Rocky Mountain Mayhem (20 page)

Vivian fumbled a little, then got her balance
and rode ahead a few paces.

Lucy quickly caught up. “No getting ahead of
us, Viv.”

“I’m just getting back into the swing of
things, here. Trying to figure out gears and stuff.”

Kate whirred up next to Vivian. “This town is
so cute!”

They cruised past a hotel that looked like a
chalet, then a ski shop, a confectionary and a couple of artsy
boutiques.

They approached Vail Valley Drive and Lucy
squeezed the brake, leaned to the right and made the turn with
ease.

Vivian wobbled as she tried to coordinate the
brake and turn.

Wendy zoomed past. “Problems?”

“It’s been awhile. The only bikes I own right
now have three wheels and sit two inches off the ground.”

The girls pedaled, four across, down the
street . It wasn’t long before Lucy led them off the main road and
onto a trail. They followed it a mile or so, then came to their
stop — the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.

Vivian’s phone rang as she put down the
kick-stand. It was Nelson.

“Everything all right so far?” he asked.

“Yep,” she answered, “except my bike skills
are rusty.” She clicked off.

The girls parked their bikes and walked past
the pavilion, through the gate and meandered along the path. They
stop to admire plants and flowers along the way. Vivian tried to
look like she didn’t have a care in the world as she shuffled
around some downed needles of a lodgepole pine.

“I sure hope Craig has kept tabs of your
location, Vivian, and shows,” Kate said and took a picture of
tulipas maximowiczii. “I’m ready for him to go down.” Another
click.

“Me, too,” Lucy said. “We need to get back to
our regularly scheduled vacation.”

“I’m a little nervous about what will happen
if Craig shows,” Wendy said. “How fast can the Vail PD get here?
What if he tries to kidnap you?”

Vivian shook her head. “With y’all here, no
way. You’re as bad as Lucy and her mob fixation. If it makes you
feel better, Wendy, you can be in charge of calling the police.”
Most of her believed that.

The girls decided the meditation spot was the
best place to picnic. All was quiet except for the rhythmic splash
of the waterfall and occasional bird cries. Vivian sat on one of
the benches overlooking the pond and looked around. “Too bad I
don’t meditate.”

Wendy gave a nervous laugh. “Who can calm
their mind enough to meditate? Mine won’t shut off.”

Kate sat down on the bench next to Vivian.
“With everything that has happened, meditating has helped me put it
all into perspective. The brakes, the spa.”

“When did you meditate?” Vivian asked.

“This morning, before you got up.”

Lucy sat her backpack on a boulder.
“Meditating is overrated, but if you were going to do it, this is a
magnificent spot. We need a picture.”

Kate perked up. “Go over by the waterfall and
I’ll get one of y’all.”

Vivian, Lucy and Wendy hiked up a trail
encircling the pond. Halfway to the waterfall, Vivian heard
something, stopped, and turned to pose.

“I can’t get the waterfall from there, keep
going!” Kate yelled and waved them on.

The waterfall was loud, but Vivian heard
something else. She didn’t see anything and kept going around a
curve, toward to a big boulder. The sound intensified. She looked
by the path, next to the boulder, and her heart skipped a beat.

“RUN!”

VIVIAN took off back down the path, grabbing
Lucy’s shirt and pulling her along. “Run!” She yelled at Wendy as
she passed her. Vivian screamed at the top of her lungs the rest of
the way down the trail.

“What? What’s wrong?” Lucy asked, for once
scrambling to keep up with Vivian.

Wendy hurdled over a rock and landed next to
Vivian at the base of the trail. “Is it Craig?”

“SNAKE!” she screamed and jumped up onto the
meditation bench next to Kate. She danced around, unable to stop
moving her feet, still in fight or flight mode. “Holy shit. Holy
moly. Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” Vivian rasped and bent over, hands on
knees, breathing hard.

Lucy and Wendy jumped onto the other bench
and Kate stood up next to her.

“What kind of snake?” Lucy asked, not
winded.

Even though he hadn’t touched her, she could
feel him sliding up her leg. “Oh my god, a rattlesnake.” She took a
few huffs, then continued, “It almost got me. It was all curled in
a ball and its head was stickin’ up, ready to strike. I almost
died!
Again
!”

An older gentleman in khakis, white
long-sleeve shirt and wide-brim hat approached. “Everything
okay?”

She let out a big sigh. “Heyzoos Kristo,
there’s was one pissed off snake back there!” She pointed toward
the waterfall.

Lucy jumped down from the bench and put her
hand to her chest. “I thought you were being attacked by that
maniac or something!”

“At this point I’m not sure which would be
worse,” Vivian said and sat down, being sure to put her feet up on
the bench. “That was one ticked-off reptile!”

Wide-brim hat guy said, “Good news is since
it’s springtime the snake most likely cannot move very fast. It was
out sunning, or warming, its core body temperature.”

Vivian narrowed her eyes and looked at him.
“Who are you?”

“I’m an employee here. Joseph Phillips,
ma’am. We post warnings about snakes and other potential dangers
near the entrance.”

She pointed into his chest. “Well, that
slimy, little guy seemed quite able-bodied to me.”

He nodded his head, hesitated, then said, “In
reality, snakes are not actually slimy. Their skin appears—”

Vivian outwardly cringed and Wendy butted in.
“Thank you, but I think we’ve had enough reptile facts for the time
being.”

“Enjoy the rest of your visit,” he said and
ambled off.

“Let’s go have our picnic snackage over
there,” Lucy said, pointing to a sunny spot near the pond but
further from the waterfall.

Vivian didn’t feel like eating anything, but
remembered the squirty cheese awaiting. Cheese always made things
better. “Excellent idea.” She hopped of the bench determined to get
over the willies from the snake.

The girls sat down in the grass and Lucy
dispersed the goodies.

Kate took a bite of asiago and cracker and
said with a full mouth, “You know what would make this much
better?” She swallowed, then continued, “The Moose Crossing’s
rattlesnake sausage!”

Wendy laughed and choked on a cheesy cracker.
Crumbs flew out of her mouth.

“I know where we can get some fresh!” Lucy
said, then popped a grape in her mouth.

“That’s my first time to hear a rattlesnake!”
Vivian said. “Thank god they come with a built-in alarm
system.”

They finished up, loaded the remaining items
back into Lucy’s backpack and walked back to their bikes. Joseph,
the employee, nodded as they took off for Vail Pass Trail. It
wasn’t far to the trail and Lucy made a sharp right turn onto
it.

A three foot iron fence separated them from
the creek. The mountain cliff went straight up on the other side
and trees sprouted out from between the rocks along the banks.

They went along for a mile or so, Lucy and
Kate out in front, then Vivian and Wendy brought up the rear. There
were no additional snake or nature incidents and no sign of Craig.
They came upon the wooden plank bridge crossing Gore Creek and
Vivian came to a stop quickly. Wendy had to swerve to keep from
slamming into the back of her.

“Is something wrong?” she asked hopping off
her bike, looking around.

“My calves are on fire,” Vivian said, kicking
her legs and flexing her feet. “They burn like an inferno in
hell.”

Wendy propped her leg up on the rail,
touching her nose to her knee. “Hell is an inferno, Viv.”

“Exactly!” Vivian watched her stretch. “Geez,
you’re so bendy!”

“I may not be the most fit, but I’m
flexible!” Wendy threw her other leg up, touching her fingers to
her toes.

Lucy and Kate reappeared from around the
bend.

“What the heck?” Kate said, skidding to a
stop beside them.

“I needed a break, my legs are burnin’,”
Vivian said, looking at her feet and considering bending over to
relieve the burn in her calves. “It’s official, I’m outta
shape.”

“Have some water,” Lucy said and handed
Vivian the line to the CamelBak.

Vivian had a sip of water and looked around,
but didn’t see anything odd. Like she’d know what odd was for the
trail, but she didn’t think Craig was lurking close-by. “Let’s get
a quick picture.” She pointed to Wendy and Kate, still on their
bikes. “Y’all get together. Let me take a picture of you on the
bridge.” Snap!

“Now take one of me and Lucy real quick.”

Vivian and Lucy posed playfully on the bridge
with their bikes as Wendy took the picture. “I
really love
those neon yellow shorts you’re wearing,” Wendy said to Lucy. “They
really pop against the evergreen background.”

“Hey! These are my favorite biking shorts,”
Lucy defended.

“Yeah, you just like that extra padding on
your tush,” Vivian said, smacking her ass.

She heard a splash and looked over Wendy’s
shoulder. “What was that?” A few baseball-sized rocks splashed into
the creek. Her gaze traveled from the creek up the mountain. “I see
something moving up there.”
Oh shit, maybe Craig is closer than
I thought
!

Lucy pointed to a guy hustling through the
trees. “Is that Craig?”

Not taking any chances, Wendy pulled out her
phone.

Vivian squinted. “He’s too far, I can’t
tell.”

The man was approximately 50 yards away and
hauling ass up the cliff.

Kate started pushing Vivian. “Abort! Abort!
Let’s get out of here!”

VIVIAN and the girls hopped back on their
bikes and pedaled as fast as they could away from Gore Creek. In
town, Vivian saw a cop getting on his bike in front of a
restaurant.

“Help!” She called, squeezing the brake
handle. She wobbled as she approached.

“What’s the matter?” The officer caught her
bike and helped her stop.

Vivian steadied herself with one foot on the
ground. “I think the guy that might being trying to kill me is
across the creek running on the mountain. You have to help me,
please!”

“Slow down and give me some details,” the
officer requested.

As calm but quickly as she could, Vivian gave
him the CliffsNotes version of the Craig situation.

“You can verify all of this with Agent Wade
Nelson with the FBI,” Wendy said when Vivian was done.

The officer turned around and barked commands
into his walkie-talkie. “Go directly to the bike shop and stay
there until an officer meets you.”

Vivian heard shouting coming from across the
creek as they made their way back to the bike shop. The
black-haired guy greeted them like he didn’t have a care in the
world and asked about their ride. Vivian briefly wished she could
have a little of whatever he looked like he was on.

Wendy called Nelson and told him what had
happened. He promised to be there within 15 minutes. After what
felt like much longer, a grim-faced Nelson joined them.

“Did they catch him?” Wendy asked, letting
down her ponytail and shaking out her long, brown hair.

“Was it Craig?” Kate asked.

“Vail PD chased the suspect a good way across
the mountain and was able to apprehend him.”

“And?” Vivian asked.

“It was a local man training for an Ironman,
not Craig.”

Vivian shook her head in disgust. “Dammit. I
was hoping this was over.”

Nelson looked at her. “I was hoping so, too.
But good job on being vigilant and getting help from the police
immediately.”

“Thanks.”

Bike riding adventure over, Nelson led the
girls back to the car.

Kate sat in the passenger seat, legs dangling
out of the car. “Son of a biscuit eater, that was freakin’
stressful.” She let out a big sigh. “I need to relax.”

“Amen!” Wendy said. “Where are we going?”

“I’m not going anywhere with Lucy wearing
that.” She smacked Lucy’s banana-yellow ass. “And I think I’ve had
enough excitement for one day.”

“Let’s just order a pizza and take it back to
The Ridge,” Lucy said. “There’s a Pop’s Pizza a few blocks down.
It’s good stuff.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Agent Nelson
said, opening the back car door for Wendy. “I’ll be right behind
you the whole time.”

Lucy called Pop’s as she drove and ordered
two large pizzas, a veggie and a pepperoni. She and Wendy ran
inside to pick up the goods.

“Sorry all this crap is ruining our
vacation,” Vivian said to Kate as they sat in the SUV. “I know it’s
not turning out like we planned.”

“It’s okay,” Kate said. “It’s not your fault.
We still got in a nice, scenic bike ride and an unexpected
encounter with nature! It just ended with a little more excitement
than I was expecting, but I should be used to that with you by
now!”

Vivian smiled at her. “I’m not generally a
chaos creator. Troublemaker, yes. But not usually chaos.”

A few minutes later, Wendy opened the car
door and sat down with the two pizzas in her lap.

“I can’t wait to get back to The Ridge before
I have a piece.” Kate turned around from the front seat and flipped
open the lid. “It smells fantastic!”

“Mmmm.” Vivian reached for a slice.

They munched on pizza while Lucy drove back
to the hotel. They dropped the car off with the valet and took
their pizza to the fire pit where a middle-aged couple lounged with
glasses of wine. Vivian noticed a couple of bottles poking out of a
bag.

Nelson had followed them back to the hotel
and walked with them out to the fire pit. He sat at a table on
Felix’s patio and got busy on his phone.