Eden's Children (Earth Exiles Book 2) (10 page)

The others stood up to leave, but Mike had a question, “Joan, Michelle, have you told Everett and Roberto yet?”

Joan smiled, “No, not yet.”  Michelle’s face tensed up, and she shook her head no.

Mike replied, “You might want to tell them before we climb.”

Joan looked back at Michelle.  Michelle nodded.  Joan motioned for Michelle to go with her, and they left the room.  Tracy was quiet, a little shy.  She was the exact opposite of Mickey.  She stood up and slipped out of the room.  Latricia looked at Mike and shook her head as she walked out.  Jennifer was the only one left.  She stood up and walked over to Mike.

He looked up at her, “Well?”

She put her hands on his shoulders.  She looked down at him, “You . . . are an idiot.”

“I thought you knew that before you started dating me,” he replied.

Her head tilted, “You need to start trusting me. You could have avoided all of this if you’d talked to me.”

“You have to realized Jen, I’m not used to talking to my girlfriend about missions.”

She nodded, accepting his statement at face value, “Okay, I understand that, but things have changed.  You aren’t dealing with security clearances anymore.  If you have an idea, I want to know about it.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied.

She wasn’t having it, “No, no B.S., Mike.  If this is going to work, you need to talk to me, and let me know what you’re thinking.  No matter how crazy you think it is.”

His head ducked down, and this time he was truly contrite when he spoke, “Okay Jen.  I’ll make sure I talk to you first before I do anything like this again.”

She studied him, “Somehow I doubt that.  But I’ll accept your apology this time.”

“I’m sorry.”

She nodded, “You know you’re an idiot?”

“You already told me that.”

“It bears repeating.”

She was leaning into him.  He was intensely aware of how close her body was to him.  He decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea to argue that last point, so he just kept his mouth closed.

She leaned in and kissed him.  He reached up and put his hands around her waist.  He enjoyed the sweetness of her kiss.

She leaned back after the kiss, and put her hand against his cheek, “You’re an idiot, but you’re my idiot.”  She kissed him again.

----------------------------------------------------

“Well, what do you think?” Mike asked.  It was a warm day, and Mike felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine.

Roberto stared up at the bare face of the cliff, “I don’t know.  I think I see a crack along the left side.”

Rob pointed, and Mike tried to follow the track of his finger.  He stared, and then he saw what Rob had noticed.  It was the barest shadow on the rock face.  Mike studied it for a long time before he grunted his agreement.  Mike waved for Tom to come over and study the rock face as well.

Tom looked to where he thought Mike and Rob were pointing, trying to see the route up the cliff face.   He studied the rock until he came to a conclusion.  Finally he nodded his agreement, “Yeah, I think that’s the only way to get up there.”

Now, Mike studied the rock in front of him.  They’d climbed six hundred feet to get to this narrow ledge, and they only had about a hundred and fifty to go.

Mike looked at his team, “Everybody ready to go?  Or do we need to rest longer?”

Rob and Tom gave him thumbs up, ready to go.  Everett nodded, and then Mickey and Matki gave him thumbs up in turn.

“Alright, I’m climbing.”

Mike picked up a sling that had pitons, cams, wedges, and a piton hammer on it.  He slung it over his shoulder.  Mike was roped in and Mickey was on belay.  Mike rubbed his hands together, then started the climb.

The team was doing extremely well on the climb.  Several weeks of practice had sharpened their skills.  Rob was the best climber, but they were all pretty good.  They’d been switching out for the lead climber position, and it was back to Mike for this stretch.  The only one that wasn’t working as lead climber was Matki.  He just didn’t have the experience, only learning to climb a few weeks ago.

Mike faced the rock wall, and mentally steeled himself for the climb.  It was a shame that they didn’t have better climbing boots, or even any chalk for their hands.  They definitely weren’t going to do any free climbing today.  Everybody was roped in and would stay roped in.

Mike looked at the crack in the rock and thought about his strategy.  He would have to wedge his fists into the crack, and plant his feet to either side to get the climb started.  Further up, he would be able to plant his feet in and use the crack as a step to climb, but it was too narrow this low.

This was the most dangerous part.  He could fall now, and there would be nothing to stop him before he hit the ledge, and maybe went over the side.  He had to get high enough to use a piton or wedge to secure himself.  He wouldn’t fall all the way, since they were all attached to the rock face, but the fall could do some real damage.  After that, he would be hooked in and Mickey would be able to belay him.

Mike looked at Mickey, “On belay?”

Mickey replied, “Roger, on belay.”

Mike continued, “Climbing.”

“Roger, climb.”

He put his hand in the crack and made a fist, wedging it tight inside the rock.  He put his right foot against the rock face, and then his left.  He pulled and his body eased up.  He put his other hand in the crack, made a fist, and repositioned his feet.  He worked his way up.  He continued climbing, and shortly, he was high enough to place the first anchor.  He pulled a cam and wedged it into the crack.  He put a carabineer on the cam and hooked the rope into it.

Mike relaxed a little.  Now he could fall and Mickey would be able to keep him from crashing onto the ledge.  He continued to work his way up the cliff face.  As he climbed, the crack started narrowing, and he had to switch his technique.  He couldn’t wedge his fist in the crack anymore so he used the crack with the fingers of his right hand, and used handholds on the cliff face with his left.

He climbed, and set several more anchors.  He arrived at the top of the crack and now he had to make a decision about his route.  They could stare from the ledge all day long, but it was different when you were on the rock face.  The lead climber had to figure out the actual route.  If he couldn’t find a way up they would have to go back down, do more reconnaissance, and try to find a different route.

Mike looked at the cliff face.  He was at the point where he had to make a decision, left or right.  First though, he had to secure himself.  The crack was narrow enough here that he could use a piton.  He secured one with his right hand, and wedged it into the crack.  He pulled the piton hammer from the sling, and started hammering the piton in.  The ‘Ping, ping’ of the hammer on the piton reverberated back and forth across the cliff face.  He tested the piton, and put a carabineer in it.  He hooked the rope through the carabineer.  Now that he was secure, he could rest.  He took a loop of one inch strap, and hooked it into the carabineer on the piton, and then into the one on his harness.  He put his feet against the cliff face, and leaned back to look at his choices for the route up.

Rock climbing was an exercise in risk management.  Now he had to weigh risk against his own capabilities to decide where he could climb.  As he looked across the cliff face, though, his choices were slim.  Above and to his left was crack that climbed for another fifty feet.  The problem was, he had no way to get to it, other than a leap across the intervening space.  That kind of thing looked great in a Hollywood movie, but could get you killed in reality.  He could climb to the right, but it looked like the holds diminished and was replaced by flat, un-climbable rock.  He looked back to his left.  That crack was very appealing; he just had to figure out a way to get there.

The crack was only ten feet away.  He looked up and saw a possibility.  It was an incredibly small and narrow ledge, just big enough for his fingertips.  There was no place to put his feet below it.  He would have to slide, hand to hand, across that slender ledge.  That would be very tough.

The body was used in a very specific way by the climber.  The climber held on with his hands, but he tried to keep his body away from the cliff face.  This levered the feet into the cliff face, and gave the feet purchase to support the weight of the body.  Mike wouldn’t be able to do that across this span.  Climbers lived by their fingers and toes.  He was going to be at a fifty percent disadvantage.  Now, he would only be able to use his fingers.  He would be flat against the rock face and all of his weight would be resting on his fingertips.

He unhooked from the piton, leaving the belay rope in place.  He climbed up to the narrow ledge.  He slid his left hand out onto it.  He didn’t want his body to swing, so he let his left foot dangle.  He put his right hand on the ledge, and then let his right foot dangle.  Now his weight was completely resting on his fingertips.  He slid his left hand, and then he slid his right across the ledge.  As one hand slid, his weight was completely on the other.  It was tough going, but he thought he would be able to make it across.

A shower of dirt from the ledge marked his track across the cliff face.  He had to look down to keep the dirt out of his eyes.  Right now, his entire world consisted of the ledge that he was sliding across, and the imperfections of the rock that he was staring at as he inched across the ten feet to the vertical crack.

He was half way there, and he began to feel the strain in his hands.  Still, in for a penny, in for a pound.  He knew he was tiring, but there was no way in hell that he was going to fail in front of the team.  He focused.  He didn’t even see the rock face in front of him anymore.  His world became that little ledge, and the sensation of his fingers sliding across it.

It became a mental contest more than a physical one.  He knew he could do it.  He had done similar things when he trained.  It was tough, but he would get there.  Sweat dripped from his forehead onto his cheek.  The sweat got into his eyes and blurred his vision.  Then he slid his left hand, and almost fell as he realized that the ledge ended.

“What the hell?”
he thought. 
“I thought this ledge went all the way to the crack.”

He looked up.  A grim smile slid onto his face.  In fact, he’d gone about a foot past the crack.  He had been concentrating so much on getting across the ledge that he had gone too far.  Now he looked for hand holds to get up to the crack, which was about a foot and a half above his head.  There was a hand hold that he could use, but it was going to be tough to get to.  He needed to find a way to get his hand up that high.  He looked down, and found a small depression he could fit his right foot into.  He placed his foot there, and used it as a step.

It was enough, and he was able to wedge the fingers of his right hand into the crack.  He bent his fingers, his knuckles putting pressure against the rock wall.  He was able to stabilize his grip.  His left hand came up and he put his fingers in.  Now the palms of his hands faced away from each other, and he could push against the crack in both directions to maintain pressure.  The crack was narrow at that point, so he secured a wedge, and put in another anchor.  He put the carabineer on, hooked the rope through it, and leaned back.  He flexed his hands to loosen them up.

He looked at the crack that led up.  It was a piece of cake.  It was wide enough that he could use it to anchor his fist and use as a step.  A few minutes of rest, and he was ready to go again.  He started climbing.  He anchored a few more times, and then he had both hands on a ledge.  He powered his way up, and then he was kneeling on a broad ledge.  It was twenty feet deep, much wider than the one that the team was on below.  Hopefully, this was the ledge that they were looking for.  It should lead to the left towards the rift at the top of the cliff. 

Mike sat there for a moment, composing himself.  He took the pack off and tossed it over to the cliff face on the inside of the ledge.  He walked over and checked for a good anchoring place.  He pulled a piton out, hammered it in and put a carabineer through the lead.  He pulled rope out of the pack, tied a figure eight knot, and hooked it through the carabineer.

He walked back over to the cliff, and yelled down, “Rope!”

He heard Mickey yell back, “Clear!”

He dropped the rope, aiming it toward the team.  Now the rest of the team would use ascenders on the rope to climb.  They didn’t have time to mess around with the entire team climbing up the rock face.  They had to get the team up, plus all of their equipment.  The less time they spent on the cliff face, the less likely it was that they’d have a mishap.

Mike watched as Tom, Everett, and Matki used the ascenders.  As each one arrived, he helped maneuver them onto the ledge.  Next, Rob and Mickey secured the equipment onto the rope.  Mike and the other three pulled all of the equipment up.  They had back packs, battle rattle and weapons that had to be pulled up.

Mike was just glad that they didn’t have to carry all of the old crap that he had to carry on missions back on old Earth.  Heavy radios, military batteries for the radios, and extra ammunition would increase the weight of the packs until he had been carrying anywhere from ninety to one hundred and twenty pounds on his back into combat.  That didn’t even take into account the combat vest he had to wear with armor plates and his combat load of two hundred and ten rounds of ammunition.  Then there was also the water they had to carry.  They used to make jokes about the equipment getting lighter, but command making up for it by giving them more to carry.  That wasn’t a problem now.  The backpacks were still heavy, but much lighter compared to what Mike used to carry, only about sixty pounds.

They didn’t know what they would run into up here, but they knew there were some dangerous animals around.  Not only did they have their weapons, but they stocked up on explosive munitions as well.  Mike and the team were carrying multiple frag grenades, thermite grenades, flash bangs, det cord, C4, and Mike’s personal favorite, Claymore mines.  Once the equipment was up, Rob and Mickey used the ascenders and were up the rope in a flash.  Ropes, harnesses, and the climbing hardware were stowed in packs.  They moved everything off the ledge and took it to the base of the rift leading up into the mountains.  There was one thing left to do.

Mike pulled out the radio, “Base, this is Patrol, over.”

John Smith replied, “Roger Patrol, this is Base, over.”

“We made it to the top.  We’re ready to start the patrol, over.”

“Roger,” there was a pause, “Hey, Mike, you have somebody that wants to say something to you.”

Mike had an idea who it was.  He was proven right when he heard Jen’s voice, “Mike?”

“Hey Jennifer.”

“Be careful, okay?”

Mike was about to reply, then looked over at the team, who were all grinning at him.  Mike was a newlywed.  He and Jennifer had tied the knot before he left.

Mickey’s smile was the biggest, “Go ahead, lover boy, we don’t mind.”

Tom nodded, “Go ahead, newlywed.”

Everett chimed in, “Man, you have to.  She won’t be happy unless you say it.”

After a lifetime of Army protocol, Mike felt like he was committing a sin.  He took a deep breath, “Love you, baby.”

Hoots and cheers broke out behind him.  He would never hear the end of it, but it was worth it when he heard the emotion in her voice, “I love you, too.”

“Okay, I have to go, honey.”

“Bye.”

“Hey, is Michelle there?” Rob asked.

Things hadn’t been going as well for Rob and Michelle.  Rob was trying to figure things out with her, but she wasn’t giving an inch.

Mike called back to John, “Hey John, Rob wants to know if Michelle is there.”