26

Morning came without a break in the storm. The howling of the wind did little to offer any hope of an end to the blizzard. Allan nudged John. “Are you awake?”

“I am. I’m just trying to stay warm.”

“Should one of us go check on Frank?”

“I was just thinking that, but didn’t want to leave my warm blankets.” John pushed the warm bedding aside. “Fool of a man. He did this last time we climbed—refused to share a tent with anyone else.”

Allan nodded. Frank had always been a bit of a recluse—even a snob. “I don’t trust him, but I also don’t want to see him die, so maybe we should invite him over here.”

John donned his outer gear. “I’ll do that. You stay here and heat us up something to drink.”

“I can do that.”

The wind roared around them and when John opened the flap of the tent, a blast of air took Allan’s breath away. “Hold on to the rope!” he yelled, but doubted John could hear him over the noise of the storm.

Several minutes passed and Allan pulled on his coat to go check on the men. But just then John entered the tent with his hands over his head, Frank right behind him.

Frank shoved John to the ground, revealing a gun in his right hand. “I’ve had about all of this I can take,” he shouted. He motioned to Allan. “Do up the flap.”

“What are you doing?” Allan shook his head. “Frank, you’ve lost your mind. Put the gun down.” He edged slowly to the opening and grabbed the flap as it beat mercilessly against the tent. With one eye on Frank and the other on what he was doing, Allan managed to reclose the opening.

“You two think I haven’t known what you’ve been up to, but I have. You’ve been plotting a way to get rid of me, but little did you know I was doing the same.”

“We’ve been doing no such thing, Frank.” Allan looked at John. There was a nasty gash on his head. Frank must’ve hit him with the gun before they came to the tent. “What have you done?”

“What have I done? What have I done?” A hideous laugh spewed out of the man’s lips. It was clear he’d gone mad. “I’ll tell you what I’ve done. One—I’ve waited for years to have sole ownership of my company. Your father was supposed to die and I was supposed to get it all. But no . . . he had to leave half of his share to his sniveling brat of a son who wanted nothing to do with it. So I killed him for nothing.”

“You killed my father?” Allan lunged.

Frank stuck the gun in his face. “I’m not finished.” He hissed. “Yes, I killed your father. When this fool stopped to find our trail marker, it gave me just enough time. I positioned myself in the perfect place, and when your father joined me I held his attention by asking him to help me clear my goggles. While he did that, I untied the rope from around his waist. It almost cost me my fingers because I had to take off the thick mittens in order to work the knot.” He laughed in a maniacal manner and waved the gun.

Allan noted that he wore only a thin pair of the woolen gloves they’d brought. With his hand wrapped around the cold metal of the gun, his fingers would have to be extremely stiff.

“Then I shoved him over a cliff. How’s that for lifelong friends?” The man’s eyes were crazy. “Let’s see, where did I leave off? Oh yes . . . Two—I’ve had to deal with your pious family sticking their nose into everything they shouldn’t. Three—I’ve lost a fortune because I’ve been waiting for the rest of my money to invest in my other ventures. And four—I had to resort to stealing money from the company to make it all work. Then, of course, your brother-in-law had to get in the middle of all that, and then there was that stupid auditor—”

“How many have you killed, Frank?” Allan couldn’t take any more. He pushed forward, but Frank stuck the barrel of the gun on his forehead.

“I don’t think you want to press me.”

Allan pulled back an inch. Frank had gone over the edge. He was insane. It wouldn’t do his family any good for him to allow the man who’d taken his father away to take his life as well. But one question haunted him. “You did it all for money?”

“Of course.”

He gritted his teeth. “Why? My father would have given you all the money you wanted.”

“I don’t care. He didn’t deserve it. And he didn’t deserve his family and all the respect of the community. He didn’t deserve any of it. He made plans and they turned golden. I made plans and they turned to ash. It wasn’t fair.” His voice took on a shrill, almost screeching tone. “I had plans that were good. I had ideas and dreams.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Allan saw John slowly reach for his ice axe. He needed to stall. “Frank. Please. Why don’t you let John go and I’ll sign over the whole company to you now. It’ll be yours. All yours.” He held up his hands. “Nobody else needs to get hurt.”

He lowered the gun almost as if he’d forgotten all about it. “Do you think I’m stupid? John could just go tell the authorities everything.”

“No. He wouldn’t. Not if I asked him to promise. We could help each other down the mountain and you’d own the company.”

“You’re dumber than your father, Brennan—”

John rose up with the axe and took Frank by surprise. The gun fired.

John fell to the ground, a circle of red growing above his knee.

Allan took that moment to lunge at Frank and tackled him to the ground. Wrestling with him, Allan knew that this could be the end. But he had to save John.

For Cassidy.

Another shot fired from the gun.

Three weeks had passed since the expedition team left the Curry Hotel. Cassidy was a bit beside herself. The storm had cleared but had left two feet of snow in its wake.

Now the sun was shining once again and the snow began to melt. Unfortunately her fears would not.

Every day she looked toward the west. Did they survive the storm? Would she ever see her father again? And Allan?

She regretted not sharing her heart with him earlier. Now it might be too late. The thoughts threatened to overwhelm her, but she held on to hope.

Through it all, her grandparents and Mrs. Johnson had been a rock beside her. In fact, Mrs. Johnson seemed to be slowly coming around. Each morning she asked Cassidy to share a Scripture with her and then asked what it meant. She might have only been doing it to force Cassidy to think on something other than the missing men, but Cassidy knew God’s Word would never return void.

Maybe there was hope to break down those seemingly impenetrable walls as well.

Nothing was impossible with God.

Not even sparing her father and the man she loved from a killer storm.

Allan awoke to a dog licking his face. Where was he?

Every muscle in his body ached as he tried to sit up.

But then spots danced before his eyes. Thoughts of Cassidy surged through his mind. Would he see her again? He never got to tell her that he loved her. Or that he’d gotten himself straight with God. He wanted to see her face when he told her.

But maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

The rushing of his own heartbeat filled his ears.

Everything went black.