Rocky Mountain Mayhem (22 page)

Nelson’s face was flushed and he looked like
he could snort steam. He turned and marched off. The door to his
adjoining hotel room slammed.

“I think he’s officially pissed.” Lucy
said.

“Well, I am too. And I’m gettin’ pruney,”
Vivian said, looking at her fingers. “I’m gettin’ out.” She grabbed
a towel.

Kate popped the drain, and then Lucy got out,
too.

They dressed, went into the kitchen and hit
the snackage. They huddled around the coffee table, on the floor by
the couches. They tore into fruit, cheese and crackers. Wendy
poured them a last cup of vino.

As they rehashed the day, Vivian’s emotions
started to get the best of her.

“I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do to end this
here,” she said. “But I don’t want to put y’all in any danger.”

Wendy grabbed Vivian’s arm. “Look, we’re in
this together, just like Mexico. That’s what friends do.”

Kate agreed. “None of us want him out there.
Your sweet kids…I couldn’t go home knowing something could happen
around them.”

“We’re gonna catch that dirty rat bastard.”
Lucy smacked the table. “How dare he screw with my brakes, then
screw with you. He’s goin’ down!”

Nelson opened the door to his room and walked
over to the girls. “Agent Cervantes and I are strongly against you
girls whitewater rafting tomorrow. We don’t know to what extent
Craig will go to get to Vivian.”

The girls all started to protest at once and
he held up his hand. “As with the bike ride this afternoon, the FBI
can’t stop you from going, only advise you against it. We won’t be
there should you come into any danger. In fact, I’m going back to
Denver first thing in the morning. You need to pay extra attention
to your surroundings at all times tomorrow, from the time you leave
here in the morning to when you return. Get back here before dark.
If at any time any of you think you’re in danger, call me
immediately.”

Lucy looked at Nelson. “I’m familiar with
where we’re going and having rafted the Gorge before, I think it’s
one of the river trips where Craig would have the least access to
her. We’ll be careful.”

Nelson got up. “As far as I’m concerned,
Craig is a loose cannon.” He looked at his watch.

Lucy took notice. “We better get to bed. We
need to leave by 6 to make it to the rafting place on time.”

“Holy crap, is that 6 in the morning?” Wendy
asked.

“It’s a ways away.”

Wendy looked at Vivian. “You sure you want to
do this?”

“As long as y’all are with me.”

“We’ll be there, Kate said, getting up from
the couch.

Vivian looked at her phone, 12:02. She picked
up the processed cheese can and squirted a last dab into a swirl on
her finger. “I agree.”

They said goodnight to Nelson and went to
their various bedrooms.

After brushing her teeth and getting her
jammies on, Vivian crawled into bed next to Lucy, who was already
snoring lightly. The bed conformed to her body and the pillow was
just right, but she couldn’t relax.

Nelson popped his head in the door.

“I feel like I’m back on a band trip,” Vivian
joked, “and you’re doing a room check.”

Nelson opened the door a little more. She
could only make out his silhouette.

“My priority is your safety and I have some
concerns,” he said. “Please call me as soon as you’re off the river
tomorrow.”

“Will do and thanks,” she said quietly,
pulling the covers to her chin.

He pulled the door to where only a crack of
light remained. Vivian squirmed and couldn’t keep her eyes closed.
Images of Craig flashed through her mind, and concern for her
children kept her unsettled. The light that shone beneath the door
went out, and finally, uneasily, she drifted off.

Day 5

LET’S go, let’s go!”

Vivian awoke to the overhead light being
flipped on and off at a strobe-light, seizure inducing pace. Lucy
was hollering for her to get out of bed. Then she moved to the
blackout shades, tearing them open with the force the jaws of life
ripping open an annihilated car.

“Time to rise and shine. We’ve got a criminal
to catch.”

Vivian’s eyes felt like sandpaper; 5:30 a.m.
sucked. She had slept fitfully and wasn’t ready to start the day.
Then, the thought of Craig and her kids propelled her out of bed.
“All right, already, I’m up.”

Lucy opened the door to Wendy and Kate’s room
and start clapping.

“Hup, hup, hup, hup! Mooooooooove it. We roll
out in t-minus-20.”

Wendy groaned and rolled over, then yelled,
“Shut the hup up!”

The girls got ready and grabbed bananas,
snack bars and trail mix. Before heading out the door, they found
Nelson’s note and map on the kitchen counter. He had highlighted
the best route and written a note saying not to stop on the way
there or back and to be careful. The door to his room was open and
his belongings were gone.

Kate called the valet and the girls headed
out the door. Lucy’s SUV waited in the drive and they all got
in.

She turned to Vivian. “You ready?”

Vivian slapped her palm on the dash. “Let’s
roll.”

Lucy headed down the mountain and merged onto
I-70 as the sun broke above the mountains in front of them. Light
traffic left nowhere for Craig to hide, and Vivian felt good about
their rafting adventure and the day ahead. She didn’t think they’d
be in any real danger, other than the rapids, but was betting Craig
would surface at some point. Vermin were like that.

“Anyone need to stop?” Lucy asked as she
exited to U.S. 9 in Frisco.

No one did, so they kept rolling.

Vivian and Lucy chatted quietly as they took
the bypass around Breckenridge. Wendy and Kate were in the back,
studying their eyelids. As they ascended Hoosier Pass, Lucy took
the sharp curves like a pro, but it stirred the sleeping beauties
and caused a firestorm of foul-mouth frenzy from Wendy. Vivian
gripped the “oh shit” handle and added a few choice words of her
own as they hit one of the curves hard.

“Ye of little faith,” Lucy said, steering
with one arm. “I managed to save us when the brakes went out. These
turns are
no problemo
.”

Kate opened her eyes and looked a little
pale. She tugged her seatbelt tighter.

Vivian’s ears popped as they crested the
pass. She loosened her grip as Lucy cruised down the mostly
straight descent. Soon the highway flattened out and the mountains
were in the distance. As they approached the town of Hartsel,
Vivian’s bottle of water had caught up with her. “My bladder is
speaking to me, and it’s not saying very nice things.”

Kate seconded the motion.

“I don’t know,” Lucy said. “Nelson said not
to stop, and therefore this town isn’t ‘authorized.’ ”

Vivian looked at Lucy. “Unless you want my
bladder to speak to your seat, you need to pull over.”

She pointed out the Kum-N-Go sign just ahead.
Lucy parked and Vivian ran for the door.

Post potty break, the girls loaded up on more
water, powdered donuts, milk and coffee. They hit the road and it
wasn’t long before Lucy pulled to a stop in front of the Clear
Creek Rafting Company. Lucy shut off the engine. The girls sat in
silence for a moment.

Vivian broke it. “Look, I appreciate y’all
offering to go with me to do this. You’re the greatest friends
ever, but maybe I should go alone.”

“Hell, no!” Lucy said.

“We told you yesterday, we’re all in this
together,” Wendy said, reaching for the door handle.

“Yeah!” Kate said. “Let’s go bait that hook
and reel ’em in!”

The girls woo-hooed and went inside where two
tall guys were at the counter, signing forms and chatting it up
with a blue-eyed, sandy-blonde girl. She had a big grin on her
face. As Vivian walked up the guys slid over to make room. The
blonde, Kirsten, blushed and then went over the highlights on the
forms. Vivian snickered on some of the verbiage, holding the
rafting company responsible for mishaps was the least of her
worries, but she signed anyway.

Paperwork done, Kirsten went about getting
the girls outfitted. Vivian stepped into a dressing room and got
down to her swimsuit. She took off her necklace and wrapped it in
her shirt. She went to work, tugging a wetsuit up her legs one at a
time, then wiggled and twisted to get her arms through the holes.
Zipping it over her boobs proved to be a problem so she wiggled and
twisted some more. “This thing is tight!” she yelled out. Then she
sat on the floor to pull on the dank boots and then wondered how
she was going to get back up. She managed, then slipped on the
bright blue splashguard jacket.
Craig oughtta be able to spot us
in these
!

Once they were suited up, Kate gathered the
girls into a huddle. “Keep your peepers peeled today for anything
suspicious and let’s stick together. No falling out of the raft,
the water’s going to be frigid.

“Do you think we’ll need a code word if we
see something?” Lucy asked.

The side of Vivian’s mouth twitched. “I doubt
Craig will be close enough to hear what we’re saying. I don’t think
it’s necessary.”

“I want a code word!” Lucy said.

Vivian smiled. “Fine, have a code word. Ice
cream?”

“Nahhh,” said Lucy. “Let’s spice it up. How
about ‘hot tamales.’ ”

They all agreed.

The girls walked out to an old, beat-up
school bus where the rest of the group waited, ready for the drive
to the river. Vivian did a scan of everyone before taking a seat.
None of the five guys and two guides even remotely resembled Craig.
The one other woman sure didn’t resemble him.

As they drove along, the guide, a man with
long, stringy, light-brown hair named Fast Eddie, explained they
would be rafting through Bighorn Sheep Canyon this morning, stop
for lunch and then continue on the Arkansas River through the Royal
Gorge. They pulled to a stop in a gravel parking lot and piled out.
Two bright blue, eight-man rafts sat along the riverbank.

Vivian giggled and turned away from the
group.

“What’s so funny?” Kate asked.

Vivian cut her eyes to a tall, lanky rafter.
“His wetsuit is pretttttty tight and a little revealing.” She
covered her mouth to keep from laughing.

“Maybe his package is packin’,” Kate
giggled.

Lucy gasped. Loudly.

Wendy smacked her on the arm. “Shhhhhhhhh! No
one’s packing!”

Fast Eddie broke them into groups, taking the
girls, Package and another guy, of whom all 6-foot-2 looked
military down to his buzz cut, square jaw and muscular build.
Vivian felt like she was in good hands between these two and the
professional guide. Crazy Kendall, the other guide, took the two
other guys and the older couple from Alabama. Eddie went over
safety precautions, how to not die in the event they fell out of
the raft, how to get a swimmer back in the raft, etc. “Does anyone
have medication or anything else important that needs to go in the
dry bag?” he asked.

Vivian held up her phone. “Sorry, I didn’t
mean to bring this.” That was a lie. She had brought it for
tracking purposes.

Eddie tossed it into the bag, then handed out
helmets. “These do not come off unless you’re at lunch. Or
dead.”

As they walked to their raft Vivian smacked
Lucy on the ass with her paddle and started a paddle/sword fight
among the girls. Kate lunged forward, her paddle clanking against
Vivian’s and knocking it to the ground.

Fast Eddie got between them. “Unless you’d
like to be paddled by me, I recommend you stop.”

The girls froze and looked at each other,
knowing they’d gotten in trouble. He then put them in the raft on
the side of the sandy bank.

Vivian reached to grab her paddle and saw
Wendy turn toward the back of the raft.

“Whatcha lookin’ for?”

“Dammit! Instinct! I was looking for the beer
cooler.”

Lucy shook her head. “This ain’t the
Guadalupe, honey. You won’t find any beer on this trip. It’s ill
advised.”

“I know, it’s just ingrained in my river
sense!”

“As if you have
any
sense by the time
you get off the Guadalupe. Come on!” Vivian said.

Eddie hopped into the back of the raft and
showed them how to secure themselves by sticking one foot under the
side. Then he provided a paddling lesson. “Forward right two means
that you three over here paddle forward two times. Together! Watch
the person in front of you and get into a rhythm. Forward left
three,” he pointed, “means this side of the raft paddles three
times.” Then he went over back right, back left and together
paddling.

“One last thing, people,” Eddie said, then
snarled, showing gaps in his teeth. He pointed to his mouth. “This
here is what we call ‘summer teeth,’ as in some are here, some are
in the boat, some are in the water and some are long gone. At all
times your hand must stay on the t-grip of your paddle. All it
takes is one slip, then WHACK! You’ve got summer teeth. Or, your
neighbor does, and they won’t be real happy with you.”

They put on their life preservers and waded
into the water and one by one jumped into the raft, getting to
their designated spots.

“Holy crap, that water’s freezing!” Kate
yelled.

“It’s melted snow,” Lucy responded. “What’d
ya expect?”

“And where is the sun?” Vivian said. “That’d
help warm things up.”

The gray skies showed no promise of sunshine
or increase in temperature. The cool morning in the 50s would
continue into a cool afternoon in the 50s. Brrrrr.

Vivian and Lucy sat in the front, Kate and
Wendy in the middle, and Buzz Cut, who introduced himself to Vivian
as Galvin Shick, and Package as Freddie Smith. Fast Eddie took his
spot on the back of the raft, in the middle and started shouting
out paddling commands.