Dennis Yates - Red Mountain

Legs trembling badly, he dug his heels into the ice and kicked away, forcing his body and the sled over the edge of the crevasse. For even in death Marco did not plan to share…

CHAPTER 58

They could have waited and picked off the thieves as they emerged from the crevasse, but Marsh no longer had the patience. And besides, there weren’t a lot of hours left until sunrise. Using the ropes already set in place by Marco, the four men climbed down to the lighted ice shelf below.

Halfway down into the glacier they found a loaded sled jammed into a tight crevasse. It would take some time pulling out. Chester set about lowering himself down to it so he could attach a line. The other three followed the trail of glow sticks leading to the shrine. Marsh forced Robert to walk in front of them so he could test the safety of the ice.

****

Carol and her crew had heard a crash but assumed it was the glacial ice adjusting itself. The eyes of the man who’d come out of the ice had stared up at her, giving her the creeps before Marco tossed a canvas sheet over him. Carol thought there was something obscene about hacking the corpse out of the ice like they did, despite Marco’s assurances he’d be put back as soon as they were finished.

The whole idea wasn’t setting right with her. Even though she had no idea who the man once was, Carol felt guilty about leaving him behind, as if they were somehow violating his right to be known to the world again. But as Marco had pointed out, the frozen man was dead and they were not. He would never be able to buy a new life with his treasure, but they could.

It made perfect sense. But still…

As much as she liked Marco, Carol had been recently unsure of how much longer she wanted their affair to last. She knew the only way he’d be able to stay in the country would be if she married him, and she wasn’t prepared for that. There were lingering feelings for her ex-husband needing to be sorted out and she didn’t like the fact that Marco still wasn’t as open about his life as she had been with him. He could sometimes be very touchy about his past if she pressed him about it. At first she’d thought it was kind of thrilling to wonder what he was hiding from her. Now it had simply become an annoyance.

“This is the last of it. Let’s get out of here,” one of her students said as he hoisted on his backpack and lumbered out with the final load of gold. But a few moments later he was backing into the shrine with his arms raised in front of him, pleading with Marsh and Billy not to shoot.

“Just stay calm college boy. We aren’t going to hurt you,” Billy said.

“What’s going on?” Carol shouted. She stepped forward and put herself between her student and the two rifle barrels.

Where the hell was Marco?

“We’re here to take what belongs to us,” Marsh said.

“The gold doesn’t belong to you,” Carol said. “We were here first. Now go away and leave us alone.”

Robert edged between the two men so she could see his face. He saw her eyes sweep over his bruises and scrapes, watched as she realized he couldn’t be there voluntarily. Would she trust him?

“Let them have what they’ve come for,” Robert told her.

“What?” Carol stared at him, confused. Then Marsh whipped around and struck Robert in the face with his rifle stock, causing him to crumple to the ground. Marsh glared down at him and spat on the ice.

“Don’t you ever interfere with my business again, Crain.”

Carol screamed, and the others began to shout at Marsh to stop.

His face a bloody mess, Robert pried his head up from the ice to warn them before he saw the legs of Marsh and Billy move past him and suddenly his ears were deafened by the thunder of rifles exploding, white flashes and the screams of people hopelessly trying to seek cover. Robert covered his face and choked. A cordite cloud hung in the air like fog, burning his eyes and throat.

Robert wasn’t sure how long he’d passed out. It was eerily quiet as the cloud oozed out of the room, revealing the carnage left behind. He felt Marsh and Billy grab him from under his arms and drag him across the shrine through an obstacle course of dead bodies before they dropped him hard onto the bloody mirror of ice.

“Holy shit,” he heard Marsh say after he’d removed the canvass from Maynard’s frozen remains. Robert tried opening his eyes but everything was way too blurry when he attempted to focus. He lowered his head upon the cooling sheet of blood and felt himself begin to drift off once again.

“Sure is an ugly son of a bitch,” Billy said as he moved to get a better look at Maynard. “I wonder how long ago he died down here?”

Marsh stared into the face he sometimes saw when Jared Horn’s ghost was really messing with his head. A grin spread slowly across his blistered mouth while his eyes danced like moths trapped inside a hot lantern.

At last…

“What is it Walker?”

Marsh didn’t hear Billy at all, and glanced around at the ceiling of the shrine, laughing with nervous relief. It was fucking over. After all this bullshit the time had finally come to collect his paycheck and head for Reno, maybe find a plastic surgeon to patch him up before he went on a binge of drinking and whoring. Even god won’t be able to save the world from me now!

Marsh pulled off his hat and spoke politely to the ghost he could not see but felt was close.

“Look Horn, I’ve done what you’ve asked… I’ve lived up to my responsibilities, delivered to you your rightful kin. I’m just going to take what I’m owed now and leave. It’s what was agreed.”

Marsh waited for a response but none came. He could hear the sharp clang of Chester setting hooks in the ice with his hammer and the moan of the wind as it blew across the lip of the crevasse. Marsh didn’t know if it was a sign Horn had completely vacated the premises of his skull for good or was waiting for him to make a punishable mistake. He could never predict when the ghost would be in the mood to inflict pain.

“Speak to me!” Marsh repeated over and over, while Billy slunk around the research team and quietly stole the rings and watches from their stiffening bodies.

Marsh soon tired of Horn’s game of hide and seek. He told Billy they should just get the gold and leave.

“It’s going to be light soon, and god knows how long it’s going to take us to get off this mountain.”

“What about him?” Billy asked.

Marsh toed Robert’s head with a blood soaked boot. He was alive, but barely conscious.

“He’s not our problem anymore.”

****

After Chester secured a line to the sled, he’d had the feeling that someone was watching him. It didn’t take him long to figure out why. When he climbed back up to the ice shelf from a different route than the one he’d come, he found Marco impaled on a giant stalagmite of pure blue ice. The Argentinean was pierced through the stomach, and his arms were wrapped around it as if he’d actually attempted the impossible task of pulling himself up to freedom. Chester observed he’d made it maybe an inch or two before giving out. Quite a feat for a man who’d already been shot in the back first.

Amazing what a man is capable of doing over a bunch of gold, he mused. He’d enjoyed Marco’s brave attempt at scaring them off, had even felt a little sorry for him when Marsh decided he’d had enough and shot him.

The surface of the stalagmite below Marco glowed more pink than blue. His eyes remained opened, and already Chester could see they were beginning to freeze.

****

Robert could hear them coming. As his mind drifted within the cavern of the ice shrine, he’d heard footfalls on the glacier surface far above him echoing down like some kind of weird sonar. The sounds grew louder and soon he was able to make out what he believed to be familiar voices calling his name.