Untraceable (20 page)

There. He’d told her before it was too late. Well, sort of. Isaiah had probably waited too long to tell Heidi, and all the reasons for holding back seemed ridiculous now. He was within seconds of his life ending.

“Let’s go, sweetheart.”

Heidi tried to untie the rope attaching her to the madman as he dragged her away from the edge. He and Jason had prevented Isaiah from tumbling farther into the crevasse to begin with, since they were all tied together.

Why was the guy waiting to kill him?

* * *

Heidi watched in horror as Zach edged toward Isaiah with the gun.

She wouldn’t let Zach kill Isaiah. She’d sooner die with him, for him.

Zach had a thing for her? Well, she would do as Isaiah suggested. Survive no matter what it took. Save Isaiah, no matter what it took.

“Zach, please, no. Don’t shoot him. I’ll go with you. I
want
to go with you. I won’t cause you any trouble.” Heidi softened her voice, going for an alluring tone.

That got his attention, his gaze drifting over to her. At the look in his eyes, nausea swirled in her stomach. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, making a deal with evil. “But you can’t shoot Isaiah.”

A lump swelled in her throat. She didn’t want to go with Zach willingly, but she didn’t know what else to do.

“You have a deal, sweetheart.” Zach tugged out a knife, the blade flashing when the sun peeked through the clouds.

“What...what are you doing?” She couldn’t believe he would twist her words around like some sick joke, but she should have known better.

What a fool Heidi had been. Zach didn’t have to shoot Isaiah.
Oh, Isaiah, please use that ice ax I gave you. Hold on a little longer.

Zach pressed the blade against the climbing ropes.

Isaiah’s eyes flicked to Heidi. He held her gaze—his own conveying the love he’d held back from her all this time. Heidi wanted—no, needed—more time with him. This couldn’t be happening.

“See? I’m a man of my word. I’m not going to shoot him.”

She screamed, “No!”

Zach cut the rope.

Isaiah held on with the ax, but Zach shoved him into the crevasse.

Isaiah flailed back into the blue ice until it turned black and she could no longer see him. Dumbfounded, she looked on, shock squeezing the life from her body. When Zach pulled her away, she fought and kicked.

“What did you do that for, Zach?” Jason asked. “Why didn’t you just shoot him?”

“No one could survive that fall. He’s as good as dead, idiot. If he survives, which I doubt, he can’t get out. They’ll never find him in there. Besides, that was more elegant than shooting him.”

Panic and tears engulfed Heidi. Her knees buckled beneath her. Jason and Zach held her up, dragging her toward the plane in the distance. She didn’t want their help.

The Bible said that vengeance was the Lord’s, but her grief and sorrow would kill her. Better to let the anger, her need for revenge carry her forward. She would get even with Zach, if it was the last thing she did. He would pay for killing Isaiah. Leaving Cade behind with Rhea. For kidnapping her, and worse—for the lives of the two men she loved the most in the world.

Her brother Cade, with whom she’d always been the closest. And Isaiah.

Isaiah...

She already knew she could never overpower these men or get the upper hand as long as they held the weapons. Isaiah had already tried twice and failed. And yet he was still a hero to her. She wouldn’t let Isaiah’s or Cade’s sacrifices be in vain.

The wind picked up again, and a few flecks of snow hit her cheeks. In the distance, she heard the prop plane starting up. Zach and Jason picked up their pace.

“Unless you want me to leave you behind, too, you need to walk on your own.” He released Heidi.

She wanted to rail at him, but that wouldn’t work with her plan.

“Okay, let’s go.” Heidi took off, leaving the two men behind. She was in better shape than either of them and had only lost her strength momentarily due to the gravity of her loss.

Heidi knew better than the two men that their window of opportunity to get rescued was quickly closing. Finally, they made it to the plane and dropped the gear they’d carried with them. The pilot climbed out and shook hands with Zach and Jason.

“You got the money?”

Zach nodded, pointing to the green vinyl bag he’d never let out of his sight.

The guy grinned. “Get it loaded.”

“You heard him.” Zach eyed Heidi. She was his slave now. “Load the packs.”

“All of it? Some of it belongs to the SAR team.” As if that mattered anymore.

Zach obviously wanted to rid himself of every shred of evidence of his involvement with the missing SAR team and would dump the packs as far from here as possible. Heidi wasn’t sure the small plane could carry all their heavy packs
and
the passengers.

Fine with her.

She hefted the bags and carried them over to the open door under the wing. That’s when she spotted the money bag and knew what to do.

There was only one way to truly hurt Zach.

Heidi removed the green bag and hid it under the other bags. She piled the rest of them into the plane, while kicking snow and ice over the green pack.

“Are you almost done? We have to go.” Jason climbed into the front seat, as did the pilot.

Zach squeezed her shoulder and slipped by her. He offered his hand. “Come on, sweetheart. Get in and close the door. We’re going to beat the storm this time.” He grinned as if he thought he could charm her.

Heidi lifted the last bag and stuffed it inside. She climbed in next to Zach. This was the moment she had to play things just right. All would be lost or won on this move.

Moisture surged from her palms. Her pulse raced. Would Zach notice her increased breathing? Panic threatened to take over as she gasped for breath.

No, not now. She had to make this work.

Still, maybe he would think her reaction normal, considering that she’d climbed into an airplane with a murderer and his friends.

Heidi pushed down her anxiety, gained control over her breathing and smiled back. In the seat, she inched forward slowly, drawing Zach’s full attention. Letting him believe she would kiss him.

Why would he for one second fall for that? Guys could be so stupid. When she was mere inches from Zach’s lips, she fought to control her gag reflex. Heidi slid her hand into his coat pocket where he’d left his weapon loosely hanging for easy access, just like she’d watched him do a hundred times on their journey. She also knew he always had a round chambered. Without that, her plan wouldn’t work. Though she tugged on his jacket a little, he never noticed, too focused on her lips and proximity.

Heidi pointed the gun at Zach’s temple before he realized what was going on.

“Okay, this is what’s going to happen now. I’m getting off this plane and you men are flying away into the sunset without me.”

Zach acted as though he might move to take the gun from her, but Heidi chose this moment to show her true strength. She pressed the muzzle hard and fast against his temple until he cowered.

“Yeah, sure, lady, whatever you want,” the pilot said.

“We don’t need her, Zach,” Jason agreed. “But it’s your head.”

He snickered at his joke and would probably pay for that later.

“We have the money, man, just let her go.”

Zach scowled, the look in his eyes foreboding. He wasn’t done with her yet. Wasn’t ready to let her go. In his gaze, she could read well enough that he’d had plans for her. Heidi slid away from him, but was unable to tear her eyes from the evil look in his. She used his tunnel vision to her advantage as she lifted the last pack she’d loaded and tossed it to the ground. “I’m taking this pack for myself. I need to survive the storm.”

Zach didn’t want anyone to live to tell their story. But he was out of options now.

She dropped the pack on top of the already buried mound. Closing the airplane door, she backed away, continuing to point the weapon at Zach’s head through the window of the ski-plane. Likely his pilot had another weapon inside, but maybe not. She wasn’t sure what had happened to the other weapons Jason and Zach carried, but no one moved to shoot her. Regardless, they didn’t have time to waste on Heidi as the wind picked up. If the pilot waited even a minute longer, they wouldn’t leave the ice field.

They couldn’t afford to battle it out with her.

Nor could she afford for them to stay.

The plane moved forward and away. As she memorized the registration number along the fuselage, she kicked more snow over the green bag, but it was also hidden under the pack she’d kept for herself. If Zach thought to look for his money in the next few moments, she was in big trouble.

But he didn’t.

The plane droned off into the distance until she no longer heard it. She released a breath and tried to slow her heart, but she had lost so much. How did she wrap her heart and mind around it?

And she was all alone. She had only thought she was alone in the dark place she’d lingered over the past months. That was nothing compared to this. Heidi had never imagined herself alone in the middle of the barren, snow-covered ice field.

Her thoughts jumbled together as her predicament overwhelmed her. But Heidi sucked her breaths in slowly and focused on living. She had to survive this to tell Cade’s story in case he couldn’t. She had to survive to tell Isaiah’s story.

Her heart cried over her loss, but she opened up the pack.

Oh, no...this bag didn’t hold a tent. She’d miscalculated.

Looking up at the sky she watched the clouds quickly gathering. An unwelcome sight. If she wasn’t rescued soon, she would die from exposure.

Oh, God, I’ve been an idiot!

All she could think about was getting back at Zach by taking the money away from him. Taking the one thing he loved away. And now here she was, stuck on the ice field with no way to live. She couldn’t decide if this was better than being on that plane with Zach.

She doubted burning the money would buy her much time. She’d have to build an ice cave, but for that, she’d need an ax—the one she’d given to Isaiah.

Isaiah.

Carrying the pack with climbing gear and the bag of money, Heidi hiked toward the approaching storm clouds, snow mixed with some rain chilling her to the core.

God, if you have any plans for me to be rescued or to survive this, it had better be soon.

Finally, Heidi found the crevasse where Isaiah had met his demise. A small flame of hope ignited in her heart. Maybe he was still alive in there. She could climb down to him and haul him back up.

“Isaiah!” she called. Her voice bounced off the brilliant blue walls. Cerulean walls that lied to her, claiming their purity and innocence. But with several more calls out to Isaiah and no echoing reply, her hopes died until she knew the truth. This crevasse was a killer.

TWENTY

I
saiah woke up to dim lighting in the distance.

He blinked, taking in his surroundings, trying to remember where he was.

He must have fallen in his attempt to climb from the crevasse. When Zach had shoved him the rest of the way in, Isaiah thought he would plummet to his death, but he’d landed against a channel where water poured, like an ice luge, and simply slid the rest of the way deeper into the crevasse. That had saved his life.

Only problem was, the fall had broken his leg.

Despite the last words Isaiah had given Heidi, he wasn’t about to stay here and give up. So he found a way to crawl and dealt with his injury. Pulling the ropes and gear he needed to attempt to scale the ice-walled crevasse, Isaiah began to work his way up when the ice gave and he plummeted.

The pain in his leg gut-wrenching and angry, Isaiah used focused breathing to push away the darkness edging his vision like death closing in. He had more fight left in him than he thought possible, but maybe that had something to do with the light at the bottom of the crevasse.

It was odd, really, to look down and expect darkness but to see light instead.

That gave him hope.

There was another way out. But he’d have to go deeper. There had to be a metaphor there somewhere, but he didn’t have enough brainpower or energy to think of it.

Ignoring his leg, Isaiah rigged his gear, grateful for the pack that had fallen ahead of him and well out of Zach’s reach. Without the climbing gear in the pack, he had no chance.

Even with it he feared he had no chance. Why did he care if he survived, when he’d failed Heidi and left her in Zach’s hands? He’d wanted to be a hero to redeem his past, but it was so much more than that. His past didn’t matter. He didn’t matter.

What mattered was Heidi.

He almost chuckled to himself. Who did he think he was to elevate himself to the role of Heidi’s hero? She could take care of herself, and he’d bet right at this moment the woman had taken control of the situation. He let that image urge him on because any other visions about what could be happening to her would crush him where he was.

He assembled his gear to rappel deeper into the crevasse, toward the light. Adam and David had explored ice caves and crevasses and all manner of glacier features, and though the wonders had always intrigued Isaiah, he’d never made the time to explore with them, always busy with his own endeavors. Maybe it was more that he felt like an outsider to the Warren family. He wanted to be one of them, but given his lie to them about who he really was, that hope was as dead as he would be if he didn’t climb out of the abyss.

But if given another chance, he’d go with them. He’d take Heidi to explore, too. Do everything, and take every opportunity. A near-death experience went a long way to making a person want to slow down and take the time to see God’s creation.

Finally near the bottom of the crevasse, Isaiah lowered himself the rest of the way, keeping his gear on, and took a few breaths to calm his heart, steady his focus away from his injured leg. He looked up at the wall of ice he’d just descended and wondered how in the world he’d done it with a damaged body.