CHAPTER 7
Three hours later
Jesse paced the floor of the surgical waiting room. Matt had been in the operating room for two-and-a-half hours, heading up almost as soon as they got him into the hospital. Robin had stabilized him as best she could, but he was still in bad shape when he got to the Emergency Room. They were talking about life-flighting him to San Francisco once they got the bleeding stopped.
Just the mention of San Francisco brought up memories of the last time Matt had been so badly injured, when he'd required a trip to the Bay City's trauma unit. It had forced them to stay away from Tahoe for nearly a year. Matt, Cutler and Hart had all nearly died in the explosion that had temporarily paralyzed Matt.
It was a bad time for both his sons. And he didn't want to repeat that trauma.
"Dad." Jesse turned to find his youngest son standing up and facing the door. When Jesse looked over, he saw a scrubs-clad man standing there.
"Mathew Hawkes family?" the man asked.
"Yes. How is my son?"
"Let's sit down and I'll explain everything." As he moved, he began to talk, settling into a chair across from the waiting room sofa, continuing as Jesse and Cody sat on the sofa. "As you know, Matt took a bullet to the left shoulder. It was still in his body, and had traveled quite a distance. We finally located it in the abdomen. We were able to extract it, but it did some damage along the way, including nicking his liver."
"The liver bleeds a lot," Jesse said, remembering this little tidbit of information from when one of his own Rangers had been stabbed, the knife slicing into the liver.
"Yes. Luckily, the wound was minor, but he did lose a lot of blood, both from the damage to the liver and the initial gunshot wound. We were able to stabilize him and he is in recovery now."
"Are you still going to need to fly him to San Francisco?" Cody asked.
"You're Matt's brother?" the doctor asked.
"Yes, sir."
"No, he'll be staying here, as long as his condition doesn't deteriorate any further. His vitals are stable and relatively strong right now. We were able to give him some whole blood to replace the volume that he'd lost. We'll be keeping him in ICU once he's out of recovery. As long as he continues to improve, I think he'll be fine staying here in Tahoe."
Jesse and Cody smiled at that little bit of good news. "Do you have any questions?"
"When can we see him?" Jesse asked.
"He'll be in recovery for about an hour. If everything goes as I think it will, we'll get him settled in ICU after that and one of the nurses will come down to find you. Give us about ninety minutes. This might be a good time to maybe grab something to eat. I understand that Matt is the Commander of the High Mountain Rangers?"
"Yes, he is," Jesse said proudly.
"I'll need to call them with an update, unless you'd prefer to do that yourself."
"Actually, no need," Jesse said, gesturing with his head to a spot over the doctor's shoulder. The man turned around, seeing four very worried Rangers enter the room.
"How's Matt?" Cutler asked.
"Out of surgery, in recovery, doing as well as can be expected. And hopefully, he won't have to go to San Francisco this time," Jesse summarized succinctly.
"That's fantastic, Jesse!" Hart exclaimed.
"Have you found the man who shot him?" Jesse asked, this looked of relief replaced with anger.
"Not yet, but we do know who it was," Hart said. "FBI ran the fingerprints found on the rifle. Remember Michael Davis?"
"How the hell did that maniac get out of jail!?" Jesse nearly shouted.
"We're checking on that now. We haven't had any reports of him escaping and we should have, since he made threats to Matt and his own family when he was convicted. There's a very small possibility he was paroled, but again, we should have been notified."
"Looks like he wasn't alone and we found some blood leading away from the scene, in the opposite direction that Matt went. Not sure if it was Davis or the person with him, but one of them is injured."
"That must be what Matt meant, Dad," Cody said.
Jesse nodded and explained to the Rangers. "Matt came to for a few minutes on the flight down, was mumbling something about Teagan taking a 'bite out of crime'. I wasn't sure what he meant."
The two Rangers smiled, easily imagining the Shepherd going after anyone attacking Matt.
"Is Teagan at the Ranger station?" Cody asked.
"No. When we got back to your cabin, Dingy was there, but Teagan wasn't. We're hoping she shows up back at the station or Matt's cabin eventually. If not, we'll go looking for her once we find Davis. And we brought your horses down to the station. We'll keep them there, so you can stay here as long as you need. We closed up your cabin and made sure everything was in order there."
"Thanks," Jesse told them, appreciating the fact that the Rangers took care of the animals involved as well as the people.
Cutler and Avila hung around long enough to see Matt out of recovery and into ICU, then headed back to the station. The FBI was due to arrive soon and all the Rangers needed to be there to assure the Feebies that the Rangers wouldn't be allowing them to take over the investigation.
/
At three o'clock the next morning, Matt's fever spiked. He began thrashing around and having nightmares on top of the medical issues he was having to suffer through. The movement pulled the stitches and caused his IV to become dislodged. In his delirium, he called out for Cody and his father, causing both of them to do their best to assure Matt that they were fine and by his side.
The next three days were rough ones for Matt, therefore they were rough on Jesse and Cody as well. The big blond continued to fight the fever, which raged higher no matter how many antibiotics the doctors plied him with. Jesse and Cody pushed the limits of the visiting hours, but no one complained much. Since Matt was a law enforcement officer, and the Hawkes family was well known in the area, the nurses were more lenient than they usually were with patient families.
Jesse and Cody stayed out of their way and respected the job they did, often bringing them coffee and soft drinks when they got something for themselves. Just the night before, Jesse had pizza delivered for the graveyard shift crew, which was appreciated by all.
And Matt's fellow Rangers were the same way. Not like the Tahoe PD boys, who could sometimes be overbearing and downright rude when one of theirs was a patient, the Rangers always asked for permission before visiting Matt in ICU and were politely impatient when they were required to wait.
Linda Thompkins read Matt's chart and shook her head, dismayed that he wasn't showing the quick improvement that they'd hoped for. There had been a slight change for the better over the last twenty-four hours. She hoped that trend continued. According to the chart, the doctor was concerned they might have missed something, so had scheduled another series of tests to see if they could discover where the infection was inside the young man's body. They all hoped that they wouldn't need to take him back to surgery.
Linda sat down to begin the charting she needed to complete before the doctors made their rounds. Luckily there were only two patients in ICU right now and the other patient was due to be released to a regular room later that morning. So she would be able to concentrate on Matt Hawkes. Matt's father and brother had been persuaded to leave the hospital the night before, but she had no doubt that they would be showing up soon.
She decided to check on Matt, getting the vitals taken care of before his family showed up, so that they wouldn't be forced to wait. Grabbing her stethoscope and his chart, she crossed to his room and slipped inside. She quickly and efficiently took his temperature and his blood pressure, made sure all the machines he was attached to were working properly, and double-checked that the dosages on the antibiotics and pain medication connected to his I.V. were still correct.
Jotting down her findings on his chart, she then took a moment for a bit of human contact. Leaning in closely, she placed her hand on his forehead. "You have a lot of people here worried about you, Mathew Hawkes," she said quietly. "You best wake up and put their fears at ease."
She noticed a small spike on his heart monitor when she spoke. She decided to speak some more, hoping to see it continue to spike up. "Okay, Matt, it looks like you might be ready to wake up here," she said, keeping her eyes locked on the machine, and noticing another spike. "Good, Matt. That's good. Your father and brother should be here soon."
"We're here now," a voice said behind her.
She turned around with a smile seeing a teenage boy standing in the doorway. "Excellent." She reached out her hand, waving him forward. "Cody, right?"
When he nodded and walked toward the bed, she grabbed his hand. "I think your brother might be making an effort to come back to us. I want you to talk to him. His heart monitor is spiking. I want to see if it changes more when he recognizes your voice."
Cody excitedly sat down on the edge of the bed, taking Matt's hand in his, careful of the I.V. "Hey, Matt. Did you have a good night? Sorry we weren't here last night. The mean night nurse kicked us out, said we needed to go take showers. It's only been three days." He watched the monitor closely, seeing what the nurse was talking about, then watched her pick up the phone and make a call.
"Looks like you got Nurse Linda pretty excited there, Matty. You want to open those eyes, maybe she'll do a dance," he said, smiling at her glare. "Dad will be here soon, he just went down to get some coffee. What say you surprise him and wake up before he gets here, huh?"
Cody watched as Matt's face slid into a grimace, but he could see his big brother's eyes moving under the lids. "You know, Matt, Linda's pretty good looking...for an older woman, that is. Ohoh, now she's giving me a glare that could freeze a lava flow. I guess this is one of those times when you aren't supposed to mention a lady's age."
She finished her phone call, having updated the doctor, as she continued to listen to Cody encourage his brother.
"I think you need to wake up now, and protect me from Nurse Linda. I bet she could kick me all the way back up that mountain if she set her mind to it," Cody said, teasing the nurse who had been on day shift duty for the three days that Matt had been in ICU. "I need my big brother to help me out here, Matt. So how about you wake up and give me a hand."
Linda heard a noise behind her, and turned to see Matt's father in the doorway, carrying a tray with three cups in it. She waved him forward, softly explaining what was going on. She wasn't surprised when Jesse handed her the tray and moved to the other side of the bed, all thoughts of coffee no longer important.
"Mathew, Dad's here," he said, running his fingers through Matt's hair, damp from the fever. His other hand slid around his son's wrist, the thumb sliding across Matt's hot skin. "Cody and I would really like to see you wake up now. It's been three days, Mathew. You've been asleep long enough, son."
A groan of pain escaped Matt's lips. The sound was both a godsend and a curse. Although he wanted to see Matt wake up, he didn't want him to be in pain.
"C'mon, Matt," Cody joined in again. "We need your help. We can't find Teagan. You need to tell us where she might have gone."
Jesse nodded his head in approval. "Cody's right, son. Do you have any places that are a particular favorite with Teagan, somewhere she might go when she's scared?"
Both men held their breath as Matt's head moved. His eyelids fluttered, then opened briefly, before sliding shut again. "Teagan?" he asked in a whispered.
"That's right, Matt. Do you know where Teagan might have gone?" Jesse asked.
Matt licked his dry lips. Jesse didn't even need to ask before Linda was handing him a cup of ice chips and a white plastic spoon. "Just a little at a time," she instructed, quietly.
Foregoing the spoon, Jesse picked up an ice chip with his fingers, and slid it across Matt's lip, watching as his tongue slid out to capture the moisture. "More?" Matt asked, his voice rough from disuse. Jesse slid another one between his lips.
A moment later, they were rewarded when Matt opened his eyes, blinking in the harsh light. His view of the room was blocked by the smiling faces of his father and brother. The confusion was obvious in his eyes, so Jesse tried to soothe his worry.
"You're in the hospital, Matthew. You were shot. But you're going to be fine."
Matt was quiet for nearly a full minute, and Jesse could tell he was trying to remember what happened. His eyes widened as his memory supplied him with the details.
"Teagan?"
Jesse looked at Cody. "We had to leave her at the cabin. The Rangers are looking for her."
"She hurt?"
"No, she wasn't hurt. But she might have gotten scared and run off."
"Loo' for her?" Matt asked, the effort to talk obvious by the weakness in his voice.
"We'll help look for her once the doctor tells us you're out of danger..."
"Now, fin' her."
Jesse sighed, but before he could reply, Cody spoke up. "I'll go. As soon as the doctor comes in to check you out, I'll head up with Dingy. We'll find her," he promised.
Matt sighed in relief. "Than's, Cody." He closed his eyes again and they thought he'd fallen asleep, but he suddenly gasped and tried to sit up. "No, no Cody, not 'lone. Davis. He's still out there."
"The Rangers and the FBI are all looking for him, Matt."
Matt grabbed Cody's arm. "Promise me, won't go...alone. Promise me!"
Cody wrapped his hand around Matt's. "I promise, Matt. I promise I won't go looking for Teagan until Davis is in custody. But the Rangers are all over the mountain, so if there are any special places, I can have them keep an eye out."
Matt relaxed, relieved that his brother wouldn't be putting himself in danger. Although he was worried about Teagan, he wouldn't risk his brother's life. He lay back, thinking about Cody's question, but didn't get the chance to answer before his doctor walked in.
"Well, good morning, Matt," the doctor greeted him. "I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Doctor Bishoff. I treated you when you came into the ER Sunday."
"I don' 'member." He blinked as he looked at the doctor. "You...treated...knee...couple years ago?"
"That's right. Good memory. Glad to see you awake! I'm gonna do a quick exam and then we'll decide where we go from here."
Cody moved around to the other side of the bed, standing next to his father while the doctor completed his exam. Jesse slid an arm around Cody's waist and pulled him close. While the doctor performed his test, he continued to talk. "Linda tells me that your fever is down a bit. Seems this latest round of medication is working. Hopefully, the fever will break completely today and we can get you started on the rest of your recovery."
He untied Matt's hospital gown at the left shoulder, pulling it aside, then removed the bandage that covered the gunshot wound. He felt around the area, causing some wincing from his patient. "Sorry," he told Matt. "On a scale from one to ten, how bad is the pain."
Matt appeared to be a bit more coherent as the doctor continued his exam. He smiled with just a bit of a grimace. "Before or after... you started ...poking at it?"
"Before...and after," the doctor replied, teasingly.
"About...five before...seven or eight now."
Bishoff nodded and pressed a button on the morphine drip, pushing another dose through the I.V. "That should take the edge off, for now. If it gets bad, use this pump to get another dose. You know the drill, I'm sure." Matt nodded as the doctor wrapped the cord around the bed railing so it wouldn't fall onto the floor.
"Are you hungry?"
Matt shook his head. "Not really."
"Fair enough, but we do need to get some nourishment into you. I'll have the kitchen send up some broth. With the surgery on your abdomen, it'll be awhile before you're able to handle any solid foods, but you need some nourishment. We'll stick with liquids for several days, see how you handle it, then adjust from there. Make sure you rest. Sleep is the best thing for you right now."
"Thanks, Doc."
"I'll be back this afternoon to check on you. If you continue to improve, we might be able to get you out of ICU in a couple of days." Bishoff slid his stethoscope back into the pocket of his white lab coat and headed for the door.
Cody moved back to his side of the bed, climbing up to sit crossed-legged at Matt's feet, going slowly so as not to make a lot of movement. "I'm glad you're awake, Matt," he said. "You had us scared."
"Sorry, Code."
Jesse pulled one of the comfortable chairs closer to the bed. Linda stopped him on the way, and handed the tray of coffee back to him with a smile and a wink. He accepted the tray, lifted one out and handed it to her, winking back. She left, coffee in hand, patting Matt on the foot as she walked past his bed. "I'll have some broth up in a few minutes. Until then, you relax."
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied softly.
After she left, Matt turned to his father. "How close are they to Davis?"
"I don't know. I haven't talked to Tim this morning." Glancing at his watch, he added, "He and Cutler should be here soon."
The three Hawkes men talked quietly, all of them worried about Davis still running loose, and about Teagan in the wilderness on her own again. They had just gotten her back to good health. Matt just prayed Davis didn't find her. After what she did to his arm, the man wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in her head.
Thirty minutes later, Cutler strode through the door, a grin plastered across his face. "Linda said you were awake!"
"Hey, Jimmy. Frank," he said, seeing Avila behind Cutler. "Where's Tim?"
"Coordinating with the FBI," Frank said. "We think we've ID's his partner, his cousin, Tyler Connor."
Matt nodded. "Thought I saw a bit of a resemblance. Any sign of Teagan?" Matt wanted to know.
"No, but we're keeping an eye out. Frank and I are going up this morning in the bird, see if we can spot any sign of Davis and Connor. We'll keep our eyes peeled for Teagan as well."
"Thanks," Matt said, grateful for his friends. "She saved my life out there."
Cutler pulled up a chair. "You up to telling us what happened?"
Matt nodded, then had his father raised the bed so he could be more in a sitting position. Taking a sip of water, he leaned back and began his statement.
"I was heading to Dad's. I was riding just south of Table Rock, heard a shot. Started riding that direction. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground, my shoulder on fire. Then I heard laughter, looked up to see Davis standing there. He was pulling up the rifle to shoot again when Teagan came flying out of the woods and clamped down on his arm. He dropped the rifle. I was able to reach it and called Teagan off. Davis and his cousin took off, said we'd meet again if I lived."
Frank nodded. "I think we need to put some security on you, Matt, until Davis is caught."
"I agree," Jesse said, halting any protest from Matt before it even got started.
"I want you guys out there looking for Davis," Matt insisted.
"Then we'll call McBride. He can have some of his guys keep the watch."
Matt wasn't happy with the idea, but taking a quick glance at Cody, he realized that if Davis did show up, he didn't want him getting any chance to hurt his brother...or his father. He reluctantly nodded his head, surprising everyone in the room. But none of them were gonna argue with his easy acquiescence. He did get an argument when he tried to convince Jesse and Cody not to stay with him. He knew it would have been a long-shot, but he had to try.
After a few more questions, Cutler and Avila left. Matt fell asleep a few minutes later, exhausted from both his injury and fever, and from having to remember what had happened.
/
Michael Davis staggered through the door of the old cabin he and Tyler had been staying in. He dropped down onto the raggedy sofa, hoping that his cousin didn't take too long to return with medical supplies. He was in agony where that mangy dog bit him. Reaching into his pocket, he slid out the switchblade he'd found in one of the vehicles he'd stolen a few days before, and sliced through the sleeve on his injured arms.
The blood had begun to dry, the material sticking to the wound. He cried out as he pulled the cloth away from the puncture wounds, cussing the dog and Hawkes as he did. Standing back up, he headed for the kitchen. Using his good arm, he started working the pump to get some water running through the old rusty faucet.
It took five minutes of steadying pumping before the water started to run clear. Shoving his arm underneath the faucet, he cleaned the blood away. Two deep bites on the top of his arm still oozed blood. Fucking dog! Should have shot him and left him lying there next to Hawkes.
He snatched a dishtowel from the drawer next to the sink and wrapped it tightly around his arm, before collapsing back on the couch. While he waited for his cousin to return, he turned on the battery operated radio that sat on the side table, hoping to hear that Hawkes' body had been found. And planning his revenge if the man still lived. He knew his cousin would help him. Should have let Tyler just kill Hawkes then and there. But he'd been selfish. He wanted to finish the job himself. And he wanted Hawkes to suffer.
When Davis had been convicted, Ty was the only relative who didn't turn his back on him. The twenty-one year old Tyler had always looked up to his older cousin, as the only male relative that was close in age to him.
The cousins had corresponded while Mike was in prison. Tyler consistently affirmed his belief that Mike was innocent of the murder he'd been convicted of. Mike never told him that he had not only committed that murder, but three others in Nevada and Utah. The other murders, however, had not been as...public. Those three bodies had been dumped, two in the desert outside Las Vegas, and the other in the hills outside Salt Lake City. He didn't know if they'd ever been found or not. And he hadn't cared.
He supposed he'd gotten cocky with the success from his earlier homicides. But he'd needed more money than he was able to get from random victims on the street. It's why he'd chosen a bank that last time. He hadn't planned on anyone like Matt Hawkes entering the picture. The fact that Hawkes and his High Mountain Rangers had been able to track him down in Desolation Wilderness still galled him.
He'd always considered himself an expert in the woods, having survived off and on for years just living off the land. When he'd shot that bank teller in Tahoe, then hightailed it to the mountains, he'd been confident that he'd never be found. He hadn't counted on a group of Feds that he'd never heard of before. He hadn't been as careful as he should have been. When he'd walked outside the cave he'd taken refuge in, and found himself surrounded by men carrying rifles and yelling at him that he was under arrest, he'd been so shocked he hadn't put up a fight.
During his trial, he'd learned that his downfall had come at the hands of this group calling themselves High Mountain Rangers. And during testimony, it was clear that Matt Hawkes was the only reason he'd been found. The man's expertise in tracking was apparently well known in Tahoe and on both sides of the state line. Davis seethed at his own stupidity for not doing a better job of checking out the area. He knew that the FBI always investigated bank robberies and figured that no FBI agent would chase him into the deep forests outside Tahoe.
He hadn't planned on Federal agents who had as much, if not more, experience in wilderness survival and tracking than he did himself. He would not make that mistake again. He'd been given a life sentence, but vowed that he wouldn't be behind bars for long. His lawyer had started immediate appeals, and seeing a possible future opportunity, he decided to make sure he was able to attend every hearing involving his case.
It hadn't taken long for him to find a weakness to exploit and during his last trip to court, he'd been able to flee the courthouse. To be sure, court security had given a good chase, but he'd devised several contingency plans and was easily able to elude them. Since he'd been heading to a courtroom, he'd been allowed to wear civilian clothes, instead of the standard prison jump suit, making his getaway less conspicuous.
Two blocks from the courthouse, he'd dragged a man from his car in a parking garage, bashing his head on the concrete pillar and leaving him unconscious on the ground as he drove away in the man's Mercedes. The five-hundred dollars the man had been carrying in his wallet didn't hurt either. He'd initially headed north, hoping to throw off the cops. Before he'd made it to the Tahoe area, he'd changed vehicles half a dozen times.
His escape had been a week ago. He'd finally made his way back into the hills west of Tahoe, with a final assist from his cousin, Tyler and the lovely Jessica. He smiled at the thought of the blond-haired woman who had been the owner of the last vehicle he'd taken, late one night at an all-night gas station.
She'd been traveling alone and he'd watched her fill up, as he kept an eye on the disinterested clerk inside. Seeing his chance, as she climbed back into her car, he came up behind her and put the knife at her throat, ordering her into the car, and making her climb over the center console, all the while keeping hold of one arm.
He'd kept her with him for two days. He'd finally tired of her and during the early morning hours of the second day, he found a little used forest service road that went deep into the forest. He'd dragged her barely conscious naked body out of the back and left it on the road. He didn't kill her. After all, she'd given him a great deal of pleasure over those two days. Her reward was being allowed to live. Whether she stayed that way was no longer a concern of his. She was either strong enough to survive or she wasn't. Not his problem either way.
He drove back to Placerville, then called his cousin. Tyler had been excited to hear he was out of prison and the two made plans to meet. The only problem was, Tyler had no vehicle. So Mike offered to pick him up at his home in Folsom. Before he left Placerville, he stole another vehicle. And left another body behind. He was getting good at killing.
He sat up straight as he heard the radio announce breaking news.
"...just in. Matthew Hawkes, Commander of the High Mountain Rangers, has been transported to Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe, with a gunshot wound. Details are sketchy at this time. Hawkes' condition is listed as serious but stable. Hospital spokesman, Larry Spencer, stated that Hawkes was brought in with a gunshot wound to the left shoulder and is currently undergoing surgery. El Dorado County Sheriff Mike McBride, speaking on behalf of the High Mountain Rangers, who are currently at the location of the shooting trying to piece together what happened and looking for the suspect, told this reporter that they have discovered the likely weapon used on Matt Hawkes and it is currently in the hands of the Sheriff's Office forensic unit. The FBI has also been called in to assist, since the High Mountain Rangers are a federal law enforcement agency, as well as a search and rescue organization. As soon as we have more information, we'll pass it along."
Davis slammed his hand down on the arm of the sofa, hissing when the movement jarred his other, injured, arm. He'd hoped that Hawkes would have died out there in the woods. In fact, he envisioned some wild animal coming along and tearing him limb from limb while still alive. He wondered if the man had been conscious when they found him. If so, police might already know about Davis. Glancing up at the old clock on the wall, he mentally urged Ty to hurry up. They needed to get his arm fixed up, then make their way to the place he'd stashed most of the loot he'd gotten from that bank robbery that had put him in prison.
He hadn't wanted to keep the money with him at the time, so had hidden it, by burying it not far from the cave where he'd been caught by Hawkes and his Rangers. He'd only had two thousand of the twenty thousand he'd stolen from the bank, when he'd been captured, and had never told investigators where he'd stashed the rest. He planned to dig it up and make tracks out of state, especially now that he'd be wanted for trying to kill a cop.
Damn it! He'd been out of practice using a rifle, otherwise his shot would have hit Hawkes in the heart and the man would have been dead before his body hit the ground! And that stupid dog! If he ever saw that dog again, he'd roast it over a fire pit, alive, and take pleasure in its pain.
He leaned back against the sofa, the pain in his arm taking its toll as he fell into a fitful sleep. Outside the worn-down cabin, two eyes kept a keen watch on the building, as a nose sniffed the air, making sure the scent she'd been tracking was inside. Teagan hunkered down in the trees, waiting for the man to come out.
/