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“So what’s the plan?” Bree asked, attempting to smother a huge yawn. “We’ve got, what, an hour or two before sunset?”
“Plan really doesn’t change too much from the original camping plan, except to cut it short.” Tanner looked up at the trees that were starting to sway more. “Honestly, we probably would’ve needed to cut the trip short anyway. The wind is picking up, which is going to blow in the storm that was coming this way a little faster.”
She made a face. “Are we going to get rained on? I’m just getting dry.”
“No, not tonight. Maybe late tomorrow night. But we’ll be able to make it back to the vehicles by then. We’ll meet Marilyn, Noah and the others at the first bridge where they can cross. Noah will know to rendezvous with us there. Besides that, we’ll still have fun, learn as much about nature and the wilderness as possible and the kids will have a hell of a story to tell as they grow up about the time they almost drowned in the Colorado River.”
She smiled. “I like that plan.”
“We’ve got plenty of water and a way to carry it, some edible plants around and the basic supplies to fish tonight and tomorrow. We’ll have to cut the trip short, but all in all, nothing too bad.”
Bree shifted, scooting over so she could lean more of her weight back against a large rock behind her. She moved the sleeping Eva over so she was on the ground, but still next to her.
“Have you ever had anything like this happen before? I know you rafted in this area your whole life. What would’ve happened if something like that occurred once we’d hit the bigger rapids?”
He stretched his legs out in front of him, finally feeling, if not quite warm, at least not freezing. “No, I’ve never had anything like this happen to me, or even heard anything like it. And these rafts were inspected before they were brought here. A puncture would’ve been noticed.”
“It definitely wasn’t a slow leak. We jerked like we hit something.”
“That shouldn’t have made a difference either. These rafts are qualified for up to class V rapids. If they burst every time you hit a rock, there’d be people floating down the river all over the place.”
And that was the problem, wasn’t it? The raft had burst. Even if there had been some odd puncture, it should have been a slow leak, not that sort of explosion.
“I wish I could get my hands on the raft,” he continued. “It had to have been some sort of manufacturer malfunction. It was dangerous enough as is, but like you said, on bigger rapids it could have been deadly.”
“Could someone have tampered with the raft?”
Tanner thought about that for a minute. About the danger Noah had been sensing. But it just didn’t make sense. “The short answer is yes.”
Bree sighed, shifting her weight. “But the longer answer is that it wouldn’t really make sense to tamper with the raft.”
“Exactly. Too many unknown variables. We didn’t decide who was going to be in each raft until just a couple minutes before we got in them. Plus, we were never in very dangerous waters. If we had been in the other raft, and Noah, Marilyn, Barb and Francis had been in ours, they would’ve just immediately swum to shore. Nothing but a big headache.”
Bree wrapped her arms around her knees. “I guess I’m just jumpy after the fire and all the Jared stuff.”
Yeah, Tanner didn’t like that he now did not have any sort of communication with Risk Peak. Ronnie couldn’t send him an update if something happened with Jared. And his Glock was now sitting at the bottom of the Colorado River. It was time to get home.
Tanner got up and moved over until he was sitting next to her, on the opposite side of the sleeping Eva, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, that’s for sure. And in camping my dad always said you could count on some sort of calamity, but I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Well, hopefully we’ve gotten our share of bad luck all used up. None left for the wedding.”
He kissed her temple. “Nothing with us ever seems to go according to plan, does it?”
She snuggled into him. “Do you think that will be true our whole life?”
“Let’s hope not. I hereby decree that we have officially gotten all our bad luck out of our system. From here on out, no more calamities.”
“I’ll second that.”
They stared into the fire until they were both nice and warm. Tanner put his hiking pants and boots back on as the sun started to set. Sam woke up and the two of them headed to the river for fishing. Tanner explained about the flares so that the boy would know his mother wouldn’t be worried.
They ate enough to at least not be hungry, then gathered firewood to have nearby to keep the blaze going all night.
They used what they could from the rescued emergency pack for pillows and covering. It was going to be a long night, but all things considered, it could’ve been much, much worse.
Chapter Twelve
Both kids were chattering nonstop the next morning as the four of them made their way toward the rendezvous point. They weren’t in any hurry; coming from this side of the river meant they had a much shorter walk than Noah and the women did.
