A/N I felt guilty as hell about the reaction that some of you had to reading that last chapter. I forget that most normal people haven't seen or experienced the things I have, and many of you have no idea what Cops, Ems workers, Nurses, Investigators and sadly, those in communities that are considered 'Outsiders" experience. Life is fucking gnarly and ugly out there for a lot of people and PTSD is a fact of life for not only the victims, but for those who pick up the pieces. I still see the faces of so many of them when I close my eyes, smell the smell of burned skin, blood and hear their cries or that of their family and loved ones, and I probably always will. Its when I forget about them that I begin to think I have truly become damned.
I couldn't stand to leave soo many of you hanging and wondering. And to the person who wrote and said that someone wouldn't want to live? The human spirit and the power of love makes people capable of enduring things that seem unfathomable. He has a lot to live for, and sometimes we endure what we must because we are needed by others more than we suffer.
So what's the plan, are we gonna can him or what? If we do and they ever do figure us out, we will get the needle for him alone because he's a cop. How about this, we let nature take its course and let him try and hike it back from out off the Devils Highway? We could burn some wetback to throw Cullen off the scent and while he's trying to mend his poor broken lil heart and figure out , we get rid of the mess where it will be picked clean before anyone is the wiser?
Gunny knew a point had been made. While they might be guilty of a lot of things, they had never taken anyone that anyone of note had missed before. Whitlock was damn sure going to be missed and Cullen already suspected him. They knew he was up on that ridge, his place might look like it was stacked up with junk, but it was also rigged up with sensors and all nature of alarms that alerted him to unwanted company. Cullen would be on them like stink on shit before they could even move even a hair of that faggot off the property, and if he saw the barrels then they would be good for the rest of the canned queers that had been found over the last few years. "Do it, make sure you get one that is close enough to Whitlocks build to keep him off the scent for a few days, and burn him good, you have seen the tatts and crap on him." The plan was made and the decoy left in the early hours to put the plan into motion.
"Edward, Edward! Look, we gotta go." Emmetts voice was breaking and his eyes were red. He pulled me to my feet. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay on them. We numbly walked down the back of the ridge to my waiting truck. I just stood there staring at sunrise, feeling the weight of Jaspers wallet in my chest pocket, the same place it had been since I had taken it out of his uniform almost 3 full days earlier. I couldn't believe he was gone, taken from me after all he had survived in his short life.
Its not him. "C'mon Edward, we have to go make sure. It doesn't look good. it's a young male, same size and build, and they need us to look at some tattoos." No! Its not him. it's a decoy. Something is up. We can relocate down the road a little ways and walk back in, you can drive on into the scene or whatever you want, but I know that bastard is up to something. They are either going to dump him in the next little bit, or he has something in mind.
We drove about a mile and a half down the road to an abandoned Bureau of Land Management road, and parked, watching the monitor. An hour went by and Emmett called the scene manager at my property and told them to seal off the scene and wait because I was unavoidably detained. They had no choice but to hold in place as the dot on the monitor that symbolized Gunnys truck began to move towards the desolate stretch of desert known as the "Devils Highway" at a breakneck pace.
Still alive, but barely, Jasper had been unceremoniously dropped to the floor of the garage and then loosely wrapped in a canvas tarp still cuffed to keep the blood and other fluids from leaking all over the back of Gunnys truck. He was then tossed into the back, of the truck like a gutted deer. Barely alive, he wasn't even cognizant of where he was or what was going on. He was dying.
They had a damned head start on us and it was going to be a bitch to catch them, but with Emmett driving, all that mattered was keeping track of where they stopped for even a moment, and sure enough, they stopped at a slight dip in the trail and then abruptly sped off.
'Oh fucking hell Emmett! Hurry up and get us there, they just dumped him. Emmett floored my truck and we rapidly reached the spot where they had stopped. I wasn't prepared. There was just no preparing anyone for what we found.
'Oh fuck, oh fuck oh fuck! Jay oh noooo!" Emmett didn't even hit the brakes good before slamming my truck into park and jumping out. I was right beside him with my emergency bag in hand, but I didn't know if it would do any good. We couldn't even hardly tell it was Jasper, if not for the tattoo on his hip that started it all, I wouldn't have been sure, because the tattoo he had gotten to match mine, had been cut away.
'Edward! You gotta focus! Help me get his airway stabilized! C'mon Goddammit! Get me the blanket out of your truck and we have to scoop and run with him or we are going to lose him. You are going to have to drive and call Alice, have her meet us at my place with a full trauma kit like we had discussed." We started just working as fast as possible to get him ready to move, he was so broken we didn't know where to touch him that wasn't going to hurt him more, but luckily he was unconscious and not feeling anything. Emmett got oxygen on him and one I.v. started before we even moved him, but as we rolled him to wrap him in the blanket, I saw the carvings on his back. 'Oh Jesus! Emmett! "Edward, Stop! We have to focus on just keeping him alive right now, everything else is secondary. Lets go and get him in the truck"
He was right, but I wanted to hunt down the motherfuckers that did this and I wanted to do all the ugly things to them and more that they had done to my boy. I reached a decision as we hauled ass to Emmetts place and Alice agreed to meet us there. Jasper was going to stay dead, even if he survived. He was never going to be safe here and he needed to leave. He was going to go to the Northwest and start over new. I didn't know if he had seen the guys who had hurt him, but if he testified to what they had done, he would be ruined as a cop in this town and we would be outed in the worst way, during a very public trial. He needed to leave for his safety because I had no idea how far this case went and I had no doubt in my mind that they would try for him until the got him.
We arrived at Emmetts place and Rose and Alice helped us to get him into the house. I had to leave to go to the scene in front of my place so the poor bastard that had been murdered and burned to put me off the trail could be removed and hopefully, eventually be returned to his family. The officer in charge was glad to see, and moderately respectful, leading me to believe that he at least wasn't involved in what had happened to Jasper. I made a show of looking at the tattoos I couldn't confirm or deny. I decided to wait and see what the coroner came up with. The condition of the body was unbelievably worse than Jaspers, with all the teeth missing and the face beaten in, hands missing and horrible wounds that indicated that torture had been inflicted with casual brutality. I prayed that the wounds were post-mortem, but I didn't hold much hope that they were.
Clearing the scene, I went to my own home to prepare to take Jasper to a hospital out of state so he could recover. With Alice's help I knew I could get him as far as San Diego, and I had more than enough money to ensure he was well taken care of and his anonymity protected. I called and set up everything, with the planned departure time of in the wee hours of the morning. I was devastated to be losing him anyway, but at least this way he would be alive and able to start over and maybe, someday, we would see each other again.
" He hasn't woken up, and as bad off as he is, I would consider that a mercy. He needs a hospital and he needs a trauma unit. He has infections in both knees from stab wounds, and he's going to need surgery on both of them to repair the damage. His groin injury is severe, I almost couldn't get a catheter in him and just cleaning the wound is going to take a surgeon. He has at least one ruptured testicle, and he is probably going to need a colostomy. We are hoping at this point his kidneys are just bruised, but what came out of him was almost pure blood, so I don't know. His head injury is severe as well and his GCS is about a 6 , if he recovers, he is going to be in the hospital for a long time. He needs extensive help that I cant provide him here. We need to get him to the hospital now, not later. If he stays here, he will be dead for real." Alice was stressed, and the look on Roses face told me that the afternoon that they had was filled with things that I didn't even want to contemplate.
Alice, he is going to a hospital, but not here. If they know he is alive, they will keep after him. The county is going to declare him dead, he is going to be dead for all intents and purposes. The only people who are going to know he is alive, if he lives, are in this room. Emmett, can we borrow your Blazer and your wife? We need to get him ready to go as soon as possible. I have a room ready for him at a private hospital in San Diego. He's going to be taken care of and then he's going to get the hell out of here. Emmett, we are going to need to pack up his place and put it in a pod so I can have it shipped to where he's going. We will need to drive his truck to San Diego as well so he will have a way to get around once he has recovered.
" Edward, that's assuming a lot" We don't even know if he will survive the trip out there. He is very, very bad off." Alice was somber and trying her best to keep me from getting ahead of myself. Fine! Alice I hear you, but I know him, and I know how he is. He will recover, so lets just get moving because the sooner we get him in the truck and on the road, the sooner they can get started on fixing him.
The dark tinted windows on the blazer accompanied by the high lift, made it nearly impossible to see inside the truck. That was going to be on our side as we had to go through town to reach the California side of the highway. With the body being found, everyone at the department assumed I was home mourning my best friend. I planned on a turn and burn trip to San Diego. We were going to slip out of town with him, drop him at the hospital and return as quickly as possible. I wouldn't be able to see him very much, but maybe that would be for the best. I was going to be losing him eventually if I was elected sheriff, and when I stayed to try and put a stop to Gunny.
The trip seemed to take forever. He was mostly quiet, but occasionally when the truck would hit a bump or shift, he would moan softly. We stopped outside of San Diego for gasoline and Rose took over driving so I could spend a few moments saying my goodbyes to him before we reached the hospital. It was hard to find a place to touch him where he wasn't hurt. His face was battered and bruised, and his eyes were swollen almost totally shut, but once, when I gently stroked his cheek, he opened his eyes and looked at me for just a moment. He tried to speak but with his broken jaw he could only mumble, so I told him what I had always meant to say out loud.
Jasper, I am soo sorry. You were right. We should have left. I am sorry. This is all my fault. You just focus on getting better and know this, I love you. I do.
Jasper heard him, but he couldn't really process what he was being told. His whole body was agony and he couldn't even think of his own name. He just closed his eyes and went back to sleep as the truck pulled into the hospital.