Starlight Starbright

These good fellows don't belong to me but I promise when I'm done to pick um up, dust um off and with a kiss on the cheek return them safely home.

"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict." William Ellery Channing.

Chapter 13

The day passed with all of the station 51 men's leads finding only more dead ends. There was just no sign of Johnny anywhere after searching every place they knew to look. Roy put in a final call to the police to try again to make the search official from their end. After a hundred phone calls they finally agreed that something must be wrong and told him they would begin an official investigation. Little consolation by this point. It had been days now that Johnny had been gone. Each man headed back home knowing that the next shift would just not be the same without Johnny's presence.

Roy crawled into bed and lay on his back while staring at the ceiling. He felt like a failure, a failure to his best friend. Being partners it was his job to protect him and that was a job that long ago he took to heart, on and off the job. He knew Johnny needed them but he was out of ideas. Come on Junior; give us a hint as to where you are. Anything. Rolling over he cuddled up next to Joanne feeling guilty at being comfortable for another night with Johnny God knows where.

The sun was warming the air around them to the point that Amy unzipped her cocoon for some air. She could tell they were moving very slowly, a few steps at the time. The snow now just flurries as they clouds were pushed away. She tried to sit up and see where they were but the sharp pain in her shoulder put her back down on her back.

"Johnny?"

He kept going forward, not hearing her call, his mind on a single focus to reach the Ranger station that was now visible ahead of them.

"Johnny? Please."

The sled stopped and he came into her view. She was shocked at his appearance. He was very pale with flushed cheeks, dark circles under his eyes and she could now clearly see the black and blue swollen left side of his face.

"Almost there...can see the… Rangers house now." His words were between coughs and almost gasping breaths.

"I need to get up," she said.

"Now?"

"Yea, sorry but I need to use the little girls room," she smiled with some embarrassment.

"Oh," he said flatly. He helped her sit up and gave her a minute to regain her equilibrium after being flat for so long. When she felt less dizzy she stood slowly. He wasn't sure who was leaning on whom more for support at this point but he helped her to move behind a tree. Standing back at a discreet distance he waited while squatting down to rest and catch his breath.

"Okay," she called out. He came back over and helped her get back to the sled. "I can walk for a while," she tried to suggest.

He simply shook his head and pointed at her shoulder, not having the breath to chit chat with her about anything. The fresh bleeding was now seeping through the bandages he had put on at the cabin. She climbed back into the sleeping bag to rest but stayed sitting up. He knelt down beside her, remaining quiet as he tended to her wound again. She studied the man before her, so intent on making sure she was alright.

"John Gage." She now remembered.

He looked up at her but still said nothing.

"You took care of my sister Amanda."

His head jerked up, "Sister?" His head was swimming now and he held onto the side of the sled to steady himself.

"Yes." She registered the shock in his face. Did he think she was Amanda? "She was my twin sister who lived in LA. I don't understand. How are you here now?"

The rational part of his brain had known this couldn't be Amanda but now he was beginning to understand. "Guess fate…decided to…give …me another…chance," he smiled softly at her.

"John Gage, you didn't need a second chance because you did nothing wrong the first time."

He pulled her sweater back over her shoulder after re-taping it, "Amanda died." He said climbing to his feet again.

"Yes, she did but it was not your fault."

She watched him walk off, not responding to what she said, pick up the rope and start to pull her down the path. Her mind was trying to process what had happened in the last few days. Why did she even go to the bank that day? There was nothing that urgent to do, especially on the day of Amanda's funeral. Funeral. Oh God, she missed the funeral. Bobby. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she remembered more, her husband who didn't know where she was. Her sister who was left alone. Then looking at the man who had risked his life to save her. The same man who tried to save Amanda. She leaned back onto the sled again, exhaustion taking its toll on her and fell asleep.

The door was locked but in one swift motion Johnny took his flashlight and broke the glass to get in. Helping Amy into the house they were greeted with cobwebs and a few years of dust. Johnny moved to the phone to find the lines were dead. Then to the radio to find the battery long since gone. It was obvious that this station hadn't been used in years.

His heart sank. He worked so hard to get them here only to find out it was a dead end. The only saving grace was that it was shelter from the bitter cold. His energy minimal he decided to gather up some of the old kindling and firewood from the front porch and started a fire which they both eagerly soaked in. After they warmed up some he tucked her into a cot, making sure she was stable then he climbed onto one in the room across the hallway. As exhaustion took over he realized that he had led them to a place of no food, no water, and no communication in the middle of nowhere. This might be a fate worse than if they had just stayed put.

The door burst open catching the two men off guard. They both jumped up, grabbing their guns but quickly found themselves thrown to the ground with knees in their backs and guns to their heads.

"Well, well. Carl Walker and Red Winters. Surprised to see me fellows?" The older detective knelt down low enough for the men to see his face but it wasn't really needed. They knew his voice well enough. The detective was an old friend of theirs who frequently pursued them during their crime sprees. "I think we have some things to discuss gentlemen."

Lieutenant Marcos was hoping to find the woman with them but he knew these two very well. They were stupid but not dumb enough to kill her. But getting them to give her up, wherever they had her stashed might not be so easy.

She awoke to the harsh coughing from the room across from her. Swinging her feet to a sitting position made her dizzy and she had to steady herself with her hand. Johnny had her injured arm bandaged with a fresh dressing then tied her arm to her chest to decrease the movement. The blood lose made her head swim but she was now more concerned about him. Moving across the hallway she found him tossing and turning under the small blanket, sweat beading on his forehead, his color so pale.

She sat beside him and took his head gently to raise it up, "Johnny? Can you take a sip of water?"

His eyes opened and he frowned. He knew she shouldn't be up and moving around but in his condition he hadn't the breath to challenge it. Nodding he opened his mouth and accepted the sips of water. He knew that becoming dehydrated wouldn't help anything at all. She took her fingers and brushed the soaked curly locks of black hair off his forehead and pushed them aside. With no medical training at all she felt lost as to how to help him. He was very sick, she knew that much. His breathing was too hard and she could see that the coughing racked his body with pain.

"You saved me from those men didn't you?" She asked him softly.

He nodded, "Had to…get us…away."

She understood. If they had stayed they more than likely would have died. The robbers had already shot her then about beaten the young fireman to death. If that was in them then murder wasn't far away.

"I'm…sorry," he whispered.

"Sorry about what?"

"Amanda…I…failed her," he said as the tears fell down his cheeks.

"No John, you didn't." She proceeded to tell him about her afternoon on the phone with her sister then Dr. Brackett's report about her death. She watched his eyes as they seemed to come to some understanding that maybe it wasn't his fault.

"I'm glad you were with her at the end," she said as she wiped the tears from his face. "Now look at you, trying to save another sister." She smiled, "You do stay busy don't you?"

He smiled back at her then fell asleep in her arms. She only hoped that there was now some peace in his heart. She gently laid him back down and tucked the blanket around him. Wetting a cool washcloth she placed it on his forehead. "Now John Gage I think it's time we get some help."

Lt. Marcos sat at his desk with a pile of items in front of him from the hotel room of the robbers. He was looking for any evidence possible about where they might have left her. They had already put in the ransom call to the husband, for some reason thinking he had several hundred thousand dollars to pay them. Greed. It makes you stupid, he thought. He was most concerned about the rag with blood on it they found in the car. Knowing that neither man was injured there was only one logical conclusion; it belonged to her. But how badly hurt was she? Was she even alive anymore? He wouldn't put it past these two to ransom off a dead body.

Another item found at the hotel room caught his curiosity, it was a wallet. Most of the items had been thrown out already but there three items left in it. First was a picture of two young children, a boy and a girl. The back of it said Jenny 5 and Chris 7. Next was a slip of paper that simply had one name and a phone number, someone named Buck. Last was another picture. It was of two men, in uniform, standing in front of a red brick building. There was nothing else visible in the photo to identify who they were or where they were. This third mystery person, who were they? What was their roll in this? Victim or accomplice?

He held the picture of the two men a little longer. Which one of you is part of this mess and where are you now?