A/N: 16 chapters already! One or two more chapters to go. Read and review, please!
A Return to Vegas
Chapter 16
Sara, frozen with fear, paid little attention to the adult conversation around her. She did not notice the car with blue lights speeding ahead of them or how all traffic pulled to the right as they passed. She kept an arm around Anthony as he talked about his helicopter ride; the excitement in his voice washed over her as a respite. In his eyes, this experience was an adventure.
Her phone pinged several times with messages before she looked at it.
From Catherine: Lindsey is stable and going into surgery.
From Maxine: Headed to the dam along with half of the sheriff's department, highway patrol, marine patrol, fish and wildlife.
From the sheriff: Tourist helicopter up with thermal imaging equipment.
Sara passed her phone to Grissom who read the messages to the others.
…Caldwell had parked the truck on the far side of the gravel parking lot tucked between a rack of colorful kayaks and a truck with an empty boat trailer hooked to it. Just as the boat rental operator had said, he had no trouble getting into the parking lot.
As the little girl chatted about unicorns, he hoisted the bag of food onto his shoulder and gave her a package of cookies. They had to walk along a wide path to get to the boat launch area.
"My brudder likes cookies," she said.
He had noticed she did not make the 'th' sound in words when he'd asked her brother's name.
She continued talking about the cookies as he gathered up a jacket and a change of clothes—clothes that belonged to Dave Spencer. He had a thought as he started to fold the jacket.
He said, "Let's put this jacket on you—it has a nice hood on it and the wind might be blowing."
As Libby put the jacket on, she said, "This is big! I can put my cookies inside!" She stuffed the package into the front as he zipped it up. She added, "I wish it was a unicorn jacket."
The jacket made her look puffy-as if she wore a life jacket; Caldwell smiled at his clever actions.
He had already spotted the boat he'd rented—a fast running boat the rental place had recommended for fishing was floating in the water near the boat ramp. A guy was giving directions to half-dozen people waiting to paddle down river. Caldwell put the food bag on the ground and told Libby to stay by the bag.
A few minutes later, he returned with a key fob, pulled the bag onto his shoulder, and lifted Libby. "There's our boat, little girl! We're going to find some unicorns!"
"I need a life jacket," she said.
"Oh, you don't need a life jacket on the river—not on this boat." He heard the cookie package crinkle inside the over-sized jacket. "You can eat cookies as soon as we're on the boat."
The boat was a marvel in simplicity, shallow running, fast, similar to dozens of other boats that would be on the Colorado River on a sunny afternoon. Caldwell throttled slowly past a dozen kayaks and once he'd passed the 'No Wake' sign, he quickly picked up speed. He heard a high cry, looked back to see the child trying to catch her sun hat. He laughed as the wind carried the purple hat into the air.
He shouted. "A mermaid needs that hat more than you do."
The child gave him a wide-eyed look of surprise before she scooted to the side of the boat so she could look at the water.
He said, "Better to look up—those unicorns live on these cliffs. I bet we see one any minute."
Caldwell had made numerous trips down this river; he knew the camping areas, the warm springs where people tended to congregate. Today, he intended to put the little girl on land at one of the places where she'd be around people. Then he would push the boat to its limit to reach Davis Lake seventy miles away. He planned to abandon the boat in the marina and find a vehicle to get him as far away from Vegas as possible.
He knew it was a good plan. Even if the phones had been tracked, he'd thrown them out long before he had turned off the highway and the truck was parked in an area where it would not be noticed for hours. He chuckled at his own brilliant idea—everyone would be looking for him on the highways—either south or east—and he was disappearing along this river.
Passing another group of paddling tourists, he waved and gave a shout out. A few more miles and he'd be near a favorite pull-out where he'd leave the girl. Glancing back, checking on her, he grinned as she put a cookie in her mouth, holding another one in her hand.
The kid had probably never eaten mass-made chocolate chip cookies in her life, he thought.
…At the same boat ramp, almost thirty minutes later, Grissom opened the door of the car before it stopped. The driver had gotten out, lifted the latch, opened the gate and driven into the launch area. He had already pointed to a boxy boat idling near the dock.
"I can keep Anthony," said Brass.
Grissom ducked his head into the car, reached for Anthony's seat belt and said, "No, we'll all go—there's room—you, too, Owen."
With that, everyone was out of the car, headed to the boat where they snapped on life jackets while the men talked. The boat belonged to a fish and wildlife agent who had been working on the river for eight years. There were two seats in front and a curved bench in the rear; a river rescue boat, Sara thought.
The man patted the seat beside him, saying to Sara, "Sit here—best view. We'll be going fast until we get to the beaches—she'll be there."
This unknown man's voice was without fear, without doubt, Sara thought.
The river was flowing fast—southern California needed power at this time of day—but the boat ran faster.
Arriving at the first beach, several kayaks and canoes were pulled to shore; a dozen people milling around.
The boat's driver used a speaker to ask if anyone had seen a little girl wearing a purple hat and yellow boots. No one had. He powered on.
Cliffs towered on each side of the river; wind blew in gusts. Sara knew the water was cold, inching higher as the dam released water. Her eyes scanned for the smallest beach that might be hidden by cliff slots.
"Go left," Grissom's voice was strained, clipped. "Over there."
Sara saw what he'd seen—a floating purple hat. Her breathing became rapid, short breaths. If it were possible, she felt as if an umbilical cord was still attached to her and Libby, stretching across the river, so strong the invisible pull of her daughter, she felt she might snap in two.
The boat slowed; somehow Jim managed to reach the hat while Sara and Grissom sat in a strange, surreal silence. No one said a word as the boat moved back into the middle of the river. Sara twisted the soaked hat in her hands, desperate to press her face against her beautiful baby girl. Tears misted her eyes.
As the boat rounded a cliff that towered above the water, Sara can see a recent rock fall where rubble and stones had spilled into the river. Scattered along the rocks were a dozen big horn sheep near the water.
Anthony was the first to notice and yelled, "There's Libby!"
A narrow strip of shingle and sand ran from the river back to a crevice in the cliffs; pulled onto the sand were two canoes. Four adults and a small child were standing on the sand watching the big horn sheep.
Standing, Sara gripped the split wind screen, moving to step onto the front deck of the boat.
Owen, who had been sitting behind her, grabbed her arm, saying, "Wait, we're going in."
The boat slowed, made a smooth arc from the middle of the river, and glided into the shallow water lapping against the rock slide.
Sara would not remember getting off the boat but others would tell her later that her feet left the front of the boat, hitting the gravel when she jumped, stumbling once, and running in long strides to her daughter. The men were slower.
Anthony squealed when he noticed the animals skittering up the rock slide to a higher point.
Sara felt she was running on marshmallows with legs made of lead. She heard her daughter's voice.
"Mommy!"
After a while, a kind of calm after chaos came over the group. The paddlers with the canoes had been on the beach, taking photos of the big horn sheep when a boat had stopped. A man had put the little girl on the beach and left immediately.
The women had questioned the child who said the man wasn't her parent; she'd come to look at the unicorns. They had given her water to drink and gone along with her hunt for unicorns, knowing something was wrong yet hoping the man who had left her would show up again.
Relief had washed over Sara and Grissom, finding Libby unharmed and completely unaware of any danger. Grissom checked his watch, stunned to learn less than three hours had passed since Catherine had arrived at the Spencer house.
By unspoken consent, the adults let the two children run around the sand, throwing rocks into the river, playing chase, laughing and giggling as if the day had been planned just for them. Jim Brass showed Anthony how to skim flat stones into the river. Grissom removed the kids' boots and let them touch toes into the cold river water.
The wildlife agent and Owen took information from the paddlers, who had been on the water since early morning, had no idea they had been part of a rescue until Grissom told the story of Libby's kidnapping.
Using a satellite radio, the wildlife agent managed to relay messages to others—Libby had been found. Alan Caldwell was on the river—alone and headed south. He seemed certain Caldwell would be met with a wall of boats he could not avoid.
Sara and Grissom shared a large boulder as they watched two laughing children, their enthusiasm contagious. They had held onto each other as Libby and Anthony ran and shouted as if the whole world had stalled for them to play on a sunny rock strewn beach along a cold running river.
Eventually, before the sun moved behind high cliffs, the group climbed back into the boat.
Libby, restless from exhaustion but ready for another boat ride, shouted and pointed to a high cliff. She cried, "A unicorn! I knew I would see a unicorn! A mommy and a baby!"
Everyone turned, looking upward.
On a ledge, silhouetted against a clear blue sky, a female big horn sheep stood with a small white baby. It appeared she had only one horn—and to those who believe in magical creatures—there was a unicorn.
A/N: Libby found her unicorn! And her parents found her-one or two more chapters. If you've been reading along, we'd love to hear from you. As always, we appreciate those who always take the time to send a comment! Thank you!
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