Scavenger by David Morrell Read Free Book Online

jacket on my tongue. I can still taste the bitterness.”
    “Who taught you to get water that way?”
    “No one.”
    “You just figured it out?”
    Bethany didn’t reply.
    The voice marveled. “And you did it for days and days.”
    7
    “Derrick and Vivian Montgomery. I beg your pardon. I mean Viv . They, too, were featured prominently in the news. The fact that they’re a mixedrace couple added a further dimension to the story.”
    Derrick’s features hardened. He worked to keep his anger under control.
    “They’re two of the finest mountain climbers in the world. In fact, that’s how they met three years ago–on an expedition in the Himalayas. Odd that they went so far before they met—because they both grew up in Washington State. They’ve been climbing a lot of the same mountains since they were children. Famous climbers can earn a reasonable income by endorsing equipment, teaching at mountaineering schools, and organizing expeditions for wealthy adventurers. Indeed, Derrick and Viv were already well known in the climbing world before an incident last year thrust them into global prominence, no doubt with beneficial effects on their income.”
    “Why don’t you go to hell?” Derrick told him.
    “An example of the independence that typifies this group. Good. You’ll disappoint me if you don’t show spirit. To answer your question, I can’t go to hell. I’m already there.”
    The dining room became silent.
    “Derrick and Viv were hired to lead an expedition to the top of Mount Everest,” the voice resumed. “The company organizing it set a price of sixty thousand dollars for each person who wanted to join. Eight adventurers were willing to pay. For this particular expedition, they certainly got their money’s worth. It takes almost two weeks just to trek to the base camp. After that, progress upward from camp to camp is increasingly slow. The altitude, the wind, the cold. Everest is more than twenty-eight thousand feet high. By the time the expedition reached twenty-five thousand feet, only two of the original adventurers remained. The others surrendered to exhaustion and the elements, returning to base camp. Derrick and Viv stayed with the two remaining climbers. At twenty-six thousand feet, a storm hit—then an avalanche. The amateur climbers were buried. Derrick and Viv managed to dig them out, but the climbers were injured too seriously to be able to move under their own power. The two-way radios were lost in the avalanche. There was no way to send for help. The injured climbers needed medical attention. In a struggle that lasted twelve hours, Derrick and Viv each took charge of one of the casualties, lowering them by rope, climbing down to join them, dragging them along icy ridges, lowering them again. At one point and at that debilitating altitude, Derrick even found the strength to carry one of the injured climbers for an astonishing twenty feet that must have felt like miles. When they reached a tent in a camp they’d earlier abandoned, Derrick stayed with the casualties while Viv descended to get help. A second storm hit, but Viv managed to guide rescuers back to the tent while Derrick did everything he could to keep the survivors alive. It’s an amazing accomplishment, and yet Derrick and Vivian look uncomfortable as I describe it.”
    Viv scowled toward the cameras, pursing her lips at the sound of the name she hated.
    “Neither they nor Bethany nor Ray are proud of what they achieved. Isn’t it interesting that what strikes others as remarkable behavior is minimized by those who lived through it? At the time, they weren’t being heroic. They were just desperately trying to stay alive. Fear is an ugly emotion. No one wants to remember it.”
    8
    “Amanda Evert.”
    Throughout, Amanda’s heart had pounded increasingly faster. Each time her name wasn’t called, she felt relieved, but then her dread increased as the voice ended one account and paused before beginning