Still using the characters - still don't own them!
Enjoy!
Lisa
Chapter 12
Dean could see that the shot had come from the police chopper. It had been a clean hit through Mac's skull. He didn't have time to think about that right now; his main concern was Heidi. He could tell that Mac had no vital signs and no chance.
Dean and Jordan ran to the edge in time to see Heidi sliding down the side.
"Heidi!" Dean cried as he watched her come to a stop on the ledge below. "Heidi can you hear me?"
Jordan was watching in a stunned silence.
Dean shook him and yelled at him. "Jordan. We need to get to her." He looked at Chase. "Chase, can you get Vince down?"
Vince looked at him. "It's a clean wound. I'm going with you." Standing, Vince marched to the edge. He could see Heidi's prone form, and sighed. "Let's go and get her." Vince reached for his radio. "Rescue Portable 1 to Rescue Base."
"Rescue Base, it's Michelle. Sit-rep?" Michelle's urgent voice came over the airwaves.
"Yeah, listen Michelle. We've found Heidi, but things got ugly up here. We are going to need Ambos, and a body bag. Code 4."
They could all hear the shakiness in Michelle's voice. "Is it Heidi?"
"No, she is injured. Hard to explain, but we are going to need ambos for her. Not entirely sure of her injuries."
"Where is she?" Michelle asked.
Vince pinched the bridge of his nose, not sure if he wanted to continue. "Mac has pushed her off a cliff ledge; I don't believe she is too badly injured. Mac is the code four." He tried to fight off his cheer, but couldn't do it.
"Right. Well then. Please just bring our girl home. We will face her injuries then."
"Will do. Rescue 1 Portable out." Vince dropped his radio receiver to his pocket and saw the 3 others scrambling over the mountain edge. Groaning inwardly, Vince began lowering himself down off the cliff to get to Heidi.
Heidi
Heidi moaned but couldn't seem to bring herself out of the fog. Her body hurt in so many different places and was so cold, that for a few moments, she thought she was dying. She could hear what was going on around her, and could hear Jordan and Dean racing towards her.
Jordan was the first one to reach her. "Heidi."He was crouched down by her body. "Heidi, if you can hear me, don't move, okay?"
Heidi moaned in response, fluttering her eyes lids in an attempt to wake up. "Jordan," she mumbled, fighting to open her eyes.
"I'm here, Heidi. We've got you." Jordan said in a soothing voice. He pressed his lips to her cold forehead, smoothing his hand over her hair. Just his touch alone had an incredible impact on her.
Heidi could feel them cutting through her binds, and easing her arms to her sides. Her eyes flew open in pain as her left arm moved.
Jordan looked her in the eyes. "Heidi? Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah... Keep it down." Heidi sputtered.
"Does it hurt anywhere?" Dean piped in.
Heidi scoffed and cringed. "Everywhere."
Dean was checking her vitals when Chase and Vince finished their descent down the cliff. "She's hypothermic, we need to get her warm and out of the elements."
Vince took in the situation. "Are we going to stretcher her out or should we call for a chopper?"
"Just give me a few minutes; I will be okay to walk out of here." Heidi stated.
The four guys just stared at her. "Really?" Chase asked, his usual sarcasm coming back up to the surface.
Heidi grinned a little, for the first time since this whole ordeal happened. "Why do I get the feeling that you guys don't believe me?" Heidi asked. "Look, I might not be able to walk out completely on my own steam, my ankle is pretty bad. But I don't think the weather is going to be good for a lift out." Heidi looked at Jordan. "Help me sit up Jordan."
Jordan shook his head, "you might have a back trauma."
Heidi shook her head. "I don't think so, everything else is painful, but I can move my limbs and my head." Heidi looked past Jordan to Vince, whose face was slightly paler than usual. "Vince, are you okay?"
Vince nodded. "Flesh wound. Mac was a lousy shot."
At his name, Heidi shuddered. "I don't really want to talk about him right now." Heidi closed her eyes, trying unsuccessfully to fight off the tears. She knew that it would take a while to heal from this, but she would. Just having Jordan and her friends here with her was already making her feel better.
Dean looked at her seriously. "Okay, Heidi. Here is what we are going to do. I need you to let me finish checking you out, and then we will find a way to get you out of here, without aggravating those injuries further." He turned to Vince. "And you Vince, are not going to do anything but take care of yourself, got it?"
Vince nodded, obviously in pain. "Yeah, alright." He pulled his radio with his good arm. "Rescue 1 portable to Rescue Base."
"Did you get her?" Michelle's panicked voice came through again.
"Yeah, we've got her." Vince said solidly.
"Thank goodness, we were so worried." Michelle stated. "Listen, the weather is getting worse and another major storm from is headed our way. We cannot get a chopper out to you."
Vince sighed, having figured as much. "Yeah, righto. Deano is working on a plan for us to get Heidi off this ledge and back to base camp. How much more time do we have until that stronger front comes through?"
"2 to 3 hours, tops."
Vince looked up at the sky, noticing for the first time that the rain was letting up somewhat. He looked at Dean, waiting for confirmation. When Dean nodded, Vince answered Michelle. "Yeah, all right. Just have the ambos waiting. The cops are going to have to come back for Mac. Portable 1 out." Vince dropped the radio and turned to face Heidi, who was waiting for Dean to finish checking her injuries.
"Vince?" Heidi asked quietly.
Vince crouched down near Heidi. "Yeah, Heidi-ho?"
"Is Mac... dead?" Heidi licked her lips nervously.
Vince winced, realizing that she had overheard his conversation with Michelle. He had wanted to wait to tell her. "Yeah, Heidi-ho, he's gone."
Heidi closed her eyes and tears leaked out again. "He was going to kill me." Heidi's strained voice came out.
Vince, Chase, Dean and Jordan heart's all broke a little at that moment. They had known that was probably Mac's intention the entire time, but didn't realize that she had known it as well. To see her looking so battered, so bruised, so broken... It affected them all in a way that none of them had expected.
Jordan kissed her forehead again. "Don't think about that right now, honey. He's not worth it."
His calming words and soft touch seemed to do the trick in easing her worries and sorrows.
Her left arm was put in a sling, just in case. They didn't see a break, but it could be fractured. Dean decided to leave her shoe on her ankle, since it was acting as a natural splint. The rest of her injuries were mainly bruising, which was no doubt painful, but not life-threatening.
Chase had already taken off down the next portion of the hill, getting ready to climb back up with the gear they needed to get Heidi down. Jordan and Dean had helped Heidi into a seated position, Heidi's back against Jordan's chest. He wrapped his arms around her, allowing his heat to radiate through her. Heidi's eye lids shuttered closed as lethargy seeped in. "So cold..." Jordan shrugged out of his jacket, knowing that he had a few extra layers on and wrapped Heidi in his coat.
"You'll warm up babe, I promise."
Dean looked down at Chase who was ready to start lowering them down off the ledge. "Okay Vince, you're up."
Vince shook his head. "No. Take Heidi down first."
Dean shook his head. "No can do, boss. We will need to get her harnessed and strapped in. You go down first. We will need you more there."
Vince looked at Heidi one last time and nodded. "Okay." He allowed Dean to help him with his harness and then assisted Chase in lowering Vince down.
Jordan had started wrapping Heidi in their portable stretcher that they had. They would use that to transport her down off the ledge, and through the trek. Heidi protested at first, be knew that she had run out of energy.
Jordan and Dean controlled things from the top and Chase held firm on the bottom. Vince was there to help receive Heidi's stretcher when it reached the base. Heidi's eyes were closed, her breathing ragged. "Deano! She's not breathing properly." Heidi let out a deep cough, her eyes remaining closed.
"I'm fine Vince," Heidi said tiredly. "It's just a start of a cold."
Vince shook his head at her. He guessed though that it would be best to get her out of there as fast as possible.
Jordan and Dean were both down rather rapidly. Picking up the remaining packs that they had earlier discarded, Dean, Jordan and Chase shouldered them.
Using the handles on the portable stretcher, they were able to carry Heidi out. Jordan had grabbed the area closest to her head, Chase in the middle, and Dean her feet.
A mere two hours later, they had arrived back at the base camp, a worried Michelle and Lara, as well as the ambos, waiting for them.
Lara ran forward as Heidi was lowered to the ground. "Heidi!" Lara kneeled down on the ground. She smoothed back Heidi's hair. "Oh Heidi, I was so worried."
Heidi's eyes filled with water. "I'm sorry Lara. So sorry." Heidi's head lolled to the side, completely exhausted.
Jordan looked at Vince as Heidi was loaded onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. "I'm going with her to the hospital." He looked exhausted, but Vince knew that he couldn't stop him.
Vince nodded and waved him on. A second ambo was waiting for him. "I'm fine."
"You need to be looked at." Michelle said sternly.
Knowing that there was no way for him to win this argument, Vince sighed. "Yeah, alright." He walked off with the second ambo team and was carted away to the hospital.
Chase and Dean hopped in the patrol, Michelle and Lara in the other vehicle, following the ambulances out to the hospital. They weren't going to leave her side until they were sure for themselves that Heidi was okay.
