It seemed like hours that they had stood there, paralysed and unable to process what had happened. In reality, it had only been a matter of moments until McCann broke his stupor and tried to take charge.
"Hoffs! Call for an ambulance!" he said looking into her stricken face. She immediately sped back to the car and radioed for help. Ambulances were well on the way when she raced back to find her new partner frantically searching for any sign of the two missing officers.
"Anything?" she called looking hopefully over at him.
"Not yet. What's happening with the ambulances?"
"On the way." She replied as she made her way towards the wreckage, trying to peer into the truck.
"Get away from there!" McCann yelled making his way over to her. "There's no point and it's too dangerous. If they're in there it's over and you can't help them.", he finished looking into her deep dark eyes.
"They can't be."
"I don't see any sign Judy, I'm sorry."
"No! Keep looking!" she barked, her face set and determined as she frantically began searching and calling for her friends.
"I'm going to call this in, let Fuller know what's happened." McCann said as he started back towards the edge of the road, looking in pity at the young woman desperately crawling around the scene of the wreck, her dark curls tumbling around her and obscuring her face. As he turned away, he heard her voice urgently calling back.
As she had stumbled around, tears along with the rain obscuring her vision she caught her foot on something soft that sent her tumbling backwards. Looking around, a lump jumped into her throat as she recognised the ash covered, bleeding form of Doug Penhall. He had been thrown forward through the windscreen as the car had spun, his clothes were singed, and he had cuts from the glass but otherwise seemed intact.
"McCann, over here!" she bellowed. "Doug? Can you hear me?" she asked as she reached him.
"Harry?" came the croaky response.
"We're looking Doug. Are you hurt?"
"I can't move" he said before slipping back into darkness.
"Doug, stay with me!" she said trying to keep her voice calm. "McCann where the hell are you!" she called looking around her. She noticed him racing over as he spotted her and the figure of Doug Penhall beside her. He fell to his knees as he reached her.
"He's alive" she told him in answer to his questioning glance. "But I can't see Harry."
"Stay with him!" the younger officer ordered as he sprung to feet and headed towards the smoke.
"Come on Doug" she said softly. "Where the hell is the ambulance?!"
McCann was peering through the smoke trying to make out any sign that they had both somehow managed to get out. He was about to give Harry up as a lost cause when he noticed a dark head laying against the foot of the tree on the edge of the flames. The flames were beginning to close in and would engulf Ioki in seconds. He had to move fast.
Putting his rain soaked coat over his head he raced over to the tree and struggled to lift the prostrate form of Harry Ioki over his shoulder.
"Geez, Ioki, you're heavier than you look!" he complained to the unconscious man as he staggered as quickly as he could away from the flames and towards the two other officers.
"How's he doing?" he asked nodding towards Doug as he laid Harry close by.
"He's alive." Judy replied shortly. "My god Harry!" she cried as she saw his pale still face. She knelt looking at him intently, willing his almond eyes of open and look back at her.
"There's a pulse!" Tony said in relief. "It's faint but he's still here."
"Harry, thank god!" she breathed, and she felt her heart start beating again, "Can you hear me? Harry, it's Judy, we've got you."
"He's out cold Judy! What's taking this ambulance so long?!" he cried in frustration.
As he said this, they heard sirens coming closer at speed, two ambulances along with Fullers car came to halt by the side of the road.
"Hoffs, McCann" came Fullers deep cry. "How are they doing?"
"It's doesn't look good sir." Tony responded.
"You guys ok?"
"We're fine Captain." Judy said, a sense of calm appearing at the sight of her commanding officer.
"What the hell happened guys?"
"I don't know, it all happened so quickly. There was a car waiting and it ran them off the road" Judy replied as she watched the paramedics speeding to the aid of her stricken friends.
"Doug!" McCann suddenly exclaimed before racing over to the prostrate form a Doug Penhall.
"McCann, let the paramedics do their work!" Fuller ordered following closely behind.
"Penhall, you saw them. Who was it?" McCann asked grabbing hold of Doug's limp shoulders.
"Get off of him" Judy ordered pulling him back away from the paramedics.
"He knew who it was!" he screamed.
"How do you know" Fuller asked, a warning tone in his deep voice.
"He doesn't" Judy scoffed.
"Before the crash, over the radio, he was about to tell us who was in the car."
"God, he's right!" Hoff's breathed as she recalled Doug's panicked tones coming over the radio.
"Did you get a look at the car?"
"Not a good one, Captain. It was pretty dark, and the headlights were out. I remember it was a dark colour, black or brown and I think it might have been a Lincoln, not sure which model. Couldn't see the license plate, I'm sorry."
"That's a start Hoffs." Fuller looked over as the paramedics worked on Penhall and Ioki. "Let's worry about this once these boys are at the hospital".
The wait at the hospital seemed to take a lifetime. This place had so many awful memories and it was like it was all happening all over again. It was nearing 3am when the doctor finally came to speak with them.
"How are they doctor? Can we see them?" Judy asked jumping out of her seat.
"Mr Penhall is out of surgery and I'll take you down shortly. He's still heavily sedated, so you won't get much from him. He's sustained a significant back injury and we need to keep him as still as possible to avoid any further damage."
"What kind of back injury?" Fuller asked with concern.
"One of his vertebrae shattered from impact and is putting severe pressure on the spinal cord. In some cases, this can cause severe impairment if there has been any damage to the spinal cord."
"Has it?"
"We've done all we can for now, it's early days and we need to give him time to heal."
"What about Harry?" Judy demanded.
"I'm afraid he's still in surgery. We'll let you know when he's out. Nurse will take you to see Mr Penhall" he said gesturing towards the younger officers. "Captain Fuller? Can I have a minute?"
"Of course, Doctor."
Judy and McCann stood in the small sterile room by Doug's bedside, worried sick for him but their mind half on Ioki. Judy looked down at her sleeping friend, shocked at how the bear like Doug Penhall could look so fragile.
"They'll be ok Judy, they're made of strong stuff." McCann tried to reassure her.
"I've heard that before" she replied bitterly, memories she didn't want constantly clawing to the surface. "What can't the doctor tell us that he needs to tell Fuller?"
"I don't know. Just sit tight, I'm sure he'll let us know."
"If I lose them, I don't know what I'll do."
Doug started to stir at the sound of their voices, but the anaesthetic was strong, and he wasn't quite able to fight his way to wakefulness.
"Tom? Harry?" he muttered in his sleep.
"It's ok, Penhall." Judy said softly.
"Tom and Harry?" McCann said with a hysterical chuckle, "What the hell, let's throw in Dick too."
"Do you mind?" she snapped. "We're here for you Doug" she said softly looking down at her old friend. "All of us" she finished as she reached into her jacket and placed a picture on the table beside the bed. McCann watched with interest.
"Who's that with Harry?" he asked looking over Judy's shoulder at the picture she had swiped from Harry's hospital room all those years ago. "Is that….."
"Yes, that's him"
"Wow. Not what I expected."
"I've never known anyone like him."
"We're you and him..."
"Kind of. It didn't work out."
"He's definitely different to Marcus."
"I know. I think that's the point."
"So, what happened? Not as wonderful as you thought?"
"No. He was just what you see. Beautiful inside and out, kind , caring, incredibly loyal. There's absolutely nothing he wouldn't do for you."
"So, if you found this amazing perfect guy why did you let him go?"
"Oh, he was far from perfect, he was stubborn, impulsive always had to right. But he was amazing, if you could overlook the mental illness."
"Judy I'm sorry."
"Me too. The last time I saw him he was been carted off to the local looney bin."
"This is what the whole drama with all you guys has been about? This guy going gaga?"
"This guy is Doug's best friend and one of the best people I have ever known. He became really ill through no fault of his own and vanished from our lives without a word!" she yelled, anger rising inside her.
"He's so important that not one you mentions his name! That's your choice, but your friend back there" he said pointing towards Doug's room "Won't stop calling out for him!"
Judy was about to retort when she saw the figure of Marcus Rainy speeding down the corridor to see her.
"Leave this now McCann, please." She looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Judy are you ok?" the tall hansom young black man asked as he threw his arms around her, concern and compassion in his face. Despite everything that had happened between them he still managed to make her feel safe and loved and he had done everything in his power to prove himself a good man.
"Shaken up and worried but yeah, I'm ok."
"Let's get you home." Marcus said softly kissing the top of her dark curls.
"I need to know they're ok. I haven't seen Harry yet!"
"Fuller's with the doctor, we'll let you know as soon as we hear anything. Go home." Tony told her.
"Come on Judy, as soon as they let you see Harry, I'll get you straight back here. You need to rest. You both do." He finished looking over at McCann and his ragged appearance. McCann just shrugged.
With a last glance towards Doug's room Judy allowed herself to be led away.
McCann returned to the room and sat waiting for Fuller. Leafing through a magazine, he started when he heard Doug mumbling again.
"Doug, can you hear me?"
"Tom, where are you?" came the muttered reply.
Adam Fuller was led into the small room away from the main waiting area, this was so much like that day two years ago that it made him uneasy.
"What's the problem, Doctor?"
"Sit down, Captain Fuller.", he said kindly. Fuller sat down slowly, eying the doctor with a mixture of fear and suspicion.
"It's not good is it?" he asked, suddenly feeling sick.
"I'm sorry, no. The operation to scaffold the broken bone went well but there appears to have been damage to the spinal cord. The extent of the damage is difficult to see at this stage, but it is likely that Mr Penhall is going to be paralysed from the waist down."
"Are you sure?" he asked, the world starting to spin.
"Nothing is ever certain and it's still early, but you need to prepare yourselves for the fact he may be in a wheelchair for the remainder of his life"
Fuller was horrified. It was impossible to imagine the loud brash, bouncy and full of life Doug Penhall confined to a wheelchair. How would he cope and how the hell could he possibly tell him?
"We're going to keep him sedated for a while, so he can rest, and the swelling can recede. We'll know more then." The doctor finished, starting to look more uncomfortable.
"Mr Ioki is still in surgery. He has suffered severe head injuries and internal trauma. They've stopped most of the internal bleeding and relieved the pressure on his brain but I'm afraid there is nothing more we can do."
"What are you saying?" Fuller asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
"I am so very sorry, but he is showing no brain activity and is not able to breath alone, we are only keeping going by machines. If there are no signs in the next 24 hours….."
The doctor's words started to fade away as Fuller tried to understand what he was being told, he felt as if he was having an out of body experience as the full horror started to dawn on him.
"Are you sure?" Fuller asked as the world stopped spinning and just fell apart around him. Harry gone? He couldn't comprehend it. Wouldn't comprehend it.
"We will need to speak with his next of kin, Captain Fuller, but we aren't able to reach him. I'm sorry to ask this now, I know this is not easy for you, but do you have any way of getting in contact?"
"You really mean this, don't you? There's absolutely nothing you can do?"
"It's highly unlikely" the doctor replied passing the file over to the shocked, stunned police captain.
Fuller looked down at the form, wondering what else he would have to deal with now. As he read the name printed neatly on the form under next of kin the last ounce of air was punched out of him and he felt very, very old.