Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Chapter Two

McCoy glanced up at the clock stationed above the dorms entrance. Midnight. A slight shudder raced down his spine as he thought of how angry Jim was when he left and now he could be facing trouble from the admiralty. Well, that was only if he were to be caught out after curfew. Jim wasn't known to be caught before, why should this be any different?

Different thoughts and scenarios ran over and over in his mind. He wanted to get out of this room and chase after him, scream at him and tell him to quit being such a damn infant, but McCoy knew Jim better than that. He also knew that if he were to chase him then he would just run further. Right now he had limited places to go. He was safe on campus. There wasn't really many places he could go that would get him into trouble anyway.

McCoy rubbed his eyes as tiredness started to overcome him. He had sat up long enough and Jim would probably be back soon and the last person he would want to talk to was him. He stood up and checked out the large window, looking for any hints of Jim sulking in the shadows. He couldn't see him, but just shrugged his shoulders. "Damn kid." He huffed to himself as he dragged himself to his small sleeping quarters. "He'll be back in the morning… hopefully with a clearer head."

oOo

Before long Jim had sped off to the small winding roads towards the next town. He had no idea where he was going or when he should turn back, but being out and free felt damn sweet. He played with the gears as he began racing up the small cliffs towards the unknown, switching them lower to gain more speed. Each bend was executed perfectly with neat, tight turns as the car climbed up the cliffs further. He almost let out a smile, before a small coyote type of animal decided it would be a perfect time to cross the road. He instantly slammed his foot on the brakes and without even thinking swerved to avoid the animal, losing all control of the vehicle as it crashed through the thin barriers next to the roads edge, sending the car crashing down off roads edge.

Jim felt nothing with each banging crash to the car. He never let go of his tight grip on the steering wheel, despite the steering being useless. It wasn't long before one of the airbags had exploded into his face. He felt the burning on his hands before he could hear an ear blistering crack from somewhere. Lucky the sheer rush of adrenaline had shielded him from feeling any pain, until the car came to a sudden stop on the cliffs edge.

Jim panted as all the pain hit him at once, he was fairly sure there wasn't a single place that didn't hurt right now. His whole face felt like it was on fire and gushing blood from the airbag. He took some deep breathes as he attempted to move his arm to adjust the rear-view mirror, but the arm wouldn't move. He cried out in pain, it didn't take him long to work out his arm was dislocated from his shoulder. Jim almost slammed his head back on the seat, causing the rocks and rubble from the cliff to shift slightly, he held his breathe as he prayed the car wouldn't shift from its perch. Luckily for him, it didn't.

He carefully looked around for his communicator, before quickly forgetting he had left it at his dorm in a rage. The smell from the engine an airbags forced him to cough, he couldn't believe the stench, but at least he was awake… for now. "How the hell am I going to get out of this one?"

oOo

McCoy snapped his eyes open before the chiming sound of his alarm was even due to go off. He stretched in his bed and sleepily rubbed his eyes. Silencing his set alarm as to not wake Jim up in the other room. Somehow Jim had always heard it and was quick to complain about it when he had been up most of the night drinking. McCoy liked to think of it as revenge but, he had annoyed him enough with last night's fight.

He swung his legs over the side of his bed and stretched again before standing up. He soon headed out his room and headed for their kitchen. He flicked on his coffee maker, the real stuff always tasted so much better than the replicated stuff, and poured himself a cup and took a small sip. Coffee always made him feel good in the morning. He looked around the dorm with the cup in his hand and frowned. Everything was as he had left it. He shrugged to himself, assuming Jim had just came in and gone straight to bed.

McCoy shuffled over to the large sofa and grabbed his PADD resting on the coffee table. He flicked open his messages, as he did every morning, usually to check his schedule that day. The same old messages greeted him first, a message from his mother and then an unfamiliar one caught his attention:

UNAURTHOISED USER OF VECHILE: AUDI 5788

McCoy frowned, quickly flicking it open. He had almost forgotten about the classic car he had in their car park. He preferred to walk everywhere, especially when it was quicker to walk to classes and Starfleet General then to drive. But his mother had gifted him the classic car when he started the academy, probably in hope that he would drive home and see her during the holidays, although he tended to pull extra shifts at Starfleet General. In all honesty he should have gone to see her more, but he never liked to leave Jim alone.

He had set up the on-board computer to the highest security though, meaning the on-board computer could instantly sense when someone else was driving the car. The car couldn't start without the key under any circumstance, so why did he get this message?

"Dear Mr. McCoy.

Your on-board computer of the car: AUDI 5788 ROYAL BLUE has sensed an unauthorised user in the driver's seat on star date: 2256.75 at 23:39PM.

If this is known to you then please discard this message."

McCoy frowned again. Nobody knew about his car and now suddenly someone was trying to drive it. He re-read the message, clicking onto the time and date.

"Last… night…" he trailed off, slamming his coffee on the table and practically dropping his PADD. He moved with haste towards Jim's bedroom, knocking on the door hard before almost forcing it open. Jim's bed was empty, the sheets hadn't been touched.

"That son of a …" McCoy saw red as he worked out that it was Jim that had taken the car.

He ran back to his PADD, opening the voice commands as his hands shook with rage. "Locate Car: McCoy AUDI 5788." It didn't take long for the map to open and show a small flashing dot. He quickly examined the map, noticing the dot wasn't moving. "The kid's parked up on the cliffs towards the next fucking city? Are you freaking kidding me Jim?"

He sat down on the sofa, zooming in on the flashing dot closer. McCoy started frowning again as he noticed the dot wasn't exactly on the road on the map, and it wasn't like his car not to give an exact result. The car was old, but the technology was the most up to date. The car should be on the road, or at least right next to it… but this dot was a good 5cm away from the road picture… McCoy suddenly felt his face drain of colour. "Unless he's not on the road..."

McCoy ran into his room, getting changed quicker than he knew he could. Grabbing his portable medical kit he kept at home in case of emergencies, he quickly slid his PADD into the front pocket of the bag. McCoy then flicked open his communicator with his free hand, "Pike, its McCoy, I think we have a problem…" he said as he threw his bag over his shoulder and grabbed Jim's keys. Slamming the dorm door as he ran out the room.

oOo

Christopher Pikes private apartment door swished open as he allowed McCoy to enter. He hadn't been up long before McCoy had rang him, his hair was messy from his sleep and the imprinted lines from the way he scrunched his pillow in his sleep were still on his face. He had just about managed to get dressed before McCoy was buzzing at his door.

"This better be the emergency you state it is." He yawned as McCoy barged his way into his apartment. "Why couldn't you have told me over the comm?"

"It's Jim. He didn't come home last night." McCoy panted, he had to run across campus to get here.

Pike rubbed his face with frustration. "And this is an emergency? Let's be honest, this isn't the first time he's stayed out all night, curfew or not. He probably just got drunk somewhere and left with some woman."

McCoy shook his head. "No you don't understand. I got this this morning." He said, grabbing his PADD from the pocket on his bag. He chucked the PADD straight at Pike, luckily his reflexes were better than he thought so he caught it.

Pike read the short message, "Wait… you have a car? You kept that quiet."

McCoy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I HAD a car. Jim took it."

Pike rubbed his face again and sighed, "If you want to do something about the theft of your car then you should contact campus security. I said to only contact me in a real emergency, Jim stealing your car isn't something I can really do anything about."

McCoy shook his head again. "No, you don't understand. I don't want Jim to get into trouble over the car. I can deal with the brat myself." He started as he tapped away into his PADD. "My emergency is this!" he turned the PADD around, allowing Pike to see the map. The small dot still hadn't moved from when he looked previously.

Pike looked at the map and frowned, but before he could even ask, McCoy spoke again. "Before you ask, if you zoom in, you'll notice that the small dot isn't on the road… nor next to the road. In fact, it's quite far away. The car has the most up to date technology on-board. The location of the car would be extremely accurate… I really think there is something wrong."

Pike saw the desperation in McCoy's eyes. He really did think Jim was in trouble and it wasn't like McCoy to not act on a gut feeling. "I'll get my keys… but if your feeling is wrong, you owe me breakfast." He teased, attempting to make light of the situation.

oOo