False Horizon - Alex Archer [29]
Annja frowned. “Mike, all we said was that we could handle Tsing later after all of this was over and done with. We didn’t necessarily plan the guy’s assassination or anything.”
Mike grinned. “Good point.”
“More to the point, Tuk needs us just as much as we need him. We’re all in this together, and if one of us doesn’t help, we’ll all buy it. So you ask if I trust him? I trust him to do what’s right for everyone involved. Beyond that, well, we’ll take it as it comes. Once we get down off of this mountain.”
“Always the pragmatic Annja,” Mike said. “I’ve missed that over the years.”
“I was busy being pragmatic elsewhere,” Annja said.
“Apparently.”
A strong breeze blew in from the mountain and Annja shivered in spite of the winter parka. The sun was starting to dip beneath the horizon, streaking the sky with purples and oranges.
“Some sunset,” she said.
Mike stared out of the shattered windshield. “They’re amazing up here. I just hope that our new friend finds us a place to spend the night.”
“Me, too,” Annja said. “Otherwise, that sunset could be our last.”
11
Tuk forged through the waist-deep snow like an icebreaker and headed right for the side of the mountain, trying to get out of the open snowfield as quickly as possible. There could be a chasm hundreds of feet deep under any part of the snow. The closer he was to the actual mountain itself, the better he felt.
As soon as he was beyond range of being seen from the plane, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the cell phone he’d spent twenty minutes digging to find under all the snow in the plane. Luckily, it still worked. He opened it and prayed that he could actually get a signal.
He pressed the number two and waited. A series of clicks worried him at first but then miraculously he heard it ringing on the other end.
“Tuk?”
“Yes!”
Hearing the man’s voice on the other end of the line rein-vigorated him. Help would come for them!
“Did you all survive the crash?”
“Yes, but the man Mike is injured. He’s got a bleeding wound in his thigh. We’ve stabilized him as much as possible, but we will need a medical team to come to us soon or he will not last the night.”
There was a pause on the other end of the phone. “Tuk, I’ve got bad news. We can’t get a rescue team out to you now.”
“Why not?”
“There’s a storm heading your way. A bad one.”
Tuk looked at the sky. If he’d grown up with people who knew how to read the weather, he might have noticed the line of clouds forming and heading right for the peak he was on.
Already, he could feel the temperature falling.
“When?”
“Tomorrow if the storm breaks. But I’m not going to lie to you, Tuk. Not after everything you’ve done for me. The chances of a rescue early on are remote unless this storm breaks before dawn. The odds are long of that happening and you may be out there for a couple of days.”
“We won’t make it.”
“Listen to me,” the man said. “Remember how I told you to stay close to the plane?”
“Yes.”
“Forget that advice. You need to find someplace else to take shelter while the storm rages. Get yourself into an overhang or some other piece of shelter close to the mountain itself, out of the wind. If you can do that, then you can survive this thing.”
“The man may not survive.”
“How is Annja?”
“She collapsed unconscious twice, but seems all right now. She apparently has two broken ribs but is mobile enough.”
The man paused again. “I understand what you’ve told me, Tuk. I wish I had better news. As long as Annja lives, that is the priority. Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
“Then you don’t have any time to waste. Find a shelter and get as many of the supplies into it as you can. Wait this thing out. Keep the phone with you.”
“I’m amazed I got any reception at all.”
“It’s not a cell phone, Tuk. Merely designed to look like one. You can reach me from anywhere on earth with that little thing. It’s tremendously powerful despite its size. Just like you.”
Tuk looked up into the sky. The wind was increasing. “I’ve got to go or I’ll lose precious