Chapter 6

Strength of a Child

Penny hunched till her shoulders hit her knees. She backed under a pink mountain of rock that towered overhead, looking like it would topple upon her any second. But Daddy had pointed to its base and said to hide. She pulled her ankles in and scooched lower. The chill of the boulder sank through her thin North Face jacket. Its color, Algiers blue, was just a fancy name for aqua, Mom had said. It was almost the same shade as the crumbly stuff rubbing off and falling down the back of her neck.

She braced her palms on the ground. Something slimy greased her fingers. She rubbed them on the cold stone, leaving brown streaks. “Eeew!” she whispered. It smelled like poo. Must have been one of those yucky brown marmots. They’d seen plenty on the train ride up, like ugly beavers without a tail. “Those varmints are gross,” she’d said, scrunching her nose, after spying one chewing a leaf.

“Marmot, not varmint,” Dad had corrected. “And I love marmots.” The corner of his lip tightened, and one eyebrow rose, that smile whenever he had something else to say.

“What is it?” she’d asked, pulling on his arm.

He’d pinched her nose. “You’d love marmots too. They taste just like chicken.”

“Oh, yuck!” Penny had giggled till her belly ached. It was the same joke he always used for squirrels and cats. The fat lady who’d sat behind them had scowled, though.

She wiped her hands on her jeans till the filthy marmot poo was gone.

“Sweetheart, get up. I need you to watch something for me.” Her father’s fingers wrapped all the way around her arm as he reached down and drew her out of her burrow with one smooth jerk. His smile looked too thin and wide, like Aunty Catherine’s when she came at Thanksgiving. It wasn’t…real. Daddy had never liked Aunty Catherine. Now, his face was as white as the vampires on Blood Lust, and he was panting like Heinz, Grandpa’s dog, after chasing a rabbit. But Daddy was never scared, even when Mom wrecked their silver car. So, they must really be in trouble now.

He pointed back up the ridge. She sighted down his finger, pointing back in the direction from where they’d come. “See the space between those rocks? Keep looking there. If you see any bad guys, don’t yell, just come get me. OK? I’m going to be on the other side of this boulder.”

He was holding a gun. His special one. A big pistol. He’d gone to work with Uncle Jim not long ago, but then Uncle Jim had died. He’d always seemed so sad. Mom said Dad had taken his place now, at work. She hoped Daddy didn’t get sad too.

Now he carried a gun wherever he wanted. Her parents didn’t think she knew, but she’d felt it under his arm whenever she gave him a hug. Because he was one of the guys who protected the president. They didn’t think she knew that, either. But that had to be the only reason why he could have a gun anywhere he wanted, she thought. But why would bad guys be after him when he wasn’t at work?

That thought brought cold fingers up her spine. She studied the gap between the two boulders. It looked like a path. Many of the moose herd had run through it. No. Elk, Daddy called them. She could still hear their hooves trotting down the mountain now, clattering over loose shale. She glanced behind her. The herd was almost out of sight, moving like a big brown fishnet pulled across the bare land into the forest of short trees below.

She studied the two boulders again. Their round tops were like the smooth blue stones on that pretty silver bracelet she’d wanted back at the gift shop. Dad had seemed so scared when he caught her back there. He’d said to stay at the table, but she’d forgotten. Why did he shoot the ceiling, though? It had made everyone in the shop scream. Sometimes he did things that just didn’t make sense. Like wanting to shoot that poor old elk. Anyhow, Mom had always said to never to let a horse know you’re scared. So Penny had pretended she wasn’t, and told it to shoo. And then Dad hadn’t even thanked her.

A cold breeze whipped down from the tall boulder she leaned against. The bad guys might be coming any second. If Daddy was able to stop them, they could go back and help Mom. She’d seen the face of the one bad guy running after her. He looked angry. But he’ll never catch Mom, she reassured herself. Not even Dad was as fast as she was.

Two loud bangs came from the way her father had gone. She glanced at the two boulders, realizing she’d forgotten to concentrate on them, like she was supposed to. Echoes came from all directions. She hopped down from her perch and ran around the back of the rock. “Daddy! You OK?”

He grabbed her arm and scooped her up to his chest again, running down the mountain the same way the moose herd had stampeded. “I got one,” he said. “That should slow the other a little. But we’ve got to get into the woods.” His face was shiny and white, kind of like he was sick.

“Don’t carry me. I’m big, I can run.” She wriggled, trying to get down.

“Stay put, sweetheart,” he gasped between breaths, arms squeezing her tighter. Another minute of bumpy sprinting and then he placed her down behind a boulder and fell to his knees, panting, looking up toward the ridge behind them. Penny studied it too. Nothing moved there except for wisps of low clouds. A faint patch of white, kind of like a mound of snow, lay in a crack in the ridge, the one Dad had been watching. One of the men chasing them had been wearing white pants. So…that must be him. She felt light-headed as she realized what had happened. Just then, the white patch disappeared behind the ridge, as if someone had pulled it back.

“There’s one man left, and he’s not far behind,” Dad panted.

He spat some frothy pink snot onto a patch of tan clay, and she was too scared to say, “Eeeew.” There was no way he could carry her anymore. She sprang to her feet and, leaping from rock to rock, ran down the hill toward the forest. It didn’t look that far, and most of it was downhill. Her legs carried her as fast as when they’d visited Maine to watch the pretty leaves that had turned colors. Then, she’d ran alongside a riverbed for what seemed like an hour, Dad on the opposite bank, racing each other. The boulders there had been huge and gray, with sparkles in them when the sun was right overhead. Mom hadn’t looked too happy when they got back. But these rocks were safe. Not smooth and slippery like the ones in Maine. They were dry and flat, but with sharp edges.

She’d been running almost a minute before she heard her father call, “Penny!” He must’ve not seen her get up. She glanced back; he was sprinting again now. She turned back to watch the trees ahead. But even though she stretched her legs as far as she could, jumping and flying, pretending she was in a steeplechase with Piebald in National Velvet, those trees didn’t seem to get any closer. Her lungs started to burn, and her legs too. She tried to breathe deeply, but there just wasn’t enough air around here. Maybe that’s why Dad had been so white.

She reached a long patch of green carpet with a few small white flowers in patches. Most had been trampled to a slimy salad by the elk herd, and she stumbled as her ankles slipped. The tundra was springy, like running on a mattress. She’d almost gotten to the end of the green stretch when Dad caught up.

“You’re almost as fast as your mom,” he said, face not seeming so pale now. His eyes glinted playfully, the same look as back in Maine, when they were playing. “Bet you can’t keep up.” He ran ahead, widening the gap between them.

Penny knew he could run even faster than that. He was just being nice. But that was OK, because she was going to throw up for sure if she didn’t stop soon. Her legs ached with cold even though her face burned hot as fire. She leaned one shoulder against a boulder and rested.

Dad stopped. “We’re almost halfway there. You can’t stop now.”

Halfway? They’d been running forever. Was that stupid forest a mirage? Penny lifted tired, heavy arms. “Daddy…can you carry me again?”

A shot rang out from back at the ridge, and she suddenly found herself flying again, the throwing-up feeling completely gone. In a few seconds she’d caught up with Dad. “Should I zigzag like you were doing?”

“No,” he gasped. “We’re already doing it a little, running between rocks. The ridge is way back there now. He’s just trying to scare us.”

“Well, it’s working,” she said. Bang! A sound like the snap of a guitar string zinged ahead of them. “You sure?”

“It’d be pure luck if he—”

Bang! Dad suddenly tripped next to her and sprawled on a stretch of pale grass. His knees tore into the earth, gouging two lines of deep green. He put a hand on his back pocket. “Son of a bitch!” His face was twisted in pain.

She knelt beside him. “You OK, Daddy?”

He lay on his belly, face down, screaming into the grass. His knees kicked like he was trying to swim. Another shot from the direction of the ridge, then another guitar-string sound snapped behind them. Cracks came from further down the mountain, echoing off the trees. Then the air grew silent. Straight contrails of two jets crossed high above, the far-off roar of the engines the only sound now in the vast, open stretch of this cold, barren moonscape.

“You OK? Did you trip?”

But her father just bared his teeth at the grass, like a dog growling. She reached into the pocket of his vest and pulled out a phone, punched the PIN, then dialed 911. She listened to the distant roar of the jets, and then looked back at the ridge. A green dot was moving across it. That must be the bad guy who was shooting at us, she thought.

The phone beeped in her ear, and she glanced at the screen. No Service.

“I’ll be OK,” Dad said at last, pulling one knee beneath him. Blood oozed through a hole in his back pocket.

“You’re shot!” Panic squeezed her belly. She was suddenly too tired to move.

“I said I’ll be OK,” he snapped.

But, he’d also said the bad guys couldn’t hit them from so far away. “Are you…going to die?”

He bent to look at his leg. Slowly, he pulled away the hand over the gunshot wound. “It’s not bleeding fast, so it missed anything important. A long shot too. Probably not deep.” He glanced at the forest again. “We’ll worry about it later. Mom’s probably already down there, waiting for us. She’ll be mad if we waste time here. You’ll be able to outrun me now. Enjoy it while you can.”

He winked, and her throat stopped burning. Penny squinted up at the sun, only then realizing it was burning her cheeks. How could it be so cold on the mountain, but the sun still be as hot as at the beach?

“Come on. I’ll race you down.” Dad gave her another Aunty Catherine smile, pulled his good leg beneath him, grimaced as he stood to his feet, and limped away.

* * * *

Red’s glute burned as if stung by an eight-foot hornet. Drops of warm blood trickled down the back of his leg, sticking cold jeans to his skin. His other calf ached, absorbing the added stress of compensating for the injury. He glanced back toward the ridge from where the shot had come, at least a mile behind them now. He thought he glimpsed a black dot moving near the pickup, now wrecked on the washout. The shooter must have run out of ammo.

The faint whine of a siren called in the distance. Ambulances and law enforcement should be scaling Pikes Peak any time now. Hopefully no tourists had gotten hurt in the visitor center. Collateral damage to human life was the ugliest part of black ops. Just one more reason they remained black. No citizen wanted to face the reality that, no matter how much planning and careful execution, sometimes killing a terrorist also meant slaughtering his family. But, despite Yoga’s clear threat to Penny, Red had refrained from shooting directly at her because she was cowering among an old tourist couple. Now, with her likely in pursuit somewhere behind them, he hoped he didn’t regret that decision.

Another warm dribble ran down his leg, and he increased the pressure of his fingers atop the wound. What a lucky shot. No one could make another like it. Especially with a pistol. Red had been shot in the other leg once before, but it had been a through and through. Another time, a fragmentation grenade had taken off the tip of an ear and sliced his head, but this shot hadn’t seemed to penetrate far. It must have lost velocity during its long flight, or maybe it was a ricochet and the projectile was just below his skin’s surface. Either way, it stung like a bitch.

He stopped next to a thin tree no taller than himself. He gripped the stiff trunk and breathed deeply, wincing as short needles stabbed his skin. Letting go, he pulled sticky fingers apart and inhaled the scent of pine sap.

Penny stopped a few meters ahead. “You OK?”

He nodded. How could a ten-year-old be such a trouper? Her temperament was just like her mother’s. The girl had been running for what had to be over a mile. Granted, downhill, but from fourteen thousand feet. Her throat was pink where she’d unzipped her jacket. One hundred twenty dollars, that stupid thing. Better keep her warm now. Lori couldn’t care less if the boys went to church with one shoe and holes in shirt elbows, but heaven forbid Penny not have the latest threads from whatever designer label was popular that month.

He glanced through the sparse evergreen forest. Trees wouldn’t start to be thick for another half mile or more. They had to get lower, into deep cover. Up here, vegetation struggled to grow at all. Thin stems sprouted through bare rubble, like a field of Charlie Brown Christmas trees.

“Just needed to catch my breath,” he said. “You’re really moving.”

“Why didn’t we take that hiking trail back there? It would’ve been easier.”

“Too easy. And too visible. If there were bad guys waiting on the road pretending their truck had broken down, there may be more bad guys guarding trails.”

Penny pointed to the east. Colorado Springs lay in a sun-filled valley. An occasional flash shone as light glinted off metal or glass. The earlier thunderstorm and lightning show had blown through. At this distance the town was a fuzzy blend of muted gray squares. “There’s the city. Why don’t we head that way?”

Red stepped toward her, trying not to limp. “If you were a bad guy, where would you think we’d go?”

Penny turned and jumped onto another rock. “I don’t know.… To the city, I guess.”

“Exactly. You’ve got to think like they do. Understand?”

She cocked her head and frowned. “I never want to think like them, Daddy. Where are we going?”

“South.”

Penny’s lip curled. “To Mexico? We’ve got to find Mom.”

“No, not there.” Red glanced behind, studying the heights from which they’d come. Turning again to his daughter, he lifted an arm. “See that mountain there?”

“The one without any trees?”

“No, the one after that. It’s smaller and has trees all over it.”

Penny lifted a hand to shade her eyes from the sun. “Yeah. It looks like it has a bunch of antennas on top.”

“That’s where we’re headed. And if we get separated, that’s where we’ll meet: beneath the tallest antenna.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “And if I’m not there, you go to the other side of that hill. At the bottom is Cheyenne Mountain. It’s an Air Force base. You’ll be safe there.”

“What about Mom?”

Red sighed. “I’ll bet that’s the way she’ll head too. Except she’s faster than us.”

Penny smiled and swung arms as she hopped again. “Let’s go. It’s not very far.”

Red couldn’t help but smile. “It only looks that way. It’s probably eighteen or twenty klicks.”

Penny turned atop a boulder like a ballerina on a music box. “What’s a click?”

“I meant, the antennas are probably twelve, maybe fifteen miles. And since we’re going up and down mountains, that’s twenty miles of walking. Like going all the way to school and back twice, with your dad shot in the ass.”

“What kind of antennas are they?”

“Radio, TV, maybe phone. I guess.”

She pulled hands from pockets, his cell phone in her palm. “We couldn’t see those earlier when I tried 911. Can we call for help?”

Red snatched the device from her grip. Why hadn’t he thought of that? Must not be getting enough air to think straight. If he could call the Det, help would be here within the hour. But, this was just his regular phone, not his work one. It wasn’t encrypted. Their pursuers may be able to overhear, even confirm their location. His gut tightened as the hard realization sunk in that even now the phone may be syncing with a tower, unwittingly giving away their position. He held the power button, but nothing happened. It was already off. Arriving in Colorado Springs last night, he hadn’t plugged it in. Any remaining battery must’ve been eaten up early that morning, taking photos. Roaming would’ve killed it for certain.

He shifted weight off his cramped calf to his sore leg and reviewed their situation. He had no way of contacting the Det. Lori’s status was unknown, but as long as she stayed ahead of Mandarin and out of sight from anyone else, she should be OK. If she’d forgotten to plug in her phone last night too, she’d have no way of communicating, either. He was shot in the glute, but clotting had been fast. Infection wouldn’t be a problem for a few days. Worry was pressed onto Penny’s forehead, but physically she was strong. They had twenty clicks to travel. A healthy team could cover that in a few hours at a run. But there was no way to know who to trust, so along the way they had to avoid anyone. With him limping, the hike could take days. This was beginning to look less like a sprint across no-man’s-land and more like evasion behind enemy lines.