The Gage Secret-36
Patches pulled out of her master's grasp and began her yipping sounds to let John know to follow her.
"Cap! Hey Cap! Patches is on to something." John said turning only his head back in the direction of his superior. The rest of his lanky body was moving full speed ahead trying to keep up with his very determined dog.
Being much faster and more nimble than her two legged followers, Patches had to stop several times to allow the men of Station 51 to catch up to her. Finally, Johnny who was leading the others saw Patches disappear over a small terrace. When Johnny and the others reached the area they saw Patches standing beside a blanket thrown haphazardly on the ground.
"Johnny is that…"
"Yea, Roy. Yea, it's Aunt Kitty's blanket." Johnny said softly kneeling down to touch the soft covering.
E!
Alyssa sat rocking the little boy in her arms. Her clothing was damp from his rescue and her thin t-shirt offered little protection from the cool night air. The child was dry wrapped in her cardigan and she hoped that somehow her own body heat would be enough to keep him safe until John found them. Her ankle was throbbing now and she could feel the tightness in her sneaker indicating that it was swollen. She hugged the small boy to her chest and then leaned back against the rocks on the cliff and closed her tired eyes as her small frame trembled in the cool night mist.
The soft gurgles of the rushing water lulled her into that place that is neither sleep nor wakefulness. Suddenly, distant mumbling and a familiar jingle brought her back to the present.
"Patches?" She whispered hoarsely then cleared her throat. "John?" She called out a little louder.
Johnny picked up the blanket and found Alyssa's backpack underneath. Terror seized him as various scenarios flashed through his head. But before any of them could take root he heard a faint female voice calling his name.
"John? Help us please!"
"Alyssa!" He yelled bolting toward the cliff on the heels of a yipping Patches.
Alyssa tried to stand with the child in her arms but found that the effort was far more than she was able to muster. With the child's head cradled in the crook of her left arm she used her right hand to cover his exposed ear so he wouldn't be startled by her shout.
"John, down here. Help us, plea…..please." She whimpered as tears began to sting her eyes and a lump made its way higher into her throat blocking the rest of her words.
"This way, fellas." Johnny directed as he followed the narrow path he knew led to the edge of the cliff overlooking the creek. He stopped suddenly at the edge and called out to her again.
"Alyssa?"
"Down here."
John followed the faint sounding voice and saw the most beautiful sight he could ever imagine. There below him sat Alyssa…..with a small boy in her arms; a child who fit the description of their victim Tanner.
"Hold on, Alyssa. I'm coming down." Johnny called out to her and then turned back to his stunned shift mates.
"Cap, this is about a ten foot drop but we can't use ladders because of the unstable surface near the creek." John said looking at his superior. "There's a narrow trail that we can use to get down but I don't think we can get them back up that way."
"Alright, Marco head back and bring the squad down here as close as you can get it. We're gonna need ropes and harnesses. Mike, you and Chet stay here while Roy and Johnny go below. I'm gonna go notify incident command that we got him." Hank said with a hitch in his voice. Once again, his men had come through in what was beginning to feel like a hopeless situation.
John and Roy made their way down the slippery path behind Patches eventually reaching the creek bank. They hurriedly made their way over to where Alyssa sat with Tanner sleeping in her arms.
Alyssa could barely see through her tears as she watched Patches come running toward her followed by John and Roy.
"Jo…John…I, he was calling for….Momma….and kept falling…and…wet, cold…" Her words were a jumbled mix as she tried to quickly explain how she came to be trapped along the creek bank with a naked sleeping boy in her arms.
"Sssshhhh….it's ok. We're here now." John spoke to her comfortingly as Roy pulled the small boy from her arms.
"Hey there little fellow. Let me take a look at you ok?" Roy cradled the now awake child in his arms and began pulling back the navy blue cardigan. The image he saw made his heart ache. The child was bruised and scraped in multiple places but a quick assessment revealed no serious injuries. He was cold and so Roy wrapped him back up in the sweater and then held him closely to his chest pulling his turnout coat around him also.
"How is he, Roy?" Mike asked from his perch above them.
"Cold and bruised but he looks good considering what he's been through." Roy said without ever looking away from the child's face. "Hey, Mike? How about tossing me the blanket we found up there. I need to wrap him up more."
"You got it." Mike turned and quickly grabbed the blanket Roy was asking for. "Here it comes."
Roy looked up to see the blanket floating down on top of him and Tanner. "Thanks, man."
He quickly set about wrapping Tanner papoose style in case he became upset. The child offered no resistance as Roy wrapped him tightly. Roy was surprised at his total lack of communication. He made no effort to speak or even to look at the fireman who was a stranger to him. Once he was secured in the blanket, Roy cradled him again and waited for Marco's return.
Johnny felt a cold hand gripping his heart and squeezing tightly. Alyssa sat trembling and crying as she watched his partner take care of the child she'd found. "Is….is he hur…hurt bad?" She cried.
"No, not at all. He's really in good shape, Alyssa. You did a fine job with him. He's gonna be just fine." Roy offered the young woman.
"Alyssa, are you hurt?" John asked noticing how upset she seemed to be.
"No…just cold…but….yea….um, my foot."
Johnny knew she was upset by the way she was babbling and trembling in the misty twilight. Her face was tear-stained and her overall appearance was disheveled but to him she looked beautiful; reminding him of his Aunt Kitty.
"Your foot huh? Let me take a peek at it, alright?" He said slowly while brushing away some of the dirt from her face.
She grimaced when he tried to remove her shoe. "Yep, it's swelling. You're gonna need x-rays. Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"N..No." She said with a cough.
Johnny stood up and removed his turnout coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Here you go. I know you're cold. We're gonna have you out of here in no time."
She looked up at him and saw a mixture of fear, relief and pride in his dark brown eyes. She reached out to take a hold of his arms as another wave of tears began to pour. She felt him respond by wrapping his strong arms around her and holding her tightly as her trembling began again.
"That's it, sweetie. He's fine and so are you. Just let it all out." He crooned softly in her ears while running his fingers through her dark hair and easing her head down on his shoulder. He felt her begin to relax and he held her closer. She clutched his shirt in a tight fist as she buried her face into his chest and felt the pent up emotions pour out of her thoroughly wetting his light blue uniform shirt.
"Hey guys, the parents are on their way over with the rest of the guys and an ambulance." Cap called out to his crew.
Marco drove up then in the squad and he, Mike and Chet began pulling out ropes and harnesses to pull up their victims. In a short time, Roy was harnessed up and holding tightly to the child as he allowed himself to be pulled up by his co-workers. Once he was pulled over the edge, Mike pulled the little boy out of his arms and held him while Chet helped Roy out of the harness. Marco was setting up the biophone and drug box for Roy to use to further assess their victim.
Meanwhile below them Johnny continued to console the crying Alyssa. "He's gonna be ok, Alyssa. Don't worry. You did great finding him and pulling him from the water."
"He…he was so pitiful, John. He was calling for his Momma to come and help him. I…I didn't know what else to do but just pull him out of the water and take off his wet clothes..and.."
Alyssa continued to speak in a trembling stutter but John was lost in thought as he replayed her words over and over in his head. Oh my God! Her too?
E!
A/N: Only one more chapter to go and all the loose ends will be tied up neatly. Thank you all for reading this story and for your very kind reviews. I appreciate them more than you could ever know.