Chapter 6 - The Siege of Mount Condor
The mountain storm had turned the only road leading out of the valley into an impassable river of ice and fallen pine trees.
Inside the cabin, Mateo was packing three leather satchels with dried herbs and warm blankets, while Claudia helped Camila dress in a thick woolen coat.
"The main trail is blocked," Mateo reported, looking out the frosted window. "Thorne and his men will be waiting at the lower highway junction. They know we have to come down that way."
Rodrigo stood by the table, carefully examining an old topological map of the region.
"Is there another way off this ridge?" Rodrigo asked.
"Only the old smuggler's path through the eastern gorge," Mateo said, pointing a calloused finger at a narrow, blue line on the map. "It leads down to the old logging rail station in the valley. But it’s narrow, steep, and if Thorne catches us in the gorge, we’ll have nowhere to run."
"We don't need to run," Rodrigo said softly, his eyes darkening. "We just need to make sure Thorne can't follow us."
He looked at Claudia. "Can you drive Mateo’s old farm truck?"
"I grew up in the countryside, Rodrigo," Claudia said confidently. "I can drive anything with wheels."
"Good," Rodrigo said. "You, Camila, and Mateo will take the truck down the eastern logging path. I will take Thorne’s attention."
Claudia froze, her hands stopping on Camila’s coat buttons. "What? No! You can't go alone!"
"They want me, Claudia," Rodrigo said, taking her hands in his. "Vance’s entire plan relies on declaring me dead or insane. If Thorne sees me drawing their fire toward the main ridge, he won't look for the truck in the gorge. It gives you the time you need to reach the rail station and get Camila to the city."
"I am not leaving you behind!" Claudia insisted, her eyes flashing with anger and worry. "We survived this together! We finish it together!"
"Papa, don't leave us!" Camila cried, clutching his trousers.
Rodrigo dropped to one knee, wrapping his arms around his daughter and kissing her forehead. "I'm not leaving you, my sweet angel. I promise you, I will be right behind you. Papa is just going to clear the road."
He looked up at Claudia, his eyes filled with an intense, burning emotion that made her breath catch.
"You brought my daughter back from the grave, Claudia," Rodrigo murmured. "Now let me protect the woman who gave me a reason to live."
Before Claudia could argue further, a sudden, heavy metallic crunch echoed from the woods outside.
Thorne had returned early.
Realizing the storm was clearing, Thorne’s mercenaries had bypassed the main road on foot, surrounding the cabin from the upper ridge.
"THEY'RE IN THE TREES!" Mateo shouted, grabbing his shotgun from the wall.
TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!
Automated gunfire ripped through the wooden walls of the cabin, shattering the glass windows and sending splinters flying across the room.
Rodrigo instantly tackled Claudia and Camila to the floor, covering them with his body as bullets chewed through the timber above their heads.
"GET TO THE CELLAR!" Rodrigo roared over the deafening noise.
Mateo kicked open a heavy iron trapdoor hidden beneath the rug. "Down here! It connects to the root cellar behind the barn!"
Rodrigo ushered Claudia, Camila, and Mateo into the dark opening, holding the trapdoor open.
"Drive to the city, Claudia!" Rodrigo shouted over the gunfire. "Go straight to the Federal Courthouse! I will meet you on the steps!"
"Rodrigo!" Claudia screamed as he slammed the heavy wooden trapdoor shut and bolted it from the outside.
Standing alone in the destroyed cabin, surrounded by flying wood splinters and the roar of automatic weapons, Rodrigo pulled a heavy glass jar of pure industrial grain alcohol from Mateo’s shelf. He shoved a rag into the top, lit it with a match from the stove, and hurled it through the shattered front window.
BOOM!
The improvised firebomb exploded against the hood of the lead mercenary’s snowmobile, erupting into a towering wall of orange fire that lit up the snowy woods.
Taking advantage of the chaos and blinding smoke, Rodrigo vaulted through the rear window, landing heavily in the deep snowbank behind the cabin.
"HE'S FLANKING TO THE WEST!" a mercenary shouted from the trees. "GET HIM!"
Rodrigo didn't run away from them; he ran along the high western ridge, purposefully making noise, snapping branches and drawing every single mercenary away from the barn where the farm truck was hidden.
Behind him, Thorne and four armed men pursued him through the deep snow, firing blindly into the thick pine forest.
Rodrigo ran like a wild beast, his lungs burning, his feet flying over the frozen ground. He led them deeper and deeper into the narrow granite pass known as the Devil's Chimney—a dead-end canyon surrounded by sheer vertical walls of ice.
As Rodrigo reached the back of the canyon, he turned around, panting heavily, his back pressed against the frozen rock wall.
Seconds later, Thorne and his four mercenaries emerged from the snowy mist, blocking the narrow mouth of the canyon. Their weapons were raised, their laser sights painting red dots across Rodrigo’s chest.
"End of the line, CEO," Thorne chuckled, stepping forward, his heavy boots crunching in the snow. "You put up a hell of a fight for a guy who used to sit in an air-conditioned office."
Rodrigo looked at Thorne, then lifted his eyes to the towering wall of unstable ice and loose snow hanging precariously directly above the mouth of the canyon.
Rodrigo smiled—a cold, terrifying, triumphant smile.
"You city guys," Rodrigo said softly, repeating Mateo’s words from days ago. "You never look up."
Rodrigo reached into his pocket and pulled out Mateo’s second double-barreled shotgun, which he had concealed under his long coat.
Before Thorne could react, Rodrigo aimed the barrels straight up at the overhanging ice shelf above Thorne’s head and pulled both triggers simultaneously.
BOOM-BOOM!
The massive double blast echoed off the canyon walls with the force of a bomb explosion.
The fragile balance of the snowpack shattered. With a terrifying, deep rumble that shook the ground beneath their feet, thousand-ton slabs of ice and snow detached from the cliff face, cascading down into the canyon like a roaring white wall.
"RETREAT!" Thorne screamed in horror.
It was too late.
The massive avalanche swept down, burying Thorne and his mercenaries beneath twenty feet of suffocating white snow in less than five seconds.
The canyon fell into a eerie, silent hush.
Rodrigo, protected inside a deep stone alcove at the very back of the gorge, waited for the snow dust to settle. He climbed over the newly formed wall of debris, stepping out into the crisp, clear air.
May you like
He looked down toward the valley. In the distance, he saw the faint cloud of dust from Mateo’s old farm truck speeding along the logging road toward the distant city highway.
Rodrigo wiped the snow from his collar, took a deep breath of the cold mountain air, and began his long walk down the peak to reclaim his world.
