Hi!! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! You make my day with each one. I especially like the ones that let me know what I'm doing and right and what I'm doing wrong. It's the best way to correct things.
This chapter is a little shorter but I wanted to get something out today. Hopefully the next one will be longer. Have a great week!
Susanne
CHAPTER FOUR
As a group they continued for two more hours. By then Roy's wrist was so sore he tried desperately to make sure it didn't get pulled on any more. During a very brief stop, Roy had tried to find something to bandage it but was unsuccessful. That was mostly due to the fact that Johnson wouldn't leave him alone long enough to accomplish the feat.
If anyone had asked Roy if he was in shape this morning, he would have said yes. At the moment, he had serious doubts about that assumption. He was breathing like a locomotive and kept losing his balance. Part of that was due to Johnson pulling on the handcuff, the other part was because Roy had a shorter stride than the taller man. Johnson seemed to take perverse pleasure in seeing Roy trip.
They'd reached the top of the nearest hill/mountain. Where they stood to catch their breath had a great view of the highway, the cliff and the rolling ocean beyond. So far it appeared that no one had found the crash, which suited Connors just fine. Breathing a little easier, he headed down the other side.
Roy struggled to keep up, his mind churning. By now Joanne and the kids should be home, wondering where he was. In another hour or so she'd start phoning around, looking for him. That would get Johnny going in a hurry. He knew about Roy's plan to get Joanne the locket. He even knew where Roy was going. The only thing Roy didn't know was whether Johnny would tell her. After all it was supposed to be a surprise.
While he was distracted by his deep thoughts, Roy's foot twisted on a loose stone. Before he had the chance to regain his balance, Roy slid downward, right into Johnson's lower legs. In a jumble of limbs, the two men continued down the hill side.
"Whoa!" Anderson cried as he managed to jump out of the way. Connors turned at the shout and the crashing noises coming toward him and had to dive to get out of the way as well. The two brothers just stood at the top of the slope and watched with bemused expressions on their faces.
Half way down the slope Roy ran into a sapling. His momentum sent it doubling over but not before his ribs made contact with it. They bent as far as they could before micro fractures spread through them. Roy gasped as pain blossomed from his right side. Then he was too busy trying to stay conscious.
At the bottom of the slope, Johnson came to a stop, on top of a wheezing Roy. He lay where he was for a few moments while he tried to catch his breath. Then he looked down at the blond paramedic. His face was white as a sheet, his eyes tightly closed as he wheezed against the cracked ribs. If he had the breath, he'd tell the much larger man to get off of him. Clearly, Johnson was enjoying lying on top of him a little too much.
A few seconds later, Connors joined them on the valley bottom and pulled Johnson off. The big man could only go so far because of the hand cuff. Blood trickled from under the metal loop, pooling on the ground as Roy continued to collect himself. Kneeling down beside him, Connors pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the cuff. He was going to have to bandage this somehow before the man bled to death.
"What are you doing?" Johnson demanded as he rose to his feet. Anger was burning through his system.
"He's hurt. I just want to bandage up his wrist before he bleeds to death. A dead hostage isn't going to do us any good," Connors barked. He pulled a length of cloth off the bottom of his shirt. Before Johnson could intervene, Connors wrapped it around Roy's wrist. Startled, the paramedic opened his eyes and glazed, somewhat dazedly, at the inmate.
"He's mine," Johnson growled. "You shouldn't be touching him."
By now the other three had joined them. The brothers hung back, waiting to see how this little drama would play out. Roy was still on his back, trying to pull air into his resisting body. Every deep breath sent pain slicing through his side but shallow breaths didn't quite satisfy. He knew his wrist hurt but it was swallowed up by a mild sense of panic.
"Fine," Connors growled back. Now was not the time to argue. They needed to get moving. One way or another. The wrist wrapped as good as he was going to get it, Connors put the cuff back on. He was careful to not tighten it too much but Roy hissed in pain anyway. Then Connors reached down and pulled the slightly shorter man to his feet.
The change in elevation brought a wave of nausea crashing through Roy. He swallowed rapidly to try to control it. He was successful for a full minute. Then he was bent over, his body heaving to rid itself of everything he'd eaten so far that day. All ready feeling weak, Roy was starting to tremble with fatigue as the dry heaves began.
"Thanks for sharing that with us," Anderson intoned. He'd turned his back. He had a weak stomach. Just the sound of the man throwing up was enough to send his own stomach churning.
"We need to find somewhere to spend the night," Connors said, watching as the paramedic finally finished. He had to help Roy stand up. The man was shaking, he was so weak. Damn, just what they needed.
"That sounds like a good idea to me," Johnson agreed. Connors didn't much like the glint in the taller man's eyes. Roy was standing, holding his side, as he tried to remain upright. This day just kept getting better.
"Let's get moving. We've been lucky so far. Let's not push it," Connors said. He picked a direction, any direction and set off. Before too long Johnson was practically carrying Roy. The paramedic couldn't keep up. His ribs weren't allowing him to breathe deeply enough. It was like trying to scale a mountain without oxygen.
Supposedly to help the smaller man, Johnson ran his hand around Roy's back, effectively pinning his hand cuffed arm but also taking a good amount of his weight. The only problem was that he was also pressing against the cracked ribs at strange intervals. Each time, Roy gasped and felt his legs give out. Johnson seemed to like that. Roy wished he'd wake up at home. Now. After having a really bad, really vivid dream.
Connors kept going as fast as he could manage. The sooner they got someplace safe for the night the better. He wasn't sure how much farther the civilian was going to be able to go. Things couldn't get much more complicated, could they?