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The roar continued to ring in his ears as he gasped loudly and his eyes flew open. He was still alive. The sounds all around him were muffled and his entire body was numb. He could feel a warm wetness on his face and something heavy and immobile was lying on his left arm. He could feel vibrations up through the ground and he realized people were running, getting closer. He tried to lift his head and found that he couldn't.
The cotton in his ears began to melt away and he started to discern voices through the slowly dissipating auditory fog. "On your knees, get on your knees!" "Somebody get a hold of those damn dogs!" "Put your hands on your head – now!" "You killed ma boy!" "Put the rifles down, put the rifles down!" The voices overlapped; anger, grief, frustration and tension hung heavily in the air.
He tried to move again but the pain from his shredded calf muscle proved to be too much and with an agony-filled cry dropped back onto the wet mulch of the forest floor.
Suddenly someone was kneeling at his side and he heard his name repeated over and over, the tone is mixture of concern and relief. The heavy weight on his arm was suddenly gone and he turned his head just enough to see the body of the unknown Scobie being rolled away, his eyes open, a bloody gaping hole in the centre of his chest.
Eli Noble's worried face hung over his own. A gentle hand brushed back the wet hair from his forehead and lingered on his temple. "Steve, can you hear me? Son, can you hear me?"
Blinking, trying to clear his eyes, Steve tried to nod and he saw the sheriff's eyes widen as he exhaled heavily in relief.
"Thank God," Noble breathed and a small smile played over his lips. "Thank God." He sat up slightly and looked the younger cop over. "You've been hit a coupla times, but you're gonna be okay. We're gonna get ya outa here and to a doctor soon as we can."
Steve licked his lips. "Rutter…?"
Noble glanced to his left and Steve saw him swallow hard, look down then meet his eyes evenly. "I'm afraid he's dead, son."
The San Francisco cop squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled deeply. Noble took a handkerchief from his pocket, leaned forward and began to gently wipe the blood from the younger man's face. Suddenly Steve's eyes shot open; the gesture had triggered a memory. "Mike!" he gasped, and Noble pulled his hand away.
"Where is he?" the sheriff asked, suddenly realizing the senior cop wasn't there.
The numbness starting to wear off, Steve fought the rapidly increasing pain. "Sssshot… hidin'… unner ah tree…"
Noble struggled to make sense of the slurred words. He glanced up as Carruthers, carrying a shotgun, approached at a run, kneeling beside his boss. The deputy looked at Steve and smiled grimly when their eyes briefly met, then turned to Noble. "We got 'em all cuffed and the dogs've been muzzled. Alfie's goin' towards the road to radio for more back-up an' get an ambulance up here."
"Good," Noble said quickly, "we gotta get him outa here and we gotta find his partner." On Carruther's confused look, he nodded towards Steve. "I'm trying to find out where he is."
Steve looked at Carruthers, and both Kearney police officers could see that he was rapidly losing consciousness. Noble shook him slightly, not wanting to hurt him but needing more information. "Steve, you gotta tell us, where's Mike?"
"Unner… ah tree… ba… back tuh …tuh road… shh-… ssshot… ha' tuh lea… leave 'im…" Steve eyes closed and they knew he had passed out.
"Shit," Noble growled, and turned to Carruthers in frustration. "We gotta get dogs, our own dogs. Get ahold of KSP and get their canine unit here. We'll go back to the Galaxie – I'm pretty sure their suitcases are still in the trunk – and we'll get the dogs to track the lieutenant. We gotta find him soon 'cause I got a feeling he's in big trouble."
# # # # #
Drifting in and out of consciousness, Steve was only vaguely aware of the effort it took to get him, and the bodies of Rutter and Scobie, out of the dense forest. He knew the place was crawling with law enforcement, and he recognized the grey uniforms of the Kentucky State Police, a few of whom were carrying military style rifles.
He tried unsuccessfully to suppress his groans of pain as he was carefully lifted and laid on a stretcher; Carruthers and three burly KSP officers carried him through the brush. Carruthers, who was at Steve's head, looked down at the injured man and said gently, "You guys were only about a mile from a road. You almost made it."
Steve's attempt at an ironic chuckle turned into a gasp of pain and Carruthers winced.
"You're gonna be okay, Steve," he said encouragingly.
He heard the young cop whisper "Mike…" before he drifted away again.
# # # # #
"Just keep taking deep breaths," a soothing male voice penetrated the fog in his brain and he opened his eyes slightly. He was lying on something soft and warm, and was being bounced around slightly. He was staring at beige upholstery and what looked like a dome light and sluggishly realized he was in an ambulance. He could feel the pressure of an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.
"We'll be at the hospital shortly. You just hang in there. You're gonna be okay."
He blinked slowly, trying to concentrate. He knew he had to tell somebody something but he wasn't sure what it was. He closed his eyes in frustration, then they shot open again and he tried to sit up.
"Mi – Mike," he gasped under the mask.
The attendant leaned forward and put his hands on the injured man's chest, pushing him back onto the gurney. "Shh-shh-shh-shh-shh," he whispered comfortingly, "take it easy, take it easy. Lie down. Relax. You're gonna be okay."
Steve laid back and stared at the roof once more, and he felt tears spring to his eyes. "Mike… I promised him…" he whispered in grief as his grip on consciousness slipped away again.
# # # # #
He could hear the sounds around him before he was completely awake: the beeping of the heart monitor, the soft chimes of the p.a. system, the footsteps and muted voices of people passing by the door, the squeak of gurney wheels in the corridor. Before his eyes were fully open, he heard a deep male voice. "He's waking up."
He opened his eyes slowly in time to see Deputy Carruthers lean across the bed towards him. "Welcome back, Steve," the tall crewcut lawman said with a warm smile.
The San Francisco cop nodded, becoming aware of the cannula under his nose, the IV needle in left forearm, and the dull ache in his right arm and left leg. He looked down at himself: his right arm was strapped across his chest and his left lower leg slightly elevated by two band slings, one close to his knee, the other near his ankle so that there was no pressure anywhere on his heavily bandaged calf.
His eyes floated back to Carruthers, who smiled again. "You're gonna be okay. We got you here in plenty of time and the doctors said your wounds aren't too serious." He glanced away uncomfortably. "Look, ah, I'll go tell the doc you're awake and he can come explain all this to you."
Steve nodded as Carruthers got up from the stool and left the room. He looked around lethargically. He didn't know where he was and couldn't remember why he was there or how he got hurt.
A doctor came into the room, smiling broadly, and began to examine him, keeping up a steady stream of one-sided dialogue, most of it sounding positive and encouraging. But Steve tried to zone it all out, struggling to focus, trying to recall the why and the how. As the doctor was wrapping up, Sheriff Noble entered the room with Carruthers close behind, and suddenly it all came back.
Steve stiffened on the bed, trying to sit up. "Mike!" he gasped as he recognized the sheriff. "Mike, did you find him?"
Noble held out both hands and smiled sympathetically, pushing the injured man back on the bed and sitting on the stool Carruthers had vacated earlier. "Steve, it's good to see you awake. And looking good too, right, Doc?" he said to the physician, who had taken a step back, an inquisitive frown contorting his features.
"Ah, yeah," the doctor said quickly, nodding his head, "he's gonna be fine. Just needs to rest," he said pointedly, staring at his patient. "Gentlemen," he nodded as he left the room with a curious backwards glance.
Steve was staring at Noble, knowing the older man had something to tell him and realizing he was reluctant to do so. With fearful anticipation, Steve recoiled into the thick pillow.
Noble knew he was on shaky emotional ground here and he smiled with sad encouragement before taking a deep breath. He put a gentle hand on Steve's left forearm. "Steve, ah, we brought in the KSP K-9 unit and we got Mike's suitcase from the back of your car. The dogs, they picked up the scent right away. My god, that was pretty rough country you guys went through last night, especially in the dark and the rain. Frankly, we're amazed you guys got as far as you did."
Carruthers, standing behind his boss, nodded in agreement.
"Mike...?" Steve breathed uneasily under the oxygen mask, and Noble nodded before he went on.
"It took them quite a while, but they finally found that tree you told us about, the one Mike was hiding under." Noble stopped and looked down, as if he was unable to continue, then glanced up at Carruthers and back at the young detective. "Steve, he wasn't there."
Steve's eyes shot wide and he inhaled quickly and deeply. He reached up with his left hand and pulled the mask down below his chin. "What do you mean he wasn't there?" he asked dully, not believing what Noble had said.
"I mean, he wasn't there, Steve. They found all kinds of signs that he had been, we know that for sure, but he wasn't there when our boys got there."
Steve waited, wanting to hear more but when Noble wasn't forthcoming, he asked quietly, "Then where is he?"
Noble glanced once more at Carruthers and took another deep breath. "The trail didn't end there. The K-9 unit kept goin'. They followed Mike's scent as far as they could go – well, as far as they were allowed to go."
"What do you mean?" Steve asked when Noble stopped talking again and the silence lengthened.
"Remember me telling you there are places - hollers - around here that law enforcement won't set foot in?" He watched as Steve nodded. "They followed Mike's scent until it disappeared deeper into the holler." He stopped once more, looked away and then back. "Steve, we're pretty sure the Caudills have him."