To the Stars Trilogy Part 10

By the time a slow hour had dragged by his nerves were tightened to the snapping point. At one point he jumped with shock, almost falling as dark shapes moved out of the trees toward him. Deer. Far more frightened than he was once they caught his scent. After almost ninety minutes more dark shapes appeared, and he almost thumbed on his radio, before he recognized the stretcher being towed behind them.

"Went just wonderful," Brackley said hoa.r.s.ely, panting for air. They had all been running. "Didn't need the guns, used the knives and did away with a half-dozen of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. Got your friend here all right, though they've knocked him about a bit. Here, take the rope and pull the litter, my lads are fair bushed."

Jan grabbed the rope and pa.s.sed it over his shoulder, tying it to his belt, then leaned his weight into it.

The stretcher moved easily on its skis and he broke into a steady, loping run that quickly caught up and pa.s.sed the others on their snowshoes. He had to slow then to stay behind Brackley who was leading the way. Short minutes later they were back in the snowtrack and pa.s.sing the stretcher in over the tailgate.

The fuel cell fired with a m.u.f.fled roar and they started forward even as the last of the men were climbing aboard.

"We have a half an hour at least, maybe an hour," Brackley said, drinking deep from the water bottle, then pa.s.sing it along. 'All the guards at the detention cells are dead-the roof will blow off that place when they're discovered."

"But they got other things to think about," one of the men broke in; there were murmurs of agreement at that.

"We set fire to some of the warehouses," Brackley said. "That will keep the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds distracted for a bit."

"Would someone be so kind as to unstrap me?" the man in the stretcher said.

A light flashed on and Jan undid the straps that held Un secure. He looked young, perhaps still in his twenties, with black hair and deepset dark eyes.

"Can anyone tell me what happens next?" he asked.

"You're going with me," Jan said. "Do you know how to ski?"

"Not on snow, but I water ski."

"That's very good. We won't be doing downhill skiing, but cross country. I have the clothes here that you will need."

"Sounds like fun," Uri said, sitting up, shivering. He was dressed only in a thin gray prison uniform. "I'll sit on the bench if someone will give me a hand"

"Why?" Jan asked, struck by a sudden cold sensation of fear.

"Bunch of b.a.s.t.a.r.ds back there," Un said, dropping to the bench. "Thought I wasn't talking fast enough,- even when they got an Italian translator in. They used some encouragement to speed me up.

He lifted his foot from the tangled blankets. It was dark with dried blood. Jan leaned close with the light and saw that all of the man's toenails had been ripped out. How was he to walk-much less ski-with feet like this?

"I don't know if it helps," Brackley said. "But the people who did this, they're all dead."

"It doesn't help the feet but it cheers me a great deal. Thank you."

'And we'll take care of the feet too. There was always a chance something like this might happen."

Brackley struggled a flat metal container ot.i.t from under his cloth-ing and opened it. He took out a disposable syringe and broke off the safety tip. "People who gave me this said one shot would kill pain for up to six hours. No side effects but very habit forming." He slapped it against Un's thigh, the sharp needle penetrating the thin fabric, the drug slowly injected by the pressurized gas capsule. "There are nine more of them here." He pa.s.sed them over.

"My thanks to whoever thought of this," Un said. "The toes are getting numb already."

Jan helped him to dress in the swaying snowtrack. The lunging ride improved when they came to a road and speeded up. They only followed it for a few minutes, then turned off into the deep snow again.

"Security checkpoint ahead," Brackley said. "We have to go around it."

"I had no idea of vour shoe size," Jan said. "So I bought three pairs of shoes, different sizes."

"Let me try them. I'll wad some bandages around the toes to soak up blood. I think these are the ones that will do."

"Do they fit well in the heel?"

"Fine." Dressed and warming up, Un looked around at the circle of watching men, barely seen in the light of the torch. "I don't know how to thank you people...

"You don't. Our pleasure," Brackley said as the vehi-cle slowed and stopped. Two of the men left in silence and the snowtrack started tip again. "You two will be the last. I'll be driving and I'll take care of disposing of this thing. Bill, I'll drop you at the spot I showed you on the map. After that you're on your own.

"I'll take care of it," Jan said.

Jan rearranged the packs, putting over three-quarters of the weight into the one he would carry, then adjusting the lighter one on Un's shoulders.

"I can carry more than that," Un said.

"On foot maybe, but if you can just carry yourself on skis I'll be happy. The weight's no problem for me."

The snowtrack was empty when they stopped for the last time. Brackley came around from the cab and opened the rear and they slid down to the icy surface of the road.

"That's the trail," Brackley said, pointing. "Get off the road fast and don't stop until you're under the trees. Good luck."

He was gone before Jan could phrase an answer. The snowtrack roared away, sending back a shower of broken bits of ice, and they were alone. Struggling through the thick snow to the trees. Un held the small torch while Jan~ knek and strapped his shoes into the skis, then put on his own.

"Slip the thong of the ski pole over your wrist like this, see. So the pole hangs from your wrist. Now move your hand straight down and grab. This way you can't lose a pole. Now here is the motion you will have to use, a sliding one. As you slide your right foot forward you push against the pole in your left hand. Then shift weight and push the opposite ski with the opposite pole. That's it, keep going."

"It's. . . not easy."

"It will be as soon as you get the rhythm right. Watch me.Push... push... Now you go ahead, follow those tracks, I'll be right behind you."

Un struggled ahead and was just getting intd the swing of the movements when the path turned off and they faced the soft powder snow of the deep forest. Jan went first then, striking a path through the unbroken surface. The sky was growing light above the black silhou-ettes of the trees and when they came to a clearing Jan stopped, looking up at the moon riding above the moving clouds. Clearly visible ahead was the grim shape of a mountain.

"Ben Griam Beg," Jan said. "We go around it..."

"Thank G.o.d! I thought you might want to take me over it." Un was panting, drenched with sweat.

"No need. We'll hit frozen lakes and streams on the other side, going will be easier and we'll make better time."

"How far do we have to go?"

'About eighty kilometers as the crow flies, but we won't be able to get there directly."

"I don't think I can make it," Un said, staring with misgivings at the frozen wilderness ahead. "Do you know about me, I mean were you told..."

"Sara told me everything, Un."

"Good. I have a gun. If I can't make it you are to shoot me and go on. Do you understand?"

Jan hesitated-then slowly nodded.

Thirteen.

They went on. They were stopping far oftener than Jan wanted to because Un was not able to keep up a steady pace. But he was learning, going faster with less effort. They had only four more hours of darkness. At the next stop, around the shoulder of the mountain, Jan checked their heading with the gyrocompa.s.s and tried to mark his course with an identifiable spot in the terrain ahead.

"Going... to have to have... another shot," Un said.

"We'll take ten minutes then, something to eat and drink."

"d.a.m.n... fine idea."

Jan dug two dried fruit bars from his pack and they chewed on them, washed down with water from the insu-lated bottle.

"Better than the food inside," Un said, wolfing his portion. "I was there three days, nothing much to eat, less to drink. It's a long way to eretz Israel. I didn't know there could be this much snow in the whole world. What's the plan when we finish this little holiday trek?"

"We're making for the Altnacealgach Hotel. It's a hunting lodge, right out in the forest by itself. I imagine you'll be picked up there, or perhaps I'm supposed to drive you someplace. My car will be there. In any case you will hide out in the forest a bit while I go ahead."

"I'm looking forward to your hotel. Shall we go on before I seize up and can't move."

Jan was tired himself well before dawn-and he did not want to think how Un felt. Yet they had to keep moving, to get as much distance as they could from the camp. There had been some snow flurries during the night, not very heavy, but still thick enough he hoped to obscure their tracks. If Security would be looking for tracks. There was a good chance they wouldn't, not yet. But danger would come with sunrise; they had to be concealed before then.

"Time to stop," Jan called back over his shoulder. "We're going to ground over here, under the trees."

"Those are the most beautiful words I have ever heard."

Jan stamped out depressions in the snow and spread the sleeping bags out in them. "Get into yours," he or-dered. "But take your shoes off first. I'll take care of them. And I'll get us some warm food."

He had to help with the shoes, saw the socks and bandages sodden with blood. "Good thing I can't feel anything," Un said, sliding into the sleeping bag. Jan pushed snow over it until it was completely concealed.

"These bags are made of insulcon, fabric developed for s.p.a.ce suits. It has a layer of insulating gas in it, almost as good a nonconductor as a vacuum. You'll find you'll have to leave the top loose 6r you'll stew in your ownjuice."

"I'm looking forward to it."

The light was growing now; Jan hurried with the food. The electric element on the high density battery quickly melted a potful of snow, into which he dumped a packet of dehydrated stew. A second potful heated while they wolfed down the first. Then Jan cleaned up, melted water to top up their bottles, then packed everything away again. It was full daylight. Well below the horizon an airplane droned by. The search would be on. He wriggled into his own sleeping bag and pulled snow over it. A long snore issued from Un's bag. That sounded like a good idea. He set the alarm on his watch and pulled the flap over his face. At first he was afraid he would stay awake, worrying about the search that was going on, but sleep overwhelmed him and the next he knew the piercing warble of the alarm was screeching in his ear.

During the second night, even though the going was easier, they covered less distance than they had the previous one. Un was losing blood, too much of it, and even with the pain-killing injections he found it harder and harder to go on. They crossed a frozen loch about an hour before dawn and came to a sheltered cove with an overhanging rock ledge. Jan decided to stop. The place was ideal and it wasn't worth the few kilometers more to force Un any further. "I'm not doing too well, am I?" Un asked, sipping at a steaming mug of tea.

"You're turning into a good cross-country skier. Be winning medals soon.

"You know what I'm talking about. I don't think I'm going to get there."

'After a good night's sleep you'll feel better."

It was sometime in the afternoon when Un's voice dragged Jan from a deep sleep. "That sound. Can you hear it? What is it?"

Jan lifted his head free of the sleeping bag, then heard it clearly. A distant whine, far down the loch.

'A snowcat, he said. "It sounds like it might be coming this way, along the loch. Keep your head down and he won't see us. Our tracks have filled in so he can't follow them."

"Is it the police?"

"Probably. I can't think of anyone other than the authorities who would be running mechanical equipment out here in the winter. Stay quiet, we'll be safe."

"No. When he gets close, sit up and wave, draw his attention."

"What? You can't mean it "I do. I'm not getting out of these woods, not on foot. We both know that. But I can do it with transportation. Let him get as close as possible before you make your move.

"This is crazy.

"It is. This whole mess is crazy. There he comes.

The whining rose in volume as the snowcat came around a headland jutting into the loch. It was bright red, its spinning tread throwing a spume of snow behind it, the goggled rider looking straight ahead. He was paralleling the sh.o.r.e and would pa.s.s an easy ten meters from them. Concealed as they were, in the snow under the ledge, there was very little chance of his accidentally seeing them.

"Now!" Un said, and Jan rose up out of the snow, waving his hands and shouting.

The rider saw him at once and throttled down, turn-ing at the same time, swinging toward them. He reached down and unclipped his microphone and was raising it to his mouth when Un's shot caught him in the chest. A shot from a rocket pistol. It fired a silent, self-propelling projectile that tore right through the man.

He went over backward, arms wide. The snowcat fell on its side, skidding forward, track churning, until the tumble switch cut the power.

Fast as Jan moved, Un was faster. Out of his bag, his feet making red prints in the snow, rushing toward the fallen man. There was no need.

"Dead as soon as he was. .h.i.t," Un said, opening the officer's jacket and peeling it from him. "Look at the hole that thing punched right through him." Un wasted no time as he pulled on the man's clothing, stopping only to mop blood from the fabric. Jan walked over slowly and righted the snowcat.

"The radio is still switched off. He never sent a message," he said.

"Best news I have had since my bar mitzvah. Will I have any problem making that thing go?"

Jan shook his head no. 'Almost a full charge in the battery, two hundred kilometers at least. The right handle-bar is switch and throttle. They're fun to drive. The front steering ski will tend to go straight unless you lean your weight into the turn as well. Ever ride a motorcycle?"

"Plenty."

"-Then you'll have no problems. Except where do you go?"

"I've been thinking about that." Dressed now in uni-form and boots, Un stamped over to their packs and took out the detailed map. "Can you show me where we are now?"

"Right here," Jan pointed. 'At this inlet in Loch Shin."

"This town of Durness, on the north coast. Are there any other places in Scotland with the same name?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Good. I had to memorize a list of towns with safe contacts in case of trouble. I have one there. Can I make it?"

"You'll make it if you don't run into trouble. Go this way, following the streams. That will keep you well away from these two north-south roads. Take a compa.s.s and follow this heading. Stay on it until you hit the coast. Then double back and lay-up in hiding until dark. Put on your own clothes and see if you can't drive the machine off the cliffs into the ocean-along with the uniform. After that-you're on your own."