Guess what? I got another one done! But don't get spoiled...
"Geez, I've never seen anything like this." Captain Rudy Olsen exhaled loudly as he walked slowly around the dark green Galaxie. "I'm amazed any of them got out alive, let along all of them." He pulled his eyes away from the bullet-riddled sedan and looked up at Noble. "How many slugs did you say they pulled out of it?"
"Forty-seven," the sheriff replied, his eyes on the vehicle, shaking his head.
The San Francisco detective moved closer to the back door and peered through the open window. "And Mike and Rutter were in the back seat?"
"Unh-hunh." Noble gestured with his head towards the far side. "Nine bullets penetrated the front seats into the back, one of them hitting Mike. Some of the others went straight through and took out the back window. There were five in the upholstery in the roof." He paused. "They took another seventeen out of the engine block. The rest were in the trunk."
Olsen pulled his head out of the window and looked down. The left back tire was completely flat and a large tear was visible on the sidewall.
"We think one of the last bullets fired nicked the tire and it stayed inflated for a couple of minutes until it blew. They must have been going at a hell of a clip; I'm surprised Steve managed to keep it on the road."
Olsen shook his head and smiled warmly. "He's one hell of a driver, let me tell you. If he couldn't do it, nobody could." He joined the sheriff and they both continued to stare at the totaled car, still marveling at the good luck.
Noble looked at the older man sideways. He nodded towards the Galaxie. "It's hard to believe surviving that was just the beginning of their problems, hunh?"
Olsen dropped his head, his hands in his pants pockets. He exhaled loudly. "Sheriff, you don't know this, but I've always thought Mike Stone was born with horseshoes up his ass. He's one of the luckiest men I've ever met." He snorted with ironic mirth and looked at the small town lawman. "Oh, he's had his share of grief, don't get me wrong, but someone up there," he glanced quickly towards the heavens, "they must really like him a lot 'cause I've seen him come out of some very dicey situations smelling like a rose. And not only him, but everyone around him."
When Noble laughed, nodding in agreement, Olsen continued, "Is there a word for the opposite of a 'Jonah'? Seriously, he's one of those guys you want with you in a tough situation and you wanta stick close to."
"You've known him a long time?"
"Over twenty-five years," Olsen said, still chuckling. "I was four years ahead of him at the academy. We were on the same shift when we worked foot patrol and I got to know him then."
Noble looked at the San Francisco cop sideways. "How come he never made captain? I'd a thought he would've been a perfect candidate."
Olsen chuckled ironically. "A captaincy's been dangled in front of him a lot a times over the years. He always turns it down. He prefers the streets, so… that's where he still is. He loves it."
Nodding his head in agreement, Noble looked back at the Galaxie. "I can understand that." He paused as they both studied the wreck again. "So, ah, you want to see where all this started?" he asked, and a suddenly sobered Olsen nodded.
# # # # #
The muted sounds somewhere far away penetrated his sluggish brain slowly and eventually he managed to open his eyes. He realized he was alone in a hospital room and gradually the events of the previous night filtered back into his lethargic brain. He remembered seeing Steve lying in the bed alongside his own, facing him; his hand being held; and the warm sense of security he felt emanating from his partner.
He tried to sit up but the pain in his right shoulder forced him back down with a small gasp. He reached up with his left hand, trying to find some relief by applying pressure to his collarbone, but nothing seemed to help. He laid back on the pillow, breathing rapidly and shallowly in an attempt to get the pain under control.
The wooden door opened quickly and a nurse entered. He vaguely noticed her bright smile as she moved around the bed closer to his IV line. He knew she was talking to him but he couldn't make out any of the words. He was trying to lie still, blinking slowly, hoping the agony in his shoulder would subside. He could see her fill a syringe and plunge the needle into the injection port of the IV line and he heard her calm and soothing words.
The pain started to recede and he began to relax. He knew she was standing over him, watching him. His breaths started to come further apart and he felt her hand on his forehead. He saw her smile encouragingly and watched as she left the room.
He closed his eyes and sank even deeper into the pillows. He wasn't sure how long he'd been lying there when he heard the door slam opened. Blinking slowly, trying to attain some measure of focus, he raised his head in time to see Steve, grinning from ear to ear, enter the room on crutches.
"Hey, hey," the younger man chuckled as he approached the stool near the bed and wobbled to a stop, "you're awake. I was hoping you'd be by now." Hopping on his right leg, he removed the wooden crutches from under his arms and set them on the floor as he half-collapsed onto the stool with a laugh. "You are awake, right?"
Smiling slightly as he tried to revive himself, Mike managed a nod, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs. "I think so," he said thickly, trying to chuckle.
"They let me out," Steve smiled, "I've been sprung."
Mike's smile disappeared quickly. "What? What do you mean?"
"I mean I no longer have to stay here. I'm out." Seeing Mike's suddenly furrowed brow and alarmed expression, he continued quickly, "Don't worry, I'm not going to be off by myself, I'm moving into a motel with Rudy. There's one just outside the town limits. He's going to be my baby-sitter."
"Rudy?" Mike said quizzically. "Rudy's here?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot, you were kinda out of it yesterday. Yeah, Rudy and Lieutenant Pierce, from Narcotics?"
"Yeah, I know who Marty Pierce is," Mike said as sharply as he could muster, with an almost peeved frown, "for about twenty years."
Ignoring the retort, but pleased to see a bit of the old Mike Stone making his presence felt, Steve swallowed a grin. "Well, they both arrived yesterday. They're both in Kearney getting briefed on everything that happened then Rudy's coming back here. And now he's my new roommate and bodyguard."
"Rudy hasn't been a street cop in decades," Mike snorted.
Steve chuckled. "Well, he's gonna get a crash course, I guess, 'cause he and I are sharing a room."
Mike managed a snort. "Lucky you. But remember, he's not nearly as accommodating as I am."
Steve froze, staring at his partner with raised eyebrows. "Okay, now I know you're feeling better, especially if you actually believe what you just said."
The older man smirked then let his smile disappeared. "Steve…" he said quietly, his tone turned serious.
The younger man raised his chin and stared his partner down. "I'm gonna be okay, all right? I can look after myself, even with those." He pointed down at the crutches on the floor, not taking his eyes from Mike's. "It's you we've gotta get out of here now, right?"
Mike held his stare for several seconds then smiled. "Right."
Steve looked around the room quickly. "So, has Doctor O'Neil been in to talk to you yet?"
"No, I just woke up."
"Ah, well, that operation you need on your collarbone? They've set it up for tomorrow. They're flying a doctor in from Lexington in the morning so by tomorrow afternoon, you should finally be on the mend. You'll need a couple more days to recover and then…" he looked into Mike's eyes and smiled, "and then we can go home."
Mike mirrored the look. "Home," he murmured, and there was so much longing in that one syllable that Steve suddenly found it hard to breath.
They stared at each other for a few beats then Steve leaned forward slightly. He had decided he needed to let Mike know what had happened after they had split up, what had happened to Rutter. "Mike, there's something I have to tell you," he began gently, "about what happened to Donny Lee and I after we left you."
"When you got shot," Mike stated firmly, and Steve nodded.
"Yeah." He paused, trying to figure out how he was going to word what he had to say.
"He's dead, isn't he?" Mike said softly, staring into his partner's eyes.
Neither said anything, neither moved, then Steve nodded slightly. "How did you know?"
The corners of Mike's mouth turned up and he sighed, dropping his head. "Because nobody's mentioned his name and nobody's said anything about him." He looked up and met Steve's eyes again. "He was killed when you were shot, right?"
Shaking his head slightly, awed as always by his partner's perspicacity, Steve answered almost inaudibly, "Yeah. I don't know how much you know yet, but the Scobies, they caught up to us using bloodhounds."
"Donny Lee said they'd use dogs; so he was right, wasn't he?" Mike's comment was rhetorical but Steve nodded anyway.
"We'd heard shots earlier, about an hour earlier. I thought they'd come from where you were hiding but Donny Lee told me they weren't. I wasn't sure if I believed him, but I didn't have a choice."
"That must have been the shots I heard too."
Nodding, Steve continued, "Then we heard the dogs. We took off as fast as we could but by then we were pretty spent…" He paused, and Mike stared at his downturned face and faraway look. Steve put his left hand on his right bicep. "I got hit first, in the arm. It knocked me down and into a tree, that's how I hurt my left shoulder… Donny Lee got me up and running again… we hadn't gone very far when he got hit in the back…" He looked up at his partner and his eyes were bright. "They had sniper rifles, Mike. We didn't have a chance…" He felt Mike's left hand on the back of his neck and that wonderfully familiar squeeze.
After several seconds of silence, Mike asked gently, "Did he suffer?"
"No," Steve shook his head slowly, "no, I think it was instant… at least I hope it was."
Mike nodded, closing his eyes briefly. "How, ah, how did you get away?"
Steve looked down and took a deep breath. "Sheriff Noble and the KSP. They'd caught up with us because of the bloodhounds, they were easy to follow." He smiled quickly, remembering Noble's 'lecture'. "The, ah, the KSP troopers, they were trained snipers. One of 'em took out the guy who was drawing a bead on me… " His voice has faded away and he inhaled shakily, reliving the moment. He felt Mike's hand tighten on his neck.
After several long seconds, Steve looked at his partner again and a small sad smile lit his face. "He never should have died, Mike, not for what he did. I know he was dealing drugs, I know that, but he didn't deserve to die, not that way. Not after what he did for the both of us."
"He saved my life, that's for sure," Mike said softly, nodding slightly. "But from what you said, he died an honourable man, didn't he? There's a lot to be said for that, in the end." He watched the younger man nod as their eyes locked for a beat. Then he took his hand away and laid back. "But I'm really glad you're still here," he said quietly with a tiny smile.
Steve mirrored the look. "Me too." He took a deep breath. "So," he said quietly, "you up to talking about what happened to you after we left you behind?"
Shifting slightly, trying to suppress a wince as pain shot through his shoulder once again, Mike glanced down at the sheet covering him, waited a few seconds then looked up and smiled. "Yeah, yeah," he nodded.
With a reassuring nod and a smile of his own, Steve reached for the bedside phone. "Good. Sheriff Noble, Rudy and a sergeant from the KSP asked if they could stop by and talk to you about what happened. They want to talk to me too. You think you're strong enough to do that right now?"
Mike hesitated for a beat then nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay."
Steve smiled. "Great. So I tell you what, I'll get the hospital staff to bring you some breakfast and then I'll round up everybody else and we'll get started, okay?"