DISCLAIMER: The Sentinel and its characters are the property of Paramount Television and Pet Fly Productions. No money has or will be made from the use of these characters or stories. This story belongs to the author. Permission is given to archive.

RATING: G

THANKS TO: The many friends, fans and writers in the Sentinel universe for friendship and inspiration. Special thanks to Barb for beta reading, guidance, and especially friendship.

This story was a themefic for the SentinelAngst List.

Feedback is always welcome!

“Man, this has got to be one of the best days ever.  I’m so glad you talked me into it, Jim.”

“And you were going to spend all day inside some dusty basement packing and unpacking crates.  What a waste that would have been. ”

“I promised Jenny that I’d help her take down that exhibit and set the new one up.  But since she came down with the flu, I’ll just have to help her another day.”

Blair reached into his pack and pulled out a couple of apples, tossing one over to Jim, who was sitting on a nearby rock.  He closed his eyes and took a bite, savoring the juicy fruit as he tilted his head back to face the warm sun. 

They’d been hiking along the beach of the Olympic National Park for almost two hours before they decided to stop for lunch.  It was a beautiful late summer day, sunny and warm, and Jim had decided that they needed to get out and enjoy the weather while it lasted.  It would be fall all too soon, and sunny days would be few and far between.

Both men had been working overtime recently, and their already aching muscles reminded them that they’d each been getting too little sleep as well as too little physical activity for a while.  Finding several large flat rocks together that looked like a perfect dining and resting spot, they’d happily dropped their packs and sat down with contented sighs.

Looking around at the natural beauty that surrounded him as he finished his apple, Blair was reminded again how much he loved living in Washington, despite all of the exotic locales that he had visited in his life.  Waves gently lapped at the shore several feet away, and the steep cliff behind them was home for a variety of species of birds whose chirps and calls were carried on the soft breeze.  Spotting movement out of the corner of his eye as he glanced upward to the row of tall pines and cedars edging the cliff, he looked over to spot a bald eagle wheeling in the air before coming to rest on the limb of a dead tree.  Turning to point it out to his roommate, he stopped just before he spoke.

Jim was stretched out on his rock, his pack behind his head and his Jags baseball cap pulled forward over his face. He was snoring gently.  The combination of fresh air, warm sunshine, and exercise had lulled him into relaxation and finally sleep. 

Blair knew a good thing when he saw one, so he maneuvered his pack and jacket around on the rock surface before stretching out and closing his eyes himself.

---------------

Rolling onto his side, Jim slowly came to wakefulness as his back told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t sleeping in his bed in the loft.  He opened his eyes gradually, deeply breathing in the fresh salt air, and tipped his baseball cap back on his head.  Sitting up and stretching, he saw Blair deep in slumber on a nearby rock, curled up on his side with his jacket pulled partly over his head.  He pulled his own jacket tighter and suddenly noticed that the sun had disappeared, having been replaced by thick clouds and a freshening breeze.  The temperature had probably dropped ten degrees while they had been sleeping.

He glanced at his watch.  It seemed that they had slept a couple of hours, much longer than he had wanted.  Glancing up, he saw that the surf was much closer to the shore, the tide obviously coming in quickly.

Sliding off the side of the rock, he jogged over to awaken Blair.

“Hey, Chief, wake up.  We’ve gotta get moving.”

Never a quick riser, Blair merely curled up more tightly.

“Blair, I mean it.  We’ve gotta go, the tide’s coming in and we’re gonna get wet if we don’t move it.”

Punctuating his words with a firm shake of his partner’s shoulder, he finally roused him.

“What?  What’s going on?” he yawned sleepily.

“The weather’s changed and the tide is coming in fast.  We’ve gotta move.”

Sitting up and blinking, Blair looked around him before taking in the darkening clouds and the approaching waves.

“Wow!  How long did we sleep?”

“Too long.  And we hadn’t hiked as far as we’d planned before we stopped to rest.  We are seriously behind schedule.  Let’s go.”

Groaning as he got up and reorganized his pack, Blair was up and ready to go in a few minutes.  The two of them set off at a brisk pace, hoping to make up some of their lost time.  The wind continued to pick up, now blowing both spray and sand occasionally into their faces.

An hour later, they rounded a rocky point and came to a sudden halt.  The incoming tide completely covered the beach twenty feet in front of them and was already lapping gently at the cliff face. 

“Damn!  Now what?”  Blair cursed.

Both men quickly looked around and behind them.  Behind them they could see that the strip of beach they had been walking had narrowed greatly, and it wouldn’t be long before all of it would be submerged in the pounding surf.

They were in serious trouble.  There were no paths up the cliff face, and they could not wade or swim out of there.  The water was cold enough to cause hypothermia in minutes and there was a dangerous undertow, not to mention the logs and other debris that would be picked up by the surf and tossed around with abandon as soon as the water reached them.

He looked over at Blair, hearing his breathing speed up as he looked at the encroaching surf, his face suddenly paler.  Stepping over to his side, he rested one hand on the younger man’s shoulder.

“Take it easy, Chief.  We’ll figure this out.  Let’s head back a ways.  I think the beach was quite a bit wider around that last point.”

Turning and heading back the way they came, they trudged up the beach and around the last point.  The beach was indeed wider here, but not by a lot.  Jim looked farther up the beach, but couldn’t see anywhere that the beach was wider or where there was a noticeable path up the cliff face.

“It looks like this is it.  Let’s find a place to sit for a minute.”

They walked to the back of the beach and sat down on one of the logs that lay there, catching their breath.  They were surrounded by dozens of logs, branches and other debris that was routinely picked up by the surf at high tide and thrown about until the tide ebbed and the waves crawled away from the land. 

Had it not been so threatening, it would have been an awe-inspiring sight.  The surf built and pounded against the outer rocks, eventually sliding in with a hiss as it dispersed in the sand of the beach.  Both men were reminded that nature was occasionally as deadly as it was beautiful.

As the minutes passed, the water drew closer and closer.  Eventually, with only a few feet between them and the tide, they glanced again at the cliff face at their backs.  They would have to try to climb up, or they would likely be either drowned or battered to death in the surf.

---------------

Blair watched Jim stand and tighten the straps to his backpack.  Settling his baseball cap as snugly as he could to resist the gusting wind, he stood on the highest of the tumbled logs to run his gaze across the face of the cliff.  Any ledge, any hole for a handhold, could mean a route to safety.

He fidgeted in place, nervously watching as the water seemed to inch closer with each passing moment.  A hand dropping on his shoulder caused him to jump.

“Sorry, Chief.  Are you ready?  I think I’ve found us a route up the cliff.  I’ll go first, and you watch where I place my hands and feet. It’s not straight up, it looks like it veers to the right and up.  Let me get at least 15 or 20 feet ahead before you start to follow, I wouldn’t want to knock you off if I slip.”

Blair gulped as he looked up again at the cliff.

“I’ve never done anything like this, Jim, you know me and heights.  I’ve only done a little ropes course, and that was with ropes, harness, and lots of spotters.”

“We’re gonna make it, Chief.  Just…”

“Don’t say it, Jim…”

“…don’t look down.”

Blair groused under his breath.  “Why does everyone always say that?  Like I wouldn’t know that I was going to be way too damned high up in the air unless someone said that?”  He stopped muttering as he spotted some weeds growing out of a crack in the rocks.  “Wait a minute, Jim.  I think I see something that could help us.”

He scrambled across the uneven log surfaces to the cliff face.  Pulling out his pocket knife, he reached up over his head and cut a couple of handful of weeds loose, stuffing the pockets of his jacket until they were full.  Making his way back to Jim’s side, he looked up at Jim’s puzzled expression with a slight grin on his face.

“What are you gonna do with those?  Smoke ‘em so you won’t be afraid of heights?”

“Always the comedy man…the stems of these weeds are filled with something like sap.  It’s pretty thick and sticky.  I think we could put some of this on our hands and the toes of our boots, and let it dry for a minute.  It might help us hold on a bit.  It stinks, and it’ll make our skin turn yellow for a couple of days, but it could work.”

Using the knife, he cut into the fibrous stems of each of the weeds and squeezed the sap out into Jim’s, and then his own, hands.  Each spread the liquid over the palms of his hands and fingertips, and put a bit on the toes and soles of their shoes.  Holding their hands up into the stiff breeze, the juice dried to tackiness quickly.

Jim touched his fingertips together, testing his now tacky and yellowed skin, then grinned.

“Way to go, Chief.  That should really help.”  He turned and glanced up at the cliff briefly, then at the rising water.  “No time like the present. Let’s get moving.”

Blair followed Jim over to the cliff face, then took a couple of steps back so he could see Jim’s movements clearly.

With a look of steely determination, Jim reached up for his first handhold and began his ascent.  Slowly he moved upwards and slightly away from Blair, who closely monitored his partner’s upward path.  The wind continued to grow stronger, and now a heavy mist began to fall.  He struggled to keep the hair out of his face so he could see the path up the cliff clearly despite the worsening weather.

An occasional curse drifted down to him, as several potential spots for hand- or foot-holds didn’t turn out to be as good as they’d looked from the ground.  His breath suddenly froze in his throat as Jim’s right foot slipped, momentarily flailing behind him as he struggled to maintain the grip of his hands and other foot.

“I’m all right,” Jim grunted out as he pulled his leg in and regained a toehold.  “I’m all right.”

Resuming the act of breathing with relief, Blair looked behind him and shuddered at the nearness of the water.  Taking a deep breath, he moved up to the cliff face and readied to begin his own climb, murmuring “I can do this, I can do this,” under his breath as he geared himself up for the effort.

He looked up at a scuffling and scraping sound, then a shouted, “look out!” split the air.  Jumping back, he gasped in horror as Jim plummeted down the cliff face and crashed into the rocks and logs below.

Stunned for just a moment, Blair quickly recovered and ran toward his partner, slipping on the damp bare surface of the pile of huge driftwood once and landing hard on one knee.  Scrambling to his feet, not noticing the tear in both the knee of his jeans and the damp skin beneath, he raced to kneel by the still form of his friend.  Jim lay crumpled among the logs, face down, unmoving.  Crawling closer, Blair gingerly reached over to lay his hand on the side of Jim’s neck, almost afraid to touch him for fear of what he might find.  Just as he told himself sternly to calm down and feel for a carotid pulse, Jim moaned and stirred.

“Oh, thank God!  Jim, don’t move!  Don’t move until we know how badly you’re hurt.”

His arms slowly moving up to roll himself over, Jim grunted in reply.

”I’m all right.  Just got the wind knocked out of me.  I guess I was standing on a loose rock, it just gave way all of a sudden." 

“Slow, Jim, just take it slow and easy.”  Blair grasped his arm and shoulder gently but firmly.  “Let me give you a hand.  You might be hurt worse than you think.”

As Jim sat up and twisted slightly to get fully upright, he suddenly stopped with a jerk and a sharp intake of breath.  “Ow!  Maybe I did bruise something.”  He reached down to grasp his right ankle tightly.  “Must have twisted it when I landed.”

“Here, let me take a look.”  Blair sat next to him on the log and carefully lifted Jim’s leg to rest on his lap.  He untied the shoestrings and carefully eased the hiking boot off.  “I gotta tell you Jim, you scared me for a minute there.  Greg Louganis you ain’t.  I’ll give you a 9.5 for the dive, but you only get a 5.0 for the landing.”

“Boy, you’re tough,” Jim complained, although the grin on his face showed that he knew how scared Blair had been and how he was trying to cut the tension with humor.  “Ow - hey, watch it!”

Blair carefully felt over Jim’s foot and ankle, then gently moved the foot a bit.  “How does that feel?”

“Sore, but not a sharp pain like it would be if it were broken.  Here, let me see.”

Reaching down and running his sensitive hands over and around his own ankle, Jim finally stopped and leaned back with a sigh.  “I’m pretty sure it’s not broken, but it’s a little warm, like it’s sprained and swelling.  Damn!  We don’t have time for this.”

“All right, take it easy.  I’ll wrap it up, then we’ll put your boot back on before it swells so much that you can’t get it back on.  At least your boot will give it some support.”

Pulling off his backpack and setting it down on a log, Blair reached in and pulled out the small first aid kit that he carried there.  Pulling out an elastic bandage, he began wrapping it carefully around Jim’s injured ankle, his tongue sticking out of one corner of his mouth in concentration.  He looked up at Jim’s quick intake of breath.

“Sorry, man.  It’s gotta be snug.  Try to dial it down, Jim.  Believe me, it will feel better once I’m done.”

Completing his task, Blair loosened the shoestrings on the boot and carefully eased it back onto Jim’s foot, grimacing in sympathy at another gasp from Jim.  He did the best he could at tying the shoestrings snugly without cutting off the circulation.  Finishing with a heavy sigh, he looked up.

“How’s that?”

He watched as Jim gingerly moved his foot up and down just a bit.  “I can’t move it much, but that’s probably a good thing.  It hurts, but it doesn’t feel loose or weak.  Thanks, Chief.”

Slowly he struggled to his feet, one hand on Blair’s shoulder for support.

“Easy, Jim.  Take it easy.”

“I’m okay.  We need to get moving, the water is already building under these logs.  Much more and they’ll be afloat, and we’ll really be in trouble.”

Blair looked down with a nervous swallow.  “Okay.  Look, I’m gonna take the lead.  You can follow this time.”

“Chief…”

“I’ve gotta do this, Jim, and you know it.  With that ankle, you don’t have as much of a physical advantage now.  Give me a little bit of a lead, then come on up.”

Jim glared at him for a moment, then shook his head and looked down.

“All right.  Go for it.”

Their eyes meeting for just a moment in mutual support and encouragement, Blair finally turned to the cliff face.  Replacing the first aid kit in his pack and pulling it on, he jerked  the straps snugly before wiping the wet hair out of his face and trying to tuck it back behind his ears.

“Here goes nothing.”

Scanning the cliff surface for just a moment, he reached up for his first handhold and began his ascent.

---------------

Looking up, the park ranger smiled at the tall man who had just entered the Ranger Station, shaking his jacket to knock off some of the rain that had accumulated there.

“Can I help you, sir?”

Captain Simon Banks glanced at his wristwatch then returned the smile.

“I’m looking for a couple of friends of mine.  They were hiking along the beach today, and they’d planned to check in here on their way out, then call me to meet them.  I haven’t heard from them and they’re 45 minutes late.  Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg.  Have they checked in?”

The ranger pulled a clipboard out from under the counter and looked down at it for a few moments.

“No, I don’t see that they’ve signed in here on their way out of the park.  You said that they were hiking along the beach?”

“That’s right.  It was a lot nicer earlier today when they set out.”

“It sure was.  I thought we might get lucky and have a completely dry day, but that front moved in too quickly.”  He reached into a drawer and pulled out a tide table.  “You said that they were supposed to be here 45 minutes ago?”

“That’s right.  And if you knew Jim Ellison, you’d know that he’s never late.  The man is totally compulsive about being on time.”

“Well, normally I wouldn’t be too concerned, there can be a lot of reasons for someone to be a bit late.  But this afternoon’s tide is unusually high, several feet higher than your average high tide.  Depending on how late they really are, they could be trapped or already in real trouble depending on where they might be on the coast.”

Simon glared at him.  “What do you mean by real trouble?”

“In many areas along this stretch of coast, at high tide the water rises several feet up the cliffs and there is nowhere for hikers to go to reach safety.  Several people have died, either by drowning or by being crushed by the logs and other debris crashing about in the surf.” 

“What can we do?”

“I’ll call and see if there is a Coast Guard helicopter that can fly along the beach and see if they can spot them.  If so, and they’re in trouble, we can send a rescue team out.”

“Do it, then.  I’m a captain with Cascade PD, and these are two of my men.  If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.”

“I will.  For now, let’s see about that chopper.”

Walking over to the large window that gave a view of the top of the cliff and the ocean, Simon removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.  The darkening sky reflected his mood as his concern grew about his co-workers and friends.

---------------

The cold and wind seemed to have thoroughly penetrated every inch of his being, as had the now-persistent rain.  It seemed as if they had been stranded here on the cliff face forever, waiting either for someone to come along and rescue them or for the tide to go out so they could climb down.  Jim focused on his senses of cold and pain and deliberately dialed them down, carefully adjusting his sense of touch so he could be more comfortable, but not so numb that it would affect his balance or grip on the rocky wall.

He glanced up and over at his partner, about five feet away.  He could see the shivers that racked his body, and even though he could only see Blair’s face intermittently because of the wind that whipped the long curly hair around, he knew it was pale and grayish with cold.

“How are you doing, Chief?  Hanging in there?”

“You bet.  Nothing better to do, you know?  How’s your ankle?”

Jim noted the trembling in his voice, not entirely covered by the bravado and forced casualness of his tone.

“Not too bad.  Maybe the cold is keeping it from swelling so much.”

Blair responded with a snort.  “Right.”

Both men had their feet, or more precisely their toes, resting on a thin ledge that angled across the front of the steep surface.  The surf pounding into the cliff face below their feet seemed all too close, even though it was almost twenty feet below them.  The top of the cliff was much more distant above them, but they had stopped at the ledge.  The wind and rain had increased steadily, making their progress more difficult and more dangerous.  Each had momentarily slipped several times, and both had agreed to stop at the ledge, uncertain that they could go any further without a tragic accident.

The ledge had turned out to be so narrow and the weather so increasingly fierce that they had been unable to turn around or sit, so they were plastered face first against the cliff, facing each other, literally holding on for dear life.

Jim’s hands were scraped and raw, and he could see that Blair’s had fared no better.  He decided to try for a little encouragement.

“We shouldn’t have to hang on much longer, Chief.  I’m sure that we’re late enough that Simon or the rangers should be looking for us.”

“You think so?  You think that anyone could spot us through the storm?”

“Sure they could.  This isn’t a storm.  It’s…it’s…just a little drizzle.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

A cough interrupted Blair’s reply.  Jim was getting more worried as he observed his partner.  Blair was shivering more strongly, his skin pale and his lips almost bluish, and was likely suffering from hypothermia.  Jim knew that he wasn’t faring much better, but he’d worn a waterproof coat and a baseball cap that offered at least some protection from the wind and rain.  Blair, ever the optimist, had only brought a light jacket, planning that the weather was going to stay warm and dry all day.  Now he was completely soaked and getting colder by the moment as sundown approached.

Subtle thumping noises interrupted his assessment.  Daring to try to turn his head and disturb his balance, he looked up the coast and extended both his eyesight and hearing to pierce the wind-blown rain.

“Hey, Chief, I think the cavalry is coming.”

The sound and vibration grew as the bright red Coast Guard helicopter approached, a technological angel come to save the day.  Jim let loose a sigh of relief and let his head fall forward to rest against the rock.  It wouldn’t be long now, and they would be rescued from their precarious perch above the ocean.

“Bout time…”

“Just hang on.”

“I don’t think I could move if I tried, Jim.  They’re gonna have to pry my fingers loose to get me down.  Hey, how will they get us down?”

“Are you sure you wanna know?”

“Oh, man, not hanging from the end of a rope…not again…maybe I can just stay here until the tide goes out…”

“Don’t worry about it, Chief.  It’ll be over before you know it.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of!” Blair wailed as the roar of the chopper drowned out any further reply.

THE END