by Val Welch
“Morgan went through the transcripts from her phone calls. She had gone through the drainage and was working her way around the perimeter of the mountain. They ran that information through a topographic map interface and projected her current location. And that’s where we’re going right now.”
“How far?”
“Six to seven miles from here. Now that the snow has let up we should be there in less than two hours. I downloaded the map onto my GPS,” Carson said, patting his pocket.
“Damn, I’m feeling a lot better about this.”
“Me too, I thought it was hopeless there for a while.”
Four hours later, Gabe and Carson stood huddled together looking at the GPS again. Carson’s hand was shaking as he pulled his glove off with his teeth and pushed the buttons on the unit. “Damn. We should have found her two hours ago. What are we going to do?” he asked, desperation riding on every word.
Gabe looked at the GPS then toward the thin line of light on the eastern horizon. “Let’s walk away from the rim toward civilization, that’s what she would have done. She just made it further than they projected. How far is the highway from here?”
Carson looked at the topo map on the GPS. “Five miles due east,” he said, pointing directly into the sunrise as he began to move in that direction.
Gabe grabbed his shoulder. “Carson, call Morgan and have him get people out on the highway in front of us.”
Carson pulled out the satellite phone and made the call while Gabe listened. “Morgan, it’s Carson. She’s not here. We did the grid twice, we’re moving toward the highway. Get some coverage out on the highway moving toward us.”
“I think that’s a mistake. There’s no way she made it that far. Stay at your location; the choppers are in route.”
“Fuck you, Morgan. Get them out there now.”
“Carson, you’re losing it. This is a tactical error that could cost Shelby her life.”
Gabe grabbed the phone. “Agent Morgan, we found her footprints half an hour ago. She’s headed toward the highway near Buzzard Springs Road. I’m calling my office and diverting all available personnel to that location and I suggest you do the same immediately.”
“Chief Navarro, you better be right about this. I’m not going to lose her.”
“I’m right. Just do it,” Gabe said, ending the call and then dialing his office.
“Frank, it’s Gabe,”
“Gabe, where are you?”
“Listen. Dispatch all available units to Highway 73 in the vicinity of Buzzard Springs Road. We think that Shelby Ryan is going to walk out of the forest in that area. Call me back at this number and keep me informed.”
“Will do.”
He handed the phone back to Carson. “Come on. Let’s spread out, keep a visual on each other and get to the highway.”
Carson nodded and they split apart, both running through the snow covered forest toward the highway.
Gabe saw them as he ran by. He skidded to a stop and yelled for Carson, who tore across the fifty yards that separated them. They both stood looking at the frozen footprints in the snow.
“What do you think?”
“Yeah. It’s her. See that emblem? It’s from a Montrail hiking boot. I gave her a pair for Christmas last year.” He jumped up and grinned. “Come on.”
They ran along the footprints which were heading straight toward the highway. Half an hour later they could hear the highway and burst out of the forest at the bottom of a steep, cinder coated embankment at the base of the highway.
“Look.” Carson pointed at the shallow grooves leading up the embankment. “She crawled up to the road right there.”
Gabe was already running along the embankment to the point where the road started up it. Carson followed. They rounded the end of the guardrail and sprinted up the highway until they found the spot where she had pulled herself over the guardrail and onto the roadway. “Someone picked her up already,” Gabe said. He grabbed the phone and called the station.
“Helen, it’s Gabe. Any sign of Shelby yet?”
“Nothing’s been reported.”
“We tracked her to the highway, and she’s not here. Maybe someone stopped for her. Check the hospital and call me back.”
“Okay, where exactly are you? I’ll send Frank out there.”
“We’re on Highway 73 just south of Buzzard Springs Road.”
“Gabe, I’ll have him there in ten minutes, hold on.”
Carson took the phone and called Morgan. “It’s Carson. Did someone pick her up on the highway?”
“No, she’s not there?”
“Her tracks end at the highway.”
“Not us. It must have been a passerby. I’ll check with the hospital and call you back.”
“Gabe’s got his office doing that. Send the crime scene guys out here. They may be able to come up with something.”
“Carson, hold on, we’re just down the road.”
Carson collapsed onto the guard rail, head in hands, and elbows on knees. His shoulders shook as he sobbed. “I know she’s going to show up. I’m just so ready for this fucking nightmare to be over.”
Gabe sat down a couple of feet away, equally despondent but unable to express it. “Carson, buddy, we’ve got to hang in there. She could be at the hospital right now.”
Carson looked up, struggling to compose himself as a Pine Ridge Police Department SUV stopped in front of them and Frank rolled down the window. “Now you two look like shit. Get in and get warm. I’ve got coffee and donuts in here.”
Exhausted now that the adrenalin rush was over, they staggered to the SUV. Carson paused at the open back door and turned to Gabe. “If she doesn’t show up at the hospital in the next hour, we need to get Walter and Moses on a chopper and track her down again.”
Gabe slid in the front passenger seat and took Frank’s radio. “Unit six to Base, Helen this is Gabe.
“Gabe, she’s not at the hospital. I just spoke with Doc Ryan. He’s on his way to your location.”
“Okay, Helen, keep checking the hospital and call me back the second you hear anything.”
“Ten-four. I’m on it. Base out.”
Frank turned to them. “The snowplow just went through. Maybe he saw her or her footprints.”
“Great idea, Frank. Call the highway department maintenance yard and get patched through to the snowplow driver. We need to know when he went through here and if he saw anything, her footprints in the snow, tire tracks, anything that might be relevant,” Gabe said, digging through the console for crime scene tape.
“Here’s Doc,” Carson said as Doc’s car skidded to a stop at the edge of the road in front of them. Doc was out of the car before it even quit moving and running toward them.
Carson stepped out of the back seat and Doc wrapped his arms around him. “Where is she? Are you sure she’s not still out there somewhere?”
“No Doc, her tracks end right there.” Carson pointed to the area behind the guard rail. “We have the crime scene guys on the way, and Frank is calling the snowplow driver to see if he saw anything when he went through here a few minutes ago.”
Gabe handed Carson the end of the crime scene tape. “Help me string this up. We need to secure the scene.”
Doc followed Gabe across the highway. “Secure the scene? What do you think happened here?”
“We don’t know, but until we do, we’re going to preserve any evidence that may still be here.”
Doc wandered back to Carson and watched as he tied the crime scene tape to the guard rail on the opposite side of the highway. “You’re closing the highway? You must suspect foul play. What aren’t you telling me?”
“You know everything we know.”
“Don’t you think you’re over reacting here?”
Carson hung his head. “Doc, I can’t tell you the last time Gabe or I slept or ate. We may be overreacting, but I’d rather overreact than underreact. Okay?”
Doc slumped against the side of hi
s car. Carson put his arm around his shoulders. “Doc, we’re all exhausted, but we can’t give up hope.”
Frank jumped out of his truck and ran toward them. “She’s in the snowplow on the way to the hospital.”
Thirty-Nine
Shelby woke slowly, her mind trying to protect her as long as possible from the pain of consciousness. The room was dim and quiet. The smell very familiar to a doc’s kid.
She moved and immediately regretted it, crying out as the excruciating pain in her hands and feet brought tears to her eyes. Then he was beside her. His voice soothing, his hand gentle as he took her pulse and then the tiny prick of pain and blessed oblivion again.
The next time she woke, he was standing at the end of the bed, changing the bandages on her feet.
She groaned.
“This is not a good time to wake up, baby,” he whispered, patting her hand before she felt the prick in her arm and again the darkness.
At last she woke, and knew she was better. She slowly surveyed the room and he was there, in the chair next to her bed, smiling as he stood and gently touched her face. “Ah, there’s my girl.”
She moved her heavily bandaged hand across the blanket as a single tear tracked down her cheek. “Daddy,” she whispered.
“Shhh, baby, it’s okay. You’re going to be fine. Try not to move around too much just yet.”
“How long have I …?”
“Not too long. You have frost bite on your feet and hands. It’s going to be painful, but you’ll fully recover.”
She looked up, blinking away the tears. “Don’t give me drugs … bad for baby.”
“Baby?”
She nodded as her eyelids dipped closed.
* * * * *
Doc carefully applied salve to her face and lips before stepping out of the isolation room and shedding his infection precaution gear. Initially, he’d feared she would lose part of her left foot and toes from her right to frostbite, but each day she continued to improve. And now, he was gradually weaning her from the medications that had made the excruciatingly painful treatment bearable.
Because of all the drugs, the possibility of her being pregnant concerned him. He went to the nurses’ station, checked her chart and was writing up a rush order for a pregnancy test when he heard the inevitable. “Doc, how is she doing?”
Doc looked up, prepared to send him packing again, and then reconsidered. “She’s doing better today. The wounds and edema are healing. I think today will be her last whirlpool treatment. She’s having less pain … all in all … things are definitely improved.” He nodded. “In fact, I’ll let you go in. You’ll have to scrub and suit up first, and absolutely no touching her. Okay?”
Carson’s eye’s filled with tears. “Okay. Now?”
“Give me thirty minutes and I’ll take you in.”
“I’ll be waiting at the window.” He turned, crossed the hall and took up his usual post in front of the ICU observation window where he simply watched her sleep.
* * * * *
Carson stepped up to the window. He was relieved to see that her color was better and she seemed to be sleeping peacefully as opposed to the drug induced coma she’d been in for the last five days. He wanted to hold her so bad, his whole body ached.
He glanced over his shoulder at Doc. He still looked like hell, but seemed to have gotten control of his emotions. He’d been a lunatic the first few days, screaming at everyone and refusing to let anyone else care for Shelby. It was so far out of character for him that everyone just sucked up and took it. But today, the real Doc was back and that gave Carson hope that all was going to be right with Shelby.
He looked back at Shelby and realized she was awake and looking right at him, smiling that little lopsided smile she had when she first woke up. She moved her hand and put it over her heart.
Doc was talking to one of the nurses, when Carson spun around. “She’s awake. I need to go in.”
Doc grinned and motioned to the nurse. “Nancy, please take Romeo in before he vaporizes the glass.”
Nancy laughed and walked toward him. “Come on, Romeo, let’s get you scrubbed and suited up.”
A few minutes later, gowned from head to toe, he walked into her room alone. She was still awake and smiling.
“Thank God you’re not a doctor,” she said, softly. “That’s not a good look for you.”
“I love you,” he managed to blurt out.
She patted the bed. “Come here, lover boy.”
He stepped closer and glanced out the window at Doc who was watching his every move. “I promised not to touch you.”
She patted the bed again. “I didn’t make any promises.”
“Okay.” He took another couple of steps. “I just don’t want to be banned by the all powerful Doc.”
She moved her head slightly toward the chair. “Just sit next to me then.”
He sat down, his eyes level his hers. “So, how bad is it?”
“Not too bad. Right now my feet tingle like they fell asleep.”
“Damn, you scared the hell out of us.”
She frowned. “What happened anyhow? How did I get here?”
“What do you remember?”
“I was walking in the snow and I really wanted to lay down and go to sleep, but a baby kept crying and wouldn’t let me.” She glanced around the room. “Can I have some water?”
“Let me ask,” he said, pushing the call button.
Nancy waved through the window. “Yes, Romeo, what do you need?”
“She wants some water.”
Nancy conferred with Doc and then looked back at Carson. “She can have some ice chips. Meet me at the door.”
Carson met her and she handed him a small cup of crushed ice. “Just a few spoonfuls. We don’t want her throwing up.”
He went back to Shelby, “Okay, open wide,” he said, offering her a small spoonful.
She took the ice in her mouth and rolled it around, relishing the cool moisture before swallowing it. “Nice. My mouth tastes disgusting. I look horrible, don’t I? Doc keeps smearing goop all over my face.”
He shook his head. “You look amazing to me,” he said, offering her another small spoonful.
She dutifully opened her mouth.
He laughed.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, slurping as she talked around the ice.
“I kind of like how docile you are right now.”
She swallowed. “I like the whole maternal thing you’re doing … kinda turns me on.”
“Ahhh, be a nice girl.”
“I thought you liked naughty girls …”
Doc buzzed them on the intercom, “FYI, the all-powerful Doc can hear everything you’re saying in there. And Carson, buddy, you’ve got five more minutes.”
“Yes, sir,” Carson said, saluting him through the window.
“Damn, you’re busted, coming on to an invalid.” She smiled as her eyes dipped closed briefly.
Carson sat back and watched her fight to keep her eyes open. “Shelby, don’t fight it. Go to sleep. The all-powerful Doc is going to let me come back later.” He looked up at Doc, who smiled and nodded toward the door.
“Love you,” she whispered, eyes fluttering again, and then closing.
“I love you too,” he whispered, standing and slowly walking to the door. He turned and took one last look at her peacefully sleeping before leaving.
He joined Doc and Nancy at the nurses’ station and leaned over the counter. “She’s doing much better, isn’t she?”
Doc walked around the counter and led Carson toward a sheltered alcove in the hallway. “Yes, physically she is doing better. But, she seems to be a little disoriented and may have some short-term memory loss.”
“Yeah, I notice that she wasn’t really clear about what happened and thinks she heard a baby crying.”
“She believes she’s pregnant, but I just ran a pregnancy test and it was negative.”
“Well, we are trying to get pregnan
t.” He grinned. “So, it could just be something bouncing around in her subconscious.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s possible.”
“How soon can a test detect pregnancy?”
“With a blood test, usually it’s at least ten days after conception before the HGC levels show an increase.”
Carson grinned. “Test her in three more days.”
Doc shook his head grinning. “That’s just way too much information.”
Carson laughed. “Oh, she’s pregnant. You can count on it, Grandpa.” He started down the hall, and then turned around. “Doc, one more thing. When do you think I can put a ring on her finger?”
Doc smiled. “She’ll have the bandages off her hands in a couple of days.”
“You’re okay with that right?”
“Oh yeah, Carson, I’m very okay with it.”
“Good, I’ll be back later. I’m going to go catch some bad guys.”
Forty
Gabe sat motionless in front of his computer, staring at the blinking cursor. The official incident report of Shelby’s kidnapping was finished. He’d been brutally honest about his failure to immediately arrest Troy and Joaquin after they admitted their EFA involvement. He’d also had a long conversation with Mayor Timmons who had asked him to take a medical leave of absence until he finished the prescribed six weeks of physical therapy for his shoulder. He took a deep breath and pushed the send button, knowing it was his last official act for at least six weeks and maybe forever.
Helen was waiting in the outer office. He paused, waiting for the inevitable. “Chief, I want you to know that none of us think this is your fault. How could you possibly know they would kidnap Shelby Ryan?”
Frank leaned against a file cabinet behind her, nodding his head. “She’s right, Chief. Hell, you had no way of knowing if Eden was even telling the truth. She doesn’t exactly have a good track record in that department.”
Gabe smiled at the two of them. “Thanks, but I screwed up. Whatever happens, I’ve really enjoyed working with you guys and appreciate all your support over the years. Sheriff Presler is sending Marsh Truman over to help out for the next few weeks until this whole thing shakes out.”
