The motor sawed underneath them as they made their way over the rugged terrain. Each time Ellie glanced behind her, she caught flashes of light through the forest. Their own headlight dipped and leaped as Michael steered across each mound, making it impossible to get a good view of the darkening landscape in front of them. Ellie was glad he was doing the driving now, though she didn’t like the way it gave her brain time to hop between fear and revelation. The calm from the fire lookout was gone as Ellie forced herself to concentrate on the present. Michael navigated the snowmobile through the trees, avoiding the steep drops that seemed to come without warning. Thank God, he was handling the terrain. She would have certainly tipped the sled at some point—or worse.
The new storm was still heading for them. Above, patches of dark blue evening sky shone through the gray clouds. A clear sky would be good for visibility—for them, but also for Aidan. As it was, Aidan was getting closer, and if they slowed down, it was just a question of when he’d catch up with them.
Ellie’s arms were wrapped tightly around Michael’s jacket and she felt a warm comfort as she leaned against his broad back. It was the same warmth she had felt as he’d burst out of the house, unharmed, and when she’d watched his strength and agility as he’d subdued Aidan. Yes, that was what she felt right now. Comfort. And gratitude. Not attraction, or anything that conflicted with her love for Sean. Sean, whom she had trusted without question. Who had kept secrets from her. Secrets that had left her running for her life.
Ellie looked over Michael’s shoulder in the direction they were headed. Mountains rose above them, steep and full of snow that the last of the sunset painted a deep, hazy purple. How long until they reached the ski resort from here? It was miles away.
“We can stay off the road a little longer,” said Michael through the intercom. “But we’re coming close to the slide. We’ll have to take the road for that stretch.”
Angel’s Slide was a half mile of sharp curves that wound around the edge of the steepest part of the mountain. Ellie had heard that, before the development was built, the road used to close during winters because of the heavy snows. But now, closing the road meant cutting off the new houses to basic services, like firetrucks and ambulances, from the nearest town. In the other direction, the national forest stretched on for miles before reaching civilization again. Aidan and Sean had gone to city planning meeting after meeting, arguing to get the road maintained during the winter—and losing. And then the committee reversed its findings. Now that Ellie was part owner and had read through the documents, she understood the win was despite geologists’ protests. And it had come right after a flurry of emails with two committee members about campaign donations and “gift” trips to Hawaii. But she needed to get all the evidence together and figure out who to give it to—someone not under the influence of Aidan and Clint.
Two winters ago, the plowing had triggered an avalanche that had left the road covered in dirt and gravel long, long after the snow had melted, cutting off the development from the town well into the summer. It was one of the reasons that Green Living Construction had had a hard time selling off the parcels of land. That was how Ellie had ended up with a house there. Now, as Michael steered them toward Angel’s Slide, she wondered what would have happened if she’d pressed Sean with more of her questions and worries. What if she’d spoken up? Would Sean still be alive?
Ellie pushed that thought away and focused on the path ahead. She had to trust God to get them through this safely. And trust that Michael knew how to navigate this road.
Michael. He shouldn’t be involved in any of this, and yet, again and again, they had found themselves in danger. Twice, she had attempted to strike out on her own, and twice, he had refused her offer. Now, after Aidan’s threat to him, Michael was stuck with her. The painful truth was that, deep down, she was thankful, even as she knew she should beg him to leave her and find a way out of this danger. And yet, still, she couldn’t fight how grateful she was that she was not alone.
“Hold on tight,” said Michael. “It’s going to be a little rough getting back on the road.”
Ellie glanced behind them. They were out of the forest, in the open and higher up now, giving her a view between the cracks and crevices of the rocky hills. Behind them, a single light bobbed up and down over the white landscape. The snowmobile was gaining on them little by little.
“That has to be Aidan,” she said. “The sled is still following us.”
“How far?”
“May be a few hundred yards?”
“Not far enough. He’s driving too fast for the area,” muttered Michael. “Not a good sign.”
Michael slowed as they approached the road, navigating around the jagged rocks that broke up the blanket of snow. Each time Ellie looked behind them, Aidan was closer.
“He has the faster vehicle, too,” said Michael. “Once we get onto the road, I don’t know how long I can keep him off.”
“All we can do is try,” she said. And pray.
Was Michael a man of faith? In those first months after Sean died, she had felt like she was drowning, like his death was pulling her under and keeping her there. Her belief had saved her life, and she hoped that Michael could feel God there with him, too.
“Hang on,” said Michael as he drove them up the embankment and down the steep decline of the other side.
Above them, the mountain range ascended with a season’s worth of snow clinging to the rocky face. In front of them, the two-lane road curved gently through the remainder of the valley then turned out of sight around a curve. The car tracks were barely visible in the new snow. Why weren’t there vehicles on the road, now that the snow had let up?
“Just beyond that curve is where the road cuts through Angel’s Slide,” said Michael. “If we make it through that stretch, we can get off the road again.”
Ellie didn’t miss the if in that last sentence.
The snow glowed in the beam of the headlight, lighting a short distance in front of them and leaving the rest of their surroundings shrouded in darkness. They would move around the curves as the drop off the mountain grew steeper. They raced toward the first curve and then Michael cut the speed. As they rounded onto Angel’s Slide, Ellie turned back and saw the light from Aidan’s snowmobile flickering behind them, darting one way then the other. He was still gaining on them, faster now.
Michael slowed as they took the first corner then sped up as the road straightened. They dodged large chunks of snow that had fallen from higher up the mountain and rolled into the road. On her left, the mountain rose, and on her right, the edge of the road ended in a sharp drop into the canyon. The light from the snowmobile pursuing them dashed against the mountainside, and Ellie was afraid to check how close it was. If the sled caught them now, they could so easily be nudged off the road. Just one more hairpin turn.
“Hold on,” said Michael. “Just after this turn, we’ll get off road again.”
She clutched Michael’s jacket and braced herself. But as they rounded the corner, an enormous cloud of white blew toward them through the night air, overtaking them in a swirl of wind.
Ellie gasped as the cloud of powder enveloped them.
“Avalanche!”
The gust of snow hit them, a white haze cutting off Michael’s sight. He couldn’t see the edge of the road and he couldn’t see the wall of granite on the other side. At this speed, he could so easily kill them both.
“Lean in. We’re turning,” he called through the intercom over the noise of the storm.
Michael slammed on the brakes and made a U-turn into the lane of oncoming traffic, praying no one was coming toward them through the blinding cloud of white. He could barely see a few feet in front of him, but he had to get them closer to the mountain, away from the edge of the road. The snowmobile stuttered forward until they were now facing the way they’d come. The other sled would be rounding the corner at any moment. Michael couldn’t count on Aidan—it had to be him—to turn back. He would be heading straight for them. But at their back was an avalanche, the force of it creating its own storm. He’d seen this before. A slide of heavier snow set off sandstorm-like winds that blew powder—and everything in its way—down the mountain. How close were they to the crushing river of snow? Would the heavier snow hit them from above, burying them alive? Or would they get blown right off the edge of the road? Danger lay in both directions. They were trapped.
Michael found the snowbank and pulled up to the base of the steep slope. Tiny flakes swirled while bigger chunks of snow pelted against his helmet.
“What do we do now?” called Ellie over the howl of the wind.
“We can’t drive in this,” Michael shouted through the intercom. “Not when I can’t see.”
The snow was already building over the skis of the snowmobile and covering them both in a white film.
“We need shelter,” she called back.
But her words were drowned out by the roar of a snowmobile motor. Aidan. He was still pursuing them, and now he was at the hairpin turn. The single light flashed and bounced before it shone straight at them. Visibility was so low that whether he meant to or not, Aidan was going to hit their vehicle—and them—if they didn’t get out of the way.
“Into the snowbank,” bellowed Michael. “Now.”
Michael scrambled off the snowmobile and grabbed Ellie’s hand, and together they dashed through the new layer of blowing snow and climbed up the steep bank. Even just a few feet away, Ellie’s figure was blurred through the storm. The mountain was barely visible. Ellie’s boots slipped through the powder, and Michael grabbed for her glove.
Protect her. Adrenaline raced through him as the message resonated in his entire being, strong and clear.
“Link arms with me so I don’t lose you,” yelled Michael. “I’ve got you.”
Crack. The shatter of hard plastic against plastic, followed by the crunch of metal, echoed over the wind.
“Get down!” Michael called and then he threw himself on top of her, shielding her with his body as best he could.
Kernels of ice and bits of fiberglass pelted against him, so he held on tight to Ellie.
“Help us, Lord.” Ellis’s voice was a whisper in his ear, so quiet beneath the storm that he almost missed it. But it was there. She was praying, the way Sunny and he used to pray together.
“Amen,” he whispered.
He waited for a breath, then another breath, until he was sure the spray from the collision had settled. Then he scrambled up and turned around, searching through the snow for Aidan. Pieces of black material, large and small, dotted the white landscape, scattered around the wreckage of both snowmobiles. Aidan—it had to be him—had slammed straight into their sled. One windshield had shattered and another dangled from the handlebar. The front skis were askew, and the front plates were in pieces all over the road. If he and Ellie hadn’t jumped off in time...
Michael pushed that thought away and searched for Aidan.
“Do you see anyone?” he asked.
“Over there.” She pointed farther down the road. “I see movement.”
Michael whipped around and saw the faint figure in the storm, the red coat glowing through the snow. Aidan lay in the snowbank, slowly lifting himself to sitting. It looked as if he had been thrown over the handlebars. The man was alive. That was all Michael needed to know to set him in motion.
“We have to get out of here,” said Michael.
And it wasn’t going to be on the sled. At least Aidan’s snowmobile was in just as bad shape as theirs, if not worse. But this stretch of the road was far from everything, just rocky hills much too steep for anything other than parkland.
“We’re only getting the powder part of the avalanche,” said Ellie, “but who knows what’s farther ahead.”
“And the avalanche means that no one will be driving this way anytime soon,” he added.
They were exposed out here on the mountain, and miles away from help. The snow was too deep to walk through for any length of time. All three of them would freeze out here if they didn’t figure out something.
“I have an idea,” said Ellie. She scrambled down the snowbank. “Grab one of these broken plastic pieces from the snowmobiles, something big enough to sit on.”
She headed for the windshield lying in the road. Michael wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but he had nothing to offer. Through the snow, he could see Aidan pushing up to standing.
“He’s coming,” Michael said as he jogged down the snowbank, following Ellie.
It was hard to find the pieces in the storm. His boot hit the front plate of his snowmobile, which had split in two. The side that had borne the brunt of the impact was shattered, but the other side was hanging off the vehicle mostly in one piece. Michael tore it off.
“We’re going to use these as sleds,” she said.
“Right here, from the side of the road?”
This stretch wasn’t a sheer cliff, but it was steep and full of boulders. Also, the solid mass of the avalanche had hit somewhere close. They were on the edge of unsteady ground. If they strayed onto its path, he didn’t want to think about what might happen.
What if Ellie didn’t make it?
“It’s too risky,” he said.
“We’re trapped. We have to get down the mountain to the—Look out behind you!”
Michael turned around and Aidan was right there.
The man went for his throat, but Michael held up the remains of the front plate like a shield, knocking Aidan’s hand away. Michael threw his weight against the plastic piece, catching Aidan off guard, shoving him back.
The man’s muffled voice made it through the wind, but Michael couldn’t hear what he was saying. Last time Michael had caught Aidan off guard, but this time, he wasn’t sure his wrestling moves would be enough. Ellie was right. The only escape was down.
Aidan lunged at him again.
“You go,” he said through the intercom to Ellie. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“I told you I’m not leaving you.”
Aidan’s big body hit him, knocking them both to the ground. Above him, Michael caught a glimpse of Ellie as she brought down the edge of the windshield on the back of the man’s leg. Aidan let out a yelp, and Michael rolled out from under him. He grabbed the front plate and scrambled to his feet.
“Go!” he shouted. “Please trust me.”
Ellie hesitated and, for one long second, Michael thought she’d refuse. But then he heard her voice ring in his ears.
“You better be right behind me.”
Through the blowing snow, he watched as she ran up the snowbank and disappeared into the darkness.
Michael kicked away the hand that grabbed his ankle and followed her up the mound. The swirling snow blocked his view, and all he could see was gray sky and a long and white blanket below him. There was nothing to do but pray and jump.
So he did.