The Challenge(24)

Juliet doled out another tiny ration of their sandwiches, with a sip of water, and a few slices of the banana she had in her bag. They divided up two power bars, and all felt better after they ate, even though the quantities were small.

“It doesn’t make sense to me to head up the mountain,” Peter complained. So far they had all agreed on the best route to take.

“We could still get above the flash flood so we can cross over,” Justin reminded him. They watched the recon helicopters in the distance all day, but they never came close enough to where they were, so the children could wave or give any kind of signal. The pilots were far from where they were climbing, which was discouraging to watch.

The rangers on horseback had come up with nothing either. Not even a shred of clothing stuck on a branch, or any clue that the seven kids had passed by there.

In the trailer Harvey was using as an office, he scowled at the computerized maps they were using.

“I have the feeling that the trail is getting colder and they’re headed in a different direction,” he said to two of his assistants. One of them pointed to a paper map on the desk, and Harvey nodded and instructed one of the pilots to fly through that zone, and see if they saw anything. Harvey felt like he was throwing mud balls at a barn and nothing would stick. They had come up dry at every turn so far.

“Dammit, they’re out there somewhere. I wish they’d give us some kind of sign, or we’d catch a glimpse of just one of them, which would lead us to the others.”

“Do you think they split up?” the younger ranger asked him, but Harvey shook his head, and studied the maps again.

“No, I don’t. They know better. They’re safer as a group. Six of those kids are local, they know something about the mountain. And they’re probably too scared to try to get out alone, or even in pairs.” The younger ranger nodded. He agreed.



* * *



—

In the Pollock kitchen, Anne had been making stew all day. Pattie had gone home for a while, and Tom and Anne sat at her kitchen table. When she turned off the stove, she ladled a good amount of the stew into a Tupperware box and pressed the lid on it.

“What’s that for?” Tom asked, curious.

“I thought I’d drop it off for Marlene. She’ll need something to feed the boys when they get home.” Her eyes filled with tears as she said it. They all would, if they were lucky. She couldn’t even let herself think of what her life and Pitt’s would be like if they lost Peter. There would be no meaning to their life anymore without him. She couldn’t even put her fears into words, but Tom could see it in her eyes, and hugged her. They’d heard Pitt on the radio a little earlier. The rangers and other men on horseback had come up with nothing. There had been no trace of the kids anywhere so far, on the ground or from the air.

“I can drop the stew off at Marlene’s place if you want,” Tom offered. He needed to stretch his legs and get some air, and to do something useful. Anne had called her earlier, and mercifully Bob had slept all day, while Marlene sat and listened to the radio for news of the boys. “I have to pick Beth up at the airport in a couple of hours. I can stop at Marlene’s on the way. Will you be okay here by yourself?”

She smiled sadly at him. “It’s not my place to say, and I don’t know what went wrong in your marriage, but you’re a good man, Tom Marshall. She was a fool to let you get away.”

“I’m not sure I know what happened either,” he said seriously. He’d been thinking about it a lot lately, more than he had in the beginning, when he first left New York. The anger had gone out of it for him. “We grew so far apart. We both changed. We had all the same goals when we got married, and then suddenly we didn’t. I think we were focused on all the wrong things. Or the wrong things for me. She thinks I let her down. I guess I did. I got to hate New York, and everything about our life. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t see myself living there for the rest of my life.

“It was an epiphany for me, and a death sentence for our marriage. My job was soul-crushing. I tried to explain it to Beth, and she thought I’d lost my mind. Maybe I did.

“I came out here for a weekend with a bunch of guys, and all of a sudden everything came into focus. I knew I was leading the wrong life, and I had to get out. I wanted her to come with me, and when she wouldn’t, I ran. So maybe I’m not such a nice guy after all. I let her down. But I love my life here. It’s what I needed, but it wouldn’t have been right for her. She would hate it here. It’s not New York. I love everything about it, or I did until Juliet got stuck somewhere on a mountain. God, Anne, if something happens to her, it’ll kill me.”

“It’ll kill us all,” Anne said grimly. She had been thinking about it all day. They all were. “Pitt and I are lucky. We’ve always loved what we do. We love it here. And we really are partners. I couldn’t live in New York either, and neither could Pitt. We love our work, which makes it fun, and we’ll hand it off to Peter one day, and hope he loves it too.” As she said it, she shuddered and could feel a chill down her spine. If Peter wasn’t there to step into their shoes, it would lose all meaning for them too.

“I want Juliet to have a meaningful life, doing something she loves, not just chasing all the big prizes of success like her mother. You have a better shot at a real life here than I did in New York. I guess I wasn’t cut out for that life after all. And the only one who didn’t know that was me. In the Bible, it says “know thyself,” and I didn’t. I didn’t meet myself until last year, at forty-three. It’s a little late, but I figured I’d make a run for it before it was too late. It killed my marriage, but if I hadn’t done it, it would have killed me.”