The Survivor - Page 71

The fleet of snowmobiles and the helicopters took off in pursuit.

Cade lowered his binoculars as he and Riley slowed to a stop on the icy slope. “Amazing. I don’t know how Kagan and those Ice Rangers did it, but Nadim’s men and the helicopters are moving away.”

“Good,” Riley said. She tapped her Bluetooth headset. “Because I still can’t reach Maya. We need to get them out of that cave.”

“We’re running out of time. Let’s hit it.”

Cade gunned his snowmobile’s engine, and Riley hit her accelerator a moment later. They sped through the storm, which had already obscured Nadim’s snowmobiles and helicopters to the point that Riley couldn’t see them.

They jumped over an embankment and a strong gust of wind tore the clear shield from her face. Subfreezing winds tore into her face like hundreds of icy needles.

Shit. That hurt.

She flung her scarf over her nose and mouth but was surprised how little the fibers blocked the cutting wind.

Damn. And to think she’d once actually liked cold weather. Foolish woman.

Visibility was getting worse by the second and as the snow swirled around them, she lost all sense of direction. It was easy to see how mountain climbers could lose their way and freeze to death just a few hundred feet away from civilization. She looked down at her GPS screen. Thank goodness for modern technology.

They finally stopped at the coordinates where Maya had pinned her location a few minutes before. At first Riley thought there had been a mapping error, since there didn’t appear to be any sign of a cave or nearby openings in the mountainside. But as they continued past, she caught sight of a shimmering glow.

She pointed toward the light. “There!”

As they rode closer, they saw there was indeed a cave opening, all but obscured by the blowing snow. Riley dismounted and ran toward it.

“Wait!” Cade pulled out his gun. “They may have been captured.”

Riley stopped. He was right. She reached into her parka and produced the semiautomatic he’d given her. They nodded toward each other and moved into the cave, ducking under the long icicles that stabbed downward from the cave’s ceiling.

They saw Maya’s snowmobile, then rounded a corner to see a gun barrel leveled at them. It was Maya. She lowered her gun. “Sorry. Can’t be too careful.”

Now they could also see the herd of deer and a few of the shepherds trying to soothe them.

Riley and Cade lowered their weapons. “Our thoughts exactly,” Cade said.

Riley rushed toward her. “Where’s Bailey? Is she okay?”

Maya stepped aside to show her daughter kneeling on the floor of the cave, next to the deer and her newborn.

Bailey was luminous, beaming. “Look!”

“I see.” Riley stepped closer. The fawn was nestled next to its mother, and both looked sleek and positively exquisite. The newborn had a slight bump where the horn would soon grow, but in most other respects its proportions were already similar to those of adult members of the herd.

Riley turned to gaze at Bailey in agreement. “You did this?”

She shook her head. “They did the hard work. I just helped out.”

“The fawn’s legs were tangled in the birth canal,” Maya said. “Bailey saved both of their lives. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Riley knelt beside the deer. She whispered, “It’s wonderful.”

“Agreed,” Cade said. “But I’m afraid we need to go.”

“Go where?” Maya asked.

“Over the ridge. Away from this side of the mountain. We only have a few minutes left.”

Maya still looked confused. “Left until what?”