The Alaskan Rescue (4 page)

“But you can’t because you’re an old man.” Her voice was firmer
now.

Her parents started offering apologies, but Cole just laughed.
“I like you, Maggie Johnson. Do you want to come and work here?”

“No. I don’t want to leave my mommy.”

“Oh. You have a good mommy?”

“I have the best mommy in the world.” Her eyes got really big.
“And my dad is the best, too.” Her face was very serious.

“Well, Maggie, can you tell me how you got hurt?”

“I was throwing horseshoes with my brother.”

“Can you show me where your leg hurts?”

Her eyes began to well with tears. “I don’t like looking at
it.”

Cole glanced around the room. “Do you like books?”

“Yes.” She lit up.

Cole rolled his chair over to a magazine rack, and stuffed in
the back for occasions like this was a kid’s book. He pulled it out. “I happen
to have a Dora the Explorer book. Do you like Dora?”

“I
am
Dora.”

“Oh, I thought you were Maggie.”

“I’m both!” The little girl giggled.

Cole handed the book to her mom. “Okay then, Maggie and Dora
the Explorer. Can you show me where you hurt?”

The little girl lifted up her skirt to her knee, revealing a
cut that clearly needed stitches.

“Okay. Let me get my pack full of stuff to fix your
ouchie.”

“Will it hurt?”

“Only a tiny bit, I promise.”

As Cole sewed up Maggie’s leg, his mind began to dwell on
Sashi. Was she okay? What was she doing? He couldn’t wait to kiss her again.

Chapter Three

Sashi went into the two-story A-frame cabin to join
Kendra. She decided their summer’s rigorous work schedule still hadn’t been as
hard as working for a real dance company. And the fourteen- to sixteen-hour
workdays did mean more money, although Kendra had just about died trying to keep
up and had lost ten pounds this summer.

As soon as the reality of their situation had taken hold,
Kendra probably would have left if she hadn’t known Sashi needed the money so
desperately. It had been fortunate for Sashi that Kendra had decided to follow
Freddy up here. Last spring she’d broached the idea with Sashi of coming up to
Alaska for fun, friendship, adventure and money.

Stepping over their gear, Sashi made a mental note to put the
gear away after she’d had a talk with Kendra. But she couldn’t find her.

“Kendra?” No answer. Her friend must have gone to the outhouse.
“Ahh, rustic joys of Alaskan life,” Sashi muttered.

As she started out the door to look for her, Kendra suddenly
pushed past her with eyes full of tears. She ran to the window seat. “I don’t
think he’s coming.”

Sashi sat beside her friend. Tears gushed down Kendra’s cheeks.
Sashi grabbed the bandanna she’d been carrying in her pocket and began to dab at
her friend’s face.

“What’s going on, Kendra? Tell me.”

Kendra looked at her before she closed her eyes and breathed
deeply. “I just know Freddy isn’t going to come. It’s already three o’clock. If
he were going to be here, I think he’d have shown up by now.”

Sashi looked into her friend’s big brown eyes. How could there
be so much sadness? “I bet he’s just running late. I’ve never seen a guy who
lived as much on the edge as Freddy.”

At that moment they heard the sound of a plane coming in.

Kendra jumped up and ran out of the cabin, Sashi following.
“It’s Freddy!” Kendra cried. “He came.” And sure enough, within seconds Freddy’s
plane made its descent onto the unspoiled lake.

As the group who had come for the night disembarked from the
plane, Sashi saw her friend stop in her tracks.

“What’s going on?” Sashi asked her. “Why did you stop?”

Kendra gestured in the direction of the plane. Sashi looked and
instantly knew. Freddy was unloading the plane, yet he hugged Blake every chance
he got.

“Is this a joke?” Sashi was taken aback. She stared at her
friend.

Kendra’s eyes filled with tears. “Obviously it’s not,” she
said. Kendra turned and walked back into the cabin.

There was something different about Kendra today, Sashi
thought, something more than her friend just being hurt by Freddy’s actions once
again. Sashi couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it was there.

Over the next hour the group unloaded the plane and had the
cabin ready for their big going-away party tonight. It was to be a keg party.
Keggers were extremely childish affairs to Sashi, even though she’d been to many
as a young college student. She wouldn’t have thought it was the right kind of
party to have out in the middle of the Alaskan bush!

Sure it was fun to see Natalie, Bridgette and the boys. But
when she saw Freddy with his hands all over Blake, Sashi was appalled. How could
someone be so cruel? Why didn’t he just let Kendra go?

The large cabin easily held the group of eight. When most of
the crowd started their partying, Sashi went to look for Kendra. She found her
crying on a bench overlooking the lake.

“Kendra, all I have to say is Freddy is an SOB! At least you
found out now and not later when you got closer to him.”

“Sashi, you don’t understand all that’s going on here.” Kendra
looked at Sashi helplessly.

“Then explain it to me,” Sashi said.

“I can’t. I have to talk to Freddy first. But right now I’m too
tired.”

“All right. Why don’t we go take a nap and you can talk to
Freddy later. I know you were up at five this morning. And then let’s go explore
those limestone caves near the cabin Joe told us about. Apparently some of them
have petroglyphs few people have ever seen.”

The two of them headed into the cabin loft and within minutes
Kendra was snuggled into her sleeping bag and fast asleep. Sashi crawled into
her own sleeping bag, thinking that looking at caves sounded just like the kind
of thing her friend needed to do in order to get her mind off Freddy. And a nap
might help clear her thoughts and get her back in tune with herself. Soon Sashi
drifted off.

When she woke up, the light was dimming. What time was it? She
checked her watch. Seven o’clock.

She stretched and looked over at her friend’s bunk. It was
empty. Kendra must have got up and gone downstairs. Sashi climbed out of her
sleeping bag and quickly threw on a thermal vest. The temperature in the cabin
was beginning to drop. Her cross trainers were next to her. She put them on and
headed downstairs.

The main room was warm but full of people acting like fools.
Sashi walked up to Bridgette. “Do you know where Kendra is?”

With blurry eyes and a silly smile, Bridgette pointed to the
back bedroom. “In there.” Bridgette began to sway back and forth to the music of
the guitar one of the guys had brought.

Sashi headed back to the bedroom, where she could hear loud
voices. She tried to open the door but it was locked. “Kendra? Are you
okay?”

In a flash, eyes wide, Kendra flew out of the bedroom, through
the main room, then right out the door. She took off at a brisk pace and Sashi
struggled to keep up with her.

“Kendra, what’s going on? What were you and Freddy fighting
about? Where are you going?”

“I just need to get out of the house! Apparently Freddy
proposed to Blake! I can’t take it anymore!”

Now that it was almost September, the days were getting
shorter. It would be dark soon, and it was imperative Sashi get them back to the
cabin. The later it got, the greater their chances of encountering bears. It was
after seven o’clock.

The emerald rain forest had taken on darker hues. Sashi could
hear ravens, eagles, larks and other types of wildlife in the bush. The canopy
of tall cedars and aspen was dense and she couldn’t see the sky.

Kendra had charged on ahead. To reach her, Sashi had to bat her
way through a grouping of hemlocks, then climb a grassy slope to a copse of
trees, where there was a jutting of rock concealing limestone caves. Finally she
caught up to Kendra again. Sashi tapped her on the shoulder to let her know she
was there.

Kendra turned to her, but her face suddenly froze in
terror.

“What’s wrong?”

“B-b-b-ear!” She screamed.

Sashi stood still. She realized they’d broken every rule in the
guidebooks and she didn’t even have any bear mace on her.

“Kendra, we need to be calm and speak softly,” she whispered.
“If that doesn’t work, we need to fight and yell because black bears don’t give
up that easily.”

“Okay, Sashi,” Kendra whispered. “But it’s staring at me. It’s
going to kill my baby!”

“You’re
pregnant?
How long have you
known?” Sashi asked.

“Two weeks, but tonight Freddy denied it’s his.”

The next few minutes happened fast. Sashi watched in terror as
Kendra took off, running down the other side of the hill into a hemlock forest,
where she tried to climb a big alder tree. A sow with cubs would chase her and
follow her up.

“No, Kendra! No!”

She had to stop the bear, save her friend. Without a second
thought she threw herself in its way. The sow barely noticed her. In the next
instant, the eight-foot, salmon-fed animal tossed her in the air, bruising her
back and slicing open her left upper arm. Upon landing, Sashi’s right foot hit
the ground first and twisted as her body fell at an angle.

She could only lift her right arm in a futile attempt to
prevent her head from hitting a rock on the ground. Fortunately the rock just
grazed her temple. Lying facedown on the dirt, she could barely think. The pain
radiating from her lower leg was excruciating.

Sashi knew she had to move and get away from the bear in case
it came back. She clawed her way into a nearby cave, dank and cold as a tomb.
Too terrified to scream, she curled into a ball on the floor, then craned her
neck to see if the bear was there.

No, it wasn’t. It had gone. Where was Kendra? Was she safe?

She prayed.

She realized she needed to start taking care of herself or she
was going to die. She counted to three in her mind and then turned herself over.
The pain was unbearable.

Her leg was much worse than she’d thought, probably broken, but
right now her main concern was her left arm, which was bleeding profusely. She
had to stop it. Using her teeth and right hand, she ripped off a piece of her
shirt, which she then somehow managed to tie using her bad arm. At last she got
a piece big enough to tie around the cut to stem the flow. It took a few tries
to get the rough bandage tight, but she fought through silent tears and sweat,
and it worked. Then she relaxed her body and calmed her breathing, and soon she
fell asleep from exhaustion.

She awoke later with a start. “Oh, God, where am I?” Then she
remembered and began to shake. She could hear the howl of a wolf in the
distance.
Breathe, Sashi.
You’ve danced for years. Pain is part of being a
dancer.

Where was the group? Maybe Cole would come and find her. He was
a bush doctor. Her breathing slowed and she slept again.

When she came to this time, her thoughts were reeling.
I’ll be strong for Kendra and her baby and my parents. I’m
their only child and they need me.
Thirsty, she
turned her head and
tried to lick the water trickling down the middle
of the cave floor.
Yes, I will be found.

She tried to move her right foot, but couldn’t. She cried
silent tears.
I don’t want to die. I’m not going to die. I
will dance again. Please God, save me.

She called for her friend. “Kendra? Kendra?
Kendra?
” Her voice grew hoarse. She refused to think
no one could hear her in this cave.

* * *

I
N
A
DREAM
, C
OLE
COULD
HEAR
his name being said over and
over again. A knock on the door alerted him that he was needed in the E.R. He
jumped out of the makeshift hospital bed that was on hand for the emergency room
doctors. He slipped on his Crocs and grabbed his white jacket.

From years of practice he flipped on the light switch, then
headed over to the sink to brush his teeth and splash some water on his face. He
sure hoped he had time to go home and properly shower before he saw Sashi today.
As soon as she called, he would be off duty. Trading schedules with Dr. Reagan,
he’d done the all-night shift. It was worth it. He couldn’t wait to see her.

“Paging Dr. Stevens, Dr. Cole Stevens. Please report to the
E.R. desk immediately. That’s Dr. Stevens, Dr. Cole Stevens.” He rushed out the
door and headed down the hall, hoping it wasn’t a terrible trauma. He didn’t
want any distractions on his day off. Once at the emergency desk, he picked up
the phone. “This is Dr. Stevens.”

“Cole, this is Chief Hunter with the Alaska State Troopers on
Prince of Wales Island.”

“Trace. I know who you are. I’m just trying to figure out why
in the hell you’re being so formal with me.” He leaned against the high
wraparound desk.

“We’ve got ourselves a bad situation. I think you’re the
twentieth person I’ve called today.”

Cole chuckled and turned toward the wall to keep his voice from
carrying. “You waited that long to get a doctor on board for whatever problem
you’ve gotten yourself into?”

“This isn’t a laughing matter. Two women have gone missing. Joe
Running Bear, Freddy Marshall and his friends are very worried about their
situation.”

“How is Joe involved in this?” Cole was afraid something might
have happened to Joe’s daughter or one of her friends. He rubbed his whiskered
jaw in frustration.

“It’s not like that. He’s taken some twenty or so city ladies
on one of his Native tours.”

Cole frowned. “I didn’t know Joe got people to go on those
anymore. The guy charges a fortune. Last I heard it was two years ago since
someone booked.”

“Well, you know Joe,” the chief said, warming to the subject.
“Once in a while someone will pay and off he goes. Apparently he just adores
these women.”

“Are they Tlingit?” he questioned.

“No. White girls from Arlington, Virginia.”

Cole’s stomach fell to the floor. “Do you have names?”

“Why? Do you know the women?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ve got a Kendra Knight and a Sashi Hansen. Sound
familiar?”

“Yes.” Cole tried to shut off the fear that racked his
system.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you knew anyone up at Marshall’s. All
I can say is, you need to fly out here as soon as possible. You’re our best bush
doctor. We’ve got a lot of caves here. Thank heaven you and Joe have hours of
spelunking behind you.”

Cole looked at his watch. Noon. “How bad is it?”

“Freddy and some friends met the two women out there yesterday.
This morning when Joe arrived, he woke the six-person party from their sleep.
Knight and Hansen weren’t there. Their bags had never been opened for a change
of clothes. Nobody knows or remembers what happened last night.”

“If the weather holds, I’ll try to be there in an hour. Do you
have spelunking gear on hand?”

“That’s a go. Thanks, Cole.”

“No problem. See you, Trace.”

Cole looked at his watch again—12:05. He could be out to Red
Bay by one-thirty at the latest.

* * *

H
E
DECIDED
TO
DO
A
GRAND
SWEEP
of the Red Bay Lake vicinity
in his Cessna. It was vital he get an idea of the terrain where the
search-and-rescue would be working. He radioed Jake for coordinates and more
information. Unfortunately his friend had nothing else to tell him.