Dana Mentink - Final Resort

He forced his eyes to focus on the face of his sister waving frantically, a snowmobile parked crookedly nearby. Someone was with her, a man wearing the red-and-black jacket emblazoned with the white cross of the ski patrol. There was a jerk on the line, and he was pulled toward the shore. All he had to do was hold tight to Ava.

It’s almost over.

He forced himself to repeat it, although his body was frozen to a state of near agony. Ava’s eyes were closed now, the white circle of her face just clear of the water, sections of hair floating like a corona in the dark water.

Almost there.

Tate, Stephanie’s husband, pulled up on another snowmobile and hustled to the water’s edge to meet them, his stiff leg making him ungainly.

They were close enough for Luca to see the ski patrol guy tugging madly on the rope, Stephanie assisting. In excruciating increments, they finally drew near enough for hands to grab hold of Ava and haul her out of the water. Tate and Stephanie each took one of Luca’s frozen arms and dragged him out, too, immediately enveloping him in a thin, silver blanket.

“She was in the water longer than me,” Luca said, through chattering teeth.

The ski patrol worker wrapped her securely, strapping her into a toboggan. “We’ll get her to the ambulance. It’s just down the hill.”

“Land a chopper,” Luca choked out. “She needs to get to a hospital now.”

“Snow movement near the landing site. Can’t get a chopper in here. We’re working on another accident and too much activity during avalanche conditions is a bad idea.” The rescue worker didn’t slow as he strapped Ava in and called into his radio. “Transporting now. I’ll be there in five.” He looked at Luca. “There’s another ski patrol right behind me to take you.”

Luca was too cold to answer.

Stephanie chafed his hands. “I got your SOS and called Tate. A guy at the lodge loaned me a snowmobile. I found the truck down the road, so I figured there was an accident. What happened?”

“Ava’s Uncle Paul. Abducted.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Here? On the slopes? How did that happen?”

“Snowmobiler shot him with a Taser.”

Luca noted a grave look steal over Tate’s face. “Blue snowmobile?”

Luca nodded.

Ava moaned. In spite of Stephanie’s restraining hand, Luca crawled over to her, his legs too weak to support him.

Her lips were a bluish tint, stark against the milky pallor of her face. She mouthed the words Uncle Paul.

He squeezed her hand with his own frozen fingers. “We’ll find him.”

Tate’s frowned deepened.

“What is it, Tate?” Luca said as the ski patroller readied himself to pull the toboggan away.

Tate hesitated. “I was late because there’s a rescue going on a few miles down the road from here. I had to go around.”

Luca’s stomach tightened.

“A rescue?”

Tate nodded, lowering his voice. “A snowmobile at the bottom of the ravine. Burned pretty bad. They figure it exploded on impact.”

Luca forced out the words. “Blue?”

He didn’t need to hear Tate’s answer. He looked down at Ava and knew she’d heard it loud and clear.

A single tear fell, freezing a trail of grief onto her face.

Whoever had abducted Uncle Paul had probably caused his death, too.

Snow began to fall heavily now, and he brushed it away from Ava’s cheek. The tips of his fingers were too cold to feel her skin, but it looked soft, feather soft.

A brisk breeze kicked up the snow around him, hissing as if it whispered secrets.

With a tingle of fear, he wondered if Ava would be the next life claimed on this rugged mountain.

FOUR

Sergeant Cecil Towers stood politely next to the bed, his dark eyes nearly a match for his dusky skin. His uniform was smartly pressed, fitting his slender frame nicely. A tinge of gray showed on his close-cropped hair. He reached out a hand to straighten the box of tissue on her bedside tray.

Her body reacted viscerally, edging away from the man who was guilty of nothing but informing her three weeks from the end of her senior year of high school that her mother’s body had been recovered from Melody Lake. Even with her eyes closed she would never forget the tiniest detail of that visit, from the curve of his thin lips to his spotless uniform and the way he wiped his feet meticulously on the doormat before he’d entered Whisper Mountain Lodge.

Ava had gotten the gist of her situation from the nurses. She’d been more or less out for ten hours. No, she had not lost any fingers or toes amazingly, and no, they knew nothing about her uncle Paul. She remembered Luca being there and although she’d willed herself to ask him, to beg him to tell her of her uncle, her body would not come out of its frozen stupor. Now there was no sign of Luca, but now she had a cop to pump for information.

“Are the police looking for my uncle?”

The question seemed to startle Towers, who raised an eyebrow and leaned closer. “Hello, there. I thought you were asleep, Ms. Stanton.”

She repeated her question.

“First off, I’ll tell you that we have not found your uncle. Why don’t you go over the whole series of events? I was already briefed by Luca Gage, but let’s see if you have anything fresh to add.”

She told him every detail.

The Sergeant wrote with precision on a small tablet. When she ran out of words he smiled, revealing a chipped front tooth. “Did your uncle tell you about anyone who might have wished him harm?”

She shook her head.

He eyed her closely. “But there are people, aren’t there? A long list, as a matter of fact, from disappointed investors, loan sharks...” He flipped back to an earlier page. “Disgruntled husbands.”

Ava felt her face grow hot. “He wasn’t perfect, but he deserves to be found, doesn’t he?”

“Of course. We’ll start a thorough background to come up with a list. In the meantime, we’ve got a crew up on the mountain searching.” He slid his pencil back into his breast pocket. “You should know,” he said, voice soft. “There has been a lot of snow movement where the machine went over, Ms. Stanton. It may be some time before we can locate the driver or anyone else.”

Ava felt the walls crush in around her. She swallowed hard. “Are you saying if he’s down there, hurt or dying you can’t do anything about it?”

He sighed, as if he had been expecting the question. “The dogs are out and Search and Rescue, but the snow is continuing to move and the ravine is extremely deep. There’s a storm coming in.” He patted her hand where it lay on the bed, his palm oddly cool. “We’ll do what we can, I promise.”

Tears fell hotly down her cheeks. “He found something, some sort of treasure, and he was abducted. He’s still alive, I know he is. You’re not doing enough to find him.”

The officer’s eyes hardened for a moment. “Actually, I’m quite eager to take custody of your uncle. He’s the reason I lost part of my front tooth last week.”

Her mouth fell open. She was vaguely aware of Luca standing in the doorway, but she was too dumbfounded to pay him much heed. “My uncle broke your tooth?”

“To be fair, I walked into a dispute between your uncle and a local here in town. The local was extremely angry and threw an ashtray which intercepted my tooth instead of your uncle’s face, although he deserved it more, no doubt.” Another ghost of a smile that left no warmth in his eyes.

Ava groaned. “What did my uncle do this time?”

“Seems he sold the gentleman a necklace claiming it was an expensive antique.” Sergeant Towers raised an eyebrow. “It was more along the lines of cheap costume jewelry. Of course the local was booked for assault, but by the time I’d sorted that out, your uncle had already taken off.” The slight smile didn’t leave his face. “So you see, if your uncle is still alive, I’m looking forward to speaking with him.”