Chapter 10
Vandy finished her soup and veggies. She even took a couple of small bites from the peanut butter sandwich to be polite. Sam carried the tray away.
“Can I use your phone?” she asked. “I want to call Pam.”
“Let me see if there is a signal,” he said, walking to the phone, positioned on the coffee table. He switched on the phone and played with the settings.
“What’s the verdict?” she asked, after a minute.
“You’re in luck but be advised. This is a satellite phone and the signal is weak. The signal gets really interrupted with severe weather like this.”
He handed her the phone. “I’m going outside to get some more wood for the fireplace. It’ll give you some privacy. I’ll be back shortly.”
She nodded and took the phone. She dialed. Pam answered on the second ring.
Sam put on his coat and gloves and went outside.
“Thank god you called,” she cried out. “I’ve been worried sick. Randall brought me up to speed. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” she insisted. “The trip was working. I was having a delightful time until those men showed up.”
The phone began to cut out. For a moment, all Vandy could hear was static.
“Hello?” Vandy called out. After another ten seconds, the connection was reestablished.
“I thought I lost you. Tell me what happened,” Pam replied. “Tell me everything.”
Vandy took her through the chain of events as they occurred, choosing to leave out some of the more embarrassing and insensitive things she had said to Sam. She had to repeat herself several times as the satellite signal kept fading in and out.
At the end Pam asked, “And they can’t get you until the storm lets up?”
“No,” Vandy replied. “I can see the blizzard through the window. It’s coming down really hard. The wind is howling.”
“And you’re stuck in that dirty hovel with that deformed mountain man,” she said, her voice tinged with disgust. “I had no idea Randall was making those arrangements. I wouldn’t have allowed it.”
“I’ve only been here a few hours. The storm will let up. And if you had stopped Uncle Randall from hiring him, I’d be dead now,” Vandy reminded her.
“Well, still…”
“And he’s not deformed, Pam,” she snipped. “Don’t say that—it’s incredibly insensitive.” The hypocrisy of similar comments she’d made earlier made her feel guilty, but she decided not to share the thought.
“His skin has some burn marks, but he’s really very sweet,” she continued. “Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without him right now. And his cabin is small but very clean. I owe this man my life and… he’s actually…”
“Actually what?”
“You’ll think I’m crazy.”
“I already think you’re crazy.”
“Well, he’s actually kind of hot,” she whispered. “He has a body to die for, and you can tell, before his face was burned, he was sexy as hell...”
“Oh my god,” Pam protested. “You should hear yourself. Do you think you can even trust this guy? I mean, you don’t know him at all. Living out there all alone, who knows what he might do to you.”
“I was worried to death about him when I first woke up,” she admitted, “but now, not at all. He has been so kind and so sweet, I can’t even describe it.”
“Is he there?” she asked. “Can he hear us?”
“No, he’s outside getting wood for the fire.”
“Where are you, exactly?” she asked.
“Sam said the cabin is about four miles north of where I was attacked, which is about six miles west of the cabin. I feel pretty safe here, actually. This guy is a former Ranger. He’s as big as a fucking tree and knows how to handle himself in a fight, that’s for sure. He took on four enormous men with guns and sent them scurrying away like frightened school children.”
“You be careful, anyway,” Pam cautioned. “This guy is still a stranger. You don’t know anything about him.”
“I’m fine,” Vandy insisted. She smiled thinking about what the reaction would be if she had told Pam she woke up naked.
“Well, I will not rest until we get you out of there and into a hospital where you can receive appropriate medical attention,” she said.
The phone began to cut out again. She waited several seconds for the line to clear.
“I’m okay, really,” Vandy said. “I just can’t figure out who would do this to me, or why.”
“You’ve made a lot of enemies, Vandy,” Pam said. “You have investors that have lost millions. It would only take one severely disaffected person to—.”
“But how would they know I was in bum-fuck Egypt?” Vandy asked.
“I tried to keep your plans low key but as I went through the list of people who could have known even I was shocked at the number. There was the travel agent; airline agents who took your tickets; the person who rented us the car. The list goes on. Then there is always the chance that you were recognized by someone on the plane, at the train station, in West Glacier. I called the FBI. They will be waiting on you in Missoula. They will find the culprit. They will pay.”
“None of that makes any sense,” she said. “Some random travel agent recognizes me? And then what? I don’t get it.”
“The police will sort it out,” she said.
“I hope they find out who it was soon,” Vandy said.
“Are you getting to the hospital?” Pam asked.
“Yes, the latest weather report says the storm will let up around sunset. There is a medical helicopter that will take me to a hospital in Missoula. It won’t be too much longer. I’ll be fine until then.”
“Randall said you were cut up pretty bad,” she said.
“This could have been way, way worse,” Vandy said. “Sam is an EMT and he has patched me up really good.”
“Ugh,” she said. “Just thinking of that hillbilly with his giant dirty mitts on you…”
Whatever Pam said next was drowned out by static.
“Are you still there, Pam?
“Yes, but the signal is fading—I can barely hear you. I was asking if you felt like those hoodlums who attacked you were still looking for you?”
“I don’t know,” Vandy said. “I think I’m safe for now. Sam is here and the storm is bad. Sam has lived here for a long time and had never seen them before. They have no idea where he lives.”
“When you get to the hospital,” Pam began, “please call so I can arrange…”
The phone line went to static and then died.
“Hello?” Vandy said.
Dead air.
“Hello. Pam. Hello.”
Sam walked back inside, carrying more fire logs than three men could normally handle. He was wet and covered with snow and ice.
“The storm is still kicked up,” he said, “but the sky is lightening up off in the distance. We may see a break in the weather in an hour or two.”
“The phone went dead,” Vandy said.
“It happens when the storm is bad enough to interrupt the satellite signal. It’ll come back. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just feel exhausted,” she said. “I think I’ll just lie here and close my eyes for a few minutes.”
“Of course,” he said.
She watched the cowboy stack wood, stoke the fire and attend to household chores. There was something about him… so relaxed and at ease… so comforting.
Within five minutes, she was fast asleep.