Hi everyone! Thank you very much for the reviews. It's really hard to write in a vacuum. Now I know I'm at least in the right track. Now if only I knew where it was going!!!

Anyway, E!lf, I couldn't get your email address to work. I'd love to hear your views on how I could improve. My email address is (without the spaces of course) s u s a n n e . r i c h a r d y a h o o . c a.

Thanks again for the reviews! I really do appreciate them.

Susanne

CHAPTER EIGHT

Well, it wasn't Connors' cabin that they wound up finding. But it would have to do. The four men were exhausted from helping the civilian walk. Roy wasn't having much fun either. He had trouble staying conscious. All it would take was an unforeseen jolt to his side and he'd lose the battle as pain overwhelmed his senses.

Crouched in the underbrush on the edge of the cabin's property line, the ex-convicts waited to see any signs of life. The lawn around the cabin was well manicured but there were no obvious vehicles parked in the driveway.

"I'll go ahead and make sure no one's home. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, get the hell out," Connors instructed the brothers. He was entrusting the civilian to their care. There wasn't a hope in hell he was going to leave Anderson in charge of him. Glancing back at the blond man lying unconscious on the forest floor a few feet away, Connors took a deep breath and headed out.

Connors' skin crawled as he moved out in the open. He could almost hear the helicopters and air planes bearing down on him as he made his way over low wooden fences toward the garage. He wanted to make sure that a car wasn't tucked safely away in the building's confines. That would tell him quickly enough if the house was likely to be occupied.

Carefully, the ex-convict stepped over flower beds and rubbish piles until he reached the back windows on the garage's nearest wall. Shielding his eyes from the sun, Connors leaned in until he could see beyond the glare of the sun on the glass panes. Heaving a deep breath, Connors was relieved to see that the interior of the building was empty.

He paused long enough to take a look around before he continued on. So far so good.

OOOOO

The brothers were distracted, watching Connors and making sure no one was coming up behind them. The civilian was still unconscious, not that Andrews knew anything about that. Somehow, Anderson always managed to have his hand over Roy's bad side whenever he was helping him. He was subtle so as to not alarm the person helping the civilian on the other side. All it took as a gentle tap and the man went limp.

At the moment, Anderson was sitting a few feet away from Roy. He kept a close eye on the brothers. He didn't want them to interfere with his fun. Anderson thought he had them fooled and had begun to inch toward the unconscious man. Just as he was about to reach him, David, the older brother, turned around and glared at him. "Touch him and I'll break every bone in your hand," he growled.

There was something in the elder brother's eyes that stopped Anderson dead. He had had little exposure to the brothers while they were in prison. They had run in different crowds and the brothers tended to stay together, excluding all others. Now Anderson knew why everyone else had left the brothers alone. There was a hard edge of violence just beneath the placid surface.

"I wasn't going to do anything," Anderson responded feigning wounded pride.

"Like hell," David growled. He turned his attention back to the cabin's yard but Connors had disappeared.

OOOOO

Now that more was known about the inmates that allegedly had Roy, more squad cars and police officers had been freed up to help with the search. They'd even come up with canine units to help. These were the most likely leads as far as Johnny was concerned.

His vehicle parked along the winding road the bus had careened off of, Johnny leaned against its front bumper. Around him pandemonium reigned. He knew the police were doing their best but there was really no way to track these guys once they hit the freeway. Scared, Johnny glanced over at his captain. Hank was in a deep discussion with one of the members of Battalion and one of the police captains.

Anxiously, Johnny tapped out a rapid beat with his right thumb on his left bicep. He had his arms crossed over his chest, trying to keep from screaming or beating the crap out of someone. It was taking every ounce of self control that he possessed to keep from setting out on his own. The longer he stood here with nothing to do, the harder it was to ignore the urge.

To Johnny's right the squad cars with the dogs had just pulled up. The handlers jumped out of their vehicles and moved quickly to release the barking creatures in the back. Ignoring everything else, Johnny headed over. He had every intention of following the dogs. If anyone could make sense of this chaos, it was them.

OOOOO

Half an hour after entering the house, Connors had returned and helped the others to move Roy inside. Connors had found a first aid kit during his investigation and had set it up beside the civilian where he lay on the bed in the main bedroom.

In the kitchen he could hear the brothers and Anderson raiding the cupboards and drinking so much water from the tap that they virtually sloshed when they moved. Pots and pans clanged through the door as they set about making food.

"Where are we?" Roy asked. His voice was barely audible. Now that he was awake again, the senior paramedic realized he was extremely thirsty but first he had to make sure that there wasn't anyone else likely to be in trouble here.

"A cabin," Connors replied tersely. He got Roy up into a sitting position and proceeded to wrap the man's torso with tape. He had to try to secure the man's ribs as best he could. Roy hissed in pain as the tape passed over and pressed against his injured side. He had to blink rapidly to keep from passing out.

"Is it empty?" Roy asked between clenched teeth. He understood why the man was doing what he was doing, it just hurt like hell and he wished that he hadn't had to live through it.

"The cabin? Yeah, I found a note left for the housekeeper or groundskeeper saying they're gone for two weeks. We have over a week before they come back," Connors tried to reassure him. The man had broken out in a cold sweat in reaction to his ministrations. He couldn't say he blamed him but it made getting the tape to stick that much harder. "Are you hungry?"

"Thirsty," Roy managed. He was losing the battle to remain conscious. His vision was slowly fading on him.

"Right, sorry," Connors said, inwardly kicking himself. Of course the man was thirsty. The first thing he'd done upon finding the place empty was to down two glasses of water. Securing the last of the tape, he got the civilian lying back down and headed into the kitchen.

Jared, the younger brother, was having a little too much fun cooking. Somehow that didn't shock Connors as he slid by. Filling a glass with water from the tap, he headed back into the bedroom. It felt pretty damned good to be in a home again, even if it wasn't his own. It sure as well beat prison.

Connors held Roy's head up and put the glass to his lips. Greedily, the paramedic swallowed every drop of water. Then his eyes fluttered shut and he was instantly asleep. Satisfied that there was nothing else he could do for the civilian at the moment, Connors went to the kitchen and watched with a bemused expression while Jared basically trashed the place making the fanciest meal Connors had seen in a while. Life was as good as it was going to get at the moment. Connors decided to enjoy it while it lasted.