High Noon by Vannetta Chapman

Author:Vannetta Chapman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vannetta Chapman
Published: 2020-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Randall sat staring at the opposite wall of the slot canyon as Nora and Tom argued about the best way to proceed.

Nora absolutely refused to leave her partner.

“There’s no way he can do four more rappels,” Tom argued. “Not with the injury to that arm.”

“He did it before. He can do it again.”

“The bleeding will increase if he tries, not to mention he’s bound to be weaker from the pain and loss of blood.”

Randall cleared his throat, and they both turned to look at him. “Do I even have a say in this?”

“Of course you do.” Nora looked agitated and ready to go. “But I’m telling you that staying here on your own is more dangerous than going with us.”

“And I’m reminding you both that I’m the only one with medic training here. We’re lucky to have stopped the bleeding. If Randall tears it open further...”

Randall held up a hand, cutting off their explanations. “I’m going. As far as I can, anyway.”

Which seemed to settle it. They’d take it one wall at a time. Tom led them to the right side of the slot canyon, accessed a small trail up into the woods, and stopped in front of a ponderosa near the edge.

“How did he get up to where we were?”

“What?” Tom and Nora turned to stare at Randall simultaneously.

“How did Karvatsky, or his sidekick, get up to where we were? Climbing up these rock faces has to be harder than rappelling down.”

“It definitely takes more skill and experience,” Tom said. “People do it, but not often, and not in the heat of summer.”

“And why now? Why when we were halfway to him? Did he have some sort of perimeter trip wire or—”

“He had a monitor on Mario.” Nora closed her eyes for a moment. “It’s the only explanation that makes sense because once he’s alerted that we’re on the trail, it still takes some time to catch up with us. As you said, climbing up is twice as hard.”

Randall knew she was beating herself up for not anticipating Karvatsky’s every move, but there was no way they could stay continually ahead of a perp. It was the nature of the job that they spent the majority of their time reacting and playing catch-up.

“Okay. Say he had a monitor on Mario. That monitor triggered a warning to let him know that Mario had moved.”

“And he certainly didn’t move on his own,” Tom pointed out.

“So Karvatsky sends his drone to check it out.”

“Halfway there, the drone picks up our images.” Randall picked up the narrative. “He sends his side-kick to intercept us at the slot canyon, figures it’s the best chance he’ll get, and takes his shot.”

“It was a good spot,” Nora admitted.

“His drone must be state-of-the-art because we never heard or saw it.”

“We have a drone.” Nora nodded toward Randall’s pack. “Maybe it’s time we use it. Tom, how close are we? And how difficult are the rappels?”

“This drop is seventy feet. From the bottom you have a pretty good view to the north, though we’ll continue south.

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