Bend It Like Becker

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Author's note: I didn't quite make it - it's after midnight, and I was only satisfied with the next two chapters. Oh well, I should have the final two posted tomorrow night (if I don't collapse from exhaustion after my exhausting birthday schedule!)

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Chapter 39 - SHEEP SALVAGE

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"Abby! Get over here!" Becker hollered as he ran with Jess over towards the injured sheep. He heard Abby exclaim, "What the hell?" which were his thoughts exactly, as he and Jess got on either side of the dazed animal, blocking it from wandering any farther till it could be examined. The blonde zoologist was there in an instant, with Connor and the others close on her heels. Abby fell to her knees and carefully checked the sheep over as Matt and Emily ran past them all into the high bushes from whence the animal had stumbled.

"Is it okay?" Jess asked, clearly worried.

Abby nodded, her brow creased in confusion. "The blood doesn't appear to be hers - she's got no cuts, though clearly she's been through some sort of trauma."

"But why's it here?" Connor asked. "I mean, I know it wouldn't be a football match without some sort of hooliganism, but last I checked, sheep weren't exactly the biggest fans."

Before Becker could even roll his eyes at Temple's inane comment, Matt and Emily reappeared through the bushes.

"There's been an accident," Emily panted, out of breath. "On the motorway."

"An accident?" Lester repeated.

"Yeah, with a lorry full of sheep," Matt explained.

"That explains the crash we heard," Jess commented.

Becker nodded. "And the sheep."

"The lorry's overturned," Matt continued. "It's blocking all the eastbound lanes."

"Any injuries?" Becker asked. "People, I mean?"

Emily shook her head. "None that we could see."

"But many of the sheep are injured and starting to scatter," Matt said.

"We've got to go help them," Abby insisted, jumping to her feet and rushing off before anyone could stop her.

Lester nodded. "Well, don't the rest of you just stand there. Go sort this out."

"Someone give me their mobile," Jess said.

Automatically, Becker ran over to his kit and dug both his mobile and an EMD out of his rucksack. He tossed his phone to Jess as he ran past her and was almost to the bushes when the whistle blew.

"Dammit!" Becker said, stopping in his tracks. He'd momentarily forgotten about the match! The half-time was apparently over, for they were now being summoned back to the pitch for the second half. Becker turned towards Lester, not knowing how to proceed.

Luckily their guv'nor had his priorities straight. "This is just a game. I'll take it up with the Minister if he has a problem with it. Now go - take whoever you need, and the rest of us will muddle through here as best we can."

Becker looked to Matt, who shrugged and said, "You're the coach, mate. You pick the teams."

Becker nodded, instantly ordering, "Emily, you stay - we need you as goalkeeper." He then glanced around at the others. Abby was long gone, and though Jess was already making assorted calls, she probably wouldn't be too long with her task. Becker didn't want to completely deplete either team, so he made a quick decision. "Matt and Connor, you're with me."

"But that only leaves us with seven to play," Emily pointed out, including Jess in her count.

"I could fill in," Chas offered. "I don't exactly work for the ARC, but-"

"Close enough," Lester said, luckily not saying any more.

"He'll need a uniform," Ghani said.

Without a second thought, Becker started to strip off his own shirt, but Emily advised, "He may wear my red shirt, as I'm not wearing it for the game."

Becker gave her an approving nod, and Chas ran with Emily over to her kit as Becker pulled his own shirt back down. He then turned back towards Lester, who urged him on. "Go. We'll hold the fort till you get back."

Becker nodded and, without another word, took off through the bushes.

When he exited on the other side, he stopped dead in his tracks. Passing through the high shrubbery had not been unlike stepping through an anomaly in terms of the jarring change of scenery. Instead of the vast stretches of the recreation ground's cool, green lawns, he was now upon hot tarmac on the edge of a stark motorway, with twisted metal and blood strewn about everywhere. Becker stood there blinking in the harsh, reflected sunlight from the overturned lorry, not even knowing where to begin.

Luckily he wasn't in charge on this side. "Connor and I will set up a perimeter," Matt called out to him. "You go help Abby, yeah?"

Becker nodded and rushed over to the centre of the bloodbath, where Abby seemed to be examining each sheep in turn.

"What can I do?" he asked.

"For a start, you can take care of this one for me," she said, standing up and moving onto the next animal.

Becker stared down at the injured sheep bleating mournfully up at him with wide, innocent eyes. "Uh...take care of it?" he repeated, not exactly sure what Abby had in mind.

"Kill it," she said matter-of-factly, as if it were obvious.

"Kill it?" Abby was usually the one fighting hard to save every creature they encountered, even the deadly ones. But this was a simple sheep that couldn't do anyone any harm, injured or no. Did Abby really want him to just kill it in cold-blood?

Apparently so. "Yes, Becker. She's not going to make it, so just put her out of her misery. This one, too," she said, gesturing to the one she'd just examined as she hurried on.

Becker looked back down at the pathetic creature staring pleadingly up at him. Something about the pain in its eyes reminded him of Jess last night, which wasn't exactly making this any easier. But Abby was right - if there was nothing to be done, the humane thing was to make its passing quick and painless. Besides, Abby was getting too far ahead, and eventually she might reach an injured sheep that required actual veterinary assistance. So Becker turned his EMD up to the highest setting and tried his best to avoid meeting the sheep's eyes as he mercifully shot it in the head.

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As Jess rung off her last call, she went through a mental checklist, making sure she'd taken care of everything. She would've much preferred to be in her chair at the hub, where everything she needed could be accessed instantaneously at her fingertips, but she was making due as best she could.

She didn't actually have as much to do as she would've had it been an actual anomaly. That would've required her dispatching all needed personnel to the scene, as secrecy was paramount. But here there was no anomaly to lock, no prehistoric incursion to keep hidden from the public. The team only needed to contain the sheep and keep order on the motorway until the traffic officers arrived.

Jess's first call had naturally been to the Highways Agency. Of course, the accident had already been called in, but being a dispatcher herself, Jess had been able to give specific information that would help ensure the proper people were sent out in a timely manner.

She'd then made several calls regarding the sheep. First she'd contacted a lorry company in order to secure transport of the surviving sheep from the scene. She'd also notified the RSPCA Clinic in Hillingdon for emergency veterinary care for the injured animals. And she'd just now rung off from DEFRA, who would ensure the disposal of the animal carcasses.

With both the accident itself and the sheep - healthy, injured, and dead - taken care of, Jess's job was now essentially done. Her last step was to ring Matt, to let him know what she'd accomplished and see if the team needed anything further. Barely glancing at the mobile in her hand, she automatically touched the phone icon, expecting her favourites to pop up, and was therefore momentarily confused when the recent call list was displayed instead. She glanced at the list, which was filled with calls to almost every member of the team that very morning, and it took Jess a moment to remember that she was on Becker's mobile, not her own. Looking at the number of calls reminded her of something Chas had said about Becker being hysterical when looking for her this morning - the list certainly seemed to support this fact. Jess was frankly surprised that Becker had cared so much about her whereabouts, and it seemed to somewhat appease her.

Flipping over to his favourites, Jess was further pleased to see she was still at the top of his list. It occurred to her that blithely handing someone your personal mobile required a great deal of trust, yet Becker hadn't thought twice about tossing his over to her. After all that had happened, that meant a lot, and Jess was determined not to abuse his trust, if only to prove to him that she was a far better person than he'd given her credit for last night. Thus she resisted the urge to search further, instead simply ringing Matt.

"Jess?" the team leader answered, correctly translating his caller ID. "What've you got?"

"I've ordered two small lorries to transport the sheep, vets are standing by, and the traffic officers should be there soon."

"I can see their flashing lights now," Matt said. "Good work, Jess."

"Do you need anything else?"

"No, I think that should do us. You best get back to the match, yeah?"

"Will do. Be careful," she added before ringing off. It felt weird to be cutting off communications when the team was still in the field, even though she knew there was nothing else to be done. And she knew that the other team - the one out on the pitch - sorely needed her. She debated whether she should keep the mobile on her, in case Matt needed to get in touch. If it'd been her own mobile, she would've gladly risked it, but since Becker had entrusted her with his, she merely turned up the volume on his ringer and then left it on the sidelines.

Glancing at the field, she noticed that Neela was currently taking the ball back to the centre spot for another kick-off, meaning the RSID team had scored yet again. Jess waved to the ref to let him know she was substituting back in and ran over to take up her position. She could instantly sense how depleted the team was, and, as play resumed, Jess realised that, due to this depletion, everyone had completely reverted to their old manner of playing. All sense of positions and teamwork were gone, and they were once again playing every man for himself, much like the more-skilled RSID players, which meant the ARC team's one advantage was now gone.

Since Becker wasn't here, it was up to Jess to act as coach. As Emily caught the ball and got ready to dropkick it back upfield, Jess called out to her teammates, "Guys, just because we're undermanned doesn't mean we've changed games. Instead of 4:3:3, we're now 3:2:2 - we each have more ground to cover, but otherwise it's the same. You follow?"

Scott and O'Rourke, who both had been anxiously hovering near the goal, nodded and made their way out closer to the midfield. This meant that when Emily kicked the ball to Duggan, he actually had someone downfield to pass it to. Unfortunately, when O'Rourke attempted to pass the ball on to Chas, who had filled in Abby's position as a forward, an RSID player intercepted it, but at least the concept was sound, and Jess hoped they'd be able to pull it together.

The RSID team, however, was eager to capitalise on their advantage of numbers, so instead of double-teaming the forwards, as they'd done earlier, they were now all crowded in the ARC's half of the field. They were still being gloryhounds and weren't passing to their teammates, but just their added presence in the smaller space meant that the defenders were being blocked from getting to the ball. Emily was being run ragged lunging for the repeated goal attempts, and her exhaustion was starting to slow her response time. After the RSID team made yet another goal, Jess realised that something needed to be done.

As they brought the ball back to the centre, Jess called out to her teammates, "Change of plans. When we have the ball, 3:2:2 - when they do, 5:1:1. Got it?"

She looked meaningfully at Scott and O'Rourke, who each gave her an understanding nod. She then caught Chas's eye, hoping he was okay with her strategy, and he gave her an approving smile before turning to kick off.

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to be continued