Steve stared into Noble's empathetic eyes. "The Caudills?" he repeated breathlessly, and the sheriff nodded. Steve swallowed, almost reluctant to ask his next question. "Do you, ah, do you think he's still alive?"

Noble managed a small smile. "I do. I think if they were gonna kill him, they woulda done it right then and there. The fact that we didn't find his body, well, that tells me they have plans for him."

Relaxing very slightly, Steve's brow furrowed. "What kind of plans?"

Noble glanced over his shoulder and Carruthers looked quickly at his boss then back at Steve. "Remember last night when we got called back to town," the deputy began, "somethin' about the Caudills headin' over to the Rutters to settle some score, about a couple of Caudill boys gettin' busted for sellin' H?"

Steve nodded, wondering where all this was going.

"Well, it was all bullshit," Carruthers said, and Noble nodded in affirmation.

The sheriff continued. "Somethin' about the way Betty, our dispatcher, worded the call, it sounded hinky to me but there was nothin' I could do about it bein' as we were so far away. If somethin' was goin' on, I didn't want to tip my hand that I was onto it and maybe put her life in danger. So when we got back to Kearney, I sent Lonny here on towards the Rutters, and Alfie and I went to the station."

Noble took a breath and shook his head in disbelief. "Betty was locked in my office, her hands tied behind her back and a piece of tape over her mouth. She said one of the Scobie boys came in – she's not sure which one – and before she knew it, he had a shotgun pointed at her head and he made her make the call."

Steve had lain quietly, so focused he was hardly blinking. "Is she okay?" he asked, almost uneasily.

Both uniformed police officers nodded enthusiastically. "She's a pretty tough lady," Carruthers said with a warm laugh. "She's been doing that job for over 30 years and she rarely misses a day. She was mortified, and she's blaming herself for everything's that happened."

Steve was shaking his head. "She doesn't need to –"

"We've been telling her over and over again," Noble interrupted him with a smile, "but once all of this is finished and done, whatever you and Mike can do to reassure her she's not to blame, well, that would go a long way, believe me."

At the mention of his partner's name, Steve refocused. "Uh, you were telling me about the Caudills…?" he prompted.

"Yeah, right," Carruthers nodded, "well, it turned out that two of the Caudill boys were nabbed up near Frankfort a couple of days ago for selling 'shine, not H, and it had nothing to do with the Rutters."

"When we heard from Betty what'd happened, I radio'd Lonny, and Alfie and I high-tailed it back to where we'd left you. When we found your car, we also found a couple of Scobie pick-ups there too."

"Turns out the Scobies have CBs in their trucks and have a channel all their own." There was no mistaking the awe in Carruthers voice and Noble's eyes were wide as he nodded in confirmation. "So now, of course, we're assuming all the other families do too."

"So anyway, we realized you guys were on foot and they were after you, and from what we could see from one of the pick-ups, they had their hounds with 'em. So we knew we had to move fast, literally." Noble paused and a smile actually appeared. "One thing about bloodhounds, Steve, for future reference: they're easy to follow! You can't shut 'em up! And they get so set on trackin' that scent you don't have to be all that quiet followin' 'em because they're makin' so much damn noise!"

The two Kearney cops allowed themselves a small chuckle and even Steve joined in.

Carruthers picked up the account. "Just before we headed into the bush, we were joined by one of the KSP units that had started headin' towards you from the 75. And it just happened to have two of the state's finest shots in it, both of who were carrying M40's that they'd used in 'Nam."

"Was it one of them that took down the Scobie that was going to kill me?" Steve asked quietly.

Noble nodded silently, then he looked away and cleared his throat. "Steve, are you a big believer in coincidence?"

The San Francisco detective couldn't resist a quiet smile. "It's Mike who doesn't believe in coincidence. Me, on the other hand, well, the jury is still out for me."

"Well, I'll let you decide then." He paused again and glanced at Carruthers before saying quietly, "The KSP trooper who took Alvin Scobie down? His name is Daryl Caudill."

Steve froze and his eyes slowly widened. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Noble was nodding slowly. "Yeah, one of them Caudills. One of the grandsons. He walked out of the holler about ten years ago and joined the Marines. Served three tours in 'Nam as a sniper, won a Silver Star and two Bronze Stars. Came back here after he mustered out and joined the KSP. And he's had nothin' to do with his family in all that time."

"Wow," Steve shook his head, impressed.

"Yeah," Carruthers said quietly, "we were really lucky he was with us last night and he was on our side."

"He sure cut it fine," Steve said, swallowing heavily and shuddering at the memory.

"Steve, he took that shot almost on the run. He saw Scobie raise the rifle and he just put his eye to the scope and snapped off the shot." Noble paused. "Believe me, we're all grateful he's as good as he is."

The San Francisco cop had closed his eyes, put his head back and was taking deep breaths as the reality of how close he had come to certain death sunk home. The Kearney cops waited patiently until he had pulled himself together enough to open his eyes. "So, what do you think the Caudills are going to do with Mike, if they have him?" he asked softly, fear almost taking his voice away.

"Well," Noble began, taking a deep breath, "now that we know the KSP really did arrest two of the young 'uns, well, we've been developin' a theory. And if we're right about this, then it'll be a good thing, believe me."

"An exchange …?" Steve interrupted hopefully.

Noble smiled. "Yeah, an exchange."

"And the KSP would allow that to happen?"

Noble and his deputy exchanged a glance. "Well, that's what puts the fly in the ointment, so to speak. As far as any of us know, they've never done anything like this before, on the record anyway, and we'll have to take it to the highest authorities, of course, 'cause it would set some kind of really, really bad precedent if we did it, but… well, all we can think is, it's a winning hand for players."

Suddenly energized, Steve started to sit up, but an unexpected pain in his left shoulder paralyzed him and dropped him back onto the bed. "What the hell?" he muttered when he got his voice back. He'd forgotten about hitting the tree when the first bullet took him off his feet.

Carruthers nodded towards Steve's shoulder with his chin. "It ain't broke but it's pretty badly bruised," he said with an empathetic smile. "You hit a tree or something?"

Steve nodded slowly. "Yeah, it was a tree. I'd forgotten about it till just now. Ow!" he moaned, still trying to get his breath back. Finally getting a grip on the pain, he looked at Noble once more. "Listen, uh, if some input from the powers that be in the SFPD would help, I could make a call."

"Already done that," the sheriff smiled. He hesitated, then plowed on, "As a matter of fact, a couple of your guys are headin' out here. Should be here sometime late tomorrow."

Steve's eyebrows rose sharply. "Who?" he asked.

"Oh, ah, a Captain Olsen and a, oh, ah, a lieutenant, I can't recall his name off-hand, sorry," Noble apologized.

"No, that's okay," Steve said slowly, wondering if the lieutenant could be Devitt.

"Anyway, we're already in touch with the local judge, who is very sympathetic to law enforcement and he's willing to hear the arguments for and against such a swap, if that's what's gonna happen. We've already told him the details about what went on last night and what's goin' on right now, and though he hasn't let on one way or the other which way he'll lean, we're all pretty encouraged, let me tell ya."

Steve had begun to relax the more Noble talked; it seemed like the small-town sheriff was a very smart man with a very good heart.

"And if he agrees, then we'll go higher up in the KSP and see how they feel about it. We know decisions have to be made in the next several hours if we want a good outcome from all this, but we can only go so far right now, Steve. The, ah, the Caudills have to make the first move, and until we hear from them, we're powerless." Noble paused, watching as the young detective's focus turned inward. It was obvious he was very worried about his partner. "Mike was hit in the shoulder, wasn't he?"

Steve looked up again, nodding. "Yeah, the right shoulder. How did you know?"

"We dug the bullets out of your Galaxie. One of the ones from the back seat had blood on it."

"It, ah, it was a through-and-through. It might have broken his collarbone but it seemed to be a pretty clean shot. All things considered, he was lucky."

"You got that right," Noble agreed. "You should see the size of those damn bullets."

"But he's gotta be in so much pain," Steve whispered, a catch in his voice and fear in his tone. "Um, do you know, I mean, could they tell if he walked out or was he carried out?" he asked anxiously.

Noble smiled. "Well, funny you should ask, they can tell. The dogs can do what they call a ground scent, which is stronger than an air scent. And with Mike, they had a ground scent, which means he was at least walkin' when he moved away from that tree. They didn't find any sign that he'd been dragged, so he must have been on his feet." He paused and flashed Steve an encouraging smile. "That's a good sign, isn't it?"

Steve managed a small smile in return, but the others could tell he was being eaten alive with anguish and guilt. An uneasy silence settled over the room then he asked quietly, "Rutter's family. Have they been told?"

Both Noble and Carruthers nodded. "I told Rutter's father and grandfather this mornin'. They didn't say much, but I have a feelin' they're gonna take matters into their own hands sometime down the road, and there's gonna be nothin' we can do about it."

Steve looked at him and they could see the emotional pain in his dark-rimmed eyes. "He turned out to be a pretty good guy, you know. He saved Mike and me, he really did. He didn't deserve to die, not like that." He sighed heavily, and the other could see that he was starting to lose strength. As he settled back against the pillows, he said softly, "When all this is over, and we've got Mike back, I'd like to talk to his family if they'll let me."

Noble and Carruthers both stood. The sheriff laid a comforting hand on Steve's arm. "I'll see what I can do. You rest now, get some sleep, and when you wake up, well, let's hope we're well on our way to getting your partner back, all right?"

The city detective had already fallen asleep and Noble gestured for Carruthers to follow him to the door. As they stepped out into the corridor, the deputy turned to his boss. "Your lips to God's ears, right, sir?"

"I sure hope so, Lonny, I sure hope so."