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slightly in
her voice.
    "Oh no. Oh no, ma'am,"
Charlie put in quickly. "He's probably just taking a little longer to get
there with traffic and all. I'll call him later. Or have him call me when he
comes in, okay?"
    "All right, Charlie,"
Mora said. "I'll have him call."
    Putting down the receiver, she felt
a chill run down her spine. Mothers have instincts , she thought, and mine are sending me
the wrong message.
    Again, she picked up the phone and
hit the speed-dial button connecting her to Brenden's cell. Hearing the same
message that Lindsey heard earlier, she simply said, "Brenden, it's your
mother; call me." That usually was enough to make him respond right away.
She hoped so. For some reason, she prayed so.
    Charlie "Spider" Evans
was also feeling instinctive pangs about his friend, Brenden McCarthy. They had
been pals since high school, sharing everything from football to fantasies over
cheerleaders. But it was in a mutual love of the outdoors that their friendship
had taken on that special intimacy reserved for your lifetime best pal.
    Spider knew that Brenden should be
off the mountain. He knew it in his gut because he understood how respectful
his friend was of the dangers that could confront any climber. And so, Charlie
Evans made the call that would send climbers up North Maroon in search of a
young man in trouble.
    Charlie's first call was to 9-1-1,
where he talked to a dispatcher who connected him to the deputy serving as the
incident commander. In turn, the commander paged the team leader for Mountain
Rescue Aspen, an all-volunteer group of outdoorsmen and women who give their
time keeping climbing enthusiasts safe.
    Since the rescue group was made up
of volunteers, the calls and arrangements to adjust personal schedules took
hours. It was four in the morning when fifteen climbers arrived at the staging
area cabin on Main Street, Aspen. Charlie also joined them. He was known as a
very capable climber and was easily accepted as one of the team searching for
Brenden.
    Charlie initially believed the
fastest way to find his friend would be to do a helicopter drop on the top of
the mountain, because he was sure Brenden would have signed the register,
indicating his route.
    "Sounds good," Commander
Jeffries said, "but I've already made a bunch of calls, and we can't get a
helicopter up here till around nine thirty or ten o'clock in the morning. By
that time, we could already have climbers on the top. It sure would be a lot
better if the National Guard birds weren't in Iraq—then we wouldn't have to
draw from Denver to get help. So we'll do this the old-fashioned way. The hasty
team will push off in about forty-five minutes. Think you can hang with them,
Spider?"
    Charlie nodded.
    "They should be able to get to
the top at around eight o'clock. By then, we'll have two search planes in the
air with the helicopter joining and climbers staged at the bottom to search
pattern their way up the route. Okay, everybody, check over your gear, get some
coffee, and do what you've got to do to get ready."
    Forty-five minutes later, five
climbers were snaking their way up the mountain, not talking, just moving.
    Charlie thought about his friend,
and his mind went back to all the incredible memories that bonded them forever.
It was Spider who caught the touchdown passes delivered by Brenden's rocket
arm. It was Brenden who got Charlie interested in Telemark skiing, that
throwback to the original Norwegian downhill athletes. Brenden introduced
Charlie to the girl he was going to marry, and Charlie had always been there to
help Brenden study for tough exams during medical school.
    How many days ,
he thought, had
they climbed and shared the beauty of the Colorado fourteeners? He couldn't count. And now, his friend was somewhere up here, maybe hurt.
Charlie's pace picked up even more as he considered the danger.
    Arriving at the top, he found that
he was right. Brenden had marked his route up the main couloir on the mountain
manifest.