Lost valley box set, p.25
Lost Valley Box Set, page 25
part #1 of Lost Valley Series
As Kate and Chuck watched, Luc finished retracting the rest of the winch line back into the reel and turned the unit off. He took the five-gallon gas can that had been on the back of Kate’s quad, opened it, and filled each of their tanks.
“Might as well start out with full tanks. That way we won’t have to stop for a while,” he said as he finished strapping Kate’s supplies to the back of her ATV.
He walked over to his quad and patted the small winch.
“Most people don’t have these on their ATVs. A company over in Germany makes this one and the remote. It’s worth its weight in gold when you need it.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Chuck said, eyeing the compact winch with interest.
Luc once again felt a pressing need for them to get moving. There was no telling what shape Christie and the kids were in.
* * *
Victor took his binoculars and angrily shoved them back into his backpack. He quickly examined the front ends of each of the ATVs. “Son of a bitch!” he yelled out.
“What’s wrong?” asked one of the men.
“Why the hell didn’t we think to bring a winch on at least one of these machines? They just lowered their quads down a slope that is too steep to ride down.”
“Do we have some rope?” The man asked.
We better have rope, Victor thought. He began pulling the supplies off the ATV racks and searching through them. As he searched, he grew angrier by the moment. He slammed the last backpack down to the ground. “Are you telling me that nobody thought to bring rope?”
No one said a word.
Victor climbed on his ATV, started it, and began riding around the northern perimeter of the mountaintop. He stopped several times, gazing down with the binoculars. After ten minutes of searching he realized there was no way he could directly follow Luc and his party. He would have to find another way into the valley.
He glared across the plateau at his two men who were just standing there. Didn’t they realize they were in serious jeopardy of losing track of Luc if they didn’t find some way down? They were worse than useless. He pounded his hand down on the gas tank, turned the handlebars, and raced to the southern end of the mountaintop.
He scanned the region below and saw what he thought might be a way down. He picked up the binoculars from around his neck and carefully followed a narrow circuitous path to a point midway down the mountainside. At that point, it appeared to branch off toward the east. If they were lucky, it might take them into the valley although they would’ve lost track of Luc and his team. There was nothing he could do about that, other than try and pick up their trail once they were in the valley. He raced back to his men.
“We’re going down on the south side and cutting over to the east about halfway down,” he said.
Both men wore reluctant looks on their faces and continued standing next to their ATVs.
“Let’s get moving!” Victor said loudly.
The two men exchanged glances then quickly finished strapping their things back on the ATVs. When they had finished, they started the engines and each downed a protein drink while the machines warmed up.
Victor walked up to them. “Remember, if we meet our objectives, you each make $20,000. That’s good money for a few days’ work,” he reminded them.
The taller man gave him a nod of his head, but for some reason, Victor didn’t completely trust Russell’s dedication to the mission. He didn’t know these men well and decided he would pay more attention to their conversations when they didn’t think he was listening.
Victor climbed back on his quad, gunned the engine, and took off toward the southern side of the mountaintop with the two men following. Without hesitating, he rode over the edge and began a controlled slide down the steep slope. The two men followed after him as he began working his way down the southern side of the mountain.
Chapter 5
Luc led Kate and Chuck north past the heavy brush and along the narrow path that hugged the side of the mountain. He was eager to continue the search now that morning had come and they were back on the quads. They rode slowly, in single file, until they came to the spot where the path split.
Luc stopped and sat on the idling quad. He gazed down at the trees and sweeping hills of the valley below from which a warm breeze rose that carried subtle hints of sweet-smelling flowers and lush vegetation.
The weather they were experiencing was very uncharacteristic for the time of year. He knew that outside the valley it was probably in the low forties at that time of the morning.
He put the quad in gear and began leading them down the last part of the northeastern slope. Aside from the wide traversals they were forced to make, the remaining terrain was easier to navigate than what they had faced the night before.
Within twenty minutes, they reached a transitional area that bridged the mountainous region with the more gentle hills of the valley floor. Luc motioned for them to stop.
He remembered in his vision that he had traveled up one side of the plateau-like mountain and then down another. It had been at the base of that mountain where he had seen a waterfall and lake. He knew he needed to find that landmark if he was to have any chance of locating the helicopter.
The night before, he had failed to find any navigable path that remotely resembled the one he took in the vision. Because of that, he had been forced to take them out of their way to the northeast. If he was to put his complete faith in the vision, he knew he needed to head back to the south. He took out his compass, aligned it with magnetic north, and studied the nearby mountains.
Kate watched him studying the compass. She took off her helmet and ran her hands through her hair. “Please don’t tell me we’re lost,” she said with a look of concern.
“I don’t think we’re lost. But I do think we need to head to the southeast for a while.”
“For how far?” Chuck asked.
It was hard for Luc to apply the abstract distances he had experienced in the vision to the steep and challenging trails they had been forced to cover on the ATVs.
He pointed up to the V-shaped peaks that now rose up to the south of them. “I think we need to head back far enough so we’re directly due east of the southern-most peak. It shouldn’t be more than a few miles,” he said, climbing off his quad.
Opening his backpack, Luc removed a bottle of water and drank half of it, putting the rest back. Chuck and Kate took the opportunity to do the same.
“By the way, we’re looking for a waterfall,” he said.
Chuck looked at him with a quizzical expression. “A waterfall? What river would feed it?”
“I have no idea,” Luc said with complete honesty. After stretching his legs, he got back on the machine. “We should probably get moving.”
He pulled away from them and headed to the south. He kept his speed slow and steady so they could easily keep up as he navigated around large boulders, across an east-west running ravine, and finally through an increasing number of pine trees that dotted the landscape.
They had ridden for about half an hour when Luc saw something shimmering in the distance against the southeastern side of the mountain. He stopped and motioned for Kate and Chuck to pull up beside him then reached back and pulled out his binoculars. He gazed out through them and felt his sense of hope rise as he saw a single lone waterfall spewing out from the lower part of the mountain.
From his vantage point, he couldn’t see where the falls ended, but as he stared at them, he felt a strong sense of déjà vu.
“I see them,” he said with a feeling of elation.
“You see what?” Kate asked.
He handed her the binoculars.
“The falls!” she said excitedly as she gazed at them. “I can’t imagine there are many in this valley. It must be the one you saw.”
“That’s what I’m thinking, and if the vision holds true, it should empty into a small lake.”
She handed the binoculars to Chuck who stared at the falls for a moment then handed them back to her. He began slowly shaking his head.
“I don’t believe in none of that mumbo-jumbo vision stuff,” he said in a doubtful tone. “I think you’re just getting lucky.”
If the base of those falls emptied into a lake, he imagined that Chuck might just change his tune. At the very least, he would feel more confident that they were on the right path. “We’ll see,” Luc said, and pulled away.
He carefully picked his way around the pine trees and led them to the south. They continued to lose altitude and the trees gradually thinned until they broke into a meadow-like area that was dotted with red and yellow flowers. On the far side of the field was a small rise that blocked the view to where the falls ended.
Kate pulled up next to him and stared at the falls. “They’re magnificent.”
“All we need now is the lake,” Luc said.
He led them through the meadow, careful to avoid the rocks and deep puddles that covered the area. He then climbed the small rise that stood between them and the falls. As he crested the top, he saw the lake.
He unexpectedly felt a rush of emotion, a combination of hope, ancestral pride, and redemption all wrapped up together. He took a deep breath as his eyes teared. He had never felt quite so connected to that elusive quality his grandfather had always called the Heart of the Hunter. The vision had proven true and his decision to backtrack to the south had been the correct one.
But then, just as quickly as his emotions had risen, a feeling of guilt set in. What right did he have to rejoice in anything until he had righted the wrongs that his earlier decisions had caused? He began a quick descent toward the edge of the lake and came to a stop on its pebble-strewn shore.
He sat there for a moment watching the falls hitting the surface of the lake and took in a deep breath. The air was permeated with the smell of wet rock and there was a misty dampness to the air that caused him to feel muggy and warm.
As he sat there gazing at the falls, he heard the sound of Kate and Chuck’s engines and then the crunching of their tires on the rocky shoreline as they pulled up next to him.
He pointed up to where the falls gushed out of the mountainside through several large cracks underneath a ledge. “I guess we didn’t need a river after all,” he said to Chuck.
Chuck looked at the falls and then out across the lake. “I don’t know what to think,” he said.
“I was here, hovering over this lake yesterday,” Luc said in an almost reverential tone.
The look on Chuck’s face gave him the impression that he felt uncomfortable with what he had just heard.
“I know it sounds far-fetched, but I know what I saw.”
“We believe you,” Kate said.
“Thanks.”
Luc honestly didn’t feel bad that Chuck thought he was just having a run of good luck. Even he had trouble believing this was the waterfall he had seen in the vision. There were parts of him that didn’t even want to believe that what he had experienced the day before was possible.
He looked at Kate and Chuck. “I think this lake would make a good emergency rendezvous point. If for some reason we should get separated, we should try and meet back here.”
He could tell by the look on Kate’s face that the thought of being separated was terrifying.
“I doubt that were going to get separated but just in case, we should be prepared to meet back here,” he said, smiling at her.
“This shouldn’t be too hard to find,” Chuck said.
“Yeah, we’ll just meet at the main watering hole for every carnivore within a ten-mile radius,” Kate said.
“Kate, a meeting spot has to be distinctive. It’s not enough to point to a specific mountain and expect to remember what it looks like, hours or days later. A body of water is a better landmark.”
She nodded.
Luc looked around the area. He pointed to a tall tree with lots of branches. “If you are here and need to get up off the ground, remember that tree. It looks like a good place to hole up until we find each other.”
Kate and Chuck nodded. He decided he wouldn’t say anything more. There was no use in causing Kate any undue anxiety.
Luc got off his quad and walked to the edge of the lake. Kneeling down, he put his hand in the water and then looked back at Kate and Chuck.
“It’s warm. No wonder there’s so much mist in the air.” He looked down into the water and saw a small black rock with bubbles collecting on its surface. He had a pretty good idea what he was looking at.
He walked back to his quad and pulled out a half-empty plastic water bottle. He drank the rest of it and walked back to the edge of the lake, motioning for Kate and Chuck to join him. They got off their quads and walked over to the water’s edge where he was kneeling.
He pointed down into the water at the jet-black object. “There’s one of the rocks that started this whole thing. You can see it bubbling down there.”
Chuck squatted down next to him and stuck his hand in the water. His eyes went wide with surprise. “I’ll be damned. It’s as warm as a bathtub in there.”
Using the mouth of the empty water bottle, Luc nudged the small black rock out of the water. The water on its surface quickly evaporated.
“Watch this,” he said as he touched the rock with the bottom of the bottle. Within seconds, white smoke began collecting around the bottom of the bottle. He pulled the bottle up and they saw a thin string of plastic trail behind it.
“That’s amazing,” Kate said.
Chuck stood up. “I just wouldn’t have believed any of this if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Still, I don’t know about all that vision stuff...” He shook his head and walked back to his ATV as he wiped his hand dry on his pant leg.
Kate rested her hand on Luc’s back. “Don’t mind Chuck. He’s just having a hard time accepting what happened at Ishki’s.”
“I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t believe it either if I hadn’t experienced it.”
Kate stood back up and groaned as she straightened her back.
He looked up at her. The look on her face told him she was in pain. He began to worry that maybe she had done more damage to herself than he thought. She had taken that hard fall the night before.
He laid the bottle on the ground next to the rock and stood up, looking into her eyes.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Remind me never to ride off the side of a mountain again,” she said with a slight grimace.
“I’m so sorry about that, Kate. I should’ve known better than to have us traveling in an area like that at night. I was letting my worry for the kids cloud my vision.”
He put his arms around her and held her while he gently rubbed her back. He felt the strongest urge to tell her he loved her, but thought the timing was wrong.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” he said and wondered why he hadn’t told her what he really wanted to say.
Kate turned and noticed Chuck was watching them. She looked back at Luc then pulled away.
“So, where do we go from here?” she asked.
He gestured to the far end of the lake where it emptied down into a river that flowed to the east. “We need to follow that river deeper into the valley. We should get going.”
They got back on the quads and Luc led them around the east side of the lake until they came to where the water emptied into a basin and from there flowed into a small river.
He carefully led them around the basin and then began traveling east along the northern side of the river. He recognized the peculiar golf-ball-sized stones that made up the riverbanks. They were the same ones he had seen in the vision.
Now that he was actually there, riding along the river, things didn’t look right. He began having trouble trying to remember the details of the vision as they related to that part of the river.
The more he tried to figure out why things seemed wrong, the more the memory of the vision seemed to retreat. He slowly came to a stop and Kate and Chuck pulled up next to him.
“Is everything okay?” Kate asked.
“Things don’t look quite right to me. I’m not sure we’re even on the right river,” he said. He concentrated and tried to force himself to remember exactly the way the river looked in the vision, but he couldn’t.
“Maybe you just need to relax and stop trying so hard,” Kate said. “Why don’t we just keep riding and maybe you’ll remember something?”
“You’re right,” he said.
He turned around to look at them but noticed a flash of light to the west. Something about that flash seemed unnatural, he thought. Manmade. He took out his binoculars and tried to find the source of the flash.
“I have the strangest feeling we’re being followed,” he said to Kate and Chuck.
They both looked back over their shoulders for several seconds then turned back to Luc.
“I don’t see anything,” Kate said.
“Neither do I, anymore. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t someone back there,” he said.
“Maybe there are other people in the valley trying to find the helicopter,” Kate said.
“If they’re the people we saw at the airport, I think we better steer clear of them,” Luc said.
“Oh, come on, Luc, you’re not going there again, are you?” she said.
He put the binoculars away and said no more. He took off with Kate and Luc following. From time to time, he looked back but saw nothing.
As they continued along the riverbank, he began to relax. He purposely stopped trying to remember exactly what the river looked like and how it felt to fly over it in the vision.
As they rode deeper into the valley, the river began to widen and the number of trees increased, moving closer to the river. Still, things didn’t look quite right. They continued riding beside the river until it had widened to double its original width.
All at once, he understood what was wrong and stopped. Kate and Chuck slammed on their brakes to keep from running into the back of his quad.
