The Colonel Vs. The Pastor's Boogie Man-Chapter 8

Recap: Chuck and Sarah are able to gain evidence to imprison El Llayono and Alexi Volkoff, but Casey is currently being transported by chopper to Harborview for a life threatening injury. But with his brother, nephew, and Pastor Annie on board, Casey's ride is far from over.

The chopper ride from Pastor's Annie's town had been fairly uneventful except for the revelation that the young medic working on Casey was he and Chad Shelton's nephew. Though Casey's gut wound was deep and the glass still imbedded, he was in stable condition, and his brother was heading in to land at the heliport on the top of Harborview Critical Care Center, when Chad began to pick up some emergency chatter on the radio. He glanced up in the rear view mirror at his twin, who was groaning a little as their nephew continued to change and pack the wound. The stiffness of Chad's body, however, did not pass by Annie and she reached to touch his arm.

"Chad? What's wrong?" She knew very little about the police chatter, but she saw the clenched jaw, and the look of concern sweep across the pilot's face. He glanced at Annie, and sighed heavily.

"Dixon, Harborview is no longer an option." He made sure the air was clear of traffic and he twisted in his seat toward the medic. Dixon's jaw dropped, the look of shock on his face.

"But, Major, the Colonel has already lost too much blood. He's need surgery very shortly. Why not Harborview?"

Annie tightened her hand on Chad's arm, and he twisted back in his seat and patted it, trying to reassure her. He listened harder and began to radio over several bands before he got the full report.

"There's been two different bombing attacks on Pike's Place Market and the hospitals are taking 200 people to e.r. and trama units all over the city. We've got to try and make it to Portland. That's the next hospital that has the same critical care rating as Harborview." Shelton radioed ahead to the tower and got permission to turn south toward the Rose City. As they made the huge turn, Casey groggily spoke up from behind Chad's seat.

"Man, Shelton, didn't dad teach you to use your signals when you make a sharp left?" He coughed at the feeble joke, and a speck of blood appear on his chest, which Dixon wiped away, his concern ramping up. The medic reached for some water, and slowly offered it up to Casey's lips. Casey sipped a little, but the coughing began in earnest, and he was rolled over to his left, to prevent any more choking. Annie swiveled in her seat and stared at the drip of blood now leaking from Casey's mouth, and she took a sharp breath in.

"John? You're spitting blood." Annie unlocked her seat belt, and knelt down by her friend, rubbing his back in slow circles, trying to ease the cough that seemed to ratchet the pain and blood up. He looked up at her, his blue eyes, piercing, through the bloodshot whites of his eyes. He grabbed her left hand, and held tight, gasping, trying to breathe through the deep shudders of his body.

"Colonel, let us get you back onto your back, and then I can get you some more pain meds." Dixon tenderly rolled the big man back, but Casey's hand never left Annie's. She bent down and began to softly message his forehead, gently rubbing along the bridge of his strong nose, under the bloodshot eyes, and back up to his hair. She dampened a small cloth with the bottled water and let his suck from the cloth. She rinsed the cloth out and then laid it on his forehead, and over his eyes. His body slowed down its shuddering and a deep sigh came from his throat. It was then Annie began to sing to her man, softly, slowly, in her rich alto voice,

"As a deer panteth for the water, so my soul panteth after thee.

You alone are my heart's desire, And I long to worship Thee (Chorus)

You alone are my strength, my shield To You alone may my spirit yield

You alone are my heart's desire And I long to worship Thee"*

John sighed again, and he lifted her hand and kissed it. "Thank you, beloved." He whispered, and tucked her hand close to his chin. "More, sing, more Parson." Casey urged her and she continued as Dixon nodded enthusiastically, still amazed she had this kind of spiritual and physical connection with the large N.S.A. assassin.

" You're my friend and You are my brother. Even though You are a king,

I love You more than any other," at this Annie's voice broke, and tears began to fall, as she looked helplessly down at her man. She took a deep, calming breath in, and then completed the song, as she watched Casey slowly relax and drop off to sleep.

"So much more than anything."

Dixon raised his eyes up, and winked at her. "That did it, Pastor. He's resting comfortably now." He squeezed her hand, and she nodded as she rose again to get back in her seat up front. She hastily wiped the tears away and belted up. The atmosphere in the chopper was deeply reverent, and the occupants did not say anything for well over an hour.

The silence was rent in two by the huge gasp from the man on the gurney. John shot up, and then moaned loudly as he strained his belly muscles. Dixon immediately woke up and began to check the I.V. lines into Casey's hand, but the sudden movement had jarred the shard of glass and the wound was bumping blood again out into the bandage. Chad looked up immediately in the mirror, and questioned."What's going on, nephew?" He looked at Annie, who also had taken a nap, and was yawning and rubbing her eyes. "Major, we need to transfuse the Colonel and get that glass out. He's running a 103 degree temp and that's indication of infection in the abdominal cavity. Is there anywhere we can land that has a smaller hospital?" Dixon was working feverishly over Casey, who was gasping and clenching his teeth.

"Annie, Dear Jesus, my belly...it's on fire." Casey began to roll softly at first on the gurney, and then more violently. Dixon kept pumping the pain meds in the pick line, but so far nothing seemed to work. Then, a shrill alarm began to ring, and Chad began to search out the offending gauge. He flipped several switches, and swore softly under his breathe. "Shelton?" Casey groaned, "man, you had better not tell me that's the fuel gauge alarm. Arrgh!"Casey let out a short scream, and arched back as Dixon poured antiseptic around the shard. Annie once again slipped out of the front seat and found Casey's hand. She poured wet water on the cloth and held it to his lips, as he greedily drank. She poured a small trickle on his head, and he nodded at the small relief the cool water gave me. "Chad, talk to us, boy!" Casey ordered even in his supreme pain, and he nodded at Dixon to continue to try and help him.

"Shut up, John. I know what I am doing." Chad laughed rather dryly, but his eyes were scanning for any flat surface he could find that didn't have a large evergreen tree growing on it. They were flying over the Vader-Ryderwood area, almost to Mt. St. Helens. Finally, he spied a flat area near the mountain among the pristine new growth that had occurred after the volcano. He slowed the engines slowly, but the alarm continued to squeal. "I don't understand. We had more than enough fuel to get us to Portland. People, we are going to have to crash land, because in 2 minutes we are out of fuel." Shelton yelled, as the scream of the blades grew increasingly louder. "Belt yourself down. We are going in". Shelton grabbed for Pastor Annie, and after glancing at Casey, who nodded his approval, she moved up to the front seat and buckled in. "Dixon, you, too son. We are going to need your expertise, more than ever once we are down."

Shelton glanced back, as Dixon seemed to be worried about checking the Colonel's belts and bungee cords. "Stand down, Sgt." Casey ordered sharply, and then his voice softened. "You got me hog tied tighter than a sow bug in a shag rug, so get buckled in." At that phrase, Chad snorted. Annie looked at him sharply again, but he only winked. "One of mom's favorite sayings. We has a horrible gold shag rug in the living room, and she was so proud of that thing. Used all her hard earned egg money to buy that hideous carpet." Casey snorted, too, sounding identical to Chad. "Yeah, remember dad complaining the entire time that he had to spend the weekend laying it 'cuz he was too cheap to pay Vern down at the hardware store to install it?"

Though Shelton laughed easily, his eyes never stopped roaming the landscape or working the controls. He expertly guided the huge chopper closer to the forest floor, and began to count out loud as they came closer to the ground. "30 seconds, people." he called, and Casey answered him back. "You better not kill me in this tuna can, Chad, or I will personally come back from the dead and rip your heart out." Casey coughed, and again a small spittle of blood fell on his chin. Annie gasped, realizing the seriousness of the situation, but Chad just seemed to roll with his brother's jabs. "20 seconds, people. Yeah, yeah, you're the only Marine I know that dates a Christian pastor and still believes in reincarnation, dude."

Chad was pulling up hard on the controls, and he kept calling for backup on the emergency channels. Annie was praying softly at first, and now out loud, and Dixon crossed himself and lowered his head too. The ground was racing up to the windshield as Chad kept shouting the countdown, and the Huey crashed just as he say "three..." The air was ripped with the sound of metal being torn asunder, and there were several human screams emanating from the chopper. The plane tipped precariously, and the blades tore up several trees and underbrush until they bent and broke off, The nose of the machine drove into the soft forest floor by several feet and that was what finally stopped the chopper from going any further. There were several frightened warnings from various animals around the forest, but when the dust cleared, there was absolute silence for several minutes. Then slowly, as if waking from a deep sleep, a groan began to be heard from the bent and twisted cab of the chopper.

Shelton was the first to waken, and as he pulled himself upward, blood was streaming from a large cut across his forehead. He gasped at his right side, feeling a broken rib protruding into his skin. He shut off any of the chopper's power, but kept the emergency beacon on. He flipped his cell phone on, but there was no cell service. He released his seat belt, and slowly eased over to the parson. She was out cold, leaning over against her window, but a quick exam revealed no injuries as far as Chad could tell. When he gingerly turned to the back, he gasped. Dixon's head was handing to the left, his brilliant blue eyes still open, eyes so like his uncles, staring at his patient, but a large piece of the chopper's side was protruding from his brave chest. Chad sighed deeply, and gently checked the pulse, knowing that there was no hope for the young medic. He slowly closed the lids on his nephew, and breathed a short prayer, "Lord God, have mercy on his soul." He tripped over the boy's legs, but caught himself again the side of Casey's gurney, hissing as it jarred the busted rib.

John lay silent, his body had been sprung from the gurney, and he laid halfway out of the chopper's open sliding door. His left leg was at a hideous angle, and his wound was dripping blood again on the bottom of the door. Chad hollered, "John!" as he rushed over to check his pulse. Just as he leaned over to slide his hand onto John's neck, his brother jerked awake, and screamed, half in pain, and half in fury. "God, Chad, can you not even do a countdown correctly!" John tried to turn toward his brother, but he grabbed his leg and moaned. "How bad is it?" He softened his tone, as he noticed his brother grimace in pain as Chad tried to stand up. "Oh, man, Annie, Dixon." John moved to stand, but he then grabbed at his belly, and sank back down. "Easy, Colonel. Annie is out, but she is fine as much as I can tell. Dixon's gone, John." Chad patted the shoulder of his brother, and then grinned lightly, "hey, at least I got us down by 3. Last time this happened, I only got to 6." He punched John's arm and then heard Annie's voice calling for John.

"Go see to her, Chad. And Hey, bro..." John caught his twin's arm, and he nodded once. "You did good. Last time I crashed, I only got to 8." He lay back down and tried to take some calming breaths as he waited for help off the door frame. Chad grunted his thanks, and then stepped back, over Dixon's body and helped Annie unbuckle the belt. She turned to get to John, but stopped and went white when she saw the young Sgt. dead. "Oh, poor, poor man." Annie knelt as close as she could, and tried to swallow the bile that was threatening to hurl from her mouth. She touched the young man's leg, now growing cold, and prayed out loud a prayer of rest and peace upon the brace young warrior. She reached for the man's dog tags, and after unlooping them from the man's neck, she kissed them and passed them to Chad. "For David and his wife, Chad." He nodded sadly, and put them in his flack jacket, securing them for the future. "Annie, he is the fifth one in our family that has given his life for our country in one shape or form." Chad, often so full of himself, seemed melancholy and introspective, so much so the Annie found his large hand, and squeezed it gently. "Thank you Chad. Thank you to you, John, and Daniel, for allowing me the freedom to be able to do what I love the best. I once told your brother that without the soldiers in our military defending our freedoms, I could never have the freedom to do what I love so much...preaching the Word of God. Thanks seems too little to say." Annie kissed Chad lightly on the cheek, and he grabbed her, and hugged her, a soft gasp of deep emotional pain slipping past his lips. They stayed bent near Dixon until they heard a baritone voice, grunted out from the door way. "When you two get over your lady feelings, I could really use some help here."

Casey's voice went up an octave as he tried to move, and then he let out a gasp of pain. Chad stood up swiftly, and then he buckled over, and grabbed his side. Annie touched his hand, and raised up his shirt, running her hands along the muscular structure of his ribs until he sucked in a deep breath. "Broken?" she asked, and he nodded once, but lowered his head to her ear. "Please don't tell John. We have got to get his bleeding under control, and he doesn't need me huffing about a busted bone. Go woman." He pulled his shirt down roughly over the offending rib, and helped her up.

"We are not through discussing this, Major Shelton." The pastor spoke authoritatively but she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere now with this man. They both went to Casey's side, and began to see how they could lower him off the side of the door down to the ground which was a good six feet below, due to the tilt of the crashed chopper. Casey was shaking again, his face white, his eyes struggling to stay open. He smiled widely when he saw Annie and before he knew what he was doing, he reached up and kissed her deeply. "Good to see you survived my brother's idiotic piloting." He stroked her cheeks, and she grinned widely. "He did as well as you do in a high speed chase in the Crown Victoria, Colonel." Casey and Shelton both chuckled, but that set off another round of coughing and blood spittle from Casey's mouth. Annie looked up at Chad who was looking around for some rope. He opened a compartment next to Dixon's body, and brought several feet of coiled rope out and tossed it to Casey.

"John, put this around Pastor's waist and let me lower her to the ground first." Casey did what he was told and the two men slowly lowered Annie to the ground, both of them grimacing from their injuries, but successfully getting her safely to the forest ground. She slipped the rope off, and threw it back up to the twins. "John, you're next." Chad helped his brother secure it under his arm pits, so that the rope would not jar the belly wound any more. Once secured around his brother, Chad looped and knotted the end of the rope around a large o ring in his chopper and then around his own waist. He knew Casey's large body mass would need extra pull to prevent him from dropping too fast, so he double checked the knot and his own securing. John looked up at his brother who nodded and braced himself.

Casey slowly edged over to the end of the frame and back out of the chopper. He slipped very easily down the sleek side of the plane, until the metal touched the glass shard, and Casey groaned deeply as the metal edge began to pull at the shard. "Stop, Chad, Lord, please stop." The shard had moved further out of John's belly, and the wound was allowing blood to flow far too easily. Casey took a deep breath in and then ordered, "now, Chad, let me down." Slowly, Chad allowed the rope to slip through his hands, and around his body, lowering his twin very carefully down. However, Casey began to swing slowly at first and then the arc of the swing began to widen. Each swing brought the Marine Colonel closer to the ground but it also caused the chopper to move and groan. Chad was sweating, the pain in his side causing him to hitch at every breath and the rope was burning both of his palms. Casey's body weight pulled Chad forward to the door frame but his size 13 boots dug into the metal frame. Casey bobbed on the rope, like a horror puppet on a string, and he cried out his pain.

"Major, be careful, dear one." Annie yelled, as she was reaching for the Colonel, trying to slow down the swaying. "Annie, my left leg. Don't touch it!" Casey ordered, moaning as her hands did indeed grab that leg first. She instantly obeyed and as he was lowered she got him by his right leg, trying to ease his descent. He grabbed her shoulder, trying not to put his entire weight on her 5'3" frame, but she only grabbed him tighter around his waist and helped him to touch the ground. He rested his head on her shoulder and his arms went around her. He moaned softly as he breathed in her peach fragrance, and he lowered his mouth for another sweet kiss.

"I always imagined myself in your arms, Colonel, but not with you handing from your brother's Huey." Annie hugged a little at her man's waist, and then she released the rope and threw it back to Chad. She then turned and helped Casey onto the forest ground, passing him the bottle of water she had in her jacket pocket. He drag greedily from it, and watched Chad throw out various supplies from the Huey, before he descended fairly swiftly from the chopper. He watched Chad curiously, for he had seen his brother wince in pain as the rope slid through his hands. He noticed Chad's bloodied hands, and he called out for him to come towards him. "Annie, get the first aid kit." Casey looked at his woman, and she nodded as she searched the supplies for the medic's kit. The forest was becoming darker quickly and they all knew they must attend to wounds and make camp before the animals drew near. Chad plopped down slowly by his brother, and Casey had him hold out his hands, palms up. The rope had burned a large gouge out of both hands, and Casey and Annie applied antiseptic cream to them both, and then Annie wound several lengths of gauze around both of Shelton's hands. While she was doing that Casey was searching for pain meds, and he passed Chad two of them. His brother, however, only took one, explaining that he needed to set camp up and had to stand alert.

Annie next looked to Casey's wound, and found that the shard had moved significantly outward, and seemed easy to remove. They all agreed they needed to try and get it out. First Chad set John's leg with a leg brace he found in the med supplies, and found a stick of morphine to inject at the sight. Unable to pull the glass out himself, Chad instructed Annie to be the doctor for her friend. He lowered himself over the top half of his brother's body, striving to keep Casey from moving too much and causing more damage. "Chad, you have got to go on diet. You squishing me." Casey groaned, but Chad only laughed. "You use to say the same thing to me every time I beat you at wrestling." Chad pushed down even more and winked at Annie, who was slowly moving towards the shard, with shaking hands.

"I beat you! You liar, Annie, don't listen to this liar." Casey argued vehemently, and then retched as Annie pulled hard. John instantly went silent, his mouth open but no sound coming from it. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he clutched at the right side of Chad's shirt. Shelton groaned as Casey's hand hit the broken rib, and he rolled quickly off the wounded Colonel. Casey slowly let out a deep, bone chilling moan, and his body stilled, his head rolling to look at Annie. She held the bloody glass up for him to see, and he gasped, "alcohol, pour alcohol on the hole." She rummaged again through the med kit, while Chad was still gasping for breath on the ground next to his twin. Casey looked at his brother suspiciously, and reached to pull his twin's shirt up. "You broke a rib, didn't you?" He didn't have time to continue the interrogation because Annie was pouring the alcohol onto his wound. He lurched up, and hissed at the onslaught, but told her to continue. The wound was seeping both alcohol and blood, so she packed it with several layers of gauze and taped it down. Casey was sweating profusely, but he took her hand in his, and brought it to his lips. 'Parson, ever my nurse, my doctor, my heart."

He looked one more time to Chad, and nodded. "We need a fire, soon, brother." Chad nodded, and he rose slowly to look for firewood. Annie cleared a section of the forest and placed large rocks in a circle for the fire. She found matches, and several energy bars. She gave a new water bottle and one of the energy bars to John, but he only took a half of it and gave her the other half. Chad was coming back with some sticks and dry moss, and with Annie's hands and help, they were able to get a good fire started. Chad found the mess kit, and he was able to warm up some water and made hot cocoa for the three of them. Annie found a silver emergency warmth blanket and tucked it around Casey's body, which had begun to shiver again. His fever had returned so she found some fever reducing pain meds, and he took several of them.

The forest was dark now and the three of them were huddling close to the fire. John's eyes were beginning to droop but he asked Chad about the emergency beacon and a rough estimate of their location. "The beacon's been on since before the wreck, but with night falling, we probably won't get help until tomorrow morning." He looked up at the stars, thinking about the last location he had before the wreck."Best estimate is that we are about 6 miles from Mt. St. Helens, in some forest lands owned by Weyerhouser, but that's about all I know." Chad was holding his cup of cocoa gently, with his bandaged hands, which were beginning to throb again. When he tried to set the cup down, he dropped it, splashing the hot liquid on the front of his slacks, and he swore, "Damn!" Both Annie and Casey said to him, "Only God can damn."

Chad looked up and grinned at them. "You too have it bad, man." "What, what?" Annie laughed, and then reached over to help Chad with his cup. He grunted his thanks, and then sat back and asked his brother how the two unlikely pair had met. Casey was up against one of the nearby trees, and Annie was cuddling by his side. He began to tell the story of his car accident up in Capital Forest and how they met when Annie rescued him. Their relationship had grown from there, and over several months they came to realize how important they were to each other. Annie was smiling shyly at John, and she leaned softly onto his large chest. His left arm snaked around his shoulders and he drew her to him.

She yawned and then giggled. "Except for your wounds, boys, this would be a very nice camping trip. Cocoa, campfire, and spooky ghost stories. Listen, Chad, any woman special in your life? I'm not trying to pry, but I am snoopy." Both of the men snorted, and Chad looked down a little sadly into the flames. "Once...Rita is her name. I met her at the hospital where she was working. She patched a bullet wound I got, and the first time I laid eyes on her, I fell for her. Man, she was beautiful. Big heart, wider than tonight's starlit sky. In fact, we were on the way to our honeymoon, to Vegas, and she insisted that we stop and help out a poor mutt dog that got hit on the freeway. Man, I had plans. 7 course meal, Dom on ice, but it all came to a screeching halt just for the mutt. I knew a woman with a heart that big was the right one for me." Chad gingerly picked up some more sticks and threw them on the fire. The flame showed his face, deep in sorrow, and Annie knew she could not ask any more questions. She looked up at John, who was snoring softly, and she kissed his shoulder softly. "Rita was a blessed woman to love you, Chad." Annie said softly, but Chad shook his head. "Parson," he slipped and used John's pet name for her, "I was more pig headed back then than I am now. I love her, Annie, lost her to my former partner of all people." Chad's voice had a sharp tone to it, but then he sighed. "But she, last I heard, is happy and well. I can't ask for anything else for her, can I?"

He hung his head, and was very still. Annie rose carefully and then bent to kiss his cheek once more. "I repeat myself, Major. Rita was a blessed woman to love you." Chad gave a small hug to her, and grinned crookedly at her. "If my brother ever kicks you out, woman, you come see me. I'll take good care of you."

Annie laughed softly, and then, over by the tree, a baritone voice rang out, "Over my dead body, Shelton."

Well, dear friends, reposting and better editing makes this chapter a little easier to read I pray! One more chapter if the plot bunnies don't take over. Thank you for all the reviews. I am so privileged to have so many of you enter this special universe of the Colonel and the Parson with me. Please don't let up on the reviews. I read each one and take it to heart! *Lyrics of "As A Deer" by Martin Nystrom