by Susan Stoker
He looked around at the desolate property and the hair on his arms stood up. Laine was close. He could feel it.
Before they could split up to begin searching for her, a line of cars made their way up the long driveway. All of Dax’s friends piled out. Quint, Hayden, Cruz, Calder, TJ, and even Conor, came up to them.
An ambulance bounced along the driveway next, as well as a brush truck from Station 7. A short woman who Wes now recognized as the infamous Penelope Turner, the Army Princess herself, popped out, along with five other firemen. Even though he’d met them in passing before, they were quickly re-introduced as Moose, Sledge, Chief, Squirrel, and Driftwood.
“Taco and Crash had to stay back in case we got any calls, and they’re pissed. But they said if we needed anything, to call it in and they’d send anyone and everyone they could,” the tall firefighter named Moose explained to the group.
Wes wasn’t sure who Taco and Crash were, but he didn’t care. He was feeling extremely emotional at the moment, thankful for the support of so many wonderful men and women.
He swallowed the knot in his throat and quickly organized a search. “Okay, everyone pair up. A firefighter with a cop. Don’t be a hero. If you find her, call out, but be careful. We have no idea what the structural integrities of the buildings are. There might be a bad guy hiding out. The last thing we want is a shoot-out or a hostage situation. Be smart, stay alert. If you find anything, don’t touch it. If there are fingerprints, we need to preserve them. Look down, you can see her footprints. She’s wearing boots. Don’t mess them up, if you can help it. They could help later. If you find, Laine,” Wes’s voice cracked, but he choked it down and continued with determination, “call out or whistle so the rest of us can get there to help. Any questions?”
When no one said a word, they all spread out, watching where they were walking, trying not to obliterate Laine’s footsteps as they went.
Dax stayed with Wes as the other pairs headed out. Some went toward the barn, others toward the house. Squirrel and Calder headed up the driveway, looking for clues, and TJ and Driftwood walked around the back of the barn.
Neither Wes nor Dax said a word as they started around the house, following Laine’s footprints. Noticing as she stopped here and there to look at the foundation or a gutter that was barely hanging on to the side of the house. They got all the way back around the house and hadn’t found any sign of Laine.
Wes stopped and turned in a circle, looking for . . . something. He wasn’t sure what, but his gut was screaming at him that they were missing something vital.
“What is it?” Dax asked, standing patiently by his side.
“I don’t know. I’m trying to see this place through her eyes.” They heard the other pairs of first responders talking to each other as they searched the house. Dax looked over to the barn and saw Quint and Moose coming out. Each was holding two puppies in their arms.
That was it. What was niggling at him finally clicked in his brain. He immediately went around to the back of the house again, knowing Dax followed him. Wes’s eyes moved to the large pasture at the back side of the property. He’d glanced at it as they’d rounded the house the first time, but hadn’t bothered to pay much attention, more concerned about watching Laine’s footprints in the dirt.
He saw what had caught his attention, but hadn’t really registered as anything important at the time. A dog.
The dog was sitting in the middle of the field, motionless. It was odd behavior for any dog . . . friendly or not. She should be either running toward them, if she was friendly, or away from them if she wasn’t. And the fact that there were puppies in the barn meant that the dog should be trying to protect them. But she wasn’t doing any of that. She was simply sitting on her haunches, head tilted, watching them.
He never would’ve looked twice in the large field if it wasn’t for that dog. Nothing seemed out of place. It was simply a large, flat, open space, full of weeds.
Wes started for the wooden fence, not taking his eyes off the stray that seemed to be watching him with just as much intensity. He heard Dax following him and whistling for Squirrel and the other paramedics to be on standby.
The dog fidgeted a bit as Wes came closer, but didn’t bolt. She was a mangy thing . . . had obviously been on her own out at the property for quite a while. She looked skinny, and had scars on her muzzle, as if she’d been in too many fights with other animals to count, but her teats were full of milk and almost dragging the ground, even as she sat still, observing him. Her fur was almost black with dirt. The dog looked extremely pathetic. But Wes didn’t care about any of that.
It was the hole the dog was sitting in front of that concerned him the most. He didn’t see it until he was almost on top of it.
“Easy. We’re not gonna hurt you. Is Laine there? Is that why you’re here? You guarding her? You’re a good dog. Take it easy.”
The dog half whined and half growled low in her throat and backed up as Wes continued his slow, cautious approach. “Keep the others back,” Wes warned Dax as he heard the group gathering behind him.
He spoke in a calming voice as he eased to his knees about five feet from the dog . . . and the hole behind her. “She’s down there, isn’t she? Thank you for watching over her, for staying with her. I bet she was scared, wasn’t she? I swear to God, you and your pups have a home for life with me if she’s down there. I’ll feed you steak every night if you want . . . although just a warning, that might make you get fat.”
The dog cocked its head at Wes and her ears perked forward, as if she understood his words.
“Please don’t run away, but can I see? Will you let me come closer so I can see if Laine’s okay?”
Amazingly, the dog backed up and went to the other side of the jagged hole in the ground. She lay down with her muzzle resting on her paws, never taking her eyes off Wes.
“Thank you,” he told the dog earnestly, putting his Stetson to the side and laying on his belly. Wes crept forward, using his elbows and knees to propel him, not knowing how stable the hole in the ground was. Old wells and mines were notorious for caving in if caution wasn’t taken. The ground around it seemed solid, but knowing he was most likely this close to Laine made him not want to take any chances.
Wes eased toward the hole, not daring to breathe as he finally got close enough to look down. He couldn’t see all the way to the bottom of the cavernous hole. “Give me a flashlight,” he ordered, holding his hand back toward the others. Someone, Wes had no idea who, put a light in his palm and he brought it up and clicked it on.
Shining it down into the dark hole, Wes felt the bile crawl up his throat.
He’d found Laine, but he couldn’t tell if he was too late or not.
Chapter Twelve
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Laine’s head was lying at an awkward angle and Wes could only see the top of it. She was covered in dirt and mud so he couldn’t tell if she was bleeding from anywhere. Her legs were splayed apart, her skirt sitting at the tops of her knees. Her frilly blouse was ripped on one shoulder and her arms were hanging limply at her sides. The water in the bottom of the hole reflected back up at him from the light he shone downward. Most importantly and disconcerting, however, was that she wasn’t moving.
“Laine? Can you hear me, darlin’?”
“Is she there? How far down is she?”
Wes thought it was Conor who asked.
Without moving from the side of the hole, Wes twisted his head and answered, “Yeah. She’s here. I’m not sure, but I think she’s about twenty feet down or so. She’s hurt, though. I can’t tell how badly and she’s not answering me.” He turned back, heartsick.
“Laine, I’m here. I’m gonna get you out of there. You hear me? Just hang on, I’m coming for you.” With one last look at the woman who held his heart in her hand, he scooted back, needing to make a plan.
Wes saw four of the firefighters running toward the house and their truck, hopefully going to get supplies to get Laine out of
the hole. Thank God they’d brought their truck. They’d have extraction equipment appropriate for this sort of rescue.
“What did you see?” Conor asked urgently.
“She’s sitting at the bottom; again, I think it’s about twenty to twenty-five feet down. There’s water at the bottom, it reflected off my light, but I can’t tell how deep it is. Her head was down, so I didn’t get a look at her face. She has to be hurt though. By the looks of the broken boards up here, she most likely stepped on them without even knowing and fell through. I don’t know if her neck is broken, or her back or what.” Wes tried to keep his voice matter-of-fact, but it took everything he had.
“What was she doing out here in this field?” Penelope asked.
“I don’t know, but at the moment, I don’t really care,” Wes told her, dismissing the question, but not harshly. At this point, it didn’t matter if she was running away from someone, or if she’d been out for a little stroll to hunt for chupacabras. What mattered was getting her out and to the hospital and making sure she was okay. They’d deal with all the other stuff later.
Hopefully there’d be a later.
Wes and the others continued to strategize as they waited impatiently for the firefighters to make it back to them with their emergency equipment.
Laine groaned softly as she regained consciousness. She knew she was going in and out, but this time seemed different, she was hearing things. “Great, now I’m hallucinating,” she tried to say, but all that came out was a faint croak. She opened her eyes and looked up, not sure what she hoped to see. But the sight that greeted her was the same thing she’d seen every time she’d opened her eyes since the sun had risen—the scruffy dog blinking down at her from high above.
She tried to swallow, but her mouth was completely dry and she had nothing to swallow. “Hey, mutt, what’s new?” Laine whispered, shocked as hell when the dog let out a bark. It was the first time she’d heard the animal make any kind of noise except for a couple of whines when she’d first seen it.
Wes turned in surprise at the sound of the dog’s bark. He’d been deep in conversation with the others about the best way to go about getting Laine out of the hole, especially if she had a spinal injury. The mutt was sitting up with her tongue out, panting. She looked at him and barked, then dropped down onto her belly and barked down into the hole.
Without thinking, Wes dropped onto his own stomach and inched his way back to the side of the hole. He felt someone grab hold of his ankles, just in case the hole opened up and collapsed under him. The last thing they needed was him falling into the well on top of Laine.
Peering over the edge, Wes shone the flashlight down into the darkness and almost stopped breathing at the sight that greeted him. Laine was awake and he could see the whites of her eyes in the darkness of the well. “Hey, darlin’.” It wasn’t what he’d planned to say, but the words popped out anyway.
“Wes? Did that mangy mutt actually pull a Lassie, or am I still hallucinating?” It didn’t sound like her, but she managed to get the words out as best she could.
“Not only am I here, but everyone else is too.”
“Everyone else?”
Wes winced at the sound of her voice. It was scratchy and he had to strain to hear her, but she was alive and talking, so it was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard.
“Yeah, Dax, Hayden, Cruz, Calder, TJ, Quint, Conor, and most of the crew from Station 7. Are you hurt?”
“Yeah.”
When she didn’t elaborate, Wes urged her to continue. “Okay, don’t move, keep as still as you can. Where, darlin’? Where do you hurt?”
“My ankles. My arms where the planks scratched them. My stomach ’cos it’s empty. My feet; they’re soaked and probably permanently wrinkled. I’ve probably lost a size or two off them as a result, Mack might be happy to go shoe shopping with me. My head is pounding, probably because I’m so thirsty, but I refused to drink the sludge in the bottom of this hellhole, but if you’d taken any longer I might’ve resorted to it. I’m dizzy and my tongue feels like it’s three sizes too big.”
Her words sounded like they were coming from a ninety-year-old who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, but they were understandable, and she was alive. Wes would take it.
“Wow, she sounds an awful lot like Mack right about now,” Quint said from behind him. Wes had no idea how they could hear Laine with her voice the way it was, but that didn’t matter at the moment. Reassuring the woman he loved did.
“There’s an IV up here with your name all over it, Laine. Fresh, clean water all for you. Just hang on, as soon as we get you out of there and hook you up, you’ll be needing to pee before you know it.”
Laine giggled, and even though it was weak, it was still the sweetest sound Wes had heard in a long time. Just then, Chief and the other three firefighters arrived back from the brush truck and ambulance parked in front of the house. Wes glanced back and saw they had a ladder, as well as rope, a stretcher, a huge first-aid kit, and other rescue paraphernalia.
“Wes, back up. We’re gonna hook Squirrel up and lower him down.”
“No, I’ll go down and get her,” Wes argued resolutely.
“You won’t fit,” Dax told him firmly. “Look at Squirrel, Wes. He’s tall and skinny and will be able to fit down there without an issue. He’ll hold Laine to him in the harness as we haul them up. You’re big; it’ll be a better fit with Squirrel.”
“Wes?” Laine’s voice was still weak, but she’d obviously overheard the conversation.
“Yeah, darlin’?”
“Please let them get me out of here. I’ve had about enough of this place.”
“Do it,” Wes told Dax and Squirrel with no more questions. He scooted around to the other side of the hole, not willing to lose sight of Laine. Amazingly, the dog stayed where she was, only moving over a bit, as if giving Wes room.
The entire rescue took no more than ten minutes from start to finish. Squirrel was hooked up to the rappelling gear and was slowly lowered down into the abandoned well. Wes lost sight of Laine as soon as Squirrel blocked the passageway, but he still didn’t move. Finally, the firefighter’s head appeared at the mouth of the hole after the others pulled both Laine and him up and out.
Squirrel lay on his back and held Laine tightly to his chest, keeping her immobile as his crew tugged him backward and away from the hole. Wes shuffled alongside them, keeping his hand on Laine’s back as they moved, needing the physical contact with her.
When they were safely out of the way, Wes let Moose take hold of Laine’s head and hold her neck still as the others assisted in rolling her off Squirrel and onto the waiting stretcher, but he immediately grabbed her hand.
Her eyes were closed, and she looked serene, but her grip on his hand belied her peaceful demeanor. She was covered in dirt from head to toe. Mud was smeared on her legs and arms, her frilly pink blouse was now a dirty brown and her hair was caked with it.
Wes’s eyes never strayed from her face as the firefighters worked around them, securing her to the backboard for the trip to the ambulance. She lifted her eyelids when she was finally safely strapped down. The whites of her eyes looked extremely bright against the mud covering her face and hair.
“You sure are a sight for sore eyes, darlin’,” Wes whispered into her ear before Moose fit a C-collar on her.
“You have no idea how wonderful it feels to be flat on my back after all that time sitting up. I swear I can feel my spine lengthening . . . in a good way.” She breathed out in ecstasy. “Do me a favor?” Laine whispered as the firefighters prepared to walk her to the ambulance.
“Anything,” Wes told her immediately.
“See if you can get that damn dog to come to you. I’ve talked to her for two days straight now. I’ve become a tad bit attached. Besides, she’s hungry and needs a home.”
Wes smiled and vaguely heard some of the others chuckling above him. “I’d already planned to. I sort of promised her a big juicy steak.”
<
br /> “You too?”
Wes chuckled, not surprised they were on the same wavelength. “And you might be interested in knowing that the dog is a mommy four times over.”
“Really?” Laine’s eyes had closed as she was being carried across the field, but they opened to look up at him. Wes was quick to shield them from the harsh sunlight beating down on them. “I saw her when I got out here and figured she was hiding them somewhere. She was scared of me and took off across the field. Stupidly, I wasn’t paying attention and stepped right on the boards. As soon as I did, I knew I’d screwed up. I thought she’d take the chance to get the hell away from me. But you know what? She stayed with me the whole time, other than a bit at night when she must’ve taken a break to feed her puppies. She let me babble to her. I think she kept me sane.”
“I wouldn’t have even thought to look out here if it wasn’t for her sitting next to your hole,” Wes told Laine, still holding her hand as the firefighters continued with their precious bundle across the field. “It looks like we have ourselves a dog.”
“If you can catch her,” Laine said with a hint of the snark he knew and loved.
“If I can catch her,” Wes agreed.
They were silent for the rest of the trip to the ambulance and as Moose and Sledge got her settled in the back.
Gesturing to the dog with his head, Wes silently asked Dax to take care of somehow getting the dog to come with him. He’d heard their conversation and nodded, telling Wes he’d get it done.
Watching in disbelief—as all it took was for the other Ranger to open the back door of his car, and the dog jumped right in, joining her puppies now sleeping together on the floor in the backseat—Wes smiled, happy it’d been so easy. Laine would’ve been devastated if they couldn’t help her. Hell, he would’ve been upset about it. He owed the stray everything.
