"The Chameleon"

Chapter Eleven

Jim crashed through the forest, no longer caring if he made noise or not. The brush tore at his thin pajama bottoms, shredding the material. They weren't much protection against the elements anyway. He was aware enough to know his time spent conscious was rapidly dwindling and soon he wouldn't be moving at all. Yet, he had to get as far away from Anna's body as possible, because when Ramon found her, he'd come after Jim.

The voices in his head started speaking to him again. This time, he didn't fight them. He needed all his concentration directed to finding that house with the fireplace.

Jim, you've got to slow down or you'll burn yourself out before you get there, Kenny warned him.

He's right, you know. Why run when you can walk? Your injuries won't allow you to run forever.

Sandburg, Ramon will be after him soon. Jim's right to hurry. I'd be running too, if it were me.

Finally, someone was agreeing with him, Jim thought with a grunt. His vision was still wild with imaginary sights. It seemed like he would fare far better if he was running with a blindfold on than what he was currently seeing. No matter, he had to deal with what he could on his own. What was that quote from Teddy Roosevelt? 'Do the best you can with what you have.' That was just what he was going to do.

When Jim heard his name being called again, he ignored it. He was too tired to listen to the voices again. He was almost too tired to do anything but sleep. He forced himself forward, hoping the house he was looking for wasn't too far away.

He tripped and fell hard. The unexpected tumble caused him to groan loudly as he rolled

back and forth, dealing with pain like he'd never known before. His battered body just couldn't take it any longer, but he knew he had to keep moving. He couldn't let Ramon find him. If he did, it would be all over.

Glancing around, he saw two figures moving toward him amidst the changing patterns of light and shapes, and thought, Dammit, Anna and Ramon! They're after me again!

He climbed to his feet and started running again, but he didn't get far. He just couldn't pick up his feet enough to keep from falling and with his hands tied, he couldn't use his arms to grab for support or even to steady himself.

When he fell this time, he rolled down a small ravine, tumbling over and over, as he cried out in pain, unable to protect his injuries from the plants, trees, and rock that lined his descent. He came to an abrupt stop when he rolled into a large tree trunk. The impact knocked the breath from him and he almost passed out from a new source of pain.

As he drifted between pain, fantasy, and reality, he heard the voices calling to him more clearly as the two followed his trail down the slope. Jim looked down and was relieved to see he hadn't dropped his gun in the fall. He tightened his hold and aimed the weapon at the figures approaching him.

"Stay away or I'll shoot!" he warned between breathless gasps.

"Jim, it's me and Simon. We're here to rescue you," Blair said gently.

Jim shook his head. "No, you aren't! You're here to kill me, or you're here to help Ramon kill me."

"No, Jim, we're your friends. We're here to take you to the hospital."

"YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Jim shouted as he fired his gun. "Get out of my head!"

His shot went wild, but it startled the two men who dropped to the ground and began whispering between themselves. Jim's acute hearing picked up on their conversation. Great, now he was listening to more hallucinations. He squeezed his eyes shut, but it didn't silence the voices.

"They must have drugged him again, Simon. He can't see we're here to help him."

"Look at him, Sandburg. He's bleeding from several wounds. I'm surprised he can even see with that eye swollen shut. They really worked him over. Who knows what kind of injuries he has? We've got to get to him and fast."

There was a moment of silence and the second man was speaking again, but to someone else. "I need that ambulance here on the double!"

Jim glanced back at them, wishing they were really his friends and not some imaginary phantoms. He sagged back against the tree in exhaustion. When the others tried to approach him, he raised the gun back in their direction. "Don't come any closer," he whispered.

One man nodded. "I hear you, man. Don't worry, I won't come closer until you tell me it's okay. You have to know all I want to do is help you. I've been your friend for a long time now. Won't you let an old friend help you?"

Jim shuddered. "I let Kenny help me and he's dead now. Dead . . . so many dead."

"Jim, you have to think of yourself right now. You're badly hurt and need medical care. We can get you home, safe and sound, and have your injuries taken care of. Don't you want to feel better? The sooner you let me help you, the sooner the pain will be taken gone."

Jim watched the phantom resembling Blair and listened to his words. It sounded so much like something Blair would say to him. And he was so damned cold. The shivers had his hands shaking so much, he let the gun drop down and sighed. He was too tired to fight anymore. If his imaginary friends wanted to help him, he was going to let them. God only knew he couldn't help himself anymore.

Simon reached around from behind the tree Jim was leaning against and took the gun from Jim's limp grasp. Jim didn't try to fight him for it. He looked about ready to pass out. He hadn't noticed Simon moving around the periphery to sneak up on him while Blair distracted him, which said a lot about Jim's injuries. He put a hand on Jim's shoulder to comfort him, but only succeeded in causing Jim to cry out in pain and writhe away from him.

"Oh God, Jim, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Jim looked up at him in bewilderment. "Simon? Are you really here?"

Simon smiled and nodded. "Yes, I am, Jim. I'm here with Sandburg. Help is on the way."

Blair was at Jim's side by then. "Hang in there, buddy. We'll have you back to normal in no time."

Jim was still gasping for air as his eyes tried to focus on his friends. "I thought you were them. I thought I was a dead man. Geez, I could have shot you both . . . "

His head dropped as he slumped over. Blair caught him and lowered him to the ground as he checked his pulse. Blair glanced up at Simon. "He's really hurt bad, Simon. I'm no doctor, but I'd say he's going into shock."

Simon nodded and reached for his mike. "What's taking that ambulance so long? We've got a badly injured patient in need of emergency medical attention!"

There was a slight pause before he got a response. "They should be here any moment, Captain, but how do we find you?"

Simon thought for a moment. "I'll fire a round and see if you can get a direction from that. Leave men posted along the way, so the paramedics will have a path to come to us. I'm afraid to move Ellison without knowing more about his injuries and he's unconscious right now."

"Got it, Cap. We'll start moving as soon as you fire your gun, but you might have to do it more than once to get all the way to you."

"Understood. And, Riker?"

"Yes, sir."

"Don't ever call me Cap again."

Simon heard a chuckle before Riker responded, "Yes, sir, Captain, sir."

Simon looked down at Blair who had pulled off his jacket and placed it over Jim. He rubbed Jim's hands in an effort to warm him, but the desperation on Blair's face told Simon it was too little too late. Jim needed to be in a hospital. Simon knelt down and placed his own jacket over Jim. "It won't be long now, Blair."

Blair nodded, but Simon knew he wouldn't relax until they had Jim in a hospital.

Jim was sleeping when Simon came into Jim's hospital room. He found Blair just where he had found him so often since their misadventure had begun, sitting in a chair beside Jim's bed, grading some papers in the dim lighting.

"Sandburg, you are going to go blind reading in the dark like that."

Blair glanced to him and smiled. He stood and set the papers in his chair, walking to the door to meet Simon. "The light really bothers his eyes, you know, and besides I could see well enough to read," he said in a hushed whisper.

Simon gazed at Blair before asking, "Just like you followed Jim's footprints in the dark?"

Blair shook his head. "That was nothing. I was only doing what we had to do to find Jim."

Simon folded his arms in front of him. "Sometimes I wonder if you aren't picking up Jim's sentinel abilities by osmosis."

Blair laughed. "Not hardly, Simon, not hardly."

He glanced back at Jim, making sure he hadn't awakened him with his laughter. Simon took a step toward the bed. "How's he doing?"

Blair put a hand to the back of his neck and sighed. Simon took another look at Blair. The young man looked beat . . . and troubled. "Sandburg?"

Blair's gaze darted toward him and then back to Jim. "He's doing okay, all things considered. It just bothers me that he still hasn't woke up yet. I mean, it's been four days since we found him."

"He did require surgery, Blair. That can take a lot out of a person. When you add in being drugged along with his other injuries, I'd be surprised if he was awake now. Try not to worry about him. Jim's tough. He's a fighter, always have been one. Just give his body time to heal enough to come back to us."

Blair frowned. After a moment, he nodded. "You're right, Simon. I guess I just need to mellow out a bit."

Simon watched him carefully. "You're too close to this, Sandburg. You need to take some time to rest yourself."

Blair took a deep breath. "Maybe after he's awake and I know he's okay, I will, but not now. I don't want to leave him alone just yet."

"Listen, I'll stay with him tonight. You go home and get some shut eye."

"Why don't both of you go home and let me get some sleep," Jim murmured from his bed.

Both men reacted to Jim's comment, smiles brightening their faces as they went to Jim.

"What's a guy gotta do to get some quality sleep around here?" Jim asked from barely opened eyes.

"Jim! You're awake!" Blair said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, but just barely. I feel like I've been dragged across a desert and left for dead."

Simon watched Blair's expression change into something more grim. "Just about, Jim."

Jim looked to Simon. "How long have I been out?"

"Four very long days. Do you remember what happened after you were taken from the hospital by Cordova and her friend?"

Jim's expression turned dark. "Anna and Ramon happened."

"Ramon? Is that the name of the man who was with her?" Blair asked.

Jim looked surprised. "You mean he wasn't at the house when you got there?"

Simon shook his head. "No, there was just Anna's body. We couldn't find anyone else, even though there were signs of a second person."

Jim closed his eyes. "He's still out there."

Simon bent closer to Jim. "Don't worry, Jim. We'll get the department's artist out here for another sketch, this time one of this Ramon person and put it out on an APB. Tell me more about him."

Jim sighed and Simon could tell he was about to drift away from them again. Jim shifted in his bed and almost flew out of it. He groaned as he held his ribs, his body caught up in a spasm of pain. Simon looked at his heavily bandaged wrists, remembering how bad they looked when they first found him. He put a light hand on Jim's shoulder, not wanting to cause another injury to flare.

"Take it easy, Jim. We'll find him. You just concentrate on getting better, okay?"

Jim nodded, but he was still in obvious pain.

Blair spoke to Jim from the other side of the bed. "What do you remember about Ramon?"

Jim paused for a moment and cleared his throat. The slightest movement seemed to pain him, but he pushed it away, answering on Blair's question instead.

"He was young, maybe twenty to twenty-five, but ruthless. He hated me with a vengeance, blaming me for the death of his sister and friends. I-I have never seen someone enjoy beating on others the way this kid enjoyed torturing me."

Jim closed his eyes and hissed in pain. Blair glanced to Simon and Simon nodded. "Jim, we're going to call the nurse. She needs to know you are awake and in pain."

"I don't need-"

"You're too late, Jim. Blair's already gone for her. Don't fight her about the pain medication. You need it."

"No, Simon, you don't understand. After spending weeks at the mercy of the drugs Anna was slipping to me, I don't want anything else in my system."

Simon patted his arm. "Yes, Jim, I do understand, but you'll heal faster using the pain meds than you would without them."

Jim shook his head, closing his eyes and fell back asleep. Simon looked to the door when he heard the nurse enter. "I think he's asleep, but he was really suffering."

"Little wonder with his list of injuries," she said as she injected Jim with a syringe, "The doctor wants him resting as much as possible until those ribs heal a bit."

"He's going to fight you every step of the way about the pain medicine. He would have started right now if he was still awake."

The nurse shook her head as she checked Jim's vital signs. "We'll deal with that when we have to. Until then, he gets regularly scheduled shots, which will help to keep him resting."

She winked at Simon and Blair. "One way or another, he will heal."

She left Simon and Blair alone to watch Jim sleep. "Blair, why don't you leave? I'll stay with him tonight."

Blair hesitated. "What about this Ramon person?"

Simon chewed on the inside of his cheek. "We can't do anything until Jim can give us a description of the man. I'll call into work and see what the forsenic team found at the Delsimo house. They were already looking for another person. Now we know his name."

Blair nodded, but didn't move to leave. His gaze was distant until he took a deep breath. "I-I keep seeing that room where they held Jim. I can't imagine what Jim went through in the days he was missing."

Simon looked to Jim as he slept. "No man should ever suffer like he has."

Blair nodded and then his face scrunched with anger. "It's going to take him a while to work through this nightmare."

Simon didn't say anything as he mulled over Blair's statement. "The soldier in Jim probably helped to keep him alive. As bad as it was, Jim will work through it. In fact, he will probably tell us to stop acting like mother hens."

"That's just it, Simon. Jim can barrel through all kinds of things and never say a word about it, as if he locks it away in a dungeon like the one Anna and Ramon kept him in. The surfacing of those repressed memories shows just how far he can hide them from himself. We've got to get him talking about the incident and fast, before he can stuff the emotions and memories away again."

Simon rubbed his face. "I'm no psychologist, Blair, but I do know a lot about way the human mind works. You have to trust Jim to find his own way through this mess. Anything else will never work. Jim's too headstrong for it to work."

Blair nodded and yawned.

"Sandburg, go home before I'm forced to kick you out of here."

Blair made a face, but gathered up his things. "Call me if anything changes," he said as he threw his backpack over his shoulder.

"I will. I promise. Now, get out of here."

Blair walked to the door and glanced back at Jim. "It doesn't matter what time you call."

"I'm going to call hospital security if you don't get your butt out of here. Jim's fine for the moment, now get some sleep. That's an order."

Blair saluted, but his movements were slowed by fatigue. "Yes, sir."

Simon just shook his head and sat down in Blair's chair, watching Jim sleep. It was going to be a long night, but it didn't seem to matter. They had gotten to Jim in time and he was going to survive. Not without some scars, Simon decided, and he wasn't just thinking of the physical ones.

He sighed and rolled his neck around. It was going to be a very long night.

11