a thickly treed slope; the geography would take them due north instead of northwest, the direction they needed, but they had to follow the land and its restrictions.

After sipping some water and eating more muesli, then stepping away from each other to answer nature calls in private, they carefully coiled the ropes, slung them over their shoulders, and set off again, this time with Cal in the lead. A light rain began to fall. They put the ponchos on again, and kept hiking.

"Let’s talk!" Toxtel boomed out, cupping his hands around his mouth to make the sound carry.

The hell of it, Goss thought, was that, he didn’t know if anyone was within hearing distance. All those damn people had disappeared, dropping out of sight as if they’d never existed. Even the bodies were gone. When he and Toxtel had first noticed that this morning, they’d been a little unnerved, because Teague had put such faith in his fancy thermal scopes and now, somehow, the yokels had outsmarted him. It was time for the next step, before these people had a chance to come up with something else.