"Oooooh." Sam was the first to wake although he kept his eyes closed and self-assessed. Arms, legs, torso seem ok. Breathing, painful. Maybe a broken rib. Level 6. He flexed his toes and fingers. Extremities are moving, that's a good sign. He opened his eyes and realized he was hanging sideways, the seatbelt holding him in. Sarge was in the same position in the driver's seat except that the center console was keeping him from falling sideways. "Wordy." He couldn't see him in the front passenger seat. "Status." He reached his hand down and tried to reach Lew whose head looked to be bleeding. Even with his seatbelt on, Lew's head had hit the window when they tipped. "Lew!" Sam's voice felt gravelly. He grabbed the driver seat and put his left foot under it. He released his seat belt then stepped down with his right foot on the bottom bracket of the passenger seat. He turned to his right and stuck his right foot in between the top and bottom of the seat and moved his left foot to the bottom of the passenger seat so he could squat and check on Lew. He could see the blood, but knew from experience that head wounds bleed a lot.
"Greg! Wordy! Sam! Lew!" Ed was running full tilt at the SUV. "Status!" Oh god, please let them be ok. He reached it by the time Sam had gotten himself free. He came to a full stop when he heard a familiar voice from inside.
"Ed!" Sam called to him. "They're still out."
He took a breath. One ok, three more to go. "Stay put. Help is coming!" Ed went to the back, opened the gate and looked in. The whole back tire and part of the axle had been blown off, the metal peeled back like a banana and poking into the cargo area. He cautiously climbed in. "Sam, you ok?"
"Yeah, maybe a concussion and a broken rib. He held his side when he tried to breathe deeply. What the hell happened? His head was a little fuzzy. Was that a bomb?
Ed nodded and squatted down by Lew's head. He'd learned to trust Sam's self assessments. It was something Sam had learned to do in his JTF2 days and was always accurate. He reached through the space between the seat and the top of the SUV and put his fingers on Lew's neck. Lew started to stir. Ed moved his hand and put it on Lew's shoulder.
"Shhit." Lew tried to move, but his head was pounding and pain was shooting down his right arm under him. He frowned. Is that blood I smell? And something blew up. Did I blow up? Am I dead? He looked around, slowly moving his head, no I'm in the SUV.
"Easy." Sam bent down, holding onto the seat. He took Lew's hand and squeezed. "You're ok. Don't move your head. Just sit tight, EMS is coming."
"I've got him." Ed looked past Sam at Greg who was still unconscious.
"Wordy, Boss. Status." Sam turned and saw that Greg was coming around. Sam moved so that he was sitting on the console and supporting Greg with his side. This also made it so he could see Wordy.
"Damn." Greg grimaced. Oh man. What the hell? He looked at Sam, confused. "IED?"
"Possibly. You ok?" Sam looked in Greg's eyes. He looked pretty out of it, but generally ok. "Do you know my name."
"Yeah. Jules." Greg gave him a little smile and received one in return. "I'm a little.. Where were we going? A call?" Greg held his head. It was pounding, making his vision blur.
"Who needs what?" Jules appeared at the back of the SUV. She was relieved to see everyone seemed ok, especially that Sam was upright and was talking to Greg. she was shocked to see the rear passenger tire and axle completely gone and a big hole in its place. She looked down and saw Lew still on what had become the floor.
"Wordy hasn't come around yet. Can you come in here and check on him?" Sam was getting tired trying to hold Greg up and the pain it caused his chest. His breathing was getting labored. Sniper breathing. Slow and steady.
"Copy that." She helped Sam climb to her side before she climbed over the seat and took his position on the console. She held onto the seat with her right hand and put a finger on Wordy's neck with her left. It was tough with Greg's weight pushing her to topple towards Wordy. Strong pulse. "Wordy. Can you hear me?" She asked as pulled herself back up and shook the shoulder close to her. She couldn't keep the tears from forming. Please wake up, she begged silently. He finally stirred, but it wasn't for long. She could see blood pooling by his head. She looked at Ed. "He's in and out."
"Ok. Boss, we need to get you out of that seat. Ccan you hold onto the steering wheel for a second? I need you to hold yourself up so I can get your seatbelt off." Greg nodded although he wasn't really sure he understood. She undid his belt. "Ok good. I'll support you again. Just rest for a minute. It lLooks like EMS is here so we're going to wait for them." She looked through the windshield and saw the flashing lights. Thank God. She thought. She looked down at Wordy, he was in and out of consciousness.
Two medics appeared at the back of the SUV. One went to Sam who was holding his side still trying to do sniper breathing. The medic took his pulse and was concerned. "Are you having trouble breathing?" Sam nodded. "Broken rib, concussion. Help Lew, Wordy and the Boss." The medic put an oxygen mask on Sam and looked to where his partner was working on a young black guy on the back passenger seat with a bald guy. He looked up and saw Jules sitting on the middle console holding Greg upright with her body. "Can you guys come out?"
"He's really confused. I think we'll have to take him out his door. I have someone else in the passenger seat who's in and out of consciousness.". She started to panic because Wordy had started to moan.
"Ok, are you ok?" The medic looked at her.
"No I wasn't in here." Jules shook her head and looked at Greg. "Boss." No answer. "Greg." He opened his eyes and looked at her. She hardly ever called him by his first name, none of them did except Ed. He was either Boss or Sarge to them. She looked at the medic, starting to get frantic.
The medic nodded and said, I'll be right back." He disappeared out the back and appeared again in the doorway after he got the door open. He kneeled on the side of the SUV and stuck his body inside. He was holding a neck brace in his hand. "Sir. Can you hear me?" He asked Greg. Greg's eyes opened and he nodded slightly. "I'm going to put this brace on your neck."
Another ambulance arrived and those medics started assessing Sam and helped the first get Lew out on a backboard through the passenger door. Ed was forced to wait outside the SUV while they worked. It took the medics a few minutes to assess Greg and the help of thee firemen to get him on a backboard and lifted out of the vehicle. During the last part they made Jules climb out.
Jules walked to Ed and they embraced.
A medic climbed back into through the front door of the SUV and put a c-collar on Wordy's neck. They got Wordy loaded on a backboard and out of the vehicle. A third ambulance had been called because there were so many patients.
Sam had a collar on too (which he was very unhappy about) and walked next to Lew, with a medic at his side, following him into the ambulance. That ambulance closed their doors once both patients were inside and left. Greg had already been transported to the hospital after he was extricated from the SUV.
Ed looked back to the house and suddenly wondered where Spike was. Why wasn't he here? He got a very bad feeling in his gut and took off for the house. "Jules!" He yelled.
Jules walked next to Wordy as they loaded him into the ambulance. When she heard Ed yell her name she jumped and whirled around in time to see him in a dead run for the house.
***inside Jules' house right after the crash***
She leaned down and smelled, taking in his manly scent. Good enough to eat. She thought. Stop. Can't waste any time. The crash will distract them for a little while, but they'll come looking for him if he isn't out there soon. She'd given him enough sedative to knock him out long enough for her to get him to their 'love nest' as she called it. It wasn't much, but they could find a nice house once they were married. One that was away from his 'team'. She shook herself to bring her out of her fantasy. She grabbed under Spike's arms then dragged him to the back door. She got him up on his feet, put his arm around her neck and her arm around his middle. He walked but very clumsily. She walked him to the back gate of Jules' yard and into the back seat of her car waiting in the alley. She smirked one last time in the mirror at the flashing lights at the front of the house. This is Team One? Team Five had told me not to bother trying out for Team One if I couldn't even make Team Five. "Now who's the reject?" She drove away slowly and carefully. No tire treads to match. No neighbors alerted by the noise. They were all out front watching the chaos.
***front of Jules' house***
"Spike!" Ed reached the house and yanked open the door. It was all quiet inside. "Spike!" He yelled louder. "Spike! Status!" Ed ran through the whole house, searched every nook and cranny. No Spike. "NO!" He walked back into the living room, grabbed a camera and threw it against a wall where it shattered into tiny pieces. His chest heaving he headed back outside. The rest of the team needs me.
Jules met him on the front lawn. "What's wrong? Where's Spike?" She stopped dead at the look of fear, sadness and panic in Ed's eyes.
"Gone. The bitch got him." Ed ground out. "We gotta get to the hospital. The rest of the team needs us."
"I'm driving." Jules jumped in the driver's seat of their other SUV but thought a second and jumped back out. She took one of their mirrors on a stick and checked the SUV. There was a bomb by the back passenger wheel. The same place as the other SUV. She told the pd officers still on scene to cordon off the area around the truck and have Team Two disable it. Also to have them let Team One know what kind of device it was. Ed and Jules jumped in Jules' Jeep and headed to the hospital.
They waited as patiently as possible in the ER waiting room for word on any of their guys not talking. Sam was the first to walk out. He still had his bracelet on his wrist.
Ed and Jules stood and met him halfway. "You ok?" Ed looked him over and hugged him gently remembering what injuries Sam had told him.
"Yeah. Bruised rib, not broken and a small concussion. Can't be alone tonight, but I told them that was highly unlikely." Sam gave them a lopsided smile. His smile dropped when he looked around and didn't see Spike. "Where's Spike?" His heart plummeted to his stomach at the look on their faces.
"Gone when we got back to the house." Ed shook his head. Dammit! How did this happen?
Jules shook her head sadly.
"What? How?" Sam frowned. He could see both of them were filled with guilt. He took a seat in the plastic waiting room chair next to Jules. Ed sat next to her.
"We ran out after we heard the boom and crash. I told Spike to call it in. He never came out after." Ed explained.
"You left him alone?!" Sam stood up, angry. "After the Boss just said-"
"I know. I couldn't help it. I thought he was right behind us-" Ed's voice raised a level. I already know I screwed up damn it.
"You LEFT him in the house. When you knew someone was after us." Sam couldn't keep his fury and fear contained, his voice level meeting Ed's.
"To help my four other brothers who just got hurt." Ed yelled back. It took two nurses and the threat of making them leave the hospital before Sam and Ed stopped yelling at each other.
A nurse came back into the waiting room a short time later. "Family of Greg Parker?"
"His family is out of town, but we're his SRU team which makes us family." Jules stepped forward.
The nurse scrutinized them, especially the two men she had help separate earlier. She decided to tell them anyway. "We're keeping him overnight. He has a concussion but is otherwise ok. We think he hit his head on his window or door frame. We just want to keep him for observation. Are you also the family of Lewis Hall and Kevin Wordsworth?" Jules nodded. "Kevin is also staying the night for his concussion. He was out for a long time at the scene which is a little worrying. He also had some small lacerations from the broken glass, but nothing major. We're releasing Lewis. He had a minor concussion like Mr. Braddock here, some lacerations from the glass and a dislocated shoulder. He's the only one that will be on light duty for a week so his shoulder can heal. The pain from his shoulder will keep him from doing much. The concussions are nothing to sneeze at. They'll all have headaches, but should be clear headed and able to return to work Monday."
"Thank you so much." Jules smiled, relieved. "Can we see them?"
"We're getting Greg and Kevin moved to their rooms. I'll let you know when they're all settled so you can see them. Short visits though, they need to rest." The nurse nodded then walked back to her station.
A few minutes later, Lew walked out. "Hey." His arm was in a sling, he had butterfly bandages on the small cuts and white pads taped to his neck and cheek for the ones that needed stitches. At the look of sympathy on their faces he said, "it's not as bad as it looks."
"No worries, the ladies like battle scars." Sam smiled. "How you feeling?"
"Like I was in a car accident." Lew joked. "What happened?" His head was a little fuzzy, but the only thing he remembered about the accident was hearing a loud boom and then when Ed was talking to him.
"Small bomb under the rear passenger tire took out the whole axle. We found one on the other SUV. Team Two is taking care of it." Ed answered.
"Damn." He looked down then back up at Ed. "It was her wasn't it." He clenched his jaw. That bitch. She could've killed them!
"Yeah. It was." Ed nodded and looked at Sam who was fuming.
"So-" Lew had just realized Spike was missing. What the hell? Where's Spike? He was just about to ask when the nurse came back.
"You can see them now. We were able to get them in the same room considering they have the same visitors." The nurse interrupted. She beckoned them to follow her. She led them to the third floor med/surg unit where they kept the generally sick that didn't need ICU. She stopped at room 325 and turned to face them again. "Brief. They need to rest." She pinned them each with a look and walked away.
Ed pushed open the door and walked in with Jules, Sam and Lew behind him.
Greg was laying back, his eyes closed with the bed in a reclined position. He looked pale. Wordy's bed was in the same position but his eyes were open. He had several butterfly bandages on the right side of his face and several more of the white gauze over the stitches.
"Hey." Wordy smiled, glad to see his family here. He wished that Shel was here too, but he was fuzzy why she wasn't. He gave them a confused look. Someone else is missing. Who? "Where's, uh, Shel?" He felt like he was under water.
"Out of town. Remember man?" Lew asked. He hated to see Wordy and the Boss like this.
"Uh, yeah." Wordy didn't but he didn't say so. "What happened?"
The four standing exchanged a look. "Bomb by the rear passenger side tire. The SUV flipped. You were out for a while buddy." Sam answered moving to sit in the chair next to Wordy's bed.
"You hurt?" Wordy looked at Sam. "You too?" He looked at Lew. Were they in the SUV? Was everyone hurt?
"Yeah but we're ok." Sam smiled at Wordy. I wish someone would tell that to my ribs. Damn they hurt.
"Boss?" Wordy looked at the man in the bed next to him who had woken up.
"Yeah Word." Greg rubbed his head. "Ohh." Man his head was pounding.
"Need anything Boss?" Ed moved to stand next to Greg's bed.
"Need pain meds." Greg put a hand on head. It felt like it was going to explode. What in the world happened? Something about a bomb he thought he'd heard them say to Wordy.
"Be right back." Ed walked out and spoke to the nurses.
One came in shortly after Ed returned. "Mr. Parker. You still have a headache?" She asked looking in his eyes with a light which made Greg flinch. "I'll talk to the doctor and be right back." She returned a short time later with some migraine meds. She turned to the group watching with interest. "This will probably make him sleepy so five more minutes." She looked over at Wordy and walked to him. "What about you Mr. Wordsworth? Do you have any pain?"
"Uh. No. Little headache, but it'll go away." Wordy was reluctant to take anything that made him feel any more out of it than he already was.
"Ok. Let us know if it gets bad ok?" She nodded.
"Yeah." Wordy felt very sleepy, but he felt like there was a hole. Someone was missing. "Spike?" He said, thinking aloud. The nurse left after hearing his answer.
"Uh, well we-" Ed started but he was too ashamed. He'd gone against orders and left a teammate alone. Now Spike was gone. With the woman who had done this to his family. She would be stopped, he vowed silently.
Jules out a hand on Ed's shoulder and squeezed. It's ok it said. "After the wreck Spike stayed at the house to call the EMS and when Ed went back to see where he was he was gone."
"Gone?" Greg looked at them. Had he heard them right?
"Listen, we'll talk tomorrow. You guys need to rest." Sam stood, gave Ed a meaningful look and tipped his head towards the door. No use getting them riled up. Ed nodded slightly in acknowledgement. Sam turned to look at Jules and Lew. "We'd better go."
Just then the nurse came back in. "Visiting hours are over."
"You guys rest. We'll be back tomorrow." Ed looked at Greg and Wordy then followed the others out after they each said words of encouragement.
Once in the hall Sam said, "no need to upset them now. We'll tell them tomorrow. Tonight we need to go back to the house and try to find any evidence to find out who took Spike and where."
"Should we have guards here?" Lew asked looking at the closed door to their friends' room.
"No. She got what she was after." Ed growled and walked down the hall.