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Chapter 14
It had been a calculated risk; if she could veer with precision through the next set of serpentine bends...Dear God...maintain her ominously high rate of speed...Please God...out run the stalkers behind her and fly down the mountain to the straightaway just below....Oh God...Justin...John...the white sedan slammed into her rear bumper intentionally pushing her over the center divide and on a nonstop bearing over the steep bank of the Llantano River. For what seemed like an eternity, Natalie lost control of the vehicle. Instinctively, she jerked the wheel hard to the right in a reflexive maneuver designed to swerve the red SUV back toward the sheer face of the limestone bluffs.
"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God..." It was a desperate plea, an anguished litany as Natalie came barreling into the minor arc of the blind curve and abruptly nose to nose with the pickup. She could see the flash of surprise and subsequent panic on the driver's face as he realized there was a vehicle careening without any warning into his path. Natalie held her breath as she accelerated and jerked the wheel back to the left executing the last evasive move in her arsenal to keep the SUV from smashing headlong into the pickup or the face of the adjacent bluff. With the first high pitched sickening screech of metal on metal, she knew. The little SUV shuddered violently absorbing the kinetic energy and the impact of both vehicles still in motion sent the SUV into a flat spin. Natalie tried to steer through the slide as if she was hydroplaning on ice, but it was ineffective. As if in slow motion, the vehicle was hurled over the embankment, the tires biting into the moraine, seeking traction where there was none. The noise was deafening; glass shattering, steel snapping as the passenger compartment was compressed under the force of the SUV rolling over and over and over down the steep wooded slope before coming unceremoniously to rest on its roof and partially submerged in the frigid swollen river.
Darrell Watkins was only half listening to his wife of over 40 years go on about the politics of maintaining harmony among the band of blue haired malcontents in her quilting group. He was puttering his full sized pick-up truck along the old Llantano River bluffs road and trying to day dream of catching the last of the basketball game on ESPN as he motored through the familiar s-curves. They were nearly home, coming up on the final bends that consisted of the last few miles before the intersection of the mountain track with their gravel driveway. But it was difficult to concentrate on his private musings considering his Mae was in the seat next to him, complaining vociferously about her now power hungry vice president attempting to sabotage the upcoming craft and quilt show scheduled to be held at the county fairgrounds.
"So if Nancy Templeton is foolish enough to believe I'm going to take her walking over my authority she's got another think coming! I haven't given nearly twenty years to this quilting group and the annual fair to have all my efforts be snatched away that's for certain. Did you hear me Darrell? Darrell?"
His wife's accusatory tone brought him out of his reverie of how he was going to put his feet up in his recliner with a cold beer and some of that great onion dip and chips he'd talked Mae into getting from the grocery.
"Yes dear. That Nancy better…Holy crap!" Darrell Watkins had no time to react as he came around the blind corner of the outside bend to find himself confronted with a little red SUV screaming directly toward him in his lane. He saw the panic on the face of the young woman driver as she desperately jerked the wheel hard to the left in a futile attempt to avoid impact and squeeze past him on the narrow road. Darrell stood on the brake pedal hard, coming off the bench seat to a near vertical position in the cab, his elbows locked, and a silent prayer that the truck would stay straight and true and not skid over the steep embankment on his right as the front bumper clipped the SUVs left rear fender.
"Holy shit!" The driver in the white sedan shadowing the SUV slammed on his brakes and came to a screeching halt amidst a black noxious cloud of burning rubber. Both he and his passenger watched in horrified disbelief as the little red SUV went into a flat spin from the force of the collision with the pickup, sending it careening over the edge to roll repeatedly down the incline and into the engorged river below.
"Jesus you weren't supposed to kill them!" His passenger looked at him with utter disgust. "I told you to back off and did you listen to me? Fuck no! This is beyond bad. I ought to just put you out of your fucking misery right now because if the boss doesn't shoot your sorry ass, when McBain finally gets a hold of you, he most definitely will." He waved his own gun around to lend punctuation to his angry words.
The driver stomped on the accelerator, and the sedan leapt forward fishtailing slightly in its haste to flee the scene. He roared past the pickup now disabled and facing the wrong way in the opposite lane. His blood ran cold as the old bag in the passenger seat of the truck made unbroken eye contact. "How was I supposed to know that crazy redhead would try and out run me? All she needed to do was pull over. Any other sane person would have at the first bump. Goddamn, but you better back me up on this."
"If I wasn't in this with you…I swear to God I'd kick you out and to the wolves. Sonofabitch," he pounded his fist on the dash repeatedly in frustration. "…I think we may have been made by the old man who just hit her. Get us the fuck off this mountain and in one piece and then I'll decide about how we should handle this with the boss. And with any luck we'll be on the highway headed back to Pine Valley before the whole fucking LPD starts on up the hill."
As Todd Manning came around the bend, he was startled to see the roadway ahead partially blocked by a battered pickup with its nose pressed into the limestone face of the bluff. He recognized Mae Watkins immediately as she stood on the shoulder waving her arms frantically to get his attention. Todd pumped his brakes, coming to a stop just a few feet from the truck.
"Looks like Mrs. Watkins may have gotten herself into a bit of trouble," Todd observed. "You feeling well enough to delay getting home if I stop and give her a hand?" Todd's concern was genuine. Evangeline was due to give birth any day and his wife's comfort and well being was his first priority. The party had gone on way too long at the Brennan winery, and Todd was worried Evangeline may have overdone it. And while the Watkins vehicle did seem to be banged up, Mrs. Watkins appeared to have weathered the accident with no visible injuries so Todd was inclined to simply give her a ride on up the hill to her home rather than wait around for a tow truck to arrive.
"Yes, I'm fine Todd, just a little tired. But that's nothing new. A little delay in getting home won't cause me any distress. Here comes Mrs. Watkins…she looks pretty upset."
Todd opened his car door to step out and meet her.
Mae Watkins was hysterical as she hurried across the road, grasping Todd's arm as soon as she was close enough to make contact. "Oh praise God! Mr. Manning, you've got to help my Darrell! We hit an SUV and it went plumb over the bank. Darrell's down there now trying to free the mother and her baby from the wreckage, but he's been hollering he can't get to them without some help. You have got to hurry before the river takes that car with them in it downstream!" Mae started to drag Todd across the road to the periphery of the embankment. He was caught off guard by her strength and determination.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa…Mrs. Watkins, are you saying that car is in the river?" Todd dug in his heels and glanced back to see Evangeline shading her eyes and taking in the whole scene.
"Yes! Please Mr. Manning…I'm terrified for all of them!" The urgency of the situation seeped into Todd's consciousness and he allowed Mae to forcibly lead him over the edge. Todd slid down the bank, the loose soils and limestone pebbles cascading in front of him as he and Mae Watkins hurried down the steep slope. The fresh scarring of the terrain, the smashed bushes and broken trees, testified to the force and devastating nature of the crash. And then Todd spotted it; a little metallic red SUV, upside down on its roof, the tires still spinning, and the engine compartment and a segment of the cab submerged in the churning eddy of the river rushing along its banks. Bleak, abject dread roiled in his belly…he could hear his nephew crying uncontrollably with old Mr. Watkins doing what he could to try and calm the boy, but to no avail. He was on his belly, his shoulders squeezed into the now narrow and collapsed slot where the rear right passenger window used to be, and it was obvious he was struggling to stretch across the vehicle in a valiant attempt to release Justin from his car seat. And Todd could hear Natalie, calmly entreating Mr. Watkins to recover her son in between comforting Justin that everything was going to be fine...she would never let anything happen to him…and she loved him with all her heart.
Todd turned to Mrs. Watkins, his face white with the shock of the nightmare unfolding before him. "That's my niece…and her son…you tell your husband – I'm coming right back." And before Mae Watkins could stop him, Todd was scrambling back up the slope with precipitate speed.
"Evangeline! Call 911; it's Natalie and Justin. It's bad! I've got to get back down there and help Mr. Watkins but I need you to make sure dispatch understands to send the life flight helicopter and that Llanview Hospital has the trauma team ready to go. You got that sweetheart?"
"Yes, yes…Oh my God...be careful Todd!" Evangeline yelled back as she was already dialing her phone. Todd nodded and disappeared down the embankment for the second time.
Damn. His day had started out so good, quiet with no real trouble save for the usual petty crimes and misdemeanors. It certainly wasn't anything his officers weren't perfectly capable of handling and Police Commissioner Lee Ramsey had enjoyed the relative calm of the early Sunday evening to catch up on his reading. Then the calls came in, back to back from the 911 dispatcher. The first was to relay information from the frantic passenger involved in an accident on the old bluffs road which resulted in one of the vehicles careening down the steep canyon and into the Llantano River. The second call had been to identify the potential victims. It was the second call that had raised the hair on the back of Ramsey's neck. Christ, it was all he needed.
When he'd reached the scene, it was as bad as he'd feared. The small sporty SUV had rolled some 50 yards and the cage of the vehicle had partially buckled on its way down before finally coming to a treacherously unsteady rest on its roof in the spring swollen waters. With even the slightest movement, it was apparent there was a very real threat the SUV could be jarred loose from the bank during even the most carefully choreographed rescue operations only to be swept irretrievably downstream by the raging current. Old man Watkins, along with Todd Manning, with a Herculean effort, and despite the danger to both of them, had managed to free and remove the little McBain boy safely from his child protection seat.
But Natalie Banks had been trapped by the damage to the frame and body of the car to be left dangling from her shoulder restraint and partially submerged in the river until additional rescue personnel and resources could arrive. She was attempting to hold herself out of the blisteringly icy waters surging through the front of the cab by executing a vice grip on the driver's seat with one hand so that she was curled into a near fetal position, her other hand dangling in an unnatural position and rendered effectively useless by an obvious injury to her wrist. And she was covered in blood. Ramsey was disturbed by how calm and in control she had been; issuing orders to Todd Manning and arguing with him as he stood at the concave front passenger side door, up to his knees in the freezing river, and cradling her sobbing son safely in his arms.
"Goddamn Natalie, you are not my favorite niece and you can't ask me for any favors or force me to deal with McBain in the face of all this. You need to hang on, do you hear me? Christ, he's likely to kick my ass just for happening on the scene."
"I d-d-don't really give a shhhit what you want Todd," her intense uncontrollable shivering was making it increasingly difficult for Natalie to speak. "You and Vangie n-n-n-need t-t-t-to get Jus to the hospital now and y-y-y-ou need to tell him…"
"That's enough Natalie! If you promise to just shut the hell up for God's sakes, I'll do it. Christ you'd think you'd have enough sense to conserve your energy rather than worry about that miserable has been cop. Sheesh, what is it with you and McBain? And you have to go and drag me in it and you know goddamn good and well I hate that sonofabitch."
Todd had turned and with an unspoken appeal faced Ramsey, his naked anxiety written all over his face. "It's about time. The cavalry is finally here. Good, now maybe you'll realize you don't need me to tell McBain anything…you can do your own goddamn dirty work."
Ramsey recognized Todd was keeping Natalie's fight up in front of an impossible situation. He nodded once with tacit understanding and said quietly, "Take the boy top side. The ambulance is rolling in."
As Todd began to remove Justin from the scene, he started to scream, "Mommy! I want my Mommy! Nooooo!" Both men had to steel themselves, realizing it may be the last time the boy saw his mother alive.
"Get him out of here Todd," Natalie admonished. "It's okay baby, Mom-m-m-mommy loves you. I love you. I love you, m-m-my baby…" Her voice broke as another wave of violent shuddering over took her.
Todd patted his back attempting to reassure the toddler, "I promise Justin, Uncle Todd is going to make sure your Daddy comes to get you just as soon as you see your Uncle Mikey. Your Mommy is going to see you later too. Okay? So here we go." Instinctively, Justin knew his uncle was telling him a series of half baked truths and he began to squirm desperately attempting to get down, crying wildly.
"Go. Now." Ramsey pushed Todd toward the scarred path leading up to the roadbed. Todd tightened his hold on the traumatized child and with one last look back at Natalie, started his final ascent up the slope. On his way out of the ravine, he was passed by the rescue team, including the first of the medical triage personnel, and Todd prayed they weren't too late.
Todd's fears were warranted. Once on the scene, the complications of the logistics clearly hindered their concentrated efforts. It had taken way too long for the recovery crew to free her from the tangled mass of metal, precious time her body temperature was compromised by the frigid waters. Natalie had simply grown weary from being exposed to the unrelenting bitter cold for more than twenty minutes, ceasing at the end from even shivering, merely drifting away from consciousness until she was unresponsive and nearly completely submerged. The sense of urgency among the rescue workers had risen exponentially; Natalie was literally freezing to death before their very eyes. The vehicle rocked precariously on its roof as the team labored with a disciplined frenzy to stabilize what was left of her car before it could even be hooked to a wench and pulled up the bank and away from the roaring river. It was the only way they could reach her without imperiling both her safety and that of the dive team tethered to the trees and clinging to the vehicle as they attempted to free her from the driver's side to no avail.
When they finally hauled the vehicle up on dry land and had extricated Natalie from the twisted mass of metal and broken glass, Ramsey justifiably found himself close to losing it. He'd been on a number of accident scenes in his day, but this...watching Natalie Banks exert an admirably fearless effort to stay conscious and alive; he was visibly affected as were the rest of the personnel at ground zero when the paramedics laid her limp and seemingly bloodless body into the aircraft litter only to hear the nurse of the triage assessment team proclaim, "She's not breathing, and I can't detect a pulse!"
They went to work, cutting her soggy black party dress down the center to quickly attach the electrodes for the EKG and the other transmitters necessary to monitor her vital signs, and within moments of the first readouts, two EMTs began CPR in earnest. Ramsey turned away, unable to bear the sight of Natalie's bluish skin against her delicately sheer and feminine blush pink lace bra. One of her shoes was missing and her normally bright colored tresses were dark and dull with river water and the blood from the nasty gash above her right brow and at her hairline.
"Damnit – I can't tap a vein, they've gone too deep. I'm going to need to make an incision to start the IV." The nurse reached for a cut down kit, carefully undoing the seals and laying out the sterile field next to him on the ground as the EMTs continued concentrating on giving Natalie CPR.
"C'mon, c'mon…hang in there…" the nurse carefully scanned the electronic equipment for some sign Natalie was responding to their interventions. The preliminary results were not what he'd hoped, and he encouraged the rest of the team to keep going. "She's not dead till she's warm and without a pulse boys. Let's get her in the air and see if we can instigate that core temp to spike up."
Quickly Ramsey started up the embankment, his decision made. He could not expect any one of his men to face this; it would have to be him. And if he knew McBain, whether Natalie made it through this or not, the retribution would be meted out to those responsible accordingly.
At the top of the ravine he pulled his cell out of the inside pocket of his black suit coat. He issued the voice activated command, "Llanview Hospital" and continued moving toward the life flight chopper put down at a wider spot in the road, its blades dangerously close to the limestone bluffs. There was no margin for error so getting Natalie out of the canyon was going to be a trick in and of itself and Ramsey wouldn't breathe easy until they were safely in the air. He stopped momentarily when the switchboard at the hospital answered his call and requested how he could be assisted.
"Yeah, this is Commissioner Ramsey. I need you to patch me in to Dr. Michael McBain immediately." As he was placed on hold he continued toward the life flight pilot. "Fire it up," he ordered. "They've got her." At the pilot's thumbs up acknowledgment, Ramsey advanced towards his own cruiser, barking his final instructions to the officers holding the line. No one was moving onto the accident scene, not even Buchanan family members. It was too risky, and Ramsey would not tolerate his investigation potentially being compromised, not until he had a good feel for what he suspected had ultimately gone down on the winding narrow road. Ramsey was certain he was dealing with an incident, and he didn't really give a rat's smelly ass that the Buchanans were stuck behind the police barricade and unable to dominate any facet of what was happening. As far as he was concerned, the controlled chaos of the victim recovery and the parallel track of evidence collection were the overriding priorities, not their need to always throw their weight around.
He quickly shifted his attention when Michael McBain came on the line. "It's Ramsey. Natalie is on her way in. Where is he?"
Michael was clearly shaken, "If John's not with her, then he's at the house on River Court. No one's seen him at the Angel's square hotel in a couple of days…"
"Call him," Ramsey directed. "I'm heading over there now and I'll bring him in. He should hear the news from you and we need to keep him fully contained until we get him to the hospital. How's the boy?"
"The preliminary examination found no obvious signs of physical trauma. It's a miracle, but it seems Justin may just come through this whole ordeal relatively unscathed."
Ramsey was surprised at how relieved that piece of news made him feel. The McBain pup was a cutie despite his chancy paternity. Besides, regardless of how he personally felt about the boy's father, no man should ever have to live through the loss of his child in tandem with the loss of the mother.
"Well, that's something at least that I can give to your brother…the rest, it's not good Doc."
"I'm aware," Michael said quietly. "Just get them both here and STAT."
He ended the call and slid into the front seat of the cruiser. Within minutes, Ramsey had cleared the intersection of Llantano Bluffs Road and Llanview highway; his lights strobing and siren blaring so that the vehicles in front of him could not miss his aggressively swift progress and were pulling onto the shoulder expeditiously, leaving Ramsey a clear passageway toward the Wentworth Heights exit. Once he'd gunned it from the off ramp onto the arterial street, Ramsey caught sight of the life flight chopper at the top of his windshield beating a path toward the Llanview skyline. Good, they must have decided it was appropriate to transport. With any luck the team would have her heart beating by the time Ramsey got McBain delivered to the hospital. He slowed his vehicle as he reached the top of cul de sac, tapping the brakes gently until he was nearly in position. Deliberately, Ramsey reached in and unsnapped the strap on his shoulder holster, pulling his 9 mm free with his right hand while he stomped the brakes and cut the wheel hard with his left. He executed the 180 degree turn with little effort, and as the cruiser skidded to a halt facing the reverse direction on the connector street, Ramsey flipped the safety on his gun, and transferred it to his left hand. Carefully he steadied the firearm and waited for McBain to reach the vehicle.
Within seconds, the passenger door was wrenched open and John catapulted himself into the seat. The cruiser surged into motion and Ramsey calmly prompted, "Put your seat belt on McBain."
John ignored him and reached for the cruiser's radio at which point Ramsey felt it would be remiss of him not to inform McBain of the rules of the road before he had to shoot him. "Touch it and I'll blow your fucking fingers off. You are not Llanview PD and you are unquestionably not entitled to any special treatment. I'm bringing you in as a courtesy to the good citizens of Llanview and to ensure none of them are caught in the cross hairs of your stupidity were I to leave you to your own devices in getting to the hospital. Now, if you want an update on the condition of your loved ones, I will endeavor to provide it. But, you need to ask McBain."
"Kiss my ass Ramsey." John reached down and as he slipped his boots on, pulled the little snub nosed .38 he carried in his ankle holster. He leveled it at Ramsey as he pulled the safety belt across his torso and buckled himself in.
"Nice McBain. You know your mama was a bit inattentive in her lessons on manners. Either that or it's more likely you were too thick to learn much." Ramsey took his eyes off the road just to ascertain his own weapon remained trained on McBain. Excellent; they had reached a reasonable impasse and Ramsey was confident he could distract him for the few remaining miles to the hospital. He wasn't about to tell McBain everything about the accident. The key here was selectivity with the most salient information coming solely from Natalie's doctors. "Lucky for you, I am not a man without compassion. That boy of yours seems to have weathered the crash in one piece, which is nothing short of a wonder. He was transported to Llanview hospital over 30 minutes ago in the company of the Mannings and Mrs. Davidson. Natalie on the other hand, is in a bit rougher shape. The car went off the road and into the river gorge McBain, and I'm afraid your little redhead suffered the worst of it. She was airlifted out of the canyon just a bit ago. But I have every confidence in the triage team who were deployed to the scene. They seemed to have everything under control when I left to retrieve you."
Ramsey eased the car off the freeway and into the downtown Llanview traffic. Both he and McBain could see the hospital up ahead.
"What the fuck does that mean? I was a cop long enough to know when it's most expedient to say nothing; the procedure in any dire situation is to throw out bull shit terms like 'confidence' and 'under control.' Give me what I want Ramsey, or I might just put a bullet in you simply for the satisfaction of relieving some of my anger and frustration. How the hell did this happen?"
Ramsey shot him a look, and he had no doubt McBain was perfectly capable of making good on his threats. "I've got nothing more than what I've already stated; other than your brother and the trauma team were at the ready and in constant contact with the team in the field. There were two witnesses on the scene, when I arrived - Mr. and Mrs. Watkins but frankly McBain; there hasn't been time to take statements. My immediate concern was getting Natalie out of the canyon, the accident site secured for the boys at forensics, and you to the ER without further incident." Ramsey pulled into the drive leading to the back ambulance bays.
John jumped out of the police cruiser before it had come to a complete stop and was at a flat out run when he entered the ER through the automatic doors. Instantly, he heard the plaintive cries of his son – but was briefly paralyzed with indecision. Where did he go first? To Natalie…or to Justin?
Evangeline spotted him as he took the stairs two at a time up to the loading dock. Instinctively she clutched Todd's arm, her heart breaking just a little at the look of frenetic purpose on his face. It was true; John had come back to Llanview for Natalie. She stood with Todd's help and they both intercepted him as he blew into the staging area adjacent to the nurses station.
"John, thank God you're here."
"Evangeline! Where's Natalie, Justin? Jesus, Todd - what the hell happened?"
Todd took his wife's hand in his. There was no easy way to say this, and he was not about to leave her to do the heavy lifting in her delicate condition. "Justin is fine, McBain and there's no reason why you can't see him as soon as possible. He's in with the pediatrician right now and Vickie. They're prepping him for a CT scan, but we were assured it's just a precaution. You might want to hold off going in to see Justin until you talk to Michael. It's Natalie. I swear we tried to get her out of that car McBain; but we couldn't. Just the disturbance of pulling Justin free caused the SUV to shift and drop further into the river. Jesus John, she was in that water for a really long time..." Todd's voice trailed off.
With Todd's unspoken inference sharply telegraphed, John absorbed what Todd was telling him. "Natalie!" He bolted for the trauma room doors opposite the small waiting area. Todd stepped in front and restrained him.
"Not so fast McBain. I've got orders; you're not to go in there, not without your brother. You'll just get in the way, and you have to trust they are doing everything they can for her right now. Shit, the last thing she snarled at me before I brought Justin to the ER were explicit instructions and that she was going to hold me personally responsible to make sure you didn't lose it...and to tell you that your first priority has to be Justin. She's expecting you to be sure 'her' son is all right. Christ, I don't know what she sees in you but Natalie loves you and has faith you're not going to do anything asinine."
"Fuck you Todd - you can't tell me if it was Evangeline in there you wouldn't do what you needed to do to see for yourself she was all right." He was relentless and running on stress hormone overload and he nearly knocked Todd off his feet in his attempt to reach the doors...oh God...Natalie...
"Easy, easy John." Michael quickly stepped in to give Todd some back up. The escalating commotion from the waiting area had filtered in to the working trauma team and Michael was oddly comforted John was behaving true to his usual angry and controlling style.
"Michael! I want to see her - now."
His brother reached out and placed his hands on John's shoulders giving him a straighforward unwavering view of his disquiet. What John saw gave him pause. "You can't Johnny. Not just yet. We've instituted the standard treatment protocol for severely acute hypothermia and it entails a series of warm water lavages until the body cavity reaches a stable core temp. It's not something you should witness. John...Natalie's heart is beating; weak, erratic, but beating John. It's more than I could say even ten minutes ago. She's still with us Bro and for now you need to hang on to that. So I'll have nurse Emerson take you to Justin. You can accompany him to the CT scan. In fact I think it would be best and we may not have to sedate the little guy if you're with him to help keep his anxiety level manageable. That's preferable, considering how over taxed his nervous system is and how unpredictably the bodies of small children can react to serious meds. So you need to pull it together John, and let us do our jobs with Natalie and guide you through the rest of this. And as soon as I possibly can, I'll bring you in to see her."
John nodded and swallowed hard. Natalie...oh God...she was alive. And as much as he hated to admit it, when she woke up if Natalie thought for a moment he had splintered his focus from Justin she'd kick his ass six ways to Sunday. "Where is he?"
"Across the hall from Natalie."
John followed the nurse with his usual impatient determination.
The instant the boy caught sight of his father his eyes rounded. "Daddy!" It was a mournful keening cry and Justin stood in the crib his arms outstretched.
With a single long stride, John was lifting his son, clutching him to his chest as he trembled with raw pain. John's own eyes filled with tears as he crooned softly, "I've got you J-man. Daddy's always got you. And I promise everything is going to be all right."
To be continued...