Rocky Mountain Rescue (Kristi Cameron Book 3) Read online

  “She wouldn’t have come this far in the dark,” Dan said softly. Kristi thought he was right, but cast her flashlight beam around the cavern anyway, searching, searching…

  Suddenly she gasped. There! Huddled in a little ball against the wall, a tiny form slept. Her thumb was in her mouth. Kristi ran to the little girl’s side and knelt down. Her hair was tumbled over her face and when Kristi brushed it aside she saw tear streaks in the dirt that smudged the tot’s cheeks. Her eyes were closed but her lips quivered and she shivered in the dank chill of the mine.

  The rest of the group had gathered around quietly so as not to startle the slumbering child. Kristi gently shook the little girl’s arm. “Patti,” she called softly. “Patti-Cake! Wake up, Sweetie!”

  Patti’s eyelashes fluttered and she opened her eyes. She silently stared up at the faces hovering above her in the darkness. She started to cry.

  “It’s okay, Patti. Don’t cry,” Kristi said. “Look! We’ve brought you your teddy bear, Patti-Cake. And we’re going to take you back to your mommy and daddy, okay?” Kristi put the teddy bear in Patti’s arms and gave her a little hug.

  Patti leaned against Kristi. She looked up at her with her big dark eyes and Kristi thought she saw a glimmer of recognition in them—as if Kristi was a familiar face and voice. Kristi put her arms around the child and could feel her shivering. She was wearing a jacket, but her little hands were icy and her face was pale.

  “Anna, could you get that blanket I have tied to my backpack for me, please?” Kristi asked. “We have to get her warmed up.” Anna brought the blanket and the girls wrapped the little one in it. Skeeter brought out a cereal bar from his backpack and Robyn poured some water from her canteen into the cap for Patti to drink. Dan and Pete stood to one side, whispering in worried tones.

  Finally Dan spoke out. “It’s pitch black outside right now. We can’t take a chance trying to find our way back in the dark, especially now that we have Patti. Someone could fall and get hurt, or we could miss the trail completely. We’re going to have to stay here for the night. It’s warmer, and probably safer in here anyway. In the meantime, Pete and I are going to go back out to the entrance and try again to raise someone on the radio so that they’ll know we have Patti and we’re all okay. The rest of you wait here, okay?”

  “No,” Robyn said. “I think we should all go together. We can stay right inside the mine entrance for the night. I don’t think it’s a good idea to separate.”

  Dan considered that for a moment and then agreed. “You’re probably right, Robyn. Kristi, let me carry Patti. She’s too heavy for you. Pete and I can take turns.” He reached for the child, but Patti began to cry again and clung to Kristi.

  “It’s okay, Dan,” Kristi said. “I can carry her. Someone else take my backpack and the flashlight, though, okay? Come on, Patti-Cake, we’re going to go find Mommy and Daddy, okay? Will you come with Kristi?” The little girl tightened her arms around Kristi’s neck.

  They started through the dark tunnels. At times Kristi had to put Patti down when the ceiling was too low and they had to stoop, or even crawl. It was slow going. It seemed they’d been wandering the tunnels forever when Dan finally stopped. “I think we’ve missed a turn somewhere,” he said. “I don’t remember it taking so long on the way in.”

  “Me, either,” Pete agreed. He thought for a moment. “Maybe we should just stop here until morning. We could wander deeper and deeper into the mine without knowing it. At least in the morning we’ll be able to see any light coming in through the entrance if we get close to it.”

  “Man, I could kick myself!” Dan said in frustration. “All that trouble we took to make sure we didn’t get separated from the trail, and then we never thought to put markers down here in the mine! How dumb can you get!”

  “It’s going to be okay, Dan,” Kristi said, trying to comfort him. “This mine can’t be that big. It’s so old, probably just one old prospector dug it out and then gave up on finding anything. Besides the Lord knows where we are, and I know He’ll show us the way.”

  “I know, Kristi,” Dan sighed, “but there are a lot of people out there who are going to worry about us—especially Mom and Dad. And no one knows we found Patti, so now they’ll be looking for her and us, too!”

  “Well, it can’t be helped, Dan. When morning comes they should have an easy enough time finding us. They knew which trail we were going on, and then we left markers all the way up to the mine entrance. They’ll find us—or we’ll find them, one way or the other. In just a few hours everyone will know we’re all safe.”

  “Let’s pray, guys. The Lord will help us and our parents get through the night,” Skeeter said seriously. He led them in prayer, “Dear Lord, please be with us through this night and help us to find our way out of the mine in the morning. Please be with Mom and Dad, too—especially Mom as she is recovering and has to have surgery tomorrow. Help them to trust You, too, and know that You are taking care of us. Help Patti’s parents, too, Lord, and give them hope tonight that they will get their little girl back, safe and sound. We pray for the rangers and other people who are out searching for us and Patti tonight—please keep them all safe. And, Lord, please, please keep all of them from getting too mad at us! In Jesus name we pray, Amen.”

  Kristi was smiling. She thought to herself, “That kid can be such a goofball, but he’s growing up to be a really great guy!”

  There was nothing more they could do, so they got some snacks out of their backpacks and settled down for the night as best they could. The floor of the mine was hard and rocky, but they used their backpacks as pillows and tried to get comfortable. Anna and Kristi snuggled Patti between them to keep her warm and she was asleep again in moments. It took a lot longer for the rest of them. They whispered for a while, encouraging one another to hang in there, and finally one by one, they drifted off to sleep.

  It was still pitch black in the mine, of course, when Pete woke them up. “Come on, guys,” he said. “It’s after five o’clock. It should be getting light outside. Let’s look for the mine entrance.”

  A few moments later they had all scrambled to their feet and were ready to go again. Patti clung sleepily to Kristi. “Lord, please lead us,” Dan breathed simply as they started out.

  The path through the mine twisted and turned. They had no idea where they were and a couple times they felt that they had circled around and come back to a place they had already been. Just as they were becoming discouraged and a little fearful that they weren’t going to find their way out after all, Dan let out a little whistle of relief. “Look! It’s this way!”

  A glimmer of daylight bounced off the rock wall ahead of them. They rounded the turn in the path and there, like a beacon in the night, was a doorway leading to the outside world!

  “Whew!” Skeeter said. “Hurray!” the girls cheered. Even Patti had a little look of pleasure on her face.

  They rushed forward, eager to feel the sunshine on their faces. They popped out of the mine entrance one by one and then came to a halt in disbelief and dismay. They were not at the top of the Golden Steps! The view outside this exit looked nothing like the scene they had left when they entered the mine. They had come out on the wrong side of the mountain—but where?

  They had no idea where they were. They were lost!

  ___________

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ___________

  Beware the Bear!

  “What! Where are we?” Robyn was the first to speak. “This isn’t the Golden Steps!”

  “No, it sure isn’t,” Dan agreed grimly. “I don’t know where we are, but the sun is behind us, so I think we’re further west than we were last night. Now what?” He dropped his backpack and stared off into the distance.

  “Why don’t we try the radio again,” Pete suggested. “Maybe we’ll get a better signal here.”

  “I doubt that, but it’s worth a try, I guess.” He rummaged in the pack for the radio and turned it on. The radio crackled a
nd for a moment they thought they were out of luck once again. Suddenly, though, they heard a voice calling faintly, “Hello? Hello? Who is it?”

  Dan nearly dropped the radio in his surprise and delight. He turned up the volume. “Hello!” he yelled into the radio. “This is Dan Cameron! Can you hear me?”

  “Barely!” the voice came back. “You’re breaking up!”

  “We’re all okay!” Dan yelled. “We found Patti and she’s okay, too!”

  “Say again? Did you say you found the little girl?”

  “Yes! Yes! We’re all okay!”

  “Where are you?”

  “We went up the Golden Steps and found an old mine. Patti was in there. We got turned around in the mine and came out somewhere else on the other side of the mountain. We don’t know where exactly we are.”

  “What? What?” the voice called. “You’re breaking up—having trouble understanding. Did—say—Steps—mine?” Now the voice on the other end was breaking up, as well.

  “Yes! Yes!” Dan yelled. “We took the Golden Steps to the mine. We got lost in the mine and came out on the other side!”

  “Are—still there? Hello? Hello? Where—you? Losing—signal…”

  Dan tried once more and then shook his head. “Nope, just lost the signal totally.”

  Kristi said, “Why don’t you try again, Dan?”

  “No, I think we’d better conserve the batteries and try again somewhere else where we might get a better signal.”

  “Well, that was an answer to prayer, anyway. At least they know we’re all okay and we found Patti. Maybe now her parents—and ours—will feel better,” Kristi said.

  “That’s true,” Anna said. Let’s thank the Lord now for getting us out of the mine and being able to get word out that we’re okay. And ask Him to show us what to do next.”

  Pete prayed. He had no sooner said Amen when Skeeter lifted his head and said, “Well, the Lord showed me what to do next! Eat breakfast! I’m starving!”

  Their laughter eased the tension, and soon the early morning sunshine and some food in their bellies had them feeling much more optimistic. Patti looked solemnly from one teen to the other.

  “Patti, these are my friends and brothers,” Kristi told her. “This is my brother Dan and my other brother Skeeter.” Skeeter made a silly face to try to get the little one to smile but she just stared at him with her big brown eyes. “This is Anna and Robyn and Pete,” Kristi said as she pointed to each of the others. “We’re your friends, Patti. We’re going to take care of you until we find your mommy and daddy, okay?” she reassured the little girl.

  “One thing I wonder about,” Dan said. “How did she get that far back in the mine in the pitch black darkness? You would think she would have been too terrified to keep wandering through those tunnels.”

  Patti looked at him for a moment. Slowly she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled something out. She handed it to Kristi. It was a keychain with a Hello Kitty figure dangling from it. There were no keys, but from the other end hung a little penlight. Kristi pressed the button on it but the light did not come on.

  “The batteries are dead,” she said. The teens were silent for a moment, picturing in their minds the tiny child wandering through the mine, alone with nothing but a penlight, until the batteries died and she lay down in the blackness of the mine and cried herself to sleep. Kristi shuddered and hugged the little girl tightly. “You’re safe now, Patti-Cake,” she whispered. “I promise.” At least now they knew Patti understood them. She couldn’t speak, but she could respond—when she chose to.

  “Okay, so where do we go from here?” Skeeter asked.

  “I think we should just stay here and wait for someone to find us,” Robyn said. “At least they have a general idea where we are—or at least they will when they find our note by the trail and follow the Golden Steps up to the mine.”

  “Maybe we should just go back into the mine and try to find the other entrance,” Pete suggested.

  “No!” all three girls said emphatically. Patti whimpered a bit and buried her face in Kristi’s neck. “We could get lost even worse in there than we were last night.” Anna said with a frown.

  “Okay, then that’s definitely out,” Pete hastened to reassure her.

  “I agree that it’s a good idea to just stay put until help comes, but I would like to go just a little further to see if we can find a radio signal,” Dan said.

  “Well, then, let’s do what we did yesterday—leave markers along the way so we can find our way back. Or maybe they’ll lead the search party to us, if they get this far.” Kristi said.

  “Here!” Robyn said. “Here’s the old T-shirt we were tearing strips off of yesterday.” She held up a ragged yellow shirt she had dug out of her pack.

  “Okay, that’s a plan, then. Everyone agree?” Dan asked. They nodded and began gathering their backpacks and jackets. Kristi unzipped Patti’s jacket and tucked her teddy bear inside. “There! Now you won’t lose him again,” she said with a smile. She zipped the jacket again. It was a snug fit with the teddy bear stuffed inside, but at least it would help keep the little one warm. Dan had used his pocket knife, in the meantime, to tear a bunch of strips off the old T-shirt.

  The group followed his lead as they made their way cautiously down the slope. It was after seven o’clock and mists still rose from the hillside. The day stretched ahead of them and they all hoped and trusted that they would be found before night fell once more.

  Two hours passed as they hiked, leaving little bits of yellow tied to branches or tucked halfway under rocks. Dan tried the radio periodically but all they heard was static. They were going in a southeastern direction, as nearly as they could tell by the sun.

  The ground was rugged and it was hard going at times. They were forced to move even more slowly because of Patti, as well. The child was a little trooper and did her best to keep up, but every now and then one of the teens would pick her up and carry her as far as they were able. Patti allowed the others to help her now. She still seemed to favor Kristi, but at least she had accepted the rest of them, as well.

  They were suddenly forced to stop. They heard the sound of the water before they saw it, but they were unprepared for the sight of the rushing stream. It churned with whitewater and Dan could see immediately that there was no way they could safely cross it. One slip and there could be a broken leg, or someone could even be swept away downstream.

  “Stay back,” he ordered Skeeter as the younger boy rushed forward to stick his hand in the water. “If you fall in we might not be able to get you out again.”

  “Now what?” Robyn asked.

  “Let’s follow it downstream a little way,” Pete said. “It may narrow and get a little calmer further on.” He took the lead now and the rest tagged along behind. They chatted and laughed as they hiked. It was a beautiful morning and the mountain forests, meadows and streams made for a beautiful setting. If it hadn’t been for the fact that they were lost, it would have been a perfect day!

  It was hard going through the bushes and trees that lined the banks of the stream. There was no path, so they did their best to push through the branches and heavy undergrowth. The stream did seem to be narrowing some, but the waters still rushed along in a strong and noisy torrent. They could not find a safe spot to cross and Dan was worried they were going too far south. He was about to call a halt when Pete shoved aside the limbs of a small pine tree and stumbled to a quick stop.

  Directly in front of him was a large brown bear! It was in the water by the edge of the stream closest to Pete. It lifted its head in surprise and snorted. The group had been making plenty of noise as they hiked, but the roar of the water had apparently drowned out the sounds of their approach and the bear was not happy at being startled. He charged forward a few steps.

  Pete quickly backed up—right into Dan. The rest of the teens had not yet seen the bear through the branches of the tree and didn’t understand what Pete was doing. Pete tripped over Dan
in his haste to get away and they both caught themselves on the branches of the tree. “Bear!” Pete managed to gasp out.

  Robyn and Anna cried out in fear. Kristi gathered up Patti and backed away. Skeeter—bless his heart—kept his wits about him and stooped to pick up some rocks and sticks, remembering what his father had told them just a few nights ago.

  Pete and Dan turned to face the bear. They began shouting and waving their arms wildly. Skeeter pushed through the branches of the pine and began throwing his rocks and sticks. The bear was not to be frightened away. He stood up on his back paws and let out a mighty roar. He was huge, standing like that on his rear legs, and his teeth and claws looked even more massive.

  The boys began to back away slowly, back through the underbrush and the branches of the pine. The bear took a step forward. The guys resisted the urge to turn around and run as fast as their legs could carry them, and continued to back away. Kristi and the other girls had run. The bear had not seen them yet on the other side of the trees.

  The beast’s wrath was focused entirely on Pete as he advanced on the helpless teen.

  ___________

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ___________

  The Angel Gabriel

  The bear roared again and the sound of it seemed to shake the trees. Skeeter covered his ears and closed his eyes. Dan and Pete stood rooted to the ground, their hearts in their throats. The bear took another step forward.

  Suddenly a shot rang out! And then another! The bear dropped to all fours, and turned and ran. He crossed to the other side of the stream and disappeared through the trees on the other side.

  Only then did the teenagers turn to look for the source of the shots. An old man stepped out from the trees to their right. He had a small rifle in one hand, and a fishing pole in the other.

  “Got yourselves in a pickle, did ya?” he asked. “That bear almost had ya for lunch!” He cackled a short, rusty laugh. “What are you young’uns doing out here in the wilderness, anyway? This ain’t no place for young kids to be running around on their own—‘specially little fry like that one!” he said, pointing to Patti.