Chapter 10

 

 

Beads of sweat dripped from Jack's brow and onto the flat rock he'd laid over the spot where the earthen jar was buried. He couldn't believe Mairie actually thought he might jump off a mountain and trust it wasn't absolute insanity. Even though he had seen her do it, he remembered she'd been in this… air-plane, whatever that was. What she was describing was too uncertain. And yet a part of him wondered if there was enough time to get Mairie to the place she needed to be by one o'clock, and still avoid the ever-present Harmon.

Picking up his rifle, he walked out of the cave and saw her carefully folding that… that chute back into the satchel. "So, you've made your decision, Mairie?"

She looked up, and he swore there were tears in her eyes.

Nodding, she said, "There's no other way, Jack. Even you have to admit now there's no hope we can be back on the desert floor by one. Neither of us counted on Harmon relentlessly chasing us and having the power to stop us from such a distance. We've lost too much time. I'll completely miss my chance to get back if we try to ride down this mountain, but this way… this way, at least there's a possibility."

"A good possibility of being killed." He ran both hands through his hair with frustration. "This… this is crazy!"

She stopped packing the satchel and stared at him. "Wait a minute… staying here, trying to reason with Harmon isn't crazy? Jack, you're not even going to see him. You won't be able to get a shot off before he kills you."

She slipped her arms into the straps and brought the ones dangling at her sides in between her legs. Buckling them tight, she walked over to her horse to untie that strange hat she had been wearing when he'd found her.

"What if Harmon has already turned back? What if he's there to meet you when you land? You may be killed anyway."

"I'll have to take that chance, and besides… only a man like Harmon would sacrifice his own life to stop me from hiding a plant. He can't think beyond what he's been told to do. You must have seen men like him in the war. Men who blindly follow orders without question." She shook her head. "I don't think he's turned back. He's so automated now, he'll miss returning to his own time just to stop us."

He had to admit he'd known men as she described. That kind of thinking had made him turn his back and walk away years ago. But still… there had to be another way, just not jumping off a damn mountain into oblivion!

"Jack, I am so sorry for all the trouble I've caused … even these horses have suffered." Stroking her mount, she turned her head and looked back at him. Her eyes were wide and he could see tears welling in them. "Please forgive me, Jack. You are the best man I have ever known. My brother Bryan is brave because he is facing his death with courage and trying to live whatever time is left with honor. I see that in you, too. I just wish that my being here hadn't endangered you."

"There is nothing to forgive, Mairie," he said in a somber tone. He wanted to take her into his arms, to hold her to his chest and taste her lips once more. One last time…

Suddenly, envisioning a life without Mairie Callahan in it seemed empty again.

"You're one amazing man, Jack Fitzhugh Delaney. And it's been an honor to have…" her voice faltered, "… to have spent this time with you. Thank you. Thank you for—"

Everything happened so fast, yet to Jack it appeared to be taking place very slowly, as if it were a dream. It felt like an eternity, watching the events unfold before him. He heard the impact of the bullet hit the side of Mairie's horse. She must have heard it also, for her eyes became wide with fear as she held Jack's gaze. The horse dropped to its knees behind her and Mairie went tumbling back over it.

"Mairie!" he yelled out to her, terrified that she too had been shot.

He reached her only seconds after her head hit the ground with a dull thud.

"Mar!"

Rolling her over, he saw blood on the rock where her head had been. He gritted his teeth and tensed every muscle in his face. Squinting in the sun toward the valley, he screamed in anguish. "Harmon, you bastard!"

His cry echoed against the mountain and across the valley, but for the rush of the desert breeze against the sand, a silence followed. His mind raced. He had to get them inside the cave to safety. Now they were trapped on this mountain. Grabbing her with one arm, he dragged her to the opening of the cave, his other arm aiming his rifle out at tike vast space before them, prepared to shoot anything that moved. They had to find cover while he examined her to make sure she didn't have any other wounds.

"Mar… can you hear me?" he pleaded, pulling her into the shadows. Resting her against the back wall in the cave, he placed his rifle at his side and began to search for further injuries. Running his hands over her, he tried to probe her body but was hampered by the pack she was wearing. Cursing under his breath, he struggled with the metal and fabric belts until he figured out how the bindings worked. Freeing the straps, he threw the sack to the side and rolled her over to explore her back, shoulders, and sides, anywhere a bullet might have entered.

Satisfied the reason she had lost consciousness was due to hitting her head on the rock when she went down, Jack rolled her back over to face him.

No other signs of blood. She was breathing. A surge of relief went through his body. Unconscious. But alive. He exhaled. He removed the bandana from his neck and with it applied pressure to the small cut on the back of Mairie's head. The bleeding was slowing. It wasn't as bad as he had first thought. "Mairie… are you all right?" His voice cracked as he cradled her head in his hands. She didn't answer.

Looking out into the daylight he shook with anger. That son-of-a-bitch shot the horse. But that didn't make sense. Harmon wouldn't have missed. If he wanted Mairie dead, she would be. He was playing with them now… taking away, little by little, every hope they had of getting away.

Harmon was insane!

All their supplies were tied to the horses. Even the water. He had only his rifle.

His fingers reached out and tenderly stroked her hair away from her closed eyes. Dirt was smudged on her face and he brushed it off gently. He inhaled deeply, exhaling very slowly.

 

His heart constricted when he thought of losing her, yet it quickly expanded when he thought of how courageous she was… ready to sacrifice herself for the love of her brother. Maybe that was what struck him the most. He had seen men in battle, heroes who had sacrificed themselves to save another soldier. Those men did it for each other, not for the cause they were fighting. Bravery had nothing to do with politics, he realized. It was human beings coming to the assistance of other human beings. That was nobility. Fighting somebody's cause was the insanity. What a noble warrior princess Mairie Callahan was.

He brought her to his side and sat staring out of the cave, his rifle cocked and aimed for when Harmon made his next move. That madman would have to come around the bend even to get off another shot. Regrets began to flow through Jack's mind. There were so many things in his life he should have done, and still wanted to… especially experience love. How he wished there was more time, time to really live again. How ironic it was that his life would end less than twenty feet from the spot where he'd sat when he first saw Mairie falling from the sky. He'd been asking the Great Spirit for his hope to be returned. He'd wanted a gift.

He got this incredible woman.

He wasn't cursed. Even though it looked like this day might be his last, Jack glanced down to Mairie and knew he had been blessed. She had come into his life and he had felt alive for the first time in years. She challenged him. Made him laugh. Made him crazy. And so made him want her more than he had ever wanted another woman, more than he had thought possible to want another.

She was… she was like an angel. An angel of mercy. What an incredible gift.

His chest began to fill with an intensity of purpose he hadn't experienced in ages.

"Damn Harmon to hell," he cursed, refusing to sit back and wait while this woman, this angel from the future, missed her chance of going home. This wasn't a cause. This was justice. Mairie Callahan deserved the chance… and Jack Delaney was going to see that she got it.

An idea ran through his head so quickly he thought lunacy must have finally taken him for even conceiving of it. He had no idea if it could even work. She had said it would, it might…

"Shit," he muttered, resigned and crawling the few feet to the mouth of the cave. His decision was made. Mairie's horse lay close enough to provide him some cover, if Harmon hadn't gotten any closer.

Steadying himself with a deep breath, he scrambled to the dead horse, untied the canteen, and loosened the rope from the saddle horn. Darting back, he slid into the cave and rolled up next to Mairie.

Harmon must still be climbing to this level. They had time—not much, but enough to pull it off if he hurried. He almost laughed at his own thoughts. Pull off a crazy escapade to outwit an insane man. Sounded about right, considering he was slipping his arms through the bindings of the damn satchel. Tightening them, Jack then crouched in the small space and brought the straps around his thighs, checking them twice to make sure they were fastened the same as the arms.

Once he had the pack secured, he looked down to the unconscious woman. The only way he knew to get Mairie onto the desert floor was to tie her to him. He struggled with her for a few minutes as her unconscious state made her small frame heavier. Sitting on the cave floor, he pulled her onto his lap, her torso against his. He lifted her arms to his sides and positioned her legs over his, along his sides and behind him. Leaning to weigh her against his chest, he slipped the middle of the rope under her thighs and bottom to the front of her. He then crossed it between her breasts, took it up around her shoulder blades, under her arms, then over his shoulders then under his arms. He knotted the thick rope between them against his chest. Resting against the wall of the cave, he breathed heavily.

It was what he'd wanted right before he had first seen Mairie.

Hope…

This was it?

If it wasn't so desperate, he would laugh.

He told himself it was now or never. He had to get to the edge of the cliff while Harmon was still climbing. Going over in his mind everything Mairie had said earlier about operating the parachute, Jack touched the exposed metal handle between him and Mairie.

He felt the steady beating of her heart and his own was softened. She deserved this chance. No matter what happened, she had earned the right to go home.

She was an angel.

He just hoped when they jumped, there were other angels to catch them and safely bring them back to earth. At this point he might as well believe that as think some parasol was going to do it.

Grunting, Jack rose to a stooped position and grabbed Mairie's calves to keep her feet from dragging, He hated that when they were exposed, Mairie would be an open target, but he couldn't think of any other way to pull off this trick. He also knew she wanted to jump from the sacred rock, but he couldn't make it that far with her tied to him. He would simply have to walk to the edge of this cliff and jump.

Don't even think about it, his mind commanded. Just do it.

A low rumble began in his throat as he gathered every ounce of daring he'd ever possessed. This was no time to be modest. This was a moment to recall a lifetime of bold adventures. He had run into the unknown during the war. He had trusted the Great Spirit with his life. Now he knew again, when he stepped into the sunlight, all fears had to be left behind. This was about absolute hope.

It's about time you had faith in something again, Jack Delaney, he thought. He looked down to the woman attached to him and grinned. He released her legs. Her neck dropped back and her arms hung lifelessly at her sides. He cupped the back of her head and leaned forward, kissing her gently on the corner of her eye.

"You're going home, my angel," he whispered against her cheek.

They would make it. They had to. He couldn't even allow another possibility to register. He had asked for hope from the Great Spirit, as if it were something that had to be presented to him.

It was now, as he held her to him, that he knew it was always within him. It wasn't dead or gone. It wasn't a gift to receive from somewhere. Hope had just been sleeping inside him.

She was his gift. And for the first time in a long time, he was awake. He was alive with hope. He fortified himself with the thought and gazed lovingly at her sleeping face.

He had no idea it would be so awkward, as he cautiously struggled to the edge of the mountain. Pull the handle as soon as you jump. Somehow other handles will appear and use them like reins. Pull them hard between your legs to slow down and land.

Those were the only instructions he could remember. He looked to the shadows on the valley. They could be early or they might be late, regardless, he had to get her back to the desert floor alive.

He stood for just a second or two, knowing he was about to throw himself and this magnificent woman into the unknown. Looking down, his nerve faltered. Hope, Jack Delaney… that's all you need, the voice inside him resonated.

From behind a noise made him react instantly.

He made his leap of faith.

 

Harmon watched as the green-and-white billow unfolded in the sky; a brilliant contrast against the brown desert floor. He dropped to one knee and took careful aim with his high-powered rifle. One shot. That's all it would take to kill them both and stop the alteration of the future. He squeezed his left eye shut and viewed history through his scope.

Searing pain shot through his side as he fell in agony to the ground. A Paiute Indian with bow in hand stepped closer to the dying man and kicked the rifle over the cliff's edge. He watched his brother soar off into Father Sky and began a song for the dead as his heart filled with honor to have played a role in the balance of life.

A part of the prophecy of the ancient ones etched in the sacred rock above had been fulfilled.