Page 89 of When the Silence Breaks

“What? Oh ... that makes sense. I’m so sorry. But if an SAR team was here, how did they not find the plane?”

“Two years ago it was probably completely buried under snow. We were here for one purpose. Get in. Rescue the hiker and get out.”

“Who was the man you rescued?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Maybe he was here searching for the same thing we were. After all, you said no one comes up this way.”

“In general. There are no specific trails, and considering the mass and breadth of the mountain, this is a relatively random spot to end up. As for his name, I don’t remember. Again, why does it matter?” He tried to forget the details.

Above them, the cave groaned and ice cracked. “Let’s go. We need to get out of here,” he said.

“And do what? Go where? It’s going to get dark.”

He had nothing but admiration for this woman who worked so hard to hide her fear and panic—she had to be dying inside with worry for her son. With God’s help, Ryder had to find a way out of this and a way to save Jeremy.

“We’ll find a way,” he said. “We have the pack, so we can survive. I think Dean might have left it for us. I have no other explanation. It isn’t mine, but better than nothing. I don’t think Maddox was going to let us live.”

“My priority is getting my son back, Ryder.”

“Mine too. But to do that we have to get out of this cave and off this mountain.” He couldn’t imagine what the boy was going through, or Sarah’s sister-in-law, if she was even still alive. Sarah was holding up despite the pure terror that must be gripping her.

He stood. Unzipped the pack to pull out a flashlight and turned it on. “Let’s go.”

He led her deeper into the tunnel. “Careful. Watch your step. It’s slick.”

“Right. If I fall and break a leg, then we’re both going to die. Or at least I will.” She ground the words out as if resenting their situation.

He understood. “I wouldn’t leave you behind.” Maybe she just needed that reassurance.

They had to get out of here before night fell and the temperature dropped even more. Before whatever came next found them buried here like everything else. If they’d been left to the hazmat suits—not rated for these freezing temperatures—they would probably already be hypothermic and near death.

Boots crunching along the icy, rocky corridor, Sarah followed him. After what felt like entirely too long, he finally spotted the sliver of light he’d been searching for, shining down from above. He rummaged through the pack again to find what he needed. Deeper inside, he found his Glock—thank you, Dean!—pulled it out and slipped it into the holster clipped inside the pocket of his cargo pants. But why couldn’t the guy have left him some kind of communication device? Regardless, he found no rope,no climbing gear whatsoever. Now he wished he hadn’t traded his paracord bracelet for Dad’s old watch, as if that would be adequate. No matter. They could do this.

He paused, secured the pack again, then took a deep breath. The slope ahead rose steep and jagged at about a sixty-degree angle, slick with patches of rock and ice, but it wasn’t sheer, and with that, he grabbed onto hope. Ryder planted his boot on a jut of rock, testing the tread’s grip, then dug in the toe to crush a soft crust of ice. His gloved fingers splayed against the cold stone, searching for a hold. He was grateful he always wore insulated mountaineering gloves because a guy never knew when he’d have to climb a wall. Sarah, on the other hand, might be at a disadvantage, but her gloves would work. He’d made sure she had the right kind—Maisie had given him a knowing smirk when he’d tossed them on the pile.

“It’s climbable,” he murmured. But barely.

“Stay close.” He looked back at her, almost fearing what he might see.

The flicker of light above glinted in her eyes as she stared up at him. “What ... what are you doing?”

“We have to go up.”

“Ryder, I can’t climb that.”

He stretched his hand up to the edge and into a narrow crack. “Watch me. Follow me. Do what I do. It’s not a sheer vertical wall. You can do this, Sarah.”

“You mean like a solo climb?”

Drawing in a big breath, he hoisted himself higher. “This isn’t that, and even if it was, our exit out of this cave is up there.”

“Why don’t we just dig our way out the way we came in?”

“You’re fit. You’re healthy. This isn’t that far. These foot- and handholds were chiseled in years ago for an escape.” Someonehad gotten trapped under these exact circumstances, or maybe they’d chiseled the holds for nothing more than a fun challenge.

“I see the daylight streaming through, but that’s a small opening.”