Wind River Protector

by Lindsay McKenna

  “Excellent, Eddy!” Larry praised. “Now, just sit there. I know you’re in pain.”

  Andy released him into an upright position. Eddy had done a lot of the work, too. He was leaning against the cab, his eyes closed, his face turning white, his right hand against his left shoulder. Finally, he barely opened his eyes, giving her a look of awe.

  “You did it, squirt. Damn, you’re a strong little thing.”

  Chuckling, she smoothed her gloved hand across his tense right shoulder. “It was easy-peasy, Eddy. Now, try taking some slow, deep breaths. It will help ease the pain.”

  The trucker did as she suggested, no longer questioning her in any way, shape or form.

  Larry slid slowly through the driver’s side window frame, resting his chest on the wheel. “Okay,” he said to Eddy, gently removing his right hand from the injured area, “let me assess that shoulder. I’ll try not to cause you more pain . . .”

  Andy kept her hand on Eddy’s right shoulder, stabilizing him, trying to give him some comfort under very stressful circumstances. She heard Larry talking to the fire chief, who stood outside the cab area, by radio, giving him medical information.

  “Patient has a broken left collarbone. It’s a closed fracture. Can we get that passenger-side door open?”

  Andy heard the chief talking to the firefighters outside the door. Within a minute, she heard scraping and banging going on as they worked to open that door. There was no way to get Eddy through the windshield. He wouldn’t fit. The only way up and out was to get that big, wide door open.

  Larry quickly created a sling for Eddy’s left arm, holding it against his body and thereby stabilizing the broken bone, which was attached through ligaments and tendons, to his left shoulder.

  “Got it!” the fire chief crowed.

  At the same moment, the door popped open. Someone used a gaff and pushed the door up and as wide as it would go. Soon, there were two ladders, and two firefighters, a man and a woman, appeared.

  “Hey, Eddy,” Andy said, giving him a grin, “the cavalry has just arrived! Ready to climb outta this beast? Get you out and into the ambulance, where they can give you a shot to help ease that shoulder of yours?”

  Eddy looked up at the door above them. “Squirt, that blue sky and those two firefighters look damned good to me.”

  Laughing, Andy helped get him into a position where the firefighters had slid a short, stout ladder into the cab of the truck. It would help Eddy to exit. Andy could put her shoulder on his butt and keep him steady from below so he wouldn’t get dizzy and fall backward.

  For the next few minutes, Larry, from his position, gave the orders to everyone, slowly but surely guiding Eddy without any bumping around or falling back into the cab. Within ten minutes, they had the truck driver out of the cab, on a wheeled gurney and sitting up in a comfortable position, a comfortable sitting angle that helped stabilize his back and injured shoulder so he was comfortable.

  Andy was next to climb up and out of the cab. She waved from the top toward the idling Black Hawk helo, knowing Dev was watching. Without her helmet on, she had no way to communicate with him. Tossing him a brilliant smile and a happy wave, she turned around and, with the help of the firefighters, descended the second ladder to the ground.

  Larry came down as he’d come up once he’d belted his knapsack paramedic bag across his broad back. He beat her to the ground.

  “Hey, squirt!” he teased as Andy’s boots met the berm, “hurry up! We can make breakfast back at the dining room!” He handed her the helmet.

  Laughing, Andy said, “Fowler, you’re always thinking about your stomach!” She pulled on her helmet and pushed the plug into the radio she wore on her uniform.

  “Dev, we’re ready to roll. Driver had a broken left collarbone, so all is okay to be transported to the hospital via ambulance. They aren’t that far away from the hospital and he has no blood loss or any other major injuries. Riding in an ambulance will probably be more comfortable for him under the circumstances. We’re heading in your direction.”

  “Roger, sounds good. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry as a wolf.”

  Shaking her head, she saw Larry’s eyes light up with amusement. “You two guys must have holes in your legs! You’re always bitching about not having enough to eat.”

  More laughter followed. Andy and Larry shook hands with the fire chief and the two firefighters who had helped them extricate Eddy. It was a job well done, with a lot of support. Part of the job of the firefighters was to remove the cables from the battery if they could get the hood open, and they’d been able to do that. The gasoline tank that had been leaking was patched, the gas on the highway and berm washed away. Fire was the most dangerous element in an auto accident.

  She and Larry hotfooted it back to the helicopter. Andy saw the worry on Dev’s face as she opened the door and climbed into the copilot’s seat. Larry had gone around, hopped in the opened door and then turned around, closing and locking it.

  Andy didn’t have time for any personal comments to Dev. That would have been unprofessional. Later, she might get some one-on-one time with him after they chowed down in the dining room. From the look in his darkened eyes, she could tell he’d been worried. Belting into her harness, she threw him a thumbs-up that she was ready to start the Flight Check list with him. In the back, Larry had tucked away his paramedic pack into a special compartment and he, too, was ready.

  Time to go home!

  * * *

  “Are you okay?” Dev asked Andy. The three of them had eaten a hearty breakfast in the small dining room upon their return to the airport. They were still on duty, but Pete had given them permission to go over to the hospital to check on the truck driver they’d rescued two hours earlier. It was only a five-minute drive and easy enough to get back if there was a call for another mission.

  “I’m fine,” she said as she walked alongside him in the late morning sunlight, wearing her blue baseball cap with the round embroidered insignia of their medevac unit on it. “Why do you ask?”

  “I didn’t realize how large that guy was until I saw him coming down that ladder and out of the cab. He was a big dude.” He touched her shoulder briefly. “You’re a mighty mite, but I worry about your back and knees. Eddy was a lot to heft out of the cab.”

  “I know how to use my body to lift, Dev. I know men rely on brute force and muscle, but women look for leverage instead. And a woman’s legs are actually stronger than a man’s. I used my legs to leverage his weight, let them do the work by pushing with his feet and not kill my shoulders and back.”

  “Larry said he was amazed.”

  Shrugging, she cut him a wry glance. “You guys . . . women are stronger than any man.”

  “My mother told me the same thing and I never argue with her on things like that.” He chuckled, gesturing for her to go through the opening door to the ER.

  Laughing, she aimed at the ER desk. “That’s right.”

  His chest warmed with good feelings. Andy once more had shown she was a trooper when the chips were down. Instead of her relying on him, Larry was relying on her because she was small enough to slide through the main cab windshield to reach the trucker. She seemed almost high from the experience, and he’d known that feeling himself upon occasion. Having every right to feel good about the rescue, the mission had fed Andy on many levels and taken nothing away from her.

  After they found out Eddy’s room was on the second floor, they took the elevator.

  “It probably isn’t protocol to go visit someone you rescued,” Andy said, “but I care about Eddy. He was in a world of hurt and was really strong through it all. Despite the pain, he followed our instructions. That takes grit, and he had it. I’ve seen others in the same situation who couldn’t follow any directives. This dude is tough.”

  “I think Larry’s and your attitude—soft, quiet voices, looking relaxed even if you weren’t—helped Eddy react similarly,” Dev said, walking at her shoulder down the white-a
nd-green-tiled hall. At this time of day, the hospital didn’t seem busy. He spotted the room number, pointing to it ahead. “There it is, on the right.”

  “You go in first,” Andy urged. “You’re the pilot in charge of the mission. He never got to meet you and he should.”

  Dev hesitated but nodded, slowing his pace. “Okay.”

  Eddy was sitting up in bed, his left arm in a sling. He was in a blue gown and had an IV in his right arm. Dev introduced himself, and Andy showed up a moment later. Instantly, Eddy’s demeanor changed.

  “Hey, squirt!” he called, lifting his right hand. “I didn’t ever expect to see you again,” and he broke out into a welcoming grin.

  “Oh, no,” Andy teased, going to the bed and gently squeezing his hand, “now my boss knows what you called me. I’ll never live it down in our office, Eddy.”

  He released her hand and gave Dev a demanding look. “You should know what she did this morning, Mr. Mitchell.”

  “I do know,” Dev said, coming to Andy’s side. He gave Andy a smile. “Squirt, huh?”

  Groaning, Andy rolled her eyes and looked at the trucker. “This is all your fault, Eddy!”

  “Hey, it’s a good nickname for you,” he countered, smiling. “I’ll never forget what you did. Ever. You folks saved my life.”

  Dev saw Andy’s face turn to mush, the emotions clear in her expression.

  “Hey, we were a team of a lot of people out there this morning to help you survive that crash, Eddy,” she said. “It was all of us, not just me.”

  “You know,” Eddy said, “you remind me so much of my wife, Colleen. She’s always been humble, never tooting her own horn.”

  “We,” and Andy motioned to Dev, “joined medevac services for a reason. We love to help people.”

  “How are you feeling?” Dev asked.

  Wrinkling his nose, which had a bulb at the end of it, he said, “I’d kill to get out of this bed, go down to the cafeteria and get the largest cup of thick, hot, black coffee around.”

  “Have you eaten?” Andy asked, alarmed. It was well past time.

  “Oh, sure . . . but you know? They give you that dinky paper cup’s worth of coffee that for a big-time java drinker like me, that’s just two gulps.”

  “How about I go get you the Grande they have down there?” Dev asked. “They have a Starbucks.”

  Eyes widening with disbelief, Eddy said, “Hell yes, man!”

  “We’re paying for it,” Andy said as he reached for his wallet, sitting nearby on a rolling tray table.

  “Oh . . . well, thanks,” Eddy said, suddenly emotional.

  Dev touched her shoulder. “I’ll be right back. Do you want anything?”

  “Sure, I could use an Americano. Get one for yourself, too. We’ll stay a bit; I want to see if Eddy’s got a way to get home.”

  Nodding, Dev said, “Three it is. Back in sixty seconds or less.”

  Brightening, Eddy said, “Hey, that hombre isn’t a bad fellow.”

  “What?” Andy teased him mercilessly, “you got a nickname for him, too?”

  Giving her a sly wink, Eddy said, “You’re too young to know a cowboy TV show I used to watch as a kid. It was called Have Gun—Will Travel. The main character’s name was Paladin. And it starred Richard Boone. Your pilot friend’s nickname, at least to me, is Paladin. He looks a lot like him: real intense, his eyes focused and he has hair that’s kinda Mediterranean-looking.”

  “Hmmm,” she said, bringing the two chairs against the wall alongside the bed on Eddy’s right side, “I’ll have to check him out.” She sat down. “Are you hungry, Eddy?”

  “Probably will be in about an hour. I’m so upset by what happened that I kinda lost my appetite.” And then he rallied. “Except for coffee. I want the biggest cup I can get. Good, strong coffee.”

  “Well, that wish is coming true for you. What happened out there this morning?”

  With a grimace, he muttered, “A deer and her yearling crossed the highway right in front of me. I know I’m not supposed to try to stop, but hell, it was automatic. When I slammed on the brakes, it jackknifed the truck. I guess the only good thing out of this is that the mama and her baby got away safely.”

  “You’re a softy at heart, Eddy.” She reached out, gently squeezing the hand he had in a fist on his stomach. Releasing him, she said, “Does your family know about your wreck?”

  “Yes. I live in Salt Lake City. It’s not that far away. My wife is on her way by car to come and get me. The doc says he’ll release me as soon as she shows up. I got my pain medicine prescription and he’s given me the name of an orthopedic doc near where we live. They took care of me right and proper here.”

  “That’s good,” Andy murmured. “What about children? Do you have any?” She assumed he did, but saw sadness come to his eyes.

  Opening his large, meaty hand, he said, “It’s a long story, squirt, but basically, our third son, Lawrence, was married and had two beautiful children, a boy and a girl. He got caught up in the opioid crisis three years ago. The state asked us to take in their children, and we did.”

  Making a mewing sound, Andy whispered, “I’m so sorry to hear that. It has to be hard on all of you.”

  “Yeah, in more ways than one. I was driving extra runs to make money to keep up with the kids’ expenses at school. Children aren’t cheap to raise anymore, like they were before.”

  “That’s true.”

  “This accident is gonna cost me. I’ve already talked with my boss and the insurance adjuster.”

  “Are they going to hold you responsible?” Andy asked, fearing the answer.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve never, in thirty years, had an accident. My boss is a good guy, and he likes that I’m trustworthy, responsible, come to work on time and do what’s expected of me. He said he was going to fight for me.”

  “Does he know you have kids to feed and care for?”

  “Yeah, Bob and I are pretty good friends. He’s been my boss for the last twenty years at the trucking depot where I work out of Salt Lake.”

  “Well, let’s keep our fingers crossed, then,” Andy said, feeling deeply for him. “I hope someday those kids realize all the trials and tribulations you went through to keep them safe, loved and cared for.”

  “Oh, I think they will,” he said, his voice warming. “They’re good children. I’ve talked to both of them and they were crying on the phone, thinkin’ I was hurt real bad.”

  Touched, Andy patted his hand. “I have a feeling it will turn out okay for you and the kids.”

  “Hope you’re right, squirt, because at fifty, there aren’t a whole lotta jobs out there. I’m worried sick about that.”

  Andy stood up and pulled out a business card from her back pocket. She sat down, pulled the rolling table to her and wrote something on the back of it. “Listen, my grandmother owns a nationwide trucking company. If you’re fired, the first thing you do is call me on the cell phone number I’m putting on this. Then, the next day, I want you to go over to their main terminal, which is located in Salt Lake City, and give this card to a Chuck Townsend. He’s the boss over there. I’ll call my grandmother, Martha Campbell, and ask her to call Chuck to tell him to give you a trucking job with high pay. Okay?” and she handed it to Eddy. He looked shocked.

  “Are you serious about this, squirt?” and he held it up, squinting at the small print on the thick, white card.

  “Totally,” Andy promised him. “It’s your lucky day after all, Eddy. Anyone who would take in two children like you and Colleen have deserves a break. I’m giving it to you. You’ve more than earned it in my eyes and heart.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  July 10

  Dev had arrived with coffee in hand just as Andy was explaining the business card she was giving Eddy. The trucker looked like he was going to cry. He wasn’t that up on her family finances, so he waited to talk about it until after they’d said goodbye to Eddy and wished him well. Outside the hospital, walking toward the
parking lot, he asked, “Does your grandmother own a trucking company in Salt Lake City?”

  “Yes, she does. She owns lots of women-run businesses around the world. I always carry her business cards on me because Mom said we can use them to help others on a case-by-case basis. Sort of like paying it forward.”

  “Tell me more,” he urged, taking the sidewalk to the parking lot, walking at her shoulder.

  “Grandma Martha started working on Wall Street a long time ago. She’s a feminist, and she saw how hard it was for women to be entrepreneurial, to start their own cottage businesses and to try to get bank loans. She became, in ten years, one of the most successful stockbrokers in the world. I don’t normally talk about this, Dev, because there are too many people out there whose eyes glaze over when I tell them she’s one of the richest women in the world. My grandmother is a dynamo on a mission to help women in any country. For example, Babs Trucking in Salt Lake City? She’s one of the thousands of successful business stories my grandmother has underwritten. The company card I gave to Eddy? It’s owned by Babs Fordham. It started as a local trucking company and Babs built it into a regional and, later, into a national one.” She pointed toward the north. “There’s a terminal at Jackson Hole as well. My mother is trying to get Babs to bring her trucking company down here, to the airport. We already have a trucking terminal built, as you know, and that’s part of the larger vision Mom and Dad planned for this airport. It would be ideal, and Babs is considering it right now. My grandmother feels sure that she’ll be in Wind River Valley sooner or later.”

  “I’ve seen Babs Trucking on the road,” Dev said, impressed. “So, she’d move her Jackson Hole business down here to our airport instead?”

  “Yes. I think it would be a good move, and so does everyone in my family. My grandmother has a whole team of men and women who run her international financial company, Hope Bank. Women are encouraged to go to that bank in their country to receive low-interest loans so they can start up businesses. Babs went to the Hope Bank in Salt Lake City twenty years ago, when she was nineteen years old, and got a loan.”