Zero Visibility Read online

  The cab of the truck grew colder as the wind blew through the shattered window. The passenger-side window also had a spider-web break where the first bullet had exited.

  The back tire slipped off the edge of the road. The truck leaned at a precarious angle. Nathan gunned the engine and then let up several times trying to rock the car out of the rut.

  “I can’t get any traction.” His voice filled with tension.

  “We can push it out,” Merci suggested.

  Nathan tapped his thumb on the steering wheel. “I don’t know if that is a good idea in this cold weather.”

  The truck slid again. Lorelei let out a moan and dug her fingers into Merci’s forearm.

  “This thing is sliding off the bank.” Nathan commanded, “Get out now on my side.”

  Nathan pushed on the door, crawled through and then reached first for Merci, lifting her easily onto the road. He held his hands out for Lorelei to grab on to. Wind drove the snow into their skin like thousands of icy needles. At least, the trunk of her body stayed warm. She was grateful for the extra clothes Nathan had given them.

  “Stay linked together,” Nathan shouted above the wind. “We’re not that far from the cabin.” He hooked his arm through Merci’s and Merci grabbed onto Lorelei. Heads bent and leaning into the wind, they trudged up the hill.

  Merci’s heart still hadn’t slowed from their close encounter with the gunmen. Though her muscles grew tired after only a few minutes, Nathan’s strength pulled her forward. She couldn’t see anything in front of her. She had to trust that Nathan knew his way back to the cabin. She leaned against him, sliding her feet one after the other.

  She tightened her grip around Lorelei when she felt her weakening, slipping away. It was useless to shout words of encouragement. She bent over at the waist ignoring how cold her face and hands had become.

  After a while Nathan slipped free of her. She had a fearful moment of wondering what had happened and then his gloved hand found hers. He placed it on something solid…the railing that led up to the cabin.

  They were here.

  They had made it.

  She collapsed on the stairs. A moment later, strong arms lifted her, and she rested against a warm chest. She clung to the flannel shirt that smelled of wood smoke and musk. He laid her on the couch. She opened her eyes.

  She didn’t have to fight the strong wind anymore. No more icy chill embedded under her skin. Warm tears formed.

  He placed a blanket over her and pulled it up to her chin. “You’re just exhausted and cold. No frostbite or anything.” His hand covered hers. The heat of his touch seeped through to her core.

  Merci shook her head. “This has all been a bit much.” Her arms and legs felt like cooked noodles.

  Lorelei had resumed her position, sitting bent over by the fire. How had she had the presence of mind to pull Merci out of the trajectory of that bullet? She owed Lorelei her life for her quick thinking.

  “What are we going to do now?” Merci’s question held unspoken fears. If the men couldn’t get out, they’d be seeking shelter, too. The cabin would be the first place they’d look, and now there were three of them. She could only guess at where the third man had been during the robbery. Waiting down the road to be picked up or hiding in the trees? There must not have been a second car or they would have used it to escape. “I don’t know if we should stay here.”

  Nathan shook his head. “Even if we didn’t have to deal with this storm, the snow will be too deep by morning to get anywhere on the snowmobile. The truck is probably not viable. We can’t get out, anyway, with the thieves’ car blocking the road.”

  Merci sat up. “Is there another road out?”

  “Not from the cabin,” Nathan said. “There’s a kids’ camp not far from here and a ski hill farther up the mountain. They both have roads that come out on the other side of the mountain.”

  Lorelei looked at him. “All that is on this mountain?”

  He nodded. “It doesn’t help us any, though. I don’t think there are any vehicles left at either place.”

  Merci absorbed what he was saying. “There’s nobody at the camp or the ski hill or a house that is close by? Nobody who might be able to help us?”

  “There are no other cabins on this section of the mountain. We hired a security guy to do periodic patrols, but he doesn’t live there,” he said. “It would be suicide to try and go anywhere in this storm on foot.”

  “So we stay here…and wait?” Fear coiled inside Merci.

  “You might as well try to get some sleep. You two can have the guest bedroom.” He pointed across the living room. “I’ll call the police station again and let them know what is going on.”

  Lorelei shook her head in disbelief and wrung her hands. “I can’t believe this is happening this way.”

  Lorelei was even more shaken than she was. Merci lifted her legs off the couch and placed her feet on the carpet so she faced Lorelei. “It’ll be all right. We’ll get this all straightened out in the morning. We can get the car towed and fixed and be on our way. In no time, it’s all going to feel like a bad dream… .” Her voice faltered. Though she had always been an optimist to a fault, even she was having a hard time believing her own words.

  “Once the roads are clear, I can even take you back down to the car. We might be able to get it started.” Nathan offered.

  All their attempts at trying to put a positive spin on what had happened did very little to change the look of anxiety on Lorelei’s face.

  “I’ll grab you guys some extra blankets.” Nathan rose to his feet and disappeared around a corner.

  Lorelei got up and trudged toward the door where Nathan had pointed. She stopped for a moment to look out the window. She was probably thinking about the thieves, too. Chances were the thieves would come looking for shelter. They weren’t safe here. Lorelei shut the door quietly.

  Nathan returned, holding a pile of blankets. “It can get kind of chilly in the rooms.”

  Merci took the blankets, grateful for the care Nathan had shown. Maybe that was the one good thing about all of this. She had met someone who cared about the welfare of strangers. “You are truly a good Samaritan. I’m so sorry that helping us has led to even more trouble.”

  “It’s not your doing.” He offered her a faint smile. He walked to the front door and slid the bolt in place. He made his way across the living room, checking window latches. “If you don’t mind, I might sleep out here on the couch just to keep an eye on things.” He clicked the deadbolt on the back door into place.

  The sound of the bolts sliding was like a hammer blow to her heart. Nathan hadn’t said anything about owning a gun. Though she was grateful for Nathan’s vigilance and his effort at remaining calm, if the thieves decided to break in, she knew they were no match against three armed men.

  THREE

  For the fifth time in the night, Nathan woke up in darkness. He lay with his eyes open, absorbing the sounds around him. Wind rattled the windows. The big living room clock ticked. He got to his feet yet again and made his rounds through the house to make sure everything was secure.

  He stopped before checking the front door and stared out the big living room window. Snow whirled and danced in the beam created by the porch light. The storm looked as if it had let up a little. At least two feet of snow, maybe more, had fallen.

  He glanced back at the door to the guest bedroom. He hadn’t heard any noise from them. He was glad the two women had been able to sleep. When he had tried to call the police station a second time, the phone was dead. The weight of the snow on the phone lines had probably destroyed the connection. The house ran on a generator, so that had not been affected. He hadn’t brought a cell phone or a laptop, intending for the weekend to be a time of prayer and saying goodbye to the cabin that held so many fond memories.

  His hand touched the windowsill as he peered out into the darkness. Maybe they had gotten lucky and the thieves had opted to seek shelter in their car instead of h
iking up the mountain to the cabin.

  In the morning, he would find out if either of the women had a cell phone, but for now he didn’t want them to worry. It would be easier to face tomorrow’s challenges after a full night’s sleep.

  He stared out the window. Something moved just beyond the circle of illumination created by the porch light. He watched. There it was again. He saw a flash of yellow, the same color as Lorelei’s coat. Then he noticed that the bolt on the door was slid back. She hadn’t been in a clear mental state since the robbery. Maybe she had really lost it and was wandering in the cold. He needed to get out there ASAP.

  He slipped into his boots and put his coat on. He’d yell for her. If she didn’t respond right away, he’d have to go back inside and get more winter gear on. He stepped out on the porch, but couldn’t see anything.

  His breath formed clouds when he called her name. He studied the forms and shadows through the falling snow, trying to pick out movement.

  The blow to his head came without warning. He tumbled off the side of the porch into the snow as blackness descended.

  * * *

  Merci stirred beneath the covers of the twin bed. The bedspread was baseball-themed, something a young boy might like. Nathan and the brother he didn’t want to talk about must have shared this room when they were kids. Funny that he called it the guest room instead of referring to it as his old room.

  Merci reached over and clicked on the light by her bed. Lorelei’s bed was empty.

  Concerned about her friend, Merci sat up and pulled back the covers. She plodded across the room and into the living room. Nathan’s door was shut. He must have found the couch uncomfortable and gone to his room. Lorelei wasn’t in the living room or in the kitchen. When she checked the bathroom, it was empty, as well.

  Lorelei had been traumatized by the attack, even more so than Merci. Maybe she wasn’t thinking rationally. Merci took a deep breath to try to minimize the rising panic as she walked toward the living room window.

  The wind wasn’t blowing quite so hard, but the snow fell in heavy clumps. She pressed a little closer to the window. Though she was covered in shadow, Lorelei was outside. What was she doing?

  Merci flung open the door, and the cold wind hit her. She yelled Lorelei’s name. Lorelei turned slightly, but didn’t look at Merci. Maybe she couldn’t hear through the howling wind.

  Merci ran back to the room, slipped into a sweater and jeans, grabbed her coat and put her boots on. She opened the door and stepped out on the porch. Silence greeted her. Where had Lorelei gone?

  Her heart drummed in her ears as she scanned the empty landscape. One set of footprints looked newer than the others, where less snow had drifted over.

  She stepped off the porch. “Lorelei.” She sank down into the deep snow as she followed footprints away from the cabin.

  A mechanical noise, the sound of an engine starting up, broke the silence. Headlights sliced through the darkness and then the snowmobile emerged from a three-sided shed. The tall man in the leather coat who had tried to rob them earlier was driving. Lorelei stepped out behind him. When the thief saw Merci, he grabbed Lorelei and pulled her toward the snowmobile.

  Merci raced toward them. The man pulled a gun out of a coat pocket and pointed it at Lorelei. He said something to her, and she got on the snowmobile.

  He pointed the gun at Merci and then at Lorelei. “Back off or she dies.”

  “You better do what he says.” Lorelei’s voice cracked.

  “No, Lorelei, I won’t let them take you.” She grabbed Lorelei’s sleeve.

  The man reached up and hit Merci hard against the jaw with the butt of the gun. She fell backward. Pain, intense and hot, spread across her face. Her eyes watered. When she looked toward the house, Nathan was standing up at the far side of the stairs.

  The man revved the motor, preparing to take off. Merci turned to face the thug as Nathan’s footsteps pounded behind her.

  Nathan, dressed in his boots and an open coat, jumped in front of Merci. “Get off my snowmobile.” He hit the man across the face with a right hook.

  Lorelei screamed and scooted back on the seat.

  The man leaned sideways, recovering just in time to lift the gun as Nathan grabbed him and yanked him off the snowmobile. The gun flew out of the thief’s hand.

  Merci crab-walked backward in the snow. The two men struggled, rolling around on the ground. The thief freed himself of Nathan’s grasp, scrambling for his gun where it had fallen in the snow.

  Out of breath, Nathan lunged toward the man.

  The man hit him with the butt of the gun just as he rose to his feet. Nathan reeled backward and fell in the snow, not moving.

  The man crawled back on the snowmobile. Lorelei sat stunned. Her eyes glazed as though she didn’t really comprehend all that was happening. The man revved the snowmobile and lurched forward. Merci waited for the backward glance from Lorelei, but it never happened. She tried to get to her feet to chase them, but sank down in the snow. The snowmobile disappeared into the trees, and the engine noise faded.

  Out of breath and shaking, Merci crawled over to where Nathan lay. Blood dripped from his cheek.

  She shook him. “Please, please be okay.”

  His eyelids fluttered. Brown eyes looked at her. “Hey,” his voice was weak, but his eyes brightened when he saw her.

  She breathed a sigh of relief, then noticed he had thrown his coat over his pajama bottoms. “You’re shivering. Take my hand. Let’s get you inside.” The struggle had chilled her, but he was probably nearing hypothermia. She was dressed for the cold and hadn’t had to roll in the snow with the thief.

  He sat up swaying and blinking rapidly. “What about the snowmobile and Lorelei?”

  “It’s too late. We can’t catch them.” She slipped in under his arm and helped him to his feet. “Let’s get you warmed up.”

  “I’m an EMT. I know what to do. I just need to…” His voice trailed off.

  She helped him up the stairs and through the door, easing him down into the chair by the fire.

  “The coat needs to come off, it’s wet.” She peeled it off his shoulders and put it aside. She drew the same blanket he had offered her earlier over his muscular shoulders. His lips were drained of color, and he was still shivering. She touched his cheeks with her palms, forcing eye contact. “Better?”

  He drew the blanket closer as he crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Getting there. I…he knocked me off the porch…hit my head.” He touched the back of his head and winced.

  She hadn’t even seen Nathan as she had raced down the stairs in search of Lorelei. “How long were you there?” She covered his freezing hands.

  “I was only out for a few minutes. I came to, and I saw you struggling.”

  She pulled his boots off. The inside lining of his boot was wet from where the snow had seeped in. His bare feet weren’t blue, but they looked cold. She cupped her hand over one. “Can you feel that?”

  He nodded. “Exposure wasn’t long enough for frostbite, just kind of cold.”

  She grabbed a throw from the couch and secured it around his feet. “Now it’s my turn to make you tea.” She rose to her feet and went into the kitchen. She allowed herself only a momentary glance out the window. Lorelei was out there somewhere with those animals. They were going to have to find her before anything bad happened. If it hadn’t already.

  * * *

  Heat slowly returned to Nathan’s body as he listened to Merci work in the kitchen. A tingling sensation came into his feet and hands. He wasn’t accustomed to being the one needing first aid. She had handled herself like a pro.

  In the kitchen, the kettle whistled. Merci hummed while she made the tea. He caught an undercurrent of tension in her singing. Her feet padded softly on the wood floor. She brought the steaming mug on a tray and set it on the table beside him.

  She picked up a wet washcloth and pointed to his cheek. “You have blood on your face that needs to be cleaned.”
She leaned toward him and touched the warm cloth to his face.

  He drew back, surprised by the pain. “It must be pretty bad, huh?” He was going to have a knob on the back of his head where he had been hit, too.

  She dabbed at the cut. Her face was close enough to his that her cool breath fluttered across his lips. “It’s a pretty big gash.”

  “I have a butterfly bandage I can use to get it to close up,” he said.

  “Let me get it. Where is it?”

  He really wasn’t used to being the patient. “There is a first-aid kit in my bathroom, but I can get it.” He rose to get up.

  She placed a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. “Sit.”

  Something in her tone told him argument would be futile. He listened to her open and close several drawers and then she returned, placed the first-aid kit on the table by his chair and tore the bandage out of the wrapping.

  “Hold still.” She leaned close, her touch as delicate as feathers brushing over his skin.

  Her proximity sent a surge of heat up his face. Surprised by the sudden smolder of attraction, he turned slightly away.

  “Hold still.” She grabbed his chin and readjusted his head.

  She was all business. Obviously, the feelings were not mutual. “Really, I could do this myself if I looked in a mirror.” She ignored him and finished the job.

  “There, that should do it.” She sat back on the hassock between the two chairs. Her hand brushed over his cheek as she scrutinized her work. “You shouldn’t have any scarring.”

  He touched the bandage and then looked at her. He studied her full lips, delicate—almost invisible—eyebrows and her freckles. Her green eyes widened. For a moment, time stood still and he forgot what they had just been through and what they faced. She was a lovely young woman.

  She cast her gaze downward at the bloody cloth where she had placed it on the tray. Her expression grew serious and her soft full lips drew into a tight line.

  She didn’t have to say anything for him to know what she was thinking about. It had been on his mind, too. Lorelei was out there with armed men who had no qualms about using violence.