Chapter 77
Lundy Canyon was on the northern side of Yosemite Valley, and slightly to the east. Jack planned to hike north out of Tuolumne Meadows, through the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, over the mountain passes northeast and then down into the Canyon.
He told Lee what he thought they’d need for the trek. She broke the purchases up into two groups, perishables and non-critical supplies from Wal-Mart and the trekking supplies from Bass Pro Shops.
Lee asked, “Take one more look at the list. I’d rather buy things that we don’t need than do without.”
He looked at the lists and at the bottom wrote, “Make Sweet Love,” and underlined it. Then he handed the list to Lee. An hour later, just before he went to sleep so fast it was like throwing a switch, he watched her walk to the table, humming to herself, and cross that item off the list.
Thanks to Lee’s organizational skills, they finished shopping in less than two hours. They’d picked up two internal frame packs, a reasonably light cold weather tent, boots and subzero-degree bags, light weight sleeping pads thick enough to keep the cold ground off the bags, snow shoes, cross country skis, rope and all the other necessaries.
His war experience taught him footwear was critical. You only had to pour blood out of your boots once to know how important proper fitting boots were. Lee’s feet were small, but she wore a woman’s standard size six. His boots should have been a problem and weren’t. Sports Authority had a size-thirteen-wide Vasque boot.
As they drove back to the hotel to put everything together, Lee asked, “You fucked her, didn’t you?”
She asked it with as much emotion as she might ask, “You ran into her at the grocery store, didn’t you, or, please pass the salt?” He drove on.
He told her the story-all of it. They arrived at the hotel before he was done talking. He drove around Manteca while he finished. At first she sat hunched forward leaning out into the door. As the story went on she leaned further back into her seat.
She didn’t say anything as they assembled gear. She didn’t say anything as they carried their packs to the car. He drove deeper and deeper into winter as they approached the park. There was a light dusting of snow at the top of the pass. The sign said Tioga pass was still open, but be prepared for sudden and severe winter weather. On the news last night they heard this was the latest the pass had ever been open. The grandfather of all storms sat off the coast, trying to fight through the high-pressure system that made this the driest fall on record. When it hit, it was going to be a killer storm. Jack needed it to be.
Lee said, “There are things I didn’t tell you. They got to Sir Ian. He was fine six days ago, but we couldn’t wake him, let’s see what day is this? It must be four days ago now. His doctor thought stroke at first and was going to run all the tests, but I called Mai Li Phoon. The minute she saw him she knew. His valet was missing and they found him in the wine cellar, dead of the same poison. Sir Ian’s doctor wanted to do a transfusion. Uncle Chin wouldn’t let them and then Dr. Phoon said okay as long as she could give Sir Ian a potion afterwards. He’s recovering but his mind doesn’t seem to be as sharp and Dr. Phoon says his liver is permanently damaged, how much we won’t know for a while.”
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Sir Ian was as much a part of the family as if he were Chinese. Uncle Chin’s father had carried Sir Ian’s father out of Selarang Barracks, what most people thought of as Changi Prison, on his back. He had done this because Sir Ian’s father had saved his life. Twice.
“Some of our businesses require couriers to travel under assumed identities, sometimes disguised.”
Jack didn’t want to speculate on what requirements those were.
“Outfitting me with phony papers and the granola look I wore after switching with my cousin wasn’t a problem. Getting my cousin, who was using my passport after I landed, into Vancouver alive had been a problem. Convincing Uncle Chin to let me come had been near impossible. I finally told him I would go with or without his help. He knew the chances of me arriving alive were much better if he helped.”
He listened to her story. His hands hurt. He looked down to see that he was trying to choke the life out the steering wheel. He relaxed his grip, knowing he would extract retribution on the people who had tried so hard to kill both the women he loved.
Jack had never been to Yosemite in winter without deep snow on the ground. In his youth he’d stayed at Sunnyside Walk-In, now known as Camp 4, partied and climbed. He was always the biggest guy on the rock. As an adult he stayed in the Ahwahnee. Yosemite in winter was a hard beauty that most people never saw, unlike its lush spring in every way. Winters in the Sierra Nevada were swift and brutal. Tourists always expected California to be warm and predictable, like Malibu. Yosemite in winter was not a predictable thing.
This winter wasn’t picturesque enough to fill the lodge yet. Stories of the upcoming storm kept most people away so Lee had no trouble getting them another room. She moved cleanly with no sign of stiffness or pain.
“How is your neck?” He asked.
She looked blank for a second and then said, “Oh, you mean the trouble with the van. I’m fine.”
At five thousand feet, he was blowing hard carrying loads up two flights of stairs. He watched Lee bending and lifting, leaving her the sixty-pound backpack. She lifted it without effort, slipped both arms into the straps, and carried it upstairs. She was barely winded when she dropped the pack on the floor.
He needed an ammo bearer for his assault on the Church’s compound in Lundy Canyon. She was elected. He put a woman he once loved on a train so she could be with the woman he loved differently, but more than anyone. Now he was taking the woman he loved more each day into danger certain. What kind of bastard was he?
“WHEN ARE YOU going to tell me the real plan?” Lee asked.
The coming storm was to be his Haley’s Comet. He’d come in during the worst storm of the century almost exactly forty years before. If he arrived in the Canyon five days hence, it would be for his birthday. What kind of birthday fireworks he saw depended on the reception party the Church had planned for them in Lundy Canyon. Forty years was enough if it had to be.
“It is an assault on the Church of the Seven Sisters compound. We’ll go in over the top, walking out of Tuolumne Meadows, through part of the Grand Canyon of the Yosemite, over the crest and then down the eight thousand feet into the canyon. If we are lucky, it will be in the middle of the worst storm to hit the high Sierra in years.”
She listened to the whole story and the plans within plans within plans. She stared at him for a while. He couldn’t read her face. Then Lee said in what he hoped was admiration, “You know, Jack, Uncle Chin is right. You are one crazy motherfucker!”
She had him go through the whole thing again while she took notes. “Have you accounted for what happens when we leave the car in Tuolumne Meadows?” she asked.
He hadn’t. She pointed out that it would be counterproductive to have the Park Rangers run a search and rescue for them while they tried to run and hide. Lee’s solution was to leave a note saying to please not tow the car, because they had gone into town to get replacements for the bad plug wires. They had food for eight days. Was that enough for five days at altitude in the cold, Lee asked? The questions she asked were the same kind of questions Meghan would have asked.