Back of Beyond

Gracie saw the cloud of bright red mist balloon from the back of Rachel’s jacket, and felt the heavy gun drop on her leg. She heard the dull crack of Rachel’s head as it slammed down against the rock as she fell.

* * *

Cody was up and scrambling. He approached Mina’s body with his sights set on her head, hoping he wouldn’t need to pull the trigger again. He was struck by how small she looked now, like a broken doll. Rivulets of blood streamed from her body and filled cracks in the rock like a spring flash flood hitting the plains.

Gracie was sitting up covering her mouth with her hands.

He said, “You all right?”

She nodded.

“Damn, that was brave what you did,” he said. “Gutsy as hell, Grace.”

“It’s Gracie.”

“Gutsy as hell, Gracie.”

She nodded and he liked that she knew she’d been tough.

Gracie nodded toward Mina’s body. “She’s just so … dead.”

“That’s how it goes,” he said. Then to the others, “You can all come out now.” He almost said, Even you, Ted, you stupid moronic son of a bitch who just about got your daughter killed. But he didn’t.

* * *

Cody looked up to see two figures coming out of the woods. One of them had a flashlight.

“Justin?”

“It’s me.”

His son shined his flashlight beam up so his face was illuminated. Although the shadows should have looked monsterlike, Cody saw a huge smile and an expression he could only think of as awed.

And for the first time in at least ten years, Justin walked straight up to him and threw his arms around him. Justin said, “My God, Dad. I just knew you’d come. As soon as things went bad, I knew you’d be here.”

Cody said, “You did?”

“I had faith in you,” Justin said.

Stunned, Cody said, “Hell, I didn’t.”

“I did,” Justin said, squeezing harder. “I can’t believe you. I just can’t frigging believe you.”

Cody grunted but hugged him back for a moment.

* * *

Gracie ran to her dad, Danielle behind her. He was crying with joy, tears on his face. She helped him walk up over the lip of rock, and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Careful,” he said, sobbing, “I think I broke my tailbone.”

“Jeez, Dad,” Danielle said, and Gracie could almost feel her sister rolling her eyes in the dark.

* * *

Cody said to Justin, “Can you build a fire?”

Justin stepped away. His face was still lit with wonder, and he shook his head as if trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. Cody felt the same way as his adrenaline crash started to take hold. He noticed his hands were trembling.

“Yeah, I can make a fire. We’ve had a lot of practice the last couple of days.”

Cody nodded. “Then please gather some wood. Maybe you can get your girlfriend to help you.”

“Her name’s Danielle,” Justin said. “I don’t know if she’s my girlfriend.”

“Can she help gather wood?”

“I guess.”

“Good enough,” Cody said. “I’m going to make a couple of calls and get us out of here.”

* * *

An hour later, Cody peered down the crevice. The beam of his Maglite wouldn’t reach the bottom where Jed’s body had ended up. He could see bits of clothing and blood on the walls where Jed’s body had pinballed his way down.

From what he could discern, Jed had been telling the truth. The fuselage of the airplane had been ripped open by the trees and peeled back like the lid of a soup can. One wing had come off and likely fallen to the bottom and the other was mangled and parallel to the crack in the opening.

Two partially clothed skeletons hung from the cockpit by seat restraints. Inside the plane, Cody could see mounds of shredded money as well as a few skittering field mice. It was possible, he thought, there could be some intact bundles of cash buried deep or even down on the floor of the crevice. That would be for the investigators to determine.

He heard a bass thumping in the night sky and turned around. Justin and Danielle had built a massive bonfire that crackled and lit up the rock walls and the trees and threw off so much light the stars had retreated into urban mode. Ted Sullivan lay across two downed logs, suspending his injured tailbone.

Cody said, “Helicopters coming.”

In the distance he could see approaching lights in the sky. Two sets of them. He hoped the pilot of one of them would see the fire from Camp Two and swoop down for the others, as he’d instructed the dispatcher.

He hadn’t noticed Gracie approach him until he looked down. She was a slip of a girl.

“I want to thank you,” she said.

He nodded.

“Justin’s really proud.”

“That means a lot. Your dad should be proud of you.”

“Yeah.” She shrugged.

“Don’t be too hard on him,” Cody said. “He came up here even though he couldn’t ride. He obviously cares about you and your sister.”