There is a bit of violence in this. Nothing too bad but it's just a warning. Please keep the reviews coming. It feeds my muse. I also love chatting with others about where the story might go or coming up with ideas to continue.

Just shy of a year after joining the Rangers, Gunny was still hesitant to open up to too many but she'd found herself growing accustomed to having the rangers around, especially Cody. Cody was always calm and quiet around her, sometimes speaking only a few words between them when they were working on something. They hung out from time to time during their time off.

Five months had passed since the incident at the lunch table when Matt had touched her arm. Between keeping busy and the hectic schedule it seemed like they were on, Gunny didn't have much time to think about her past life though some nights found her waking up in a cold sweat, every muscle in her body taunt like a bow string ready to fire an arrow. The dreams and memories came and went depending on if she'd helped with a particularly bad case or rescue. But, she was a solider and simply 'soldiered' on.

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The intercom button went off in the bunkrooms and Robin called out to the crew that there was an accident on the main road leading down to town. A car had gone off the road and there were several injured individuals. Within seconds of the call, the sound of thumping and banging could be heard as the crew got suited up for the below freezing weather and the snow.

The snow had let up enough for the plows to come through but the road conditions were still slick and treacherous to come down off the mountain with. Gunny was the first out the door and had the chopper warming up as she gathered gear that could be tied to the car to stabilize it or to winch up an injured person. By the time she was ready to go, the others had arrived with first aid packs, gear and the snowmobiles were being prepped to take off to head down the road. Cody and Izzy would be flying with her today while the others got down to the accident on snowmobiles. She got clearance to take off after the other two were strapped in.

They arrived within ten minutes of the call and were the first on the scene. She set down on the road and let Cody and Izzy off. She got the chopper shut down and climbed out, popping flares as she started closing off the road. Cody ran over to the car that was still on the road, doing a quick head count and look over of the people inside before looking over the ledge to see where the other car was. Gunny saw him wince as he looked down the steep cliff. He signaled with his hands to get climbing gear. She turned around and got in the back of the chopper and began pulling out harnesses and gear, with Izzy helping to get her harnessed up. He'd be the guide for her rope and lookout for her decent. Cody went back to the car still on the road and started to assess each person in it for injuries and asking questions as to what happened.

With a sharp whistle, Cody looked up as Gunny signaled she was going over the edge as Izzy controlled the climbing ropes from the road where they were attached to a section of the guardrail still in tact and anchored. Cody and Izzy knew how to climb but she was quicker and better at it due to her Marines training. He nodded and she descended down the steep bank, into the trees that grew parallel to the rock face. She could see the car down below and worked her way down slowly as she kept her eyes and ears open for anything out of the ordinary. She heard the snowmobiles arrive and shut down, mentally noting the rest of the team had arrived. She was only eighty feet from the car when she noticed the body caught in the trees. She reached for the radio mic on her shoulder and called up that she was going to check on a body in the trees and how far down she was. She clipped the radio back onto her shoulder harness and swung over to where she could get a better look at the body.

She heard confirmation from Matt as she swung over and grabbed onto the tree limb near her. She got closer and stood up on the limb, taking the tension off the climbing rope. As she drew closer she knew the man was dead. He was impaled up on a branch that was through his chest and back but she knew at second glance that it wasn't what killed him. The bullet hole between the eyes is what caused it. The back of his head was blown out and she'd probably find evidence that it had happened while he was driving. This suddenly made her hair stand up on her arms, knowing from the looks of it that this was caused by no hunting riffle. This was caused by a high power sniper riffle if her guess was correct. She grabbed the radio mic on her shoulder again and hit the intercom button.

"Gunny calling Flying Tiger…come in Tiger." She hailed.

"This is Flying Tiger, go ahead Gunny." Replied Matt.

"Male, Caucasian, DoA. Sustained massive head trauma from a bullet between the eyes. We're going to need saws and a body bag. He's imp……"

Her voice cut out as she felt the bullet hit her square in the left shoulder. She heard the crack of the riffle a second later as her hand automatically let go of the radio button. The shock of the wound left her stunned for a split second as her body jerked from the impact and she tumbled off the tree limb. Her climbing ropes caught her as she fell but nothing could keep her from slamming into the rock face of the hillside.

She could hear Matt calling to her on the radio as she struggled to reach up and hit the mic. She managed to squeeze it, her hand shaking, "Taking fire, taking fire. I'm hit!" was all she got out before another bullet clipped the rope she was hanging from and sent her falling down the cliff face. She was already over a ninty feet down and this was the part of the mountain where the road didn't switch back so there was nothing but rocks, cliff and trees for some distance.

She scrambled for purchase on the rocks, trying to control her decent as her shoulder screamed in pain. Her legs impacted one outcropping of rocks after another, causing her left femur to snap somewhere along the way. She still couldn't get full control her decent but the ground was beginning to slope outward as she got closer to the valley floor. She tumbled head over heels until she finally slammed into the underbelly of the car that was bent around a tree. She let a yell of pain as she felt herself come to a sudden stop against the car that had become mangled on its destructive decent.

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When Izzy sudden felt the line go heavy just seconds after the sound of a riffle being fired, he feared the worst. It had caught him off guard and jerked him towards the guard rail till he got his feet planted and leaned back. When he heard her voice over the com that she'd been hit, it confirmed his worst fears. He was staining against the weight on the ropes.

The ropes suddenly went slack and he stumbled backwards, landing hard on his ass. The sound of the second riffle shot echoed through the hills. He was yelling something as he quickly scrambled and ran do the ledge, knowing there was nothing let on the end of the rope.

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She sat there stunned, unable to move as the darkness threatened to take her. She could hear someone calling out over the radio for her to report but she couldn't seem to comprehend at the moment what she had to do to trigger the radio. It wasn't until someone walked in front of her that she jerked in surprise and came out of her stupor. The form that was in front of her was one out of her nightmares. He had a radio in his hand and a smile on his face.

"Ya got her Max. We only have a few minutes before the rangers can get down here." He knelt down next to her as he smiled at her. It was smile that could make a dead man shiver. "Looky looky what we have here. With as bad as we done you last time, I never would have guessed you would survive to testify against us. We're here to make sure we get five years of retribution out of your hide before we let you die."

She worked to keep her eyes focused as her mind tried to wrap around what was being said. She knew she should be afraid but she couldn't reach that fear that would give her energy to fight him. Part of her didn't care any more. She'd either die here or somewhere else but her ticket had been punched and she knew all her karma had been used up last time, keeping her alive and recovering. She smirked a little at him, "So…find any girlfriends in the pen?" she asked.

John got up and snarled, pulling out a revolver. "I should cap you right here, right now."

She smirked as she sat there, limp like a rag doll. "Go ahead but then there'll be no pleasure left for Max when he gets here. Here I thought for sure you'd become someone's bitch once inside." She said, trying to push him to kill her so it'd be over with. She saw John jerk and he swung the gun around to her and fired a shot into her left kneecap. She was caught off guard and screamed between clenched teeth. She was panting when the blackness started to fade, leaving her staring at that leering face. Her vision focused down to that small point in time, as she goaded him a little further between gritted teeth.

"Come on John. Shoot me you cowardly piss ant! You don't scare me. I've got nothing to loose." She glared up at him and yelled in her best military voice, "I'm not afraid of you, you putrid piece of meat. I'll see you burn in hell before I give you the pleasure of seeing me broken." She heard the gun go off, felt the heated slug enter her hand that was lying on top of her wounded leg and then felt it burrow into her upper thigh underneath.

She must have screamed again, but she couldn't remember.

She heard a laugh as someone stepped from around the other side of the car. Max appeared and took in the situation of the John standing over her, smoking gun still in hand. "Well well Crane. Looks like you're in a heap of trouble." He said with a sick chuckle.

He shouldered his sniper riffle and pulled out his 9mm. "You're friends are coming down and you're too messed up to try and drag out of here with me, leaving a trail that even my blind grandmother could follow." He smirked then, looking up the cliff a little. A shot fired from somewhere and he ducked, looking around frantically for cover. He heard a gurgling noise across from him and he looked back to see blood flowing easily out of Johns mouth from the wound to the lung. A second shot rang out and John collapsed into a heap near Crane.

Max ducked down near a tree and gave her a wicked smile before he saluted her a little, "Good luck with that there…." He said, indicating her leg. "I'll just wait till you're healed up again before taking another crack at ya…Cheerio"

She felt like it was taking all her energy just to take a breath, her sense of time and the reality of it, slowing down with each blink of her eyes.

Blink….. Max was squatted there behind a tree, the next he was gone.

Blink……Several of the rangers were coming down to her.

Blink……The rangers were there with her, Cody at her left.

The looks on their faces told her it wasn't pretty. She struggled to breath, "Don't let Max...get away...." She gasped out, no longer able to articulate what she needed to say.

Cody got her to relax a little, pulling a needle out of a small kit on his hip. He pulled off the cap and checked for air bubbles before pushing it into her leg without rolling up the pant leg before hitting the plunger. "Morphine Gunny. It'll dull the pain some till we can get you to the hospital." He said, pulling out bandages and compresses as Matt and Mark began assessing what shape she was in and if they could move her without causing more issues with her wounds. Cody put a heavy compress against her shoulder wound and then took her good hand and placed it over it. "Stay with me Gunny. Hold it tight."

She did her best to comprehend as the drugs took some of the pain off, dulling it. Her eyes tried to track Cody's movements. He worked first to bind the shoulder wound, then worked on her knee and broken leg, binding and bracing it. He wrapped her hand up heavily and then the wound in her leg that was under it. Finally the guys had gotten the backboard rigged up, trying to assess if it would be better to go downhill or try to get her back uphill, Cody got her to focus on him again.

He spoke softly to her, "Stay with me Gunny." He touched her cheek very gently, a feather light touch. She had been dosed with another round of morphine for the pain when the first one was already wearing off. She didn't flinch away from his touch as his thumb stroked her cheek. "Gotta stay with us. You'll live to fight another day. We're here…I'm here." He whispered. She leaned a little into his touch and smiled a little lopsided.

"Thass..good….to know….I'm….tired…of figh…ting…" She slurred as she felt strong hands take her up carefully and get her laid out flat on the board. She was quickly wrapped in blankets and strapped to the board. Her eyes grew heavier as she felt herself moved around on the board and somewhere in her memories she remembered hearing the blades of the chopper overhead and then the smell of the sterile hospital. The warm darkness took her, the memory of Cody's touch to her face was the only thing she clung to as she succumbed to the blackness.