Page 28 of The Mission

“We cheat if it gets too serious,” Dieter said. “Rurik throws a fit of temper at how childish we are, then gives up.”

Conrad enjoyed the lunch. He was disappointed when Arlo told him he couldn’t ski that afternoon but had to go back to the chalet with his brothers. The husbands were taking over childcare duty to let their wives have a turn on the slopes and Arlo had been roped in to help his mother to cook.

“You’ll come tonight, right?” Arlo asked as they left the restaurant.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Mum wants you to come almost as much as me and Ireallywant you to come.”

With all Arlo’s winks and nudges, Conrad didn’t miss the other meaning. “Okay. Call and tell me when you want me there. I’m going to have a few more runs and then go back and use the pool.”

“Snow’s forecast for this afternoon, so take care.”

They shared a kiss before they put on their helmets and skis and when Arlo went down on the cable car, Conrad skied across to a chair back up the mountain.

He discovered a lovely but tricky blue run fed by a two-person chair and went down that twice. As he queued to go up for a third and final time, he spotted Mark and several others from the group ahead of him in the queue. He thought about leaving the line but why should he? He knew he’d been seen because David called and waved to him. One more run and he’d go back to the chalet.

As Conrad came off the chairlift at the top, he skied left, taking it a little wide because the person next to him turned left as well. Mark and the others hadn’t skied down yet but were standing near the top of the slope. Other skiers were crossing in front of them and there was just room to sneak through between the back of the group and the danger marker poles. But as Conrad edged through, Mark slid back and to avoid going over his skis, Conrad was forced to move closer to the yellow and black tape. As he did, the snow dropped away beneath him and he fell sideways, tumbling down a steep slope, and he kept falling.Shit!

Conrad didn’t panic at first but when he didn’t stop sliding, his heart started to jump. He was aware that a much larger drop lay below if he didn’t stop, but to his immense relief, he slithered to a halt part-upside down, half-buried in the snow. For a long moment, he didn’t try to move. He was pretty sure he’d not broken anything, it had been a long slithering slide rather than a violent tumbling one, though he’d lost a ski.Shit!He still didn’t move but lay still, getting his breath back, waiting for the shock to fade so he could take in the situation and assess what he needed to do.

“You okay?” someone shouted down.

Not absolutely sure yet, but fairly sure.“Yes.”

He heard someone else laugh. No surprise that it was Mark.Fuck you.

Conrad carefully twisted himself round so he was lying with his head above his legs. His ski was there so he grabbed it and hauled it over. If he lost that, he was definitely in trouble. Though when he looked up, his heart sank.I’m in trouble anyway.He must have fallen about thirty feet and getting himself out of this dip was going to be hard work. The only way out was by sidestepping up, except he was faced with an almost vertical bank of soft snow, only marred by his descent. A glance downslope was even more alarming. Skiing that way was definitely not an option. He could see the town what looked like miles below.

“The rest of you ski down, I’ll stick around,” Mark said.

Conrad struggled to get to his feet, his poles and the ski he was holding, disappearing in the deep snow and offering no support. He had to clear snow from his boot before he could try to get the ski on, but to his immense relief, it clipped into place on the first attempt. He was exhausted even before he started to climb.

“Doesn’t look as though I can do anything to help,” Mark called.

Conrad wasn’t imagining the glee in his voice. “I know what you did.”

“Me? I didn’t do anything.”

“You saw me and moved back to block me.”

“You should have watched where you were going. Well, you’re the right way up and no bones are broken. I’m not waiting.”

Conrad clenched his teeth. No way would he have left anyone on their own in this position. What if he couldn’t make it to the top? What if no one else noticed he was here? There was no attendant on that lift.

He started the long climb back to the top, literally moving no more than a few centimetres or so at a time, though sometimes slipping back and losing a little of the progress he’d made. He was trying to make a sort of ladder in the snow, but every step was painfully slow and very tiring. Conrad was hot and sweaty, yet cold at the same time. He had water trickling down his back from snow that had found a way into the neck of his jacket below his helmet.

Despite his shivers, he didn’t stop moving. One step after another. He blinked as a snowflake caught on his eyelashes. A moment later, the snow wasn’t just floating down but falling so thick and fast, that visibility plummeted.Shit.Still, the only way for him was up. Couldn’t get that wrong.

It didn’t take long before Conrad was more than exhausted. Who knew there were various levels of being incredibly tired? He kept having to stop and catch his breath, only his breath didn’t want to be caught. Giving his legs a rest made no difference because he still had a mountain to climb. He even tried calling out because he wanted someone to know he was up here but no one answered and he couldn’t hear voices anymore. Or the rattle and swish of the chairlift.

One careless move made him slide back to almost where he’d started, and he could have cried. All that wasted effort. He had no choice but to start again. At least it was a little easier now he’d pressed down the snow and he risked taking bigger steps.

When he reached the point at which he’d slid back and took in how sheer it was from this point, his heart jumped out of his throat and ran up to the top on its own.If only it was that easy.Conrad was anxious about falling again. Not just because he wasn’t sure how many more levels of exhaustion he had before he ran out, but if he couldn’t stop himself sliding, he’d drop off the lip and fall into a place where no one would see him. He took off a glove, made sure he wasn’t going to lose it, and called Arlo.

“Yes, you can come round now,” Arlo said.

For a moment, Conrad was so relieved to hear his voice, he couldn’t speak.

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