Title: Wolf Hunt (continued)
Author: Lady Chal
Rating: PG-13 (mild language)
Classification: Angst/Adventure, Caitlin/String
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, wish they did!
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Chapter Nine: Escape from Red Rock Mesa
Li pulled up sharply on the reins as the distant sound of a helicopter reached his ears. He listened intently to the beat of the rotors and the pitch of the engine. It sounded like the same Jet Ranger that had landed at the camp. They were after him. He urged Jester faster down the trail, daring to risk a fast trot now that the path was somewhat level. There was a slight outcropping of rock up ahead and he pushed the horse toward it, stopping only when they were beneath the shadows of its broad overhang.
Safely beneath it, he dismounted, and scrambled to the edge of the trail, where he could peer out from beneath it without being easily spotted. It was indeed the black helicopter, sweeping the sky in even arcs as it circled back and forth over the canyon below him. The sound of the chopper grew louder, and he scrambled back to Jester, pulling the horse deeper into the shadows of the overhang. He pressed his face into the animal's neck, his heart beating wildly as the chopper roared directly above them. For a moment, he was sure they had found him, but then they moved on and the sound of the chopper grew more distant as it moved off to search another ravine.
He scrambled to the other side of the overhang. He was nearly to the edge of the bluff now, and the trail wound around to the other face of it, disappearing from his sight. He had no idea how far it was to the bottom, but he knew he could not stay here for much longer; eventually they would track him, and follow him here.
The sound of the chopper had faded to a distant drone, but he was not fooled. If they did not find him soon, they would not go away. They would only call in more choppers to search for him, and it would be harder to escape. If he was going to go, he had to do it now. He gauged the distance to the turn in the trail. It was maybe a tenth of a mile. The path was wide and flat, he could make good time.
Returning to the horse, he checked the cinch, and remounted. Then he dug in his heels and sent the animal forward in a fast trot. They made it around the bend in a matter of minutes, and he was elated to see that the trail on this side was good, too. It was fairly flat and smooth and not too narrow as it continued down the side of the bluff in a gentle slope. The canyon still dropped away to his left at a frightening angle. A quick glance told him that it was now nearly 300 feet to the bottom, but he didn't think about that as he urged the horse even faster.
The sound of the helicopter engine was growing louder again, and if he were to make it to any kind of shelter, they were going to have to run for it.
"Over there," Jenkins' voice crackled through Rivers' headset as he guided the helicopter around the backside of the bluff. "He's coming down the East face."
Rivers and Locke both followed Jenkins pointing finger to the small splash of polished copper that nearly blended in with the dusty red walls of the bluff. It took him a moment to recognize it as a horse and rider, making their way along an ancient game trail that cut along the side of the bluff. They were moving fast, Rivers thought uneasily. --Much too fast for their own good.
He watched as the small figure of the rider noticed them, tipping his face to the sky and staring for a moment as they drew ever nearer. He hoped that the boy might give it up then, stop and concede defeat. The kid had more guts than brains, though, for he kicked the horse into a canter that sent showers of stones flying from the animal's hooves to drop into the deep valley of the canyon below.
"Christ," Rivers muttered, "He's going to get himself killed."
He backed the chopper off, giving them some space lest it spook the animal and send both horse and rider plunging to their deaths below. He still wasn't sure just what it was Locke wanted with this kid, but whatever it was, he was damned if he was going to risk killing the boy to get it.
Locke noted the widening distance and turned on Rivers.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing!" He snapped, "Get after him!"
Rivers eyed him coolly. "Whatever this kid is to you, he's no good to you dead. Give him some breathing room; let him make it to the table, where it levels out. There's only one other way down, and he can't get that far."
"He could still make a run for it," Locke growled.
"I doubt it," Rivers said. "That horse is about used up. Let him get safer ground. We can take him there safely without having to worry about him falling off a cliff."
Li urged Jester on even faster, and spared only the quickest of glances for the helicopter circling above. It had backed off some, he noticed, but probably only because they were afraid of scaring the horse. He was glad of that. Both he and Jester needed every ounce of their concentration to negotiate the rocky path. He leaned in closer to the horse's neck, and saw the path widening before them to a broad and sweeping plateau. Just a little farther, he thought. Just a little farther and maybe then they could find another way down and really make a break for it.
Too late, he saw the jagged crevice that opened up before them on the rocky path. Jester must have sensed it, though and skidded to a stop only a few scant feet from the treacherous opening. Li was unprepared for the sudden stop however, and was nearly catapulted from the saddle as the horse slid to a halt. Only his death grip on the reins and Jester's planted feet saved him, as he was tossed over the horse's neck towards the gaping hole in the trail. The gelding snorted warily and tried to toss his head in retaliation against the unexpected weight on his bridle. The reins pulled tight against Li's palm, the only thing preventing him from slipping down the crevice as he scrambled for footing against the loose rock of the cliff.
"Easy, Jester!" He called, praying the horse wouldn't panic. "Easy, boy. Just hold still, I'll be there in a minute."
Using the reins for leverage, he managed to get a foothold on the rocky ground and pull himself back up onto the path. The horse snorted, and bobbed his head nervously, eyeing the chasm with trepidation. Li couldn't blame him. It had to be all of six feet across, if not more. From the look of it, he guessed it must have been a rock slide. A boulder must have dropped from above, striking off part of the cliff and leaving this gaping hole in the path before them –the path that led to freedom.
"It's ok, boy," Li muttered rubbing the horse gently behind the ears. The animal snorted and rubbed his forehead vigorously against Li's chest, leaving a dark stain of sweat and horsehair across the front of his shirt. "It's ok," he said again, staring dismally at the barrier before them. "We'll think of something."
Rivers let out a slow breath of relief as he watched the boy pull himself back up onto the path and scramble to his feet beside the horse. For one horrible instant, he was certain the boy wasn't going to make it, but the kid seemed to have nine lives. It must run in the family, he thought.
The kid didn't get back up on the horse right away. Instead, he seemed to be talking to it, gathering up his own wits and that of the animals as he tried to determine the next step. Mike reached for the radio, and switched on the bullhorn. Maybe now was the time to try and talk him down.
"It's all over son," Mike said, vaguely aware of his voice echoing against the walls of the canyon, and hoping it wasn't so loud that it would spook the horse. "It's the end of the line. You can't go any further, so you might as well just turn around and come back to camp."
The boy had turned his face towards the helicopter, and seemed to be considering his words.
"We don't mean you any harm, son." Rivers continued, soothingly. "We just want to take you back to your uncle. He's hurt pretty bad. He wants to see you. So why don't you just get back on the horse and come back the way you came? Then we can sit down with your camp counselors and talk about it if you like."
The boy tossed one more reluctant glance toward the chasm, and the mesa and then nodded. Gathering his reins, he mounted his horse and started slowly back down the path in the direction he'd come from.
"Well done," Locke said, watching as the boy and horse picked their way tiredly along the rocky ledge. "We can grab him on the trail when he comes off the bluff, --just before he gets to the camp, it will save us having to play twenty questions with the camp counselors."
Rivers shot the man a dark look. "You really are a sonovabitch, you know that?"
"Whatever it takes to get the job done, Mr. Rivers." Locke said tightly.
Li spared one last glance at the hole in the trail. Six feet he judged, six and a half at most. He swallowed hard, could they do it? He didn't know. Maybe it was better to head back to camp. Sighing, he gathered up his reins and swung up onto Jester's back again, turning the horse back in the direction they had come. If he spoke to Mr. Mackenzie, he might be able to convince him that the woman on the radio hadn't really been Caitlin. Maybe he could stall them long enough until his Uncle or Dom or Caitlin really did show up.
But what if they didn't? The nagging little voice in the back of his mind argued. What was he going to do if these men actually did take him away? He didn't know who they were, but they acted like people from the Firm. They didn't work for Archangel, though, of that he was sure. Archangel's people dressed better, and Archangel would have come in person, or at least sent Marella. Dom had always said that the only person halfway trustworthy in that outfit was Archangel, and they didn't even trust him all the time, so whoever these guys were, Li was sure he couldn't trust them at all. They wanted him for some reason, maybe to control his uncle or get to Airwolf, and if that was the case, he knew he couldn't go with them.
His eyes fell glumly to the trail in front of him as they slowly made their way back up the rocky path. It was then that he noticed his own tracks from their reckless descent down the trail. Jester's hoof prints were large and evenly spaced. Li judged the distance between them. Five feet, maybe a little more. He had been cantering the horse in a slow lope, too afraid to really open him up on the treacherous trail. He measured the stride again. Jester was a big horse, nearly sixteen hands, --and, as one of the counselor's had pointed out, he had a long back and underline, which allowed him to really stretch out in a ground-eating stride. Li considered the tracks. Could Jester stretch out another foot and a half?
Maybe, Li thought, just maybe.
They were reaching the corner of the bluff and they trail was beginning to narrow again, once they made that turn, there would be no going back. Although, if he decided to go through with what he was contemplating, there would be no going back that way either. He looked wryly at the deep canyon below them. It gave a whole new meaning to the term, between a rock and a hard place. He straightened in his saddle, a rush of adrenaline coursing through him at the thought, and spoke to the horse.
"What do you say, Jester? Shall we try it?"
The animal must have sensed his tension, for he danced and snorted, pulling at the bit and picking up into a trot.
"I'll take that as a yes," Le said, and whirling the horse around with both rein and heel, he sent them galloping back down the path in a mad rush of thundering hooves and falling stones.
Rivers paled as he saw the boy suddenly whirl the horse, and spur the animal into a dead run for the washout in the path.
"Don't try it!" He said, more to himself than the boy, for he hadn't had time to snatch the radio back up.
Beside him, he heard Locke swear viciously, and from the back of the cockpit he head Jenkin's awestruck "Goddamn."
Rivers himself could only watch –and pray— as the red horse picked up even more speed, hurling both himself and his rider down the rocky trail at a terrifying pace, the boy clinging low to his neck. He could feel his own heart pounding in tempo with the anima's stride as he silently counted off the distance to the chasm. Twenty feet, twelve feet, six feet…
He watched as the animal gathered itself for the leap, muscles bunching and rippling as the horse flung itself towards the void with every ounce of speed and strength it had to give. For one awful moment, his heart seemed suspended in his chest as he watched the horse soar across the crevice, the small, slim rider clinging fiercely to its back, the willing red legs stretching desperately for solid ground. They landed hard, the horse scrambling for footing, and finding it as they continued on along the trail towards the mesa.
"He's going to make a run for it." Locke said, as the horse and rider sped along the trail that now climbed the bluff. "If he gets to the other side, he can lose us in the rocks."
Frankly, Rivers was not so sure that would be a bad thing, but he said nothing as he brought the chopper into a climb over the top of the mesa. From here, he could see the distance the boy had come, and it amazed him that the kid had made it this far.
The mesa was not a completely smooth, flat plateau in the conventional sense of the term. Rather, this particular formation was more of a terraced bluff, with two smooth, flat tables, one of which rose 200 feet above the other. Somehow the boy had made it down from the other table to the lower one, which reached down into the depths of Red Rock Canyon.
There was a trail along the South face, less steep and in better condition than the one he'd arrived here on. If the kid found it, or knew it was there, Rivers knew he actually stood a chance of getting away.
Crosswinds in the canyon were not friendly to helicopters and the terrain offered plenty of overhangs and caves for the boy to hide in.
Fortunately, they were still high enough to be above the crosswinds, and Rivers easily closed the distance between them, sending the helicopter shooting forward to block their path to the trail.
Li felt his heart sink in despair as the black helicopter swooped past him, blocking his escape. Slowing Jester to a trot, he allowed the gelding to catch his breath. They were trapped. He knew it as well as the men in the chopper. The Jet Ranger was advancing upon them now, pushing them slowly towards the narrow end of the table.
The voice came over the bull horn again. It was not the voice of the man called Locke. Instead, Li saw, it seemed to be the pilot. The blonde man in the military flight suit was just barely visible in the cockpit. One hand was on the stick, guiding the chopper; the other held the radio as he spoke.
"Come on, son," the voice was gentle. "Give it up now, before you or your horse gets hurt. You've made a good try, but you can't go any further. We both know it's time to put an end to this."
Li reined in the horse cautiously, not quite ready to concede defeat, but knowing he was out of options. The path before them was blocked, and the edge of the cliff was to their back. He cast a glance over the edge of the mesa. It wasn't encouraging. Behind them was nothing but a sheer drop to the depths of the canyon below. The game was over, and they had lost, he thought ruefully.
It was then that he felt it: the merest whisper of a breeze that quickly churned into a screaming halcyon. It whipped around him and the horse like a wild banshee, and he could not help but grin, even as he fought to keep Jester from bolting in fear. The animal snorted and spun around to see what monster had come up from behind him, but Li didn't have to look to know what it was. The eagle scream of the turbine engines were as familiar to him as the voice of a friend. It was Airwolf, rising up from the cliff behind him like an avenging angel.
The sleek black craft pushed its way forward, chain guns extended, creamy white belly skimming the ground as it inserted itself between Li and the Jet Ranger. Having determined that it was not a monster, but simply another machine, Jester calmed somewhat, and ducked his head against the wind from the chopper rotors.
Li watched in relief as one of the doors popped open with an audible hiss and a familiar figure beckoned to him.
"Li! Come on!" Caitlin yelled.
He needed no further urging, but scrambled down off the horse. He took only a moment to strip the bridle from the gelding's head, and pat the sweaty neck. "Sorry boy, he said hastily, wishing there was time to give the animal his due reward. "I wish I could take you with me."
"Li! Let's go!" Caitlin shouted again.
He saw one of the men jump from the helicopter and then watched in disbelief as Caitlin dropped into a crouch and squeezed off three rounds in the direction of the Jet Ranger. The gunfire spurred him on with a fresh burst of speed, and he made it to the open door a second later.
Caitlin half pulled, half shoved him into the helicopter, and quickly scrambled in behind him.
"Creeps," she muttered, pushing Li into the empty seat beside the tactical station. "Give them something to think about," she suggested.
Gifford squeezed the trigger briefly, deploying a short, staccato burst from the chain guns that strafed the ground at the men's feet. Then he angled the nose of the lady up a few degrees and fired another burst, striking sparks along the top of the Jet Ranger. The hail of bullets tore into the rotor assembly, and smoke began to pour from the other craft.
He banked Airwolf sharply then, gaining speed and altitude as they moved away from the mesa, putting distance between themselves and the would-be kidnappers.
Li had only barely managed to strap himself into his seat before Caitlin wrapped him in a fierce embrace.
"Li Van Hawk!" she exclaimed, "I don't know whether to kiss you or kill you. You scared the life out of me, jumping that horse like you did!"
"That was so cool, wasn't it?" Li said excitedly.
"Cool? You could have been killed!"
Li peered out the window at the mesa, which was quickly vanishing behind them. Jester was now little more than a tiny red fleck on the top of the bluff.
"I hope Jester will be all right, too." Li said sincerely, "I'd never have made it out of there without him."
"Don't worry about him," Caitlin said reassuringly. "If there's one thing any horse can do, it's find his own way home. He'll be back to his buddies before lunch time."
Li was silent a moment, contemplating his next question.
"Kate?" He asked softly, keeping his voice low so the pilot couldn't hear him. "Do you think when we get home Uncle String will let me have a horse?"
Caitlin rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Lord, I hope not!"