Snowman by Norman Bogner

Author:Norman Bogner [Bogner, Norman]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780759251281
Google: ix3QJILmVmIC
Amazon: 0759251282
Publisher: E-reads/E-rights
Published: 1979-12-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

The plane banked steeply through a web of dense clouds. Bradford was transfixed. The snow . . . he had thought he would never see it again. Glistening and forbidding, it possessed a mystery for him as inscrutable as the sea's. The attraction was so profound that he was shaken. He was a man who had been in exile. Now he had come home.

From the air he saw frozen alkali lakes. The mountain was made up of minarets and volcanic domes. Cirques, mosaiclike amphitheater-shaped bowls, formed giant pocks in the range.

The landing seemed to take forever. When he finally left the plane and felt the chill wind gust over the tarmac into his face, he embraced it like a lover. He felt the snow with his bare hands. The sense of complete peace that had eluded him during his wandering slowly returned. He was back in his element.

Intoxicated by the air, Bradford drove the large equipment-loaded truck with the window open. The men in the rear grumbled, but Pemba's good spirits had returned, and he was shouting, "Sherpas Zindabad!" Long live the Sherpas! Even the crunch of the tire chains grating on the slick, icy road excited him.

As they approached the lodge the traffic increased, and they saw groups of colorfully dressed people carrying their skis along the steep embankment. Surrounding them were the high Sierras, their summit obscured by a haze of swirling frosted air.

Where would the Snowman be? Bradford visualized the giant form climbing over a layer of snow, bridging a crevasse as it scoured the mountain for prey.

He turned the truck into the driveway, and cinders splayed against the rear axle.

"It's not going to be an easy climb," Pemba said, his eyes narrowing, focusing on the terrain. But then he smiled and clasped Bradford's arm, moved by the challenge. They were climbers, and they had been away too long.

The team was staying in the ski instructors' building. To explain their presence, Bradford told them all to say they were engineers carrying out a survey for additional ski lifts. He asked the men to avoid getting involved with the guests while he and Pemba set out with maps and binoculars for a preliminary reconnaissance of the mountain.

From her office Cathy watched him fixing the bindings on his two-meter Rossignol skis. He crouched low and pushed off in fluid thrusts, moving like a powerful engine. For the first time since she had met him, Bradford seemed truly happy. He and Pemba got on the ski lift and were soon out of sight. She returned to her work, thinking of him, unable to still the strange excitement he aroused in her.

From the lift, Bradford and Pemba scanned the mountain for signs of tracks. Neither of them knew at what altitude the Snowman would descend. They had encountered him at twenty-eight thousand feet, but the attack on the girl had occurred at roughly half that altitude. The slopes were filled with skiers of all ages; they'd be defenseless if the Snowman attacked.

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