Becwethan (The Leopold Dix Thrillers Book 1) Read online

  The guide arrived a few minutes later; his face one of disbelief, as he gently cut the ropes on Gustav’s neck, wrists, and ankles.

  “Is he alive?” I held his torch as he searched for a pulse.

  “I don’t seem to be able to find a pulse” he replied.

  Pascal’s team arrived progressively over the next 10 minutes with more torches and medics.

  “Fuck Leo” Pascal welcomed me as I stumbled out of the cave to give them more room to operate.

  “He’s still alive, the bastard’s still alive” I said. “We couldn’t find a pulse, but the medics have; fucking tortured.”

  “You still look like shit and that cut’s bad.”

  “They’re dealing with Gustav first, then they’ll give me the once over”.

  Pascal disappeared through the opening to see things for himself.

  I brushed the snow off and sat on the back of the cart. A helicopter came in to view, air ambulance, and landed noisily at the bottom of the ridge. After a couple of minutes the engine was killed. I just wanted to know that Gustav was going to be ok, then I could leave the rest of this crap to Pascal.

  I searched through my contacts and pressed call; “Dominique, Dom, we’ve found him.” The tears prevented any conversation for a moment. “Just listen Dom.” She gathered herself. “He’s alive, but in a pretty bad way, they’re going to airlift him to the hospital. When I know which one I’ll let you know. You need to brace yourself, he might not survive this”. There was no point in painting a rosy picture; he might be dead by the time she got to the hospital.

  After about ten minutes a stretcher came out of the cave and Gustav was carried off. A medic came over “where will he be taken?”

  “Sion and you’ll need to come too; we need to stitch up that face of yours”. I walked down the ridge trying to keep up.

  The noise from the chopper filled the cabin and we were up; Gustav swaddled in a shiny silver blanket, as pale as in the cave and motionless. He looked dead to me. We parted as soon as we arrived at the hospital. Judging by what the medical team were saying he was off to warm water immersion, rectal thermometers and other such delights. My wounds were cleaned; I’d been given some pain relief and I was waiting for a plastic surgeon to repair my face. That was how they did things in Switzerland. You had to have private medical insurance, so when something went wrong you got a specialist to put it right.

  The rock had cut right through my cheek. I’d guessed as much due to the amount of blood I’d spat out. But with a mixture of staples, sewing, and tape she carefully reconstructed my cheek. I had three hours of studying her face; she stood up well to the microscopic examination.

  “It’s going to hurt when the anaesthetic wears off” she said; her breath smelt sweet. I was given a list of do’s and don’ts.

  “Thank you” I shook her hand.

  “In six months all you’ll see is a faint line, there’ll be some damage to the follicles, but only minor. Just don’t let it get infected, follow my list carefully” she smiled.

  I was starting to get the layout of the hospital; it was my second visit after all, so I wandered down to the reception to find out where Gustav had been put. I could see Dominique in the hospital restaurant talking to her aunt, Catherine; I walked over.

  They looked up together, barely recognising me.

  “Leo, I didn’t know you’d been..”

  “It looks worse than it is, superficial” I interrupted. “What’s the status on Gus?”

  Catherine answered, Dom looked unable to speak, “They’re going for an aggressive approach to the hyperthermia; apparently that minimises the chance of brain damage. Oh and he’s in a coma” Dom began to sob quietly.

  I pulled up a chair and sat down. Catherine smiled at me. “Things have certainly been shaken up since you arrived Leo.”

  “Tell me about it!”

  We said very little for the next hour, Dom went to check on Gustav a couple of times and I barely had the strength to move.

  In due course a small mousy police woman came over. “Mr Dix?” She enquired.

  “It’s that obvious is it?”

  “Mr Vianni asked me to come over and see if you needed a lift back.”

  I left Dom and Catherine to monitor Gustav’s progress, and headed back to Grimentz.

  I woke up as the police car stopped outside the Alpina. Pascal was sitting in the afternoon sun drinking a coffee and smoking, judging by the ashtray, his umpteenth cigarette of the sitting.

  “You need to get home Leo; you can borrow one of our quads to get up if you like.”

  “No thanks, just a lift to the end of the village will suffice”.

  “Have you got Marc yet?”

  “Disappeared, fucking disappeared, just like fucking Bin Laden.”

  As I walked up the path to Rothorn I tried to imagine what was going through the heads of Marc, Raphy, and Mattieau. Were they all really involved?

  I stopped with half a kilometre to go. The pain relief was starting to wear off and I could feel my cheek twitching and pulsing with the effort, I found my water bottle and took a long swig. My lips were still numb, most of the water spilling down the front of my shirt; I was a mess.

  As I glanced up at Rothorn a sense of tranquillity returned. The water trough trickled, the chimney smoked, and a hobbling Rufus cornered the chalet with wood clasped under one arm.

  “You’re not supposed to be moving yet.” It didn’t come out as loud as I’d anticipated; the stitches and staples straining with the effort of my voice. ‘Don’t talk too much, avoid putting too much strain on the cut, it needs to mesh’ the doctor’s advice came back. Rufus hadn’t heard me, he must have sensed a presence, glancing up he saw me and gave me a huge smile.

  “Yo dad.”

  I raised my hand and opened the palm signalling for him to stop. He couldn’t walk and I couldn’t shout. I walked towards him. His face started to drop as he took on board the injuries I’d sustained. The blue black eye and cheek bone, the bandaged face, the torn clothing and the battered and grazed knuckles.

  We stood looking at one another, I opened my arms, and we hugged.

  “Must have been one hell of a party dad; you have all the fun whilst I’m stuck at home”.

  “Do you think you can muster a tea for the old man? I’m sure I can drink it if I tip my head to the side.” I took a shower and put on shorts and a t shirt, the steamer was waiting for me when I reappeared. Rufus had given me his favourite mug. I wrapped my fingers around it; perfect just perfect.

  “Thought you could use the lucky mug” he said.

  “I think Gustav’s going to need it”. Rufus had wanted to question me the second he’d seen me, but he’d exercised his usual self restraint. “I found him Rufus, but he’s critical; severe hypothermia; coma. He’d been tortured as well.”

  “Who the fuck did that?” I could see his eyes water in disbelief.

  “Probably Pierre, he was the one who led me to the hideaway; he’s the screamer I pinned on the stove.”

  “The banshee boy” Rufus nodded.

  “But Pascal and I think he was holding him there for the others. The torture may have been his own idea, or something he did to amuse himself. We’ll probably never know he took a dive off the East Ridge of the Sasseneire.”

  “The others, who are they?”

  “We think Marc, Raphy, and Mattieau; all three have disappeared from the village. Pascal’s men are checking every known hideout but it’s a huge area; they could go to ground for weeks, possibly months. It’s probably only winter that would finally drive them out.”

  Rufus and I chatted and ate; the beer and company particularly comforting.

  “I think you need one last one, pain relief,” Rufus said slipping another beer into my hand.

  “You take the pain relief, I need to sleep.” I went upstairs and collapsed into bed.

  EIGHTEEN

  I awoke at 8.00am, a full twelve hours of motionless, flat on my back, deep s
leep. I performed the necessary ablutions and re-dressed the wound. Rufus slept whilst I went about the rituals of the morning; stove to cooking temperature, tea on; cereals and a banana. I sat in the sun, just outside the chalet, listening for the whistle of boiling water.

  The car was stuck at Bendola, and the computer was in the car, I’d need to retrieve them, but that could wait for a day or so. It was important that we rest up and speed our recovery.

  The kettle whistled and I started the tea, warming the pot, two and a half tea spoons of tea leaves, water in and left it to brew. The kettle whistle had become Rufus’s alarm clock, and I could hear him starting to move; the temptation of a steamer too good to miss.

  “How are you feeling?” He enquired, limping down the stairs.

  “Like I’m back on the planet, I was pretty lightheaded when I got back yesterday.”

  We sat outside and drank the tea. A high level blanket of cloud moved swiftly south exposing the imperial crown.

  “Apparently you can ski from the Arete du Blanc all the way down to Zinal, that’s a staggering 2000m drop in altitude; Pascoe did it.” I could see that Rufus felt uncomfortable using Pascoe’s name.

  “I bet it’s a bastard skinning up. Is that your next goal?” I enquired.

  “I thought it could be our next goal” Rufus replied.

  “Something to think about;” I slurped the rejuvenating tea, tipping my head on one side to avoid contact with the cheek. “I’m going to head up to get some reception. Is there anyone you need me to call?”

  “Ah, there is one tricky call you could make. I need to let mum know that I’m ok. I’ve not spoken to her since the climb and she’ll be going nuts.”

  “Thanks, I need that conversation”. Rufus threw me his phone so I could retrieve his messages.

  I was in no hurry, so sauntered up to get some reception. My legs were stiff, fingers swollen, and head throbbed with every exertion. After twenty minutes the phones buzzed and vibrated as our messages were received. I continued up to make sure the reception wasn’t intermittent and took out my phone; eight messages; two texts from Simone’, ‘good’ I thought; two texts from an unidentified number; and four voice messages. The first thing I did was to text Jack, request my final extension, and tell him I’d be back on the email in a couple of days. Then I looked at Simone’s texts. Both checking I was ok and asking if she could help; both texts finished with a double kiss which warmed the heart. I scrolled down to the unidentified number. ‘Leo, I can’t get Rufus on his phone, Please get him to call. Fran.’ There were certainly no kisses on this one. I wondered where she’d got my number from. The next one was from Fran again ‘I am beside myself with worry, please get him to call. Fran.’ The first voice message was from Robert Epinay; “you got us hooked, we stayed up half the night remembering our old hide outs. I think we’ve come up with a couple of interesting ones, come and see me.” ‘Pascal can follow that up’ I thought. The second voice message was Fran; ‘if you don’t call me Leo, I’ll have to call the local police, this is serious.’ I pressed the call button and she answered straight away. Once I had explained that Rufus was fine, a twisted ankle, and that we lived in an area with no reception, she turned on me. I took a five minute lecture on parenting and how important it was to be able to say no to your children. When she had eventually finished I promised to get Rufus to call ‘as soon as he can hobble up to the reception point’ I’d said. The third message was Dom, I pinned the phone close, her voice was weak and shaky. ‘Leo, the doctors are pleased with his vital signs, he’s still in a coma and we’re not out of the woods, but it’s generally positive, I’ll call again soon; and Leo I didn’t thank you, you really put yourself on the line for him, thank you.’ The last message was Pascal, ‘I hope you’re recovering well Leo, I’ll come up and see you around midday, I’ve got fifty men up here doing the leg work, I’d appreciate picking over the last 24 hours, see if you can help me focus the investigation.’

  I called him back, unusually the phone went to voice messages; “Pascal; Robert and Stephan have come up with some likely hiding spots, you might like to get a trustworthy”, I stressed the word trustworthy to wind him up, “officer up to St Luc to see what they’ve come up with; oh and if you’re up at midday why don’t you bring me and Rufus some lunch; ciao?”

  I composed a quick text to Simone; ‘sorry I’ve been out of circulation, need you to come up and spend some time with me, we’re not going anywhere, so anytime good. I gave her the double kiss back and pressed send.

  The inbox was empty; I started to descend; the phone buzzed. A reply from Jack already; ‘extension ok, but last time, need you back on the job, Jack’.

  As I approached the chalet I could hear voices, Rufus was laughing, and a woman was talking. I slowly opened the door, and peered inside.

  “Catherine, it’s changed a bit.” I said opening my arms wide.

  “You’ve done a fabulous job, so comfortable; I usually only get to see the plans, never the finished article; perfect.”

  “What brings you up here?” I enquired.

  “I wanted to bring some food for you, to show you how much we appreciate what you have done for Dom. We don’t know where he is you know;” she blurted it out unexpectedly. “Remy and I have been racking our brains and we don’t know where our father is.”

  “Do you think he’s with Marc, with Raphy?” I said.

  “I know he’s not capable of what happened to Gustav.” She instinctively took another log, flicked the door of the stove open, and tossed it in. The stove had an unusual door mechanism, but it was one that she was familiar with. “But yes, I can’t imagine where else he would be;” the honesty was refreshing.

  Catherine poured a thick soup into the pan and stirred; she looked completely at home. “Why did you light all those fires for us?” I asked and fell silent. Rufus looked up, surprised by my accusation. Catherine continued to stir the soup, and then started to cut thick slices in the Paysan loaf.

  “I used to do it for our grandfather. I’d cook for him twice a week. When I heard you’d arrived I thought it’s what Grandfather would have wanted; a welcome; recognition that someone wanted to help. I couldn’t do anything in the open, Marc held a family meeting and told us to keep our distance, that you were bad news and would soon move on.”

  “Well you sure spooked the hell out of me” Rufus interjected.

  “It was a little sinister, but it kept us on our toes; thanks Catherine” I said.

  We left the soup to simmer and I gave Catherine a full guided tour. It was pleasant to spend a relaxed hour in the company of my cousin, and I was beginning to think she was a good one.

  “That eye’s gone really black, and there’s a lot of blood in the white of the eye” she said concerned.

  “It’s where a rock hit me, I don’t think it’s any worse, the colour’s just more dramatic”.

  Catherine didn’t join us for the early lunch; she needed to return to Grimentz. But, the soup and bread had made a wonderful starter for whatever delights Pascal was hopefully going to bring.

  “I’ve got about fifteen texts from mum” Rufus looked terribly guilty.

  “Well don’t worry; she’s taken all her anger and frustration out on me; you’re supposed to call in a couple of days; she’s just worried for you. But play it down; the worst thing that she thinks has happened is a twisted ankle.”

  “I was just composing a text to her actually dad, let me read it; ‘Mum, nightmare, dug two bodies up in garden, man tried to murder us on Weisshorn, Gustav’s been abducted and dad’s killed two men with his bare hands, otherwise ok.” He shook his head holding back the laughter until it exploded out of his mouth, his head rocking back. “How fast do you think she’d be out here?”

  “If she believed you she’d have you airlifted out of here in your sleep; I know you’re not going to send that, but just tell me you’re not.”

  “No worries dad, not” he laughed limping all the way to the bathroom.

/>   Pascal arrived in a sweat. His shoes and clothes inadequate for the climb he’d just made.

  “Those wouldn’t be out of place on a pimp” I said, pointing at his square toed burgundy leather shoes. He stopped and lit a cigarette,

  “I’ve been thinking about this all the way up” he said holding the smouldering fag in the tips of his fingers, “thought it might kill me if I tried to climb and smoke.”

  We sat down in a shaded area whilst Pascal cherished his cigarette; lighting his second from the butt of his first.

  “Sent one of the men to the bakers, lunch’ll be with us in half an hour”.

  “Thanks Pascal, I seem to be permanently starving, my stomach’s playing catch up.”

  “We found the two caves that Robert told you about. There were signs that one had been quite recently occupied, the other was just full of water; I’ve sent someone to St Luc to get bearings on these other possible locations.”