Reunion Pass: An Eternity Springs novel (11 page)

Good. Lori knew he’d be prepared for wilderness survival.

With that, Mac appeared to have run out of questions. He turned to Ali. “Anything you want to ask, honey?”

She closed her eyes and nodded, then took a deep, bracing breath. “How was his mood?”

Lana’s tone held an ocean full of sadness. The tears that had pooled in her eyes this entire time swelled and overflowed when she replied, “Actually, I think he was ready to come home. I think he missed Eternity Springs.”

At Lana’s words, Ali let out a little whimper and her knees buckled. Mac grabbed her, supported her, wouldn’t let her fall. She buried her head against his chest and sobbed. Through the blear of her own free-falling tears, Lori saw that Lana and every other female in the Timberlakes’ great room had joined in the weeping. The men all looked carved from granite.

They ended the call to give Lana the opportunity to send Jack the coordinates he needed. His phone dinged a moment later, and he stepped outside to phone his contacts.

Mac stood holding on to Ali, his head buried against her blond hair. Watching their despair, Lori wanted to curl up in a fetal position and bawl. Instead, she leaned over and rested her head against her mother’s breast, taking comfort there.

After probably ten minutes on the phone, Jack reentered the house and approached Mac and Ali. “I have some people pulling up satellite imagery, and they’re going to give it a thorough going-over. We’re also gathering intel about any possible movements into the country from bad actors. I spoke with your brothers, Gabe. They’ll have S and R wheels up within the hour.”

“Good,” Gabe said decisively. “Mac, Callahan Security has access to people who can track a flea across the Grand Canyon. The search couldn’t be in better hands.”

“Okay. Good. That’s good. Whatever it takes. Whatever it costs. I can cash out some investments and mortgage—”

“Don’t worry about that,” Jack interrupted. “It’s already been covered.”

Ali lifted her head and spoke softly. “How?”

Jack’s lips twisted in a secretive half smile. “I have my ways, Ali. Seriously, costs are one thing you don’t have to worry about.”

She nodded and softly said, “Thank you.”

Mac cleared his throat and said, “Sweetheart, we need to call Stephen and Caitlin.”

“Yes. Will you do it, Mac? I should put together some refreshments for—”

“No,” Sarah and Nic said simultaneously. Nic continued, “We know our way around your kitchen. We can do it. Besides, we’re all still stuffed from dinner.”

When she looked as though she’d protest, Mac said, “They’re right, Alison. Why don’t you go up and take a hot bath. You’ll feel better after a soak in the tub.”

Her eyes flooded with new tears. “I won’t feel better until we find him.”

“I know, baby.”

Celeste stepped up and wrapped an arm around Ali’s waist. “Here, dear, I’ll walk you up and wait with you until Mac is off the phone. Do you still have some of the bath salts I gave you for Christmas? The custom fragrance our Savannah created for the Angel’s Rest spa product line is so soothing. A little time with it will do you a world of good.”

Celeste continued to prattle all the way up the stairs. Once they’d disappeared from view, Mac turned to his friends. “You guys have kids you should get home to. You don’t need to stay.”

“Sure we do,” Sage said. “We want to be with you.”

He swallowed hard, then nodded once. “Okay. Thanks. You guys are the best.” He rubbed the back of his neck and added, “I guess I’d better make those calls.”

When Mac disappeared into his study, Nic turned to Sarah. “Let’s see what Ali has in her pantry. You know her. She won’t stop fussing if there’s not food on the table.”

“That’s not going to be a problem,” Sage’s husband, Colt, said from his position beside one of the front windows. “Word has gotten around town. People have been setting food on the front porch. At the rate they’re coming by, we’ll soon have enough to feed a small army.”

Sarah said, “God bless Eternity Springs.”

Following a short discussion about how Mac and Ali would prefer to handle the gathering crowd, the women directed their men to set up the folding banquet tables Ali kept stored in her garage on the large, covered front porch. Once that was done, they set out the food and invited those congregated in the yard to help themselves.

Mac’s phone calls to Chase’s siblings took half an hour. When he emerged from his study, Lori thought he looked as if he’d aged ten years. Gabe approached him and the two men spoke softly for a moment, then Mac walked over to the front window and gazed outside at the gathering crowd. His lips twisted in a sad half smile. “This will touch Alison’s heart.”

He turned to look at his closest friends. “And to think that once upon a time, I wished Ali had never heard of Eternity Springs.”

He went upstairs to check on his wife. A few minutes later, Celeste came downstairs. “How’s she doing?” Nic asked.

“Better. Never underestimate the power of a nice, hot soak. You know our girl. Courage is a muscle that’s strengthened by use, and she needed a little time to mentally prepare for the test that’s upon her. She knows she has faith, family, and friends at the ready to offer a boost when her bravery begins to flag. That’s a comfort to her. She’s putting on her makeup, and I expect she’ll be downstairs soon. She knows that Mac, Caitlin, and Stephen need her to be strong, and Ali will not fail them.”

“No, she won’t.”

Needing something to do to keep herself occupied, Lori offered to be in charge of brewing coffee. One skill she’d learned from working for her mother at the bakery was to make excellent coffee in large quantities, and Ali’s kitchen had everything she needed to get the job done.

It proved to be a demanding job, because with every hour that passed, the crowd outside the Timberlakes’ mountain home grew. By midnight, the public campground nearby in the national forest was filled to capacity. Local businesspeople, friends from church, legal clients of Mac’s, and customers of Ali’s restaurant came to wait for word with Chase’s family in a silent show of support.

Since so many of Mac and Ali’s closest friends had young children who needed tending to, they organized a watch rotation with moms and dads taking turns at home. Lori told her parents she was there for the duration. Chase’s two siblings arrived together at three
A.M.
, and while Mac and Stephen spoke together in his study, Ali and Caitlin shared a good cry.

Nobody slept much or very well throughout the course of the night. Sarah returned at six
A.M.
with more coffee beans for Lori and enough baked goods to feed everyone gathered at the Timberlake home. Devin arrived at eight
A.M.
looking for Lori.

“Thought you might appreciate a break about now. I brought fishing gear. Want to go dip a hook and relax for a little while?”

She opened her mouth to refuse, then second-guessed herself. It would do her good to get away from the house for a little while, and they could stay close. “Sure. Thanks, Dev.”

She told her mother where they were going, ducked into the family room to see if Caitlin wanted to join them, but found her dozing with her head in her mother’s lap. Lori nodded to Devin and they exited the house through the back door.

As a vet, Lori was accustomed to getting her hands dirty. Nevertheless, she’d never gotten over the “ick” factor of putting a worm on a hook, so she fished with salmon eggs. In the way of brothers everywhere, Devin liked to give her a hard time about it. Today, however, when they reached the fishing pier that stretched into the small alpine lake a short walk from the Timberlakes’ house, he refrained from teasing her and simply handed over a fishing rod and plastic container of neon-pink eggs.

Lori sat cross-legged and lowered her baited hook into the water. For a good ten minutes, they fished in companionable silence. Lori’s mind was blessedly blank when Devin finally spoke. “One thing you shouldn’t forget is that Chase stays calm and collected during a crisis. Remember that time the three of us went on that picnic up on Murphy Mountain? You were home from college and Chase came to visit. He and I went for a hike and you got mad because we were gone longer than we’d intended?”

“Oh, yes. I remember that. You not only invited yourself along on my picnic, you monopolized my date.”

“Did Chase ever fess up about what happened? Why we were gone so long?”

Lori lifted her gaze from her fishing bobber and shot her brother a sharp look. “No.”

Devin’s lips twisted in a crooked smile. “I begged him not to say anything. I figured that everything had turned out okay, so why bother worrying everybody? He agreed. He especially didn’t want me to tell you.”

“About what? What happened?” Lori asked. “All I remember is that you both came back dirty and you jumped in the lake. The freezing lake.”

“I was stupid and careless. I told Chase I wanted to do some rock climbing. I’d never done that. Chase knew about a spot not too far from the picnic area that he said would be an easy climb for a first-timer. He was taking me to see it.”

Devin had come to Colorado under protest and with a chip on his shoulder the size of Ayers Rock. He didn’t like the way these Colorado women were pushing his dad around.

“What do you see in Lori Reese, anyway?” he asked Chase. “She’s a stuck-up b.”

“Careful. I get that you and Lori don’t have the smoothest of relationships…”

“Now there’s an understatement.”

“… but I won’t listen to insults about her.”

“But—”

“Can it, Oz,” Chase replied, using the nickname he’d given the Australian native the first time they’d met. “She’s in a tough spot. You don’t know how hard she and her mother have struggled without Cam in the picture.”

“Well, Cam is here now, and he’s doing everything he can think of to make things right with Lori. Shoot, he bought her a car!”

“That particular bribe was a good one, but you have to admit that the family dynamics here are tough. Cam has made some gains and Lori’s heart has softened toward him a little, but she’s stubborn. You and Cam are both going to need to be patient.”

“I’m not very good at being patient.”

“Then you damn sure don’t need to be rock climbing. Look.” Chase pointed toward a sheer rock face that rose probably fifty feet above them. “If you’re going to climb that, you need to be patient and deliberate or you’re going to fall and bust your ass.”

“That’s it?” Devin’s eyes went round. “I thought you said it was an easy climb?”

“I said it was a good beginner climb and it is. Handholds are plentiful and well spaced. Look. There.” Chase pointed toward the rock face. “There. There.”

“Hmm…” Devin said, trying to identify the handholds Chase had pointed out. He’d done some climbing on a wall at a gym back in Cairns, but he’d never gone rock climbing out in the wild, so to speak. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for.

His gaze fixed on the cliff rising above him, Devin walked sideways, attempting to get a better view. Eventually, he saw the route up based on Chase’s description. He never spied the old, rotted boards covering the entrance to the mine shaft until his boot went straight through it. His body dropped and darkness closed in.

He fell no more than three or four seconds, though it felt like three or four hours. He hit solid rock and it knocked the breath from him. Even as he fought for breath, his descent continued because the shaft sloped at a thirty-degree angle and was covered in loose gravel. The spasm in his chest ended and he managed to draw a breath. He dug his heels into the ground and grabbed for something—anything—to hold on to and halt the slide.

Finally, his left foot found purchase against a crevice in the rock and slowed him down long enough so that he managed to stretch his arms and wedge himself against the walls of the shaft.

His pulse pounded. His mouth was dry as a bone. Fear unlike any he’d known before made his blood run cold.

He couldn’t see a damned thing.

Chase’s voice called, “Oz? Let’s hear you say something, Oz.”

His voice emerged thin and reedy. “Help!”

“I’m here. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. I’ll get you out of there.”

“Hurry.”

“I will. We need to be smart about it, though, and not make the situation worse. How far did you fall?”

“I don’t know. Seemed like forever.”

“Can you see daylight?”

“I’m afraid to look up.”

“I need you to look up. I have a rope and you’re going to have to tell me if it’s long enough.”

A rope. Thank you, God. “Okay. Okay.”

“I’m shining a flashlight down at you. Can you see the light?”

“No. No!” The words emerged as a little wail. “I don’t see it. It’s not … oh, wait!”

Devin spied a light about the size of his fist bobbing above him. “I see it. I see it.”

“How far above you?”

“I don’t know. Forty feet, maybe?” Fatigue pulled at Devin’s muscles. Hurry, Chase. Please. “I don’t know how long I can hang on. If I start sliding again, I’m afraid I won’t stop.”

“Can you see what’s below you?”

He was afraid to look. He was afraid to move. “No.”

“All right. Stay calm, Oz. I’m coming to get you.”

Devin heard the skitter of gravel above him. Seconds later, rock pinged his fingers. Ow. Ow. Ow. That hurt. “Don’t fall, Chase.”

“I won’t fall.”

If he fell, he’d knock Devin down, too. They wouldn’t stop until they hit China. “Please hurry. But don’t fall.”

“We’ve got this, Devin. It’s going to be okay.”

“Okay. That’s good.” Chase sounded so calm, so in charge. “You’re not nervous? Why aren’t you nervous? I’m scared to death. I don’t think I can breathe. I’m running out of air. Oh, jeez. That’s what happens in mines, isn’t it? The canary runs out of air and falls over dead. I’m going to fall to China.”