End of Innocence

Chapter 7

Cimarron, Colorado, December 2013

Shaw pulled in after dark, and in a small town like this, most of the storefronts had their CLOSED signs turned forward. The place virtually closed down after dark, she thought to herself. There was one gas station that still had the lights on, and two bars. Other than that, she'd need to drive out of town for anything else. A much larger town was situated west of Cimarron, with more of the kind of services people would need if they lived around here.

Shaw drove to the bar she thought Reese was more likely to go to, and walked inside. They had a band playing tonight and people were on a dance floor, doing some kind of two-step country line dance. She walked past them and sat down in one of the booths at the side, where she could keep an eye on the front door.

When the waitress showed up, she ordered some hot food and coffee to wash it down, and then she carefully scanned through the room. She could picture Reese coming here. No suit of course. He'd dress the part, in jeans and a flannel shirt.

Thought she'd remembered hearing someone say Reese had come from Colorado or lived in Colorado – something like that.

When the waitress came back with her food, Shaw asked her if she'd ever seen the man in the picture on her phone anywhere around here before. The waitress bent down to look a little closer.

"Gee, I'm not really sure. He looks familiar, but I see a lot of people every week in here. Sorry," she said, shrugging her shoulders, and hurrying off to another customer.

Shaw read it a different way. She thought the waitress had known who it was right away but didn't want to say. She watched her after that. The woman seemed to be aware of Shaw tracking her, so she didn't change her routine right away.

Shaw gradually paid less and less attention, but still tracked her out of the corner of an eye. Pretty soon, she'd sidled up to the bartender behind the counter with her and the two of them had a discussion. The bartender glanced over at Shaw, like they'd been discussing the photo.

Nothing happened for a while after that. When the waitress returned, she seemed casual, like she'd forgotten the whole incident. Shaw ordered another coffee and some kind of dessert. And when they came, Shaw lingered over them. The bartender glanced her way a couple of times. She decided to pursue it with him and got up from the booth.

At the bar, she stood by herself at the end, and it wasn't long before the bartender walked over.

"Just flew in today, and I'm supposed to be meeting my friend here." She flicked her phone around so he could see Reese's picture. "He hasn't shown up and I'm worried about him."

Shaw watched his face. He looked at the photo, and then over to her.

"Haven't seen him – did ya try callin'?" Shaw nodded her head. It felt like the two of them knew more than they were saying. She turned around and went back to her booth.

Every fifteen minutes or so, she looked at her watch. And she let her face show how concerned she was getting. She'd studied the way people did that with their faces, and then she'd practiced in a mirror for a week one time to get the same effect. She had to remember what it felt like inside to hold her face muscles a certain way – then she could fake the expression pretty reliably.

Shaw noticed the waitress paying more attention to her, obviously aware of her worry. She saw her cross behind the bar and talk with the bartender again.

Then he stepped away into a hallway and she saw him raise his cellphone to his ear. It must have rung a number of times, but no one had picked up. He seemed surprised. A little while later he tried again. Same thing. No answer. Shaw could see the beginning of concern on the bartender's face, and the waitress looked worried, too.

After a third try came up empty, the bartender walked over to Shaw's table and sat down across from her.

"So, your friend hasn't shown up and didn't answer, either?" Shaw brought her hand to her mouth, like she'd seen other people do, when they couldn't bring themselves to say something out loud. She made her face look like tears were going to fall any second. That was harder for her to do, but she thought she hit it right.

"Try not to worry," he said. "Maybe I can help." She didn't speak but looked up at him with a question in her eyes.

"I think I might know who he is. Kind of new in town," he said. Shaw watched him.

"Why don't you stay here, and I'll go see if I can find him. There aren't very many places around to stay in this town."

"Well, I guess that'd be okay," she said. He patted her hand and got up from the booth. The waitress had watched the whole thing at the table, and nodded at the bartender. He disappeared down the hall and came back with his coat on, stopping to talk to another man playing darts with some friends. The man playing darts shook his head, and then walked over behind the bar like he did it all the time. A couple of the regulars called him by name.

Shaw waited until the waitress had her back turned, and headed for the door. The bartender was just getting to his car. Shaw sprinted after him, and he turned around.

"Take me with you," she said, and not like she was asking. He stared at her.

"Who are you?" he finally blurted out.

"A friend," she said, and her eyes were calm, dark pools, staring at him.

"I don't think this is a good idea. You should stay here," he tried.

"Something's wrong, and you know it. You tried to call him, and he's not answering. We're wasting time. Let's go," she said.

Something in her voice. He knew she was right. And he could see it in her eyes – she was worried. He agreed and pointed over to the passenger side of the car.

"OK, get in," he said. Shaw stepped around the car and slid in, while the bartender dropped into his seat and started the car. He backed out and headed north out of town onto the road leading to the mountains.

Once he was on the main road he turned to her. "So, who are you?"

She glanced at him. "We work together back East," she said. "And how 'bout you?" He seemed to want to avoid divulging anything. Shaw'd seen a tattoo on his forearm. "You were a Ranger, too. Served together?"

As soon as she'd said it, he knew how she'd known. "Yeah. Afghanistan," he said. "You?"

"I did a little work over there," she said. And he seemed to relax a little. Okay. Something in common.

They fell into silence for a while, and then he realized he hadn't told her his name. "I'm Chase, by the way."

"Shaw," she whispered.

They drove on in the dark, until they got to a turn-off that Shaw wouldn't have seen if she'd been driving on her own. He turned in and drove forward along a narrow road. They'd gone at least a half-mile in, before they could see a truck parked in front of a dark cabin.

"This the place?" she asked, and he nodded.

When the car rolled to a stop, they got out and Chase left his car door open for some light. He checked the cab of his truck. No one there. Then he walked up to the front door and tried the knob. Locked. He knocked on the door. Shaw had walked over to the right side and glanced down there. Looked empty. Then she walked past Chase to the other side and checked that one. No one there that she could see in the dark. Back to the front door. He'd knocked again and called out.

"You in there?" he said.

"I'm goin' around back," she said, and Shaw took off for the back of the house, Chase a few steps behind.

They saw the deck, and the wood pile stacked there, and then the back door. A long window ran along the back, and Shaw stepped up to the glass to look inside. Pitch black in there. Chase tried the door, and it worked. They exchanged glances and stepped inside.

"John?" he called. "You in here? It's me, Chase."

A shadow lurched out of the dark at them.

It grabbed Chase around the shoulders and tipped him back off his feet. The two went down on the floor, wrestling. Shaw had her gun in her hand, and a palm-sized flashlight from her pocket.

The light caught the two clenched on the floor.

"John! It's Shaw. Stop!" And she pushed past Chase and body-slammed Reese with a hip. He flipped over onto his back, and laid there, panting. Chase rolled over and got to his knees.

"Man, what're you doin'" Reese didn't answer. Shaw took a look at him with her light. Flushed in the face, and sweating.

"He's burning up," she said out loud.

"Sick?" Chase asked.

"Yeah. He's not himself. Let's get some lights on in here, so I can check him." She knelt down next to Reese, who turned away from the light.

"It's me, Reese," she whispered.

He turned and looked up into her eyes. For a moment he seemed relieved. But then, he turned back. "Told Finch not to follow me," he said, hoarsely.

"Finch doesn't know I'm here," she said. Shaw ran her light over Reese. He'd soaked through his shirt, and a pinkish-yellow stain had wicked up from the lower side of his shirt, on the right side.

The lights blinked on in the kitchen, and Reese threw a hand over his eyes. Shaw slipped her gun into the holster at her back.

They got him up to sitting, but Chase had to man-handle him to get him off the floor, and over to the couch. Shaw half-dragged him on her side, too. She threw the quilt over him when he started to shake, but the quilt was already soaked through, too.

"I'll need some dry blankets and another set of clothes for him," she said. Chase headed down a hall to another room. She sat down at his side.

"Reese, we're gonna get you out of these wet clothes, and get the heat on in here." He was shaking. Shook his head, no.

"Leave me alone," he said.

"Not arguing, Reese. We're doin' it my way. You're sick and we're gonna find out why," she said. He didn't answer.

Chase came back with a set of clothes and some good wool blankets. She'd have to get him warm again, before she'd have any hope of getting him out of the wet clothes.

"Can you get the heat on in here?" she said, and Chase headed for the woodstove.

In less than an hour, the house had warmed enough that they could take off their own jackets. Reese was sweating and shaking in volleys of spasms. Shaw had been able to warm him under layers of wool blankets – enough to try working at his shirt under the layers. He barely noticed she was there. He mumbled something every once in a while, but nothing that made any sense.

Shaw got the buttons undone on his shirt and pulled the tails out of the top of his jeans. That pink-yellow stain got worse. Some blood mixed in, and when she'd pulled at the shirt, Reese grimaced and moaned in pain. She had a sense what she'd find on his side.

Chase had come back and watched how she worked at the jeans, opening the button, and sliding the zipper down. He glanced at her face. He could tell she knew what she was doing. Some kind of medical training for sure. She pulled back the right side of his jeans and moved the fabric away.

Underneath, a bright red wound, oozing that pink-yellow goo, and some blood mixed in, too. The skin looked hot and swollen, around a round hole punched in the front of his gut near his hip bone.

"What the – ?" And he stopped dead in his tracks. "Gut-shot – need to get him to the hospital," he said, staring at Shaw.

"Tell me what you've got around here – what kind of medical?" She saw his eyes shift as he recited the list.

"There's a hospital over in Montrose," and she gestured to keep going. "Some doctors just outside of town, heading toward Montrose – but they couldn't handle something like this," he said. She kept him going. "And there's a clinic over that way, too. A group of different kinds of docs, but they're closed by now."

"Okay. I've got this. I'm going to leave for a little while, and you'll stay here with him. Sit on him if you have to, but don't let him get up and leave!" Chase shook his head no, like he wouldn't let him get past him.

"Give me your keys. I'll be back as soon as I can and we'll take care of this." She sounded so sure of herself.

"What happened to him?"

"I'll tell you later. Need to go now," she said. And then meeting his eyes with her own: "think you can handle this? He's not easy," she said. He glanced away for a minute, running his eyes over Reese.

"We don't let another soldier down," he said. And she could tell by the sound in his voice that he'd do what he could to keep him safe.

Chase tossed her the keys, and she headed for the front door. The car door was still open out there, and she jumped in.

In the dark, Shaw had to keep the speed down, but once she'd made it to town, she made good time to the next crossroad heading west out of town. That one was two lanes each way, with streetlights.

Shaw floored it.