Trouble with Friends
Chapter 4
Frank let out a sigh of relief. He felt a pulse in Horatio's neck. Reaching over, Frank unlatched his friend's seatbelt; the movement caused a low groan to emanate from Horatio's throat. Music to my ears, Frank sighed to himself.
He leaned over the redhead now and called, "Horatio…can you hear me?"
Horatio's eyes began to flutter as his head slowly moved toward the direction of Frank's voice. "Frank…," Horatio rasped. "What…what happened?"
"H we were in an accident. Where are you hurt?"
Frank watched as Horatio slowly began to move, first shifting his body slightly, but that small action caused him to quickly grab his right side with his other hand, immediately clenching his teeth from the pain as his breath escaped involuntarily accompanied by a deep groan.
"Broken…ribs…right side," Horatio weakly said between short, choppy breaths. He raised his left hand to his head and then slumped back against the door, his hand struggling with his jacket as he attempted to reach inside the breast pocket while with a rough voice he barely uttered, "Get…my cell…" then slipped back into darkness.
Frank blew out a strong breath and laid his head back on the seat. I've got to get us some help. Pulling out his cell phone, he pushed a speed dial number before noticing the 'no service' message on the screen. "Damn," he muttered when he saw the screen.
Pushing himself back up, he pulled on the door handle and pushed against the door as hard as he could trying to make it open, but it wouldn't budge. Realizing the only way out was through the gaping hole where the windshield had been, with all the strength he could manage, he pulled himself through the large opening. Thank God for safety glass. Once out of the car and onto the hood, or what little was left of it, he looked around and found the car had fallen into a thicket of tall brush. At least the car's right-side up, thank God for that.
Carefully climbing down off of the car, Frank pushed his way out of the bushes only to realize that they were surrounded by dirt walls on three sides. Turning and looking up at the steep banks he wasn't sure which side the car had rolled down, still being disoriented from the accident. They were in what looked like a ravine and two of the walls had damage, from either their car or past accidents. Besides, he knew he was not in any condition to climb up for help. Suddenly he felt weak, as if he was going to pass out. He fell to his knees, but never actually lost consciousness, keeping himself upright with the support of his left arm. After a moment, he re-gathered his thoughts and remembered his cell phone now that he was out of the car; and hoped he'd have service. Almost crawling to a nearby tree to sit down against it to rest, he looked at his phone and saw the same message, 'no service'.
"Damn boonies…." He snarled.
After a few minutes, Frank heard a noise and then noticed Horatio pushing his way out of the bushes surrounding the car, stumbling as he walked toward him. Horatio stopped beside him, still on his feet and leaned against the tree.
"I tried to call out…there's no service," Frank told him in a disappointed tone.
"Yeah, I tried too. We've got…um…" trying to stay focused even though the pain in his head was tremendous, Horatio continued, "we've got to get out of this gully before our phones will work."
Frank wondered how far either of them could walk in their condition.
Horatio glanced up the dirt walls surrounding them as far as he could before his vision began to swim,
"We need to get going. It'll be getting dark soon considering the thickness of the woods," gazing toward the open end of the gully after making the comment.
Frank got to his feet and they began to walk. Only covering about a hundred yards before Horatio gasped and stopped, holding his head while he leaned against a large pine tree.
"I'm sorry…I've got to stop," he rasped as he lowered his head and eased down to rest on the ground.
As Horatio and Frank rested, the other men had found their way to the bottom of the ravine. "If I see a snake, I'm outta here!" Jared told Roscoe as they stepped over numerous downed trees continuing their mission of finding the two policemen.
Roscoe stopped and glared at the slender, sniveling young man responding, "I'd take my chances with a snake rather than Miller if we come up empty handed. Quit your whining we're probably not far from them now."
Thinking he heard voices in the distance, Horatio opened his eyes and quickly realized his vision was still somewhat fuzzy so, he rubbed his eyes gently in an attempt to help clear it. He glanced over at Frank who had sat down against a large rock and the big man had his eyes closed, resting his head. Horatio turned back around and watched for any movement through the trees. Then he saw them; a slender young man accompanied by a larger, older bulkier man. Horatio was just about to call out for help when he noticed the large man was carrying something like a rifle. Blinking rapidly, he suddenly made out the form of an assault rifle and then realized the men were headed in the direction of their wrecked car.
Giving them time to get out of range, he turned to Frank and with a low voice said, "Frank, we need to move on. Two men, one with an assault rifle are headed for our car."
Frank stared at his friend and got to his feet as quickly as possible. "Who in the hell would be out here?"
"I don't know…but I've got a feeling they're not here to help."
Roscoe slowly eased up to the hole in the bushes, able to make out the sedan. Weapon at the ready, he glanced inside at the car's broken, disheveled interior through the driver's side window. The car was empty, but he noticed blood on the passenger window.
"Shit, they're not here!" He loudly exclaimed. "C'mon, they can't be far. They've got to be hurting after a ride like that. We can't let them make it out of here."
Horatio knew it was only a matter of time before the two men would find them. He and Frank had to outthink them. It was their only chance. The injured men stopped to rest for a minute once again. Horatio began looking around to locate a better vantage point.
Roscoe figured the two men would stay more to the left, hoping to find their way back to the road so that's the direction he and Jared began running. Figuring they'd gone about a half a mile when he motioned to stop, Roscoe couldn't believe they'd not found them by now.
As Roscoe slowed his walking, he turned to Jared and quietly said, "Keep your eyes and ears open. They've got to be close." The two men spread out slightly as they quietly and cautiously began easing through the trees.
Frank saw the movement about twenty-five yards out and alerted Horatio with a hand signal. Horatio had decided that Frank would stay behind him in a more elevated position and be his eyes. They'd found a hillside that contained a few large downed trees, large enough for Frank to be covered. Since Frank could not shoot too well left-handed, it was going to be up to Horatio to defend them against the two men, if turned out they were there for the wrong intentions. Horatio had taken cover behind a large pine tree with his 9mm at the ready.
Horatio saw the two men and let them get beyond him before he stepped out from behind the tree and called, "Hey, we need some help."
Roscoe turned immediately toward Horatio and smiled. "What's your problem," he called out as he slowly walked toward the redhead, his finger moving into position on the trigger of the assault weapon. Jared, a little more hesitant about approaching the Lieutenant, bringing to mind about the stories he'd heard of how smart the man was. Figuring the cop had a trick up his sleeve; the young man hesitated and stayed put where he'd stopped.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion, the big assault rifle being pulled up and pointed in Horatio's direction. Knowing he only had one chance, and that was to fire first, Horatio blinked rapidly when saw the movements of the man, signifying that he was planning on killing him and Frank. Horatio fired almost at the same time as Roscoe. Horatio's bullet hitting its mark, dead center of the man's chest, causing him to spew a barrage of bullets everywhere as the impact of Horatio's bullet caused his finger to tightly grip the trigger on the assault rifle.
Horatio felt a burning pain in his arm as the impact spun him around causing him to hit the ground hard. Frank seeing his friend go down stood up and began firing his gun with his left hand. None of his shots were accurate though and a scared Jared returned fire, his bullet hitting Frank in his upper left chest. Frank feeling the impact, looked down at his chest in shock before collapsing. Jared turned and began running when he heard voices approaching.
Horatio and Frank in walking away from their wrecked car had unknowingly walked onto part of the Moody Air Force Base training facility; a base that specialized in rescuing downed pilots. A small group of airmen had been completing their afternoon rescue exercise when they heard the gunfire and had quickly made their way to the area to investigate.
Forcing his body to move, Horatio pushed up off the ground and searched the area for the shooters, not spotting anyone, he turned his attention to where Frank had taken cover and what he saw made his heart stop. Frank was lying prone on the ground.
"Frank…" Horatio whispered. Horatio, his gait wobbly, walked as quickly as he could to his friend and fell down on his knees beside him. Quickly noticing the large amount of blood gushing from the wound in Frank's chest, Horatio quickly struggled to pull his coat off. Then he wadded it and pressed it into the wound and applied pressure to help stem the flow of blood. Through his haze, Horatio knew if Frank didn't get help soon, he would die. Why didn't you stay down Francis? Horatio then reached over and eased the gun out of Frank's left hand, fighting off the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him.
Thinking he was hallucinating, Horatio heard a man's voice call out to him, "Sir, what happened here?" Slowly raising his head, Horatio saw three men approaching dressed in military fatigues.
Redirecting his gaze back on Frank, Horatio whispered, "Hang on friend, I think we're getting some help."
It felt as if he were fighting through a thick fog. Through an opening ahead, he could see bright light. As he slowly became aware of his surroundings, Horatio mumbled, "The…gun. Calleigh…needs…call her."
The nurse smiled and checked the IV lines running into her patient's arm, "We've called someone from your department Lieutenant and they're on their way. You just rest, and you'll be alright."
Horatio felt himself drifting back into the fog, but in his mind, the picture of Frank lying bleeding on the ground took over his memory and he called out, "Frank…"
As the plane descended into Valdosta, Georgia, Calleigh was pushing down the apprehension of what she was going to find out about Horatio's and Frank's conditions. They couldn't tell her much last night. She tried to relax, but the memory of that phone call in the middle of the night, last night, quickly flooded her thoughts.
Before the call ever came, she knew something was wrong because Horatio had not called as he had assured her he would. She had been wide awake when the call came; remembering now, how her heart had jumped in her chest when she saw Horatio's name on the screen of her phone. Then that horrible moment when her breath had caught when the caller was not Horatio, but a state trooper in Valdosta, Georgia.
Getting out of her rental car, Calleigh walked quickly through the door of the large building at the admission's entrance, just as the doctor had instructed when she'd called the hospital this morning. From there, he had assured her the staff would page him so he could meet with her and tell her about Horatio's injuries and condition.
"Hi I'm Calleigh Duquesne," introducing herself to the nurse behind the desk. "Can you page Dr. Thrombill? He's expecting me."
Calleigh had to only wait five minutes before a short, but kind faced, older doctor walked up to her.
"Ms. Duquesne?"
"Yes. Dr. Thrombill?" The doctor nodded his head.
"Please, let's move to a consulting room," he added as he motioned toward a door.
After sitting down, the doctor looked up at Calleigh from a chart in his hands. "I just came from examining Mr. Caine. He's slowly drifting back to complete consciousness and his vital signs are much improved today. I think last night; he was in shock over his friend's injury. Although he, himself sustained a couple of broken ribs, a concussion and numerous deep bruises, presumably from the car accident, along with a gunshot wound in his upper left arm, none of these injuries are life threatening."
Calleigh hung her head in her hand in relief. "Thank God," she whispered. Looking back at the doctor she asked, "Can you tell me about Frank Tripp's condition?"
"I'm not handling his case; a…uh," the doctor paused looking down at his notes, "Doctor Brown is overseeing his condition, but I can tell you that Mr. Tripp is in ICU after emergency surgery. Are you family for him as well?" The doctor asked looking slightly bewildered.
"Right now, I am. He's single, but his girlfriend will arrive tomorrow. He and I are work colleagues." The doctor nodded his head in understanding.
"I can have Dr. Brown come by Mr. Caine's room and discuss your friend's condition with you in more detail. I'll page him after we finish."
"Thank you. How long will Horatio be in the hospital?"
"If he continues as well as he's doing now, I'd say just a couple of nights. I could release him sooner if you lived nearby, but to fly back to Miami, he needs to stay a little longer before I can allow that." Calleigh nodded her head that she understood.
"Can I see him?"
"Oh yes, you sure can. I think you will help him Ms. Duquesne. Ever since he began drifting back to consciousness this morning, he has been asking for you," Doctor Thrombill smiled.
Calleigh eased the large door to the room open and saw Horatio lying in the bed, shirtless with bandages wrapped around his torso and a bandage on the right side of his head and arm. His eyes were closed and she detected his light breathing, as she moved closer, signifying he was asleep.
As quietly as she could, she pulled a chair to the side of his bed, but before sitting down, she leaned over him and softly kissed his forehead. Tears welled in her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks as she observed how vulnerable he appeared, but the tears were also in relief from knowing his injuries could have been so much worse.
With her touch, Horatio stirred. Gradually opening his eyes, he saw her leaning over him and smiled as he whispered, "I was hoping...you'd be the one that came."
TBC…