Chapter 5

Navigating their way down the slick roads through the late Saturday night traffic, the squad and the engine finally turned onto the canyon road. Five minutes later, John directed Roy's attention to the flashing lights of the sheriff's car pulled over on the cliff side of the road. His head slightly out of the open window, Gage could clearly see the missing guardrail even in the torrential downpour that was drumming a steady beat on his helmet. Like a turtle, he pulled his head in and rolled up the window. He glanced over at Roy while pulling up the collar of his coat.

"I sure hope there's only one car over that edge…"

Yeah, me too," Roy agreed, pulling to the side of the road and angling the truck so that the headlights shone on the gap toothed rail. Mike parked directly in front of the opening, anticipating the need for the ropes to be tied to the front.

All of the men made their way across the wet pavement and joined the deputy standing on the muddy shoulder, flashlight pointed down the steep hill. He raised his helmeted head and greeted the crew with a nod, waving his hand and pointing down.

"Witness states that the car was speeding, lost control, and slid right thru the rail and over the embankment. Haven't heard any signs of life, but then again," Vince Howard shrugged and indicated with a gloved hand the noisiness of the rain and the occasional thunder.

The paramedics, standing closest to the edge, looked at each other.

"Geesh…" Roy muttered, turning on his heel and heading toward the squad, Johnny at his heels.

"My thoughts exactly," replied Johnny, grabbing the ropes as his partner pulled out the belts and flashlights. They could hear Hammer shouting orders at the engine crew to set up lights and ready the stokes as they slammed the compartment doors and squished their way to the front of the engine. Lopez and Kelly tied off their respective ropes to the hooks while the two rescue men secured their belts and knotted off their lines. Gage checked the deep pocket of his coat for the ht and added his flashlight, then double checked his line and belt; satisfied that everything was ready, he took a deep breath and shot a sideways glance at DeSoto. Roy nodded and together they began their descent, feeling the tension on their lines as the men manned the lines above them.

Slipping and sliding his way through the mud and brush, Gage let out an exclamation as his feet went out from under him and he dropped to his knees; the air whooshed out of his lungs in a startled gasp as his safety belt jerked upwards and tightened around him.

"More slack for Johnny!" Roy cried out, accessing the situation in a glance and stopping his own downward slide. As the rope loosened, his partner fell flat on his back, feet pointed uphill. "You ok Johnny?"

"Yeah, yeah," Gage, gasping for air, finally coughed in reply. He grabbed the rope to sit up, then pulled himself upwards and all the way to his feet. "These blasted boots!"

Roy grinned at the sight of his partner – the front of him was dripping wet with rain while the back of him was dripping with mud. His helmet had remained on but was tipped almost vertically on the back of his head; even as he watched, his bedraggled partner was jerking in irritation at the strangling chin strap. Pulling his glove off with his teeth, he finally was able to loosen the strap and push the helmet forward.

"Over there!" Roy shouted, pointing over to Gage's right and down about twenty feet. Both men moved sideways and then slowly down the remaining distance. Lying on its roof, a Volkswagen van was settled in the dirt, the driver's side parallel to the slope of the hill.

Hunkering down on his heels and resting his right hand on the frame, Johnny tipped his head and peered into the interior, his left hand using his flashlight to illuminate.

"Hey man, what took you so long?" A lazy, drawled out voice asked him, a cloud of smoke wafting out the window and enveloping the paramedic.

"Hell…..!" John muttered under his breath, instinctively pulling back and coughing as the pot fumes wafted over him. "You all right? Anybody…(cough) else in there?" (Cough, cough)

"Yeah man, my chick, she's like out ya know? Can you get us out of here? I feel like a bat, man, hanging upside down…wow, a real rush! My chick, like, fastened my seat belt, and it won't let me go…kinda stuck, like…." He rambled on, waving the hand that held the joint.

Coughing uncontrollably, Gage pulled off a glove and reached up under his coat. He pulled his scissors out of his assessment pouch, dropped to his knees, and reached in to cut the belt. "Put that thing out, "he coughed out, trying to see past his streaming eyes.

"But man, that's the good stuff! It's gold!" The man protested, arms still waving as John tried to find the belt and dodge the flailing arms.

"You've gotta hold still!" Seriously annoyed, miserable, wet, and about ready to toss his cookies, John Gage was finding it hard to maintain his composure and his professionalism. Rocking backwards on his knees, he looked again at the flailing man and realized he couldn't cut the lap belt from the outside without potentially injuring the victim. He stuck the scissors between his teeth, lunged in through the window, and grabbed the man's wrist. Grabbing the joint in his ungloved hand, he smashed it against his wet turnout coat, wincing as the lit tip burned his palm.

The stoned man paused in his nonsensical dialogue, finally noticing his empty fingers. "Where'd it go? Hey, what ya doin…?" Gage didn't reply, too busy squirming his way between the man's lap and the steering wheel. Grunting, he dropped awkwardly, outstretched arms first, onto the floor, or rather the ceiling, between the seats. Rising to his knees, he checked the passenger's neck for a carotid pulse and was relieved to find a strong one. He sighed in annoyance when he noticed smoke drifting up from another lit joint somewhere near the unconscious woman- finding that and putting it out would have to wait for the moment. He turned back to her male companion and studied him for a moment by the light of his partner's flashlight shining through the interior. He had a feeling that he knew the answer to the question he was about to ask the man, but asked it anyway.

"You have any pain…are you hurt anywhere?" He queried, carefully and quickly running his hands down the driver's legs and arms checking for fractures.

"Nah, it's real cool. What a wild ride down, man…"

"Yeah, ok….look, I'm going to cut the belt, but first I'm going to check your neck for injury…then I'm going to shift you a little and take some of your weight, so you don't fall on your head when I cut the belt. Roy, can you get his legs?" Roy answered by leaning in through the window and wrapping his arms around the man's jean clad legs.

Trying to stifle his coughing, the younger paramedic angled the driver slightly toward him, as much as the lap belt would allow, and tried to take some of his weight. He cut the belt and with his partner's help carefully maneuvered the now mumbling man up and out the window, trying to keep his neck and back straight.

"I'm going to check out the passenger, gonna need a collar. Think we can get a backboard in here?" Gage asked Roy, kneeling on the seat back and holding out the ht to him. Roy looked over at him as he helped the driver into the stokes that Marco had brought down; after settling the victim, Roy returned to the window and grasped the proffered ht.

"Yeah…short board maybe…." Johnny nodded and moved clumsily back to the space between the seats and began assessing the young woman. He pushed back on his heels after checking her out and fished deep into the pocket of his turnout coat. He snapped the vial in two under her nose and was rewarded with an immediate return to consciousness as she choked and coughed her way to alertness.

"Hey, it's ok, I'm a paramedic with the fire department…my name is John, what's yours?" He asked as she stared at him with glassy eyes, blinking slowly as she looked at him and then tried to turn her head. "No, try and stay still while I check you out. Do you have any pain?" He laid his still ungloved hand on her stomach to check her respirations.

"Melanie….no, no I'm fine…what happened…where's Dwayne?" She gasped out, moving her gaze back to the paramedic kneeling by her side. "Wow, you look as high as I feel, baby…..that feels totally sweet….."

Johnny immediately dropped his hands to his sides, but couldn't help smirking. She was right about the high part; he definitely had a buzz going on. From past experience, he knew he had a low tolerance for drugs, even in small quantities. They affected him fast and seemed to linger in his body for a long time. He was really going to have to focus…..

"What's the…uh…status on the board and collar, Roy?" He called out, feeling a hand grabbing the leg of his bunker pants as he half stood and leaned towards the driver's window. Glancing down, he could see that Melanie had hold of him and was trying to pull him back towards her. "No…ahhh!"

A string of expletives flashed through his head as the one mud encrusted boot he had precariously planted on the floor(ceiling) shot out from under him and he landed in an impossibly tangled heap between the upside down seats. He found himself face to face with the girl, who was definitely leering at him. Do girls leer? He wondered idly, watching as her hand stroked his bruised face and she winked at him. Definitely on something stronger then pot, too. His eyes shifted sideways to the smoke pluming gently across his face, and he unconsciously took in a deep breath, which resulted in another bout of harsh coughing.

"John….Johnny….you're so nice…are you going to rescue me? Breathe deep, baby, and let it take you for a ride…. Your face is so pretty with all those colors…and your eyes…I can see your soul…"

Roy couldn't help but snicker as he looked through the window, leaning on the short backboard as he pushed it through the opening. His apparently dazed partner was in a contorted heap, arms and legs in four different directions. The girl looked like she was giving him mouth to mouth; she was that close to him. Hearing his partner's snort of laughter, Gage came back to life and struggled to get his feet under him. Even in the dim light, Roy thought he could see a blush creeping up his partner's dirty, wet and already flushed face. "You need a hand there, Gage?"

"No, no, jus' let me get…uh upright…..come on, Melanie, hold still now…." Somehow the embarrassed paramedic managed to get the collar around her neck, cut her seatbelt, and slide her partway onto the board, all the while trying to fend off her groping hands. Roy crawled partly in and grabbed the end of the board; he began wiggling backward with the assistance of the engine's linemen.

"Don't leave me Johnny…" Melanie cried out as she began moving backwards with the board. She reached out a hand and, unfortunately for the flustered fireman, managed to get a hand, and a fierce grip on him, between the legs…

"Shi…!" He screamed out, jerking free and falling backwards, slamming into the door and closed window of the van. He grunted in pain as first his back impacted the door, and then his head snapped back into the glass. There was a sudden silence as everyone in and outside of the vehicle froze as the van shifted in the mud.

Swallowing back his apprehension, DeSoto manhandled the board and the girl out of the van. The three firemen laid the now silent girl into the stokes and Roy quickly turned back to help his partner. To his relief, John was already attempting to crawl out and he assisted him out and down onto the ground, where the beleaguered young man stretched out onto his stomach and lay panting.

Seeing that Lopez and Kelly were on their way up the hill with the stokes, Roy crouched down next Gage and laid a careful hand on his shoulder. "You ok there, John?"

The object of his concerned attention rolled an eye at him, squinting up through the pouring rain and still coughing slightly. "How about…next time….you go first?"

"Done deal, partner," Roy answered, relieved that his new partner seemed to be ok. He paused when Johnny managed to roll partly over and reached up a hand to shove something at him. He took the now completely doused marijuana joint from the other man's fingers and looked in puzzlement at him. Gage grinned weakly at him.

"Gotta prevent forest fires, ya know? Get rid of that, will ya?"

Roy scrambled to his feet and obliged by grinding the offending joint into the ground. He then reached down to assist Gage up; it took several tries but finally his partner was on his feet. Johnny reached a hand up to his wet head and realized something was missing.

"Awwww man, my helmet is gone again!"

"Leave it Johnny, just leave it, ok?" Roy grabbed his arm as he turned back towards the van. Gage looked at him and then back at the van, shrugging his shoulders in a resigned gesture.

"Yeah, think you got a point there," he muttered, picking up the rope while searching one handedly through his pockets for his glove. Both men began the slow climb back up the hill.

They were almost to the top when Roy stumbled and went down on one knee. John crow hopped sideways and helped him up. "What happened?"

"Think I found a hole – my foot found it anyways…." He answered, wincing as he put weight on his foot. "Think I twisted my ankle."

"Huh, good thing we're almost to the top. I don't think the guys would appreciate hauling another stokes up!" The men grinned at each other; Roy threw his arm over his partner's shoulder and together they hauled themselves to the top, where several pairs of willing hands assisted them.

Learning that squad 36 had taken care of their extracted victims, who were now on route to the hospital for observation, Johnny helped Roy hobble over to the squad. Roy sat down on the passenger side, legs hanging out while Gage tried to pull his boot off. After the third unsuccessful attempt to pull off the boot resulted in his partner landing on his butt on the pavement, laughing, Roy had a sudden realization. He leaned forward, pen light in hand, and waved at his giggling partner, still sitting on the ground.

"Gage, look at me." John smirked but did as directed, wincing as the light played across his face. DeSoto looked at his dilated pupils and shook his head in disbelief. "How much of that smoke did you inhale, exactly?"

"Jus enough for me to forget what a sh..uh lousy day I've been having!" Gage threw back at him, flashing him his crooked grin. Aside from that brief exchange on the hillside, Roy realized that was the first time he had seen the younger man genuinely smile all shift. He gasped as his boot finally came off, and felt Johnny's hands checking his slightly swollen ankle.

"Doesn't seem broken. Want me to….ahhh ….. wrap it before you head over to Rampart?"

"Sure…." Roy leaned wearily against the side of the seat and closed his eyes. He could hear Johnny noisily getting the supplies out of the compartment, and then felt his ankle being wrapped. The sound of his boot being dropped into the cab roused him, and he obligingly swung his legs into the truck with his partner's assistance. He looked up as the other man leaned against the open door and ran a slightly trembling hand across his face.

"Ya know, Roy, I think maybe I've got.." whatever disclosure John was going to make was cut off by their captain appearing behind them. He slapped a hand on Gage's shoulder and peered in at Roy.

"That ankle broke, DeSoto?"

"No sir, just twisted it or maybe sprained it. Doesn't feel bad at all since Johnny wrapped it."

"Good. Get your partner over to the hospital to get checked out, Gage."

"Uh, cap, maybe you could get Lopez or Kelly to drive the squad in. I'm not feeling very clearheaded right now, kinda took in some of that marijuana smoke…"

Hammer moved back a step and lifted his hand to shine his light up and over the still leaning fireman, who was now jiggling a leg slightly. His paramedic squinted back at him, water running down his helmetless head and joining the mud, which coated the back AND the front of his turnouts, to pool at his feet.

"Gage, you need a trip to Rampart too?" Gage shot a "help me" look over to his partner, who shrugged and lifted his hands in a noncommittal gesture.

"Nah, I'm good, just need some time and some dry clothes."

"Get Stoker to hose you off before you climb into the engine," Hammer ordered, heading away from the squad with the bedraggled paramedic close behind him. "And Gage, where the hell is your helmet this time?"

Roy smiled as he turned slightly in his seat to watch the men move off; his partner seemed to be sinking lower into his boots as their captain berated him over the missing helmet. Stoker pulled the line off the truck and sprayed Gage down, who slowly turned in a circle with arms outstretched, a pained look on his face.

The sound of the driver's side door opening caught DeSoto's attention and he reluctantly closed his own door and looked over at Chet Kelly, who had apparently won the job of chauffer.

"You would think, right, that after all these years the fire department would get rid of all those open cabbed rigs? I mean, come on, I know it doesn't rain that…." Roy slid down in his seat a little more as Kelly began a discussion on the merits of the open cabbed trucks versus the closed. He closed his eyes and wrinkled his nose as the smell of, well, wet firemen assaulted his nostrils, debating whether to open his window. He mentally shook his head at the idea and decided instead to catch a few minutes of sleep, confident that Chet's voice would lead him into the land of Nod. As he dozed off, he wondered if Kelly was going to be the talkative one of their crew, definitely not Stoker or Lopez. As for Gage, well that remained to be seen; he seemed to be opening up more…nah, there was no way Johnny was going to be the outspoken one of their shift!


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