Iced!: The 2007 Journal of Nick Fitzmorgan (14 page)

“And …? ” I prodded, almost not wanting him to answer. “And what?”

Tears filled Uncle Benny’s eyes. “Your dad …, ” he said. “Your dad is missing. It was stupid of us to climb up here without
a Sherpa.”

“What do you mean MISSING?” I could barely form the words.

For a second, he said nothing. The wind whipped against us, stinging us with icy snow. Finally, he spoke. “Kid, I’m afraid
that your dad is gone.”

“GONE?” I was horror-struck.

He lifted up his goggles so I could see his face. “He got lost in the storm. And I don’t think there’s any hope of finding
him.”

Other kids might have burst into tears, started shouting, or maybe even fainted.

But I was too busy watching Uncle Benny’s face. Even if I was having a tough time breathing, my detective radar was apparently
still functioning. “What did you say?” I said, keeping an eye on his every move.

“Your dad is somewhere out there. Lost.”

There! Uncle Benny’s lower eyelids reddened and his brows lifted ever so slightly. I doubt many people would have even noticed
these changes, but my mind zeroed in on them.

“Why are you lying?” I asked him.

And it was like watching a deer freeze in the headlights.

Uncle Benny stared at me. “Oh, kid, now why would you say something like that?”

“Because you’re not telling the truth,” I said.

“The truth about what?” He put his goggles back over his face.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “But I do know that my dad didn’t get lost up on this mountain—”

And that’s when Uncle Benny rushed at me, his arms out.

Was he going to push me over?

My body reacted before I could even think about it. I jumped to the side and fell to the ground—just as his gloved hands landed
on my shoulder.

I grabbed at the slick ice as he yanked on my jacket, but there was nothing for me to hold onto. “No!” I shouted. Maybe it
was my terror-filled voice that caused him to stop.

For whatever reason, Benny suddenly pulled away. I lay on the ground near the cliff, out of breath and terrified.

Benny’s sudden violence seemed to have startled even himself. He took another step away from me, holding up his hands as if
to say he meant no harm. He plopped down on the nearby rock outcropping, using part of it like a chair. I pushed myself up
into a sitting position. We looked at each other, breathing heavily.

Without a word, Benny reached into his pack and took out his oxygen tank. He placed the mask over his face and breathed deeply.

UNCLE BENNY KEPT THE OXYGEN MASK.

I eyed the oxygen with real hunger. Altitude sickness was striking. My earlier hypoxia attack was nothing compared to this.
My vision was blurry, and I felt disoriented. I was so sleepy, I could barely hold my head up and had to fight to stay alert.
If I didn’t get oxygen soon, my body would begin to shut down.

Finally, Benny removed the mask. “I thought that I could get you to believe me. I guess there’s a reason I’m a producer and
not an actor.”

“Why did you kidnap my dad?” My voice sounded like an empty gasp. I was surprised he could even hear me.

“Oh, kid, I feel bad about all this,” he said. “You know, I was the one who came up with the idea for making a movie about
Sir Edmund Hillary’s famous climb. My last few movies have flopped, but this one, this one is going to be different. Your
dad helped me out with the research. And then, always the detective”—he spat this last word as if it were something disgusting—“he
decides he has to find Mallory’s camera to discover the real truth!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “All this is about a stupid movie?”

“IT’S NOT STUPID!” he suddenly screamed at me. His face flashed with rage, and I thought he might attack me again. But then
he seemed to get his emotions under control. He chuckled bitterly. “Well, one thing was stupid. Very stupid. I named the movie
HILLARY: FIRST TO THE TOP. Can you believe it? I poured millions of dollars into that movie—every last dime I had.”

“So what?” I wasn’t getting any of this. I just wanted to find my dad.

His frustration boiled to the surface. “Didn’t you hear me? The movie is called HILLARY:
FIRST
TO THE TOP! And your dad is trying to find Mallory’s camera that could show Hillary wasn’t first. No one wants to see HILLARY:
SECOND
TO THE TOP. I’ll be completely wiped out of this movie tanks.”

“I don’t understa—” I couldn’t finish my sentence. I was sucking at the air like a goldfish that’s been dumped out of its
bowl.

But it didn’t matter. Uncle Benny seemed to have almost forgotten that I was there. He ranted on. “That film could show Mallory
standing at the peak of Everest. That would make my movie the world’s biggest joke!”

“Just … change … title,” I sputtered.

He gave a fake laugh. “Ha! Well, thanks for that idea,” he said sarcastically. “It’s too late to change the title. A huge
star has signed a contract to play Hillary. If I change his character to Mallory, I’ll have to pay him double. Posters are
made, action figures are being sold, ads have appeared. … I can’t back out now.” He was almost screaming. “Everything—my money,
my reputation—is on the line! If Mallory’s camera exists, it must be destroyed!”

Uncle Benny suddenly stopped ranting. He looked at me with tears in his eyes. Real ones, this time. “You’re my godson. Without
thinking, I saved you from falling over that cliff …” After a pause, Benny added, “And that might have been a mistake.”

I felt a chill unlike any other in my heart.

“What are … you … going to do?” I stammered.

“Do you think I’m going to hurt you? Ah, kid! I’m not going to hurt you,” he said in a soothing voice. “You’re exhausted and
you’re not thinking straight. I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you close your eyes and rest for a second? Then we’ll figure out
what to do about your dad, okay?”

“No! Not okay!” I tried to yell. But my words came out slurred, like, “Na, nah okay.”

Uncle Benny smiled as if I had agreed to the plan. He put the oxygen mask back on his face and watched me.

He was right. I was feeling more and more sleepy. Without oxygen, my body was literally dosing down.

I craved sleep like I’d crave a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving.

But a voice in the back of my head told me that if I closed my eyes, I might never open them again.

I would sleep forever. And that might be exactly what Uncle Benny wanted.

I struggled to my feet.

“Sit down, kid,” Benny said gently. And when I didn’t do as he asked, his voice became as cold as the wind. “I said, sit down.”

But I stayed on my feet. Well, kind of. I wobbled back and forth, teetering close to the edge of the cliff.

He watched me, waiting for me to fall. But I managed to stagger a few steps away from the edge as if I was going to walk past
him.

Benny stood up quickly and reached out for my arm.

I called on my remaining strength and spun away. When I wasn’t there for him to grab, Benny lost his balance.

His arms pinwheeled in the air for a moment—and then he went down. His head smacked against the rock protrusion—hard—and his
body was still.

I waited a moment before moving again.

Was this a trick?

After a few seconds, he still hadn’t moved. Benny had knocked himself out.

I inched my way over to him and grabbed the oxygen mask that was lying next to him. I greedily put it over my face and sucked
in oxygen. I could feel my lungs opening up like flowers in the sun. The pain in my chest eased, and the stars in my vision
began to recede.

“Much better,” I said out loud.

Now what was I going to do?

I looked down at Benny. He had a coil of rope attached to his belt. I removed the rope and hog-tied his hands and feet. I
heard him moaning and realized that I had tied him up just in time.

Then I heard the moan again.

It wasn’t coming from Benny.

I strained to listen. The noise was coming from the other side of the rock outcropping.

Someone was over there. And it sounded like that someone was hurt.

I placed the oxygen mask back over Benny’s face and went to investigate.

When I came around the corner, I spotted my dad immediately.

He was propped up against the rock, which had protected him from the most severe effects of the blizzard. There was a gag
in his mouth, and his hands and feet were tied. An oxygen tank and mask sat on a supply sled about 2 feet away from him, too
far for him to reach.

“Dad!” I shouted and rushed to him.

I carefully removed the gag from his mouth.

“Hi, Nick,” he said with that toothy grin of his. “I see you got my message.”

I FOUND DAD TIED UP AND GAGGED!