About a mile below the village Ed and Mark saw the Citroën turn right, following a steep driveway upwards. A local farmer who crossed them with his jeep stopped, shook his head angrily and informed them: "You won't get up to Avers-Platta with this car. But neither will those idiots with their Citroën. Sooner or later they will have to turn around, there's too much snow up there and the road will get worse the higher they get. And besides it's dangerous. Wait and see if we'll have to go out and rescue them!"
Ed understood enough of that tirade that he and Mark parked the car and followed the Citroën on foot. Soon they didn't hear the engine of the old car anymore.
Both of them were basically fit and athletic, although Ed wasn't at his best after the previous fight. But that didn't matter now. They were almost running upwardly, breathing heavily and worried half to death. After about twenty minutes, the road was almost flat for a few yards. There was a deep canyon ahead, so the driveway had to take a sharp turn to the right, a switchback. In the middle of this switchback, the driver of the Citroën was obviously trying to turn around, because above, the snow on the driveway was too deep.
"Stop it right there, you know we have your boss and the kid!" Two of the goons were standing at the wayside, keeping a sitting, blindfolded Ironside and Rebecca at gunpoint. Probably everybody had left the car to lighten it while one of them turned it around. Ed and Mark tried to stop, but that wasn't possible right away because they had been running, and they slithered further towards them. The men obviously panicked. Rebecca, aware of that, managed to squirm free again, but she lost her footing and slipped down the slope, into the canyon. The one holding Ironside tried to grab her, but missed her. Instead he accidently pushed the handicapped man over the edge, too.
The hillside was very steep, and in the masses of snow both of them had no possibility to come to a stop: Ironside because of his handicap and Rebecca because she was too light.
Further down, there were just rocks bordering a little creek. Not giving a thought to his own security Ed - usually so level-headed Ed - jumped after them.
Mark shook his head. This might very well be suicide. Resigned he followed Ed.
With his long legs, Ed was able to run through the deep snow downwards. Stopping would be another matter though. He managed to grab the little girl and even slow down a bit. But then Ironside's heavy body hit him from behind. The momentum threw him around and onto his back. He needed a moment to realize that he was skittering headlong into a canyon, a child in his arms and Ironside still pushing him involuntarily.
He struggled to get at least his legs downwards, while his first responsibility was to protect the little girl. They came to an abrupt stop hitting a larger rock. Fortunately, the impact was softened by a thick layer of snow. Squeezed between Ironside and the rock Ed felt that Rebecca tried to squirm free of his arms. "Chief, are you all right?" he asked anxiously. For once he was extremely relieved to hear an angry growl.
Mark was now skittering by, too. He helped Rebecca and Ed to get up. Ironside had lost his blindfold. Fortunately, none of them seemed to be seriously hurt.
"What are we going to do now?"
"We can't go down into the canyon. There's no other way than back up to that car – and there are those goons."
"If we stay here, we'll be frozen in a few minutes. It's getting very cold now, around -15° Fahrenheit, I suppose. We have to try to get up. I mean – you have to try. If you don't manage, leave me here," Ironside decided.
"There's no question of leaving anybody. Come on, Mark!"
Each of them took hold of one of Ironside's shoulders. "Can you follow?" Ed asked Rebecca.
"Sure, don't worry!"
It took all of Mark's and Ed's strength to drag the Chief upwardly. They tried to avoid any thought about what this treatment would do to Ironside's back.
Mark was panting for air under the heavy burden. He was tempted to make a remark about the Chief's waistline, but up on the road there were criminals with guns waiting. So it probably wouldn't have been wise.
Ed had to fight for every step. His bruised gut and back were still hurting. To him it looked like Mark was managing the job a lot better than himself. But he, Ed, was the Sergeant. He was Ironside's right hand man. It was impossible that he would be first to ask for a stop. He had to go on...
But then his legs buckled and he broke down. Mark thought that he had just slipped, but Ironside knew better. So, when Ed tried to struggle to his feet, the Chief said, sharper than intended: "Stop it. It's no use. I'm too heavy for you."
For a short moment they didn't budge, then Ed tried to gasp for air and talk at the same time: "'Becca - can you - try - to get - the towrope - o' the car?"
She nodded and struggled her way up to the driveway.
Ironside and his men couldn't see what was going on in the dark, but soon the end of the towrope came down towards them. Unfortunately, it was just the prescribed five yards long – too short for their need. Rebecca had fixed it around a post lining the driveway.
Ed and Mark had to drag Ironside a little further up. But then they could take hold of the rope with one hand. That helped a lot. Ironside himself caught the rope to support them. When they reached the small road, two of the outlaws helped getting Ironside over the edge – but the third one aimed his gun at them. Ed tried to stay between the men and Rebecca in an attempt to protect her.
"There's not enough space in the car. Let's just take the cop and leave the kid here", the driver decided.
Slowly the Citroën drove away with the Chief still as their hostage.
Now that the sweat of their struggling up was getting cold, Ed, Mark and Rebecca started shivering – but it wasn't just the minus-grades.
On foot, they followed the car. After a turn they saw the red rear lights of it. The criminals had to drive very carefully, because the Citroën really wasn't the ideal vehicle for snow-covered roads in the mountains.
Because the flank of the main valley was very steep, too, the driveway would meet the main road in a very pointed angle, upwards into the valley, where Ed and Mark had left the patrol car.
"Mark, we could take a shortcut – run directly down to the main road. If they turn downwards we might still catch them."
"That's true – but we still have no way of stopping them!"
Rebecca twitched at Ed's Parka: "I remember seeing in summer that once a big haystack fell onto a road. The car underway had to stop immediately, because the driver couldn't see anything. Can't we try the same thing with snow?"
"That's it! Mark – let's give it a try. Rebecca, you follow us slowly and very carefully!"
Ed hated to leave the child behind, but with her they wouldn't make it in time. And then the snow was probably much less of a danger for her than those criminals.
Resistance
With renewed hope and energy the two young men ran down the mountain flank, vertically to the slope. It was dangerous in the dark for they didn't know the compound at all. But they didn't care.
Along the road, the face of the rock was about three yards high. Above those, Ed and Mark pushed together as much snow as possible. They could already hear the engine of the old car...
