Oscar Goldman had been through some bad days, but this one just about drove his blood pressure through the roof.
First the call from Robbie, saying Rick and Rudy hadn't arrived and weren't answering their transmitters. Thinking they had broken down, Oscar dispatched a call to Ron Johnson, who so far had come up with no sign of them. The last reported sighting was at the border, then nothing.
Then the revelation that his daughter had a premonition of sorts. It had been almost a year since she had had one, and the amount of wear on her physically as well as emotionally scared him.
Now….this was too much. Oscar took a deep breath then said, quietly, "What did Michael Fisk say?"
A.J.'s voice shook as he faced the big man. "He says we can throw him in prison for all he cares, but he tampered with Rick's truck and hopes they both died."
"Why that piece of scum…that…" Oscar growled, then simmered down when A.J. added, "Somehow he heard one of Ron's APB reports; now he's sitting there laughing."
"He'll be laughing out of the other side of his mouth if I get a hold of him." Abby Johnson said from the reception desk. Having signed her fellow "visitors" out of the Ojai station, she came toward them.
"Wait a minute, guys.. we're going at this all wrong." A.J. suddenly looked up, then stared at Abby.
"What if Michael Fisk is covering for someone, like his mother!"
"Bingo! If you weren't married, I'd kiss you!" Abby enthused, then Linda laughed.
"Go ahead, even though you're married too!"
"Well, now that you ladies have got that taken care of, I'm going to tell Ron to focus on Fisk's wife, then I think we need to follow Rick and Rudy's trail." Oscar explained calmly, a hopeful twinkle in his eye.
After an hour of phone calls, a tearful Norma Fisk was picked up in Northern California, and charged with attempted murder and arson.
As it was, A.J. and a weary Oscar got satisfaction out of seeing the face of Michael Fisk as his now ashamed mother was flown down and brought into the station.
"Okay, we know who did it, but where are they?" A.J. said, exasperated that after several hours, they still were no closer to his brother and Rudy.
Just then his transmitter went off, and when he picked it up, he found Laurie on the other end. "Hey Sis, how are you doing?"
"Okay, A.J.. I'm still scared, but it's manageable." She admitted.
As they talked, A.J. put his stuff together, then waited as Abby and Oscar and Linda did the same.
"A.J., Abby, I want you to be really careful, the road to Phoenix can be rough. Stay as close as you can, and if you see anything out of the ordinary, hit your transmitter and pull over." Oscar explained.
Abby nodded, then added, "I'm picking Ron up at the station, we'll be on the road about 5 minutes after you."
Just then A.J. heard Laurie say, "I'm going to meet you guys, I want to look for them."
"No, Sis, we'll find them, I promise. You stay put with Robbie and Ramona."
"A.J., I can help. When I'm close by Rick, I'll be able to sense where he and Rudy are. Besides, Jaime and Steve just got in, and they'll be with me." Laurie told him firmly.
Behind him A.J. heard a sigh of relief; Steve and Jaime had been with Chrystal as she chaperoned a trip to Washington D.C. and Oscar had not been able to reach them.
"All right, honey. We'll keep in touch and if you don't pick up anything along the way, we'll rendezvous at the border stop." He said, getting a nod from the others.
"Tell Dad and Abby and Ron thank you, and I'll see you and Sis on the road." Laurie's voice wavered, then she said goodbye. As A.J. refastened his watch, he surreptitiously wiped his eyes.
"They will be okay, son." Oscar put a hand on his shoulder, then A.J. cleared his throat.
"Thanks Oscar…..I know they will, if only for me to rag my brother about telling fish stories!"
Those stories are what kept A.J going as the hours passed. Rather then let her husband dwell on what they might find, Linda asked A.J. about other fishing trips he'd made with Rick. Finally he ran out of steam just as they drove across the California border. Stopping for gas at a truck stop in Quartzite, he realized it was one he and Rick had been to years before, when they both thought A.J. had chicken pox. There he had told his brother that it was like he was a little boy again, his older brother taking care of him.
"It's my turn to look after you, big brother", he thought, as he pulled out of the pumps. Following Oscar's lead, A.J. had just pulled onto the highway when he heard a beeping coming from his transmitter. Excited, he pulled over onto the shoulder and switching seats with Linda, responded.
"Rick?"
"A.J….it's Rudy. See, I told you son, if we climbed up some…. A.J….we've had an accident.." Frantically A.J. replied, "Rudy, are you and Rick all right? Where are you?"
"We're hurt, but we'll live….we're off the highway..'bout an hour from Phoenix. Funny noise from Rick's truck, then we crashed into a ravine. Here, talk to Rick…" the older man's voice faded.
"Rudy…Rudy! " At once Linda honked in Morse code and Oscar pulled off the road ahead of them. Pulling in back of him, A.J. barely waited for the car to stop moving before he jumped out and ran to Oscar.
"A.J…..you've got to get here, not doing so good." A.J. heard his brother's voice as the big man got out of his car.
"We're on our way, Rick….do you know how far off the highway you are?" Oscar asked.
"About twenty feet..or so..it's a long way's down. Rudy's got broken ribs and a bad cut on his head. I hurt my knee ….but I'm okay. We're almost out of water…."
"Just hang on, Son. We're not that far now…let me call the Highway Patrol…give them your location."
The former OSI chief changed radio frequencies and notified the station in Phoenix of the situation. Fortunately Ron Johnson had already contacted offices in Flagstaff and Prescott and they had units on the roads leading in and out of Phoenix.
As A.J. kept talking while Linda drove, Rick rested his aching head against the rock he and Rudy were perched on . Before sunset, he and Rudy had leaned on each other and slowly made their way to the foot of the ravine wall, then started climbing. After an hour, their strength was waning, so Rick had boosted the weakened doctor onto a boulder large enough to bear both of them. At that moment Rudy had tried signaling for help again.
"Tell A.J., Rick..tell him..there's a 2 mile marker just before we went off the road."
Rick managed a grin as he relayed the message. "There should be a broken guardrail …I remember it scraping it just before we rolled…"
"Got it, Rick…just hang on…" Rick heard his brother's voice, then as if an echo..
"Just hang on, Rick…please, where are you?"
"Laurie?" Rick heard his wife's "voice" in his head.
"Rick…darling! I'm coming…Steve and Jaime are with me!"
"A.J., I hear Laurie….have Oscar key in on her transmitter!"
"Rick, duck!" Startled, Rick obeyed Rudy's warning and covered the older man with his body as a shower of rocks splattered over them. Suddenly the rock they were resting against began to move.