by Sharon Sala
“Okay. Let’s get him out of here,” Larry said, and they began moving the backboard toward the opening.
Charlie pushed as they pulled, and finally they were out of the dark and in sunlight again.
Charlie shouldered his backpack and then picked up one end of the backboard, while the medics took the other sides, and started walking toward the pickup site.
“I hear a chopper,” Charlie said.
“Medi-Flight. Right on time.”
“Where will they take him?” Charlie asked.
“First stop will be Big Bend Regional Hospital in Alpine. It’s a small hospital. Twenty-five beds—general surgery—but it’s his best bet right now. If they have to move him to a bigger place for more extensive surgery, they’ll stabilize him there first,” Larry said.
Charlie sighed. He’d done what he’d come to do, which was find him. Now all he could do was trust that the people Tony needed next would be there for him, so he tightened his grip and kept moving. They walked out of the forest area into rocks and sand to the waiting chopper.
The moment they appeared, medical personnel spilled out of the chopper and came running. Within minutes, they had the boy loaded up, and then the chopper lifted off.
Charlie watched until it disappeared.
“Walk with us,” Larry said. “We drove a Jeep partway up. We’ll get you back to the lodge.”
“I’ll gladly take the ride, but I need to stop and get some pictures of the kid’s boot that’s stuck in those rocks, and then I’ll take it back with me.”
“Take pictures of a boot?” Larry asked.
“You’ll know what I mean when you see it,” Charlie said, and led the way to the bloody boot still wedged between the rocks.
The medics looked up at the height of the trail above and then back down at the boot.
“Holy shit. If he fell all that way, no wonder the boot is wedged in so tight. I’m surprised he was conscious enough to even move.”
“He had to. See all those coyote tracks? He would be easy prey trapped like this,” Charlie said. “But I wonder how many times he tried and passed out from the pain before he got himself free.”
Charlie pulled out the iPad again, and this time, he began taking pictures of the boot from every angle and then pictures of the trail above. It took two men pulling as hard as they could to get the boot free.
Charlie put the boot and the iPad in his pack, then followed the medics as they returned to where they’d left the Jeep.
The men talked among themselves as they walked, but Charlie had tuned them out. He was already thinking about getting home. Finding that kid so near death made him think of how quickly a life could end, and his Annie was failing. He didn’t know how much time he had left with her. He knew he was going to lose her, but he felt an urgency to be with her. He didn’t want to be left with regrets.
When they walked up on the Jeep, Charlie was glad to see the ride. He tossed his pack in with their medic bags and got in the back seat, still thinking about the kid. God, he hoped they could put him back together again. Even though delivering justice was not part of his job, he needed to know this kid got it.
They were almost back at the lodge when Larry got a call. All they heard was his side of the conversation, but it didn’t sound good, and then Larry hung up.
“So, they assessed the boy’s injuries in Alpine, did what they could, and he’s already en route to the Medical Center Hospital in Odessa,” the medic said.
“What’s his condition?” Charlie asked.
Larry grimaced. “Critical. But he was stable enough to transport, and that’s good. The paramedics on board are top-notch. The doctors at Alpine made the call to get him to a trauma center.”
Charlie checked the time again. Wyrick should already be at the lodge waiting on him. He was going to take a chance she was there and call. If she didn’t answer, then he’d know she was still in the air.
* * *
Wyrick was in the store at the lodge buying pop and candy for the flight back.
“Is this all you need?” the clerk asked, as Wyrick slid two bottles of Pepsi and a handful of Snickers bars on the counter.
She nodded and pulled out a credit card, inserting it in the reader.
“Y’all want a sack for that?” the clerk asked.
“No, I’ll put them in my bag,” she said, and bagged up all but one Snickers as she walked out.
She sat down on the bench out front, peeled back the wrapper and took a bite, rolling her eyes in delight from the taste of nuts, chocolate and caramel. Her phone rang while she was still chewing, and when she saw it was Charlie, she swallowed fast.
“Yes?”
“Are you here?”
“Yes. What do you need?”
“Call Baxter and Macie again. Tell them they’re taking Tony on to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa.”
“What’s his status?” Wyrick asked.
“Critical. Did you tell them not to tell anyone?”
“Yes. I’ll call now.”
“I’ll be there soon. Caught a ride back with the medics, but I’m going to have to change before we fly back.”
“Change? Why?”
“You’ll understand when you see me,” he said.
“Copy that,” Wyrick said. “Anything else?”
“No,” Charlie said, and then blinked when the line went dead in his ear. She’d hung up on him again, but he was too damn tired to care.
Wyrick knew hanging up on him like that ticked him off. It was why she did it. She took another bite of the candy bar and then wiped her fingers on her jeans before she made the next call.
* * *
Baxter and Macie were already on the road, tight-lipped and silent. The last time they had taken this route, their son was lost, and they didn’t know if he was alive or dead. This trip, the only difference was that Tony was no longer lost. They’d been on the road a little over two hours when they got Wyrick’s call.
“You get it, honey,” Baxter said, and Macie answered.
“Hello, this is Macie.”
“Macie, this is Wyrick. Are you on the way?”
“Yes. We’ve been on the road about two hours.”
“I have an update. The hospital at Alpine sent him on to the Medical Center Hospital in Odessa. They’ll be better able to care for his needs.”
“Oh! That’s closer. We’ll get to him sooner. Do you have an update on his condition?” she asked.
“Charlie said he was designated as critical.”
Macie moaned.
“He’s alive, Macie. Focus on that,” Wyrick said.
“Yes, you’re right. Thank you for the update.”
“Of course,” Wyrick said. “Travel safe.”
After that, she dropped her phone back in the bag, took out a Pepsi to wash down the last of her candy bar and then headed to the lodge. If Charlie was so dirty that he felt the need to change, he was going to need more than a change of clothes.
An hour passed and Wyrick was just hanging around the lodge admiring the scenery when she saw a Jeep pull into the parking lot. She stood, watching as Charlie got out. He was filthy, as promised. Crawling around inside a cave would do that. He looked tired, and had a two-day growth of whiskers, and still looked like he could kick ass if the need arose. She sighed.
Dude, dirt and all, you are one sexy man.
The fact that she even thought that pissed her off. She did not want to feel anything for another man as long as she lived, and yet Charlie Dodge got under her skin without even trying. Thankfully, he didn’t know it, and she intended it to stay that way. She went to meet him as he walked toward the lodge.
* * *
The feeling Charlie had when he saw Wyrick walking toward him always settled whatever chaos he was feeling, which didn’t make a lot of sense, sin
ce she was also responsible for the aggravation in his life, as well.
Maybe it was because she was steadfast. She had never once let him down in anything he’d asked of her. Maybe it was because she didn’t live with the guile most women had. With Wyrick, there was no subterfuge. She was exactly who she appeared to be. A one-of-a-kind warrior woman with an oversize sense of responsibility.
Today, she was the calm in his storm.
And then they were face-to-face.
“You stink,” she said.
His eyes narrowed. “It’s good to see you, too.”
She ignored the sarcasm. “I reserved a room for you inside the lodge long enough to shower and change. They were quite accommodating for the hero of the day.”
Charlie sighed. “Your prior comment on my aroma is forgiven. That’s freaking awesome.”
She shrugged. “I thought you might want to swing by Odessa on the way home to check on Tony Dawson...and I didn’t want to smell you all the way home, either, so there’s that.”
Charlie laughed.
The sound moved through her like a bolt of lightning, leaving goose bumps on her skin as she led the way into the lodge.
The manager met them at the front desk to greet Charlie personally.
“Here’s your key, Mr. Dodge, and on behalf of all of us, we are grateful you found the lost boy.”
Charlie took the key, then glanced at Wyrick.
“I had help. Invaluable help.”
Wyrick ignored the praise. “I’ll be waiting here in the lobby.”
Charlie nodded. “I won’t be long.”
As soon as he left, Wyrick headed to the restaurant to pick up the food she’d ordered for him, too.
He returned about a half an hour later in clean clothes, with his hair still wet, and still sporting his two-day growth of black whiskers, giving his appearance a slightly dangerous edge.
Wyrick glanced at him once.
“You smell better,” she said.
“No, I smell good, woman...damn good, compliments of the pine-scented soap in the shower. Almost as good as you smell,” he said.
She held up the bag in her hand. “You smell your roast beef hoagie,” she said, and led the way out of the lodge and across the area to the chopper.
Charlie dumped his backpack inside.
“Oh wait! The kid’s backpack. It’s at the ranger station.”
He took off running, and a few moments later, he came out carrying it and put it inside the chopper, then climbed in.
Wyrick gave him the sack with his food, handed him a cold Pepsi from the cooler behind their seats and then did a follow-up check before takeoff, even though she’d done one after landing.
By the time she got in, Charlie’s sandwich was gone. She pulled out two more Snickers bars and gave him one, and then got one more cold Pepsi for herself and began preparing for takeoff. By the time they were in the air, Charlie was licking the last of the chocolate from his fingers.
“We’re still good for Odessa?” Charlie asked.
“Yes.”
He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes.
She glanced at him once, thinking his eyelashes were as black as his whiskers, and then peeled back the wrapper from her other candy bar and headed north.
* * *
Tony Dawson was on the beach at La Jolla. He knew the water would be cold, but he loved the feel of the hot sand between his toes and the scent of salt water in the air.
Two gulls were fighting over a scrap of bread beside a trash can near a pier, and a pair of seals were sunning on the rocks just offshore.
The sun was in his eyes, and he was wishing he’d brought his sunglasses when he heard someone calling his name. He turned to look, and then everything exploded in a flash of light.
He was no longer at the beach. He was on a ledge, then falling backward and looking up at his friends who were watching him fall. After that, everything began happening in slow motion—looking up at the near-perfect blue of the sky, seeing a hawk dip toward the earth, knowing he would never see his parents again, accepting that these were the last things he would ever see.
Then a miracle was happening. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it, arms encircling him, holding him, like they were bracing him for impact, and then everything went black.
He knew nothing about the race to save his life, or that he’d even been found.
* * *
A trauma team was waiting when the Medi-Flight helicopter landed at the hospital in Odessa. They’d already been briefed about his injuries, and the X-rays they’d taken at the hospital in Alpine were already there and waiting. After four long days, Tony Dawson was finally where he needed to be.
Six
Charlie woke up as Wyrick was radioing for permission to land at the Midland-Odessa airport. He shifted his headphones back into place and looked down. The last time he’d flown over the Permian Basin, the landscape had been rife with pump jacks. But the oil boom had come and gone, and oil prices per barrel were half of what they used to be. There were still pump jacks, but they weren’t all working, and nowhere near the quantity that they’d been before.
This made him think of Annie. Lots of things weren’t like they’d been before, including them. He was no longer part of a couple. He was alone. Married. Still in love. But alone.
And then the chopper was landing, and Wyrick was all business, shutting it down.
“I rented a car to get us to the hospital. Get what you want out of the chopper. I’m going to lock it.”
“I plugged my cell phone into a power pack back at the lodge. Let me get it,” he said, and dug it out of his backpack.
Wyrick didn’t comment. She understood it was his connection to Annie now. As soon as he dropped it in his pocket, he dug a boot out of his backpack and put it into Tony Dawson’s backpack.
“Here’s the cap Macie gave me that helped me see Tony,” Wyrick said.
Charlie took the sack, shouldered the backpack and waited as Wyrick locked up the chopper. Then they headed toward the terminal to pick up their rental, a late-model SUV.
“I’m driving. You navigate,” Charlie said, as they got in the white Ford Explorer.
Wyrick was already in the midst of locating the hospital, and slipped into the passenger seat while Charlie got in behind the wheel.
The airport was midway between Midland and Odessa, and, compared to Dallas, the traffic was minimal, and the drive was short. It was nearing sundown when they arrived at the hospital.
“God, I hope there’s good news,” Charlie said.
“His parents won’t be here yet,” Wyrick said.
Charlie patted his pocket to make sure he had his phone. “One of the downsides of Texas. It’s a long way to anywhere here,” he said, and got out.
Wyrick was right beside him all the way into the lobby, then up to the front desk.
“We’re here for Tony Dawson,” he said. “Medi-Flight brought him in a couple of hours ago.”
The lady checked her computer for a room number.
“He’s in surgery.”
“Where’s the waiting area?” Wyrick asked.
The lady gave them directions, and they headed for the elevator, then up to the surgical floor to the nurse’s desk.
“We’re here for Tony Dawson,” Charlie said.
The nurse looked up, first at Wyrick, then at him.
“Are you family?”
“No, ma’am. The family hired us to find him. They’re en route from Dallas, and likely won’t be here for another couple of hours.”
“I can’t give you any—”
Charlie interrupted. “I can give you some. The kid was missing for four days in the Chisos Mountains. His family hired me to find him, and I did...in a cave. He was in bad shape when I found him, and I didn’t think he�
��d make it here alive. So the fact that he’s in surgery is good news to me. We’ll just be in the waiting room. Do you need the phone number of his parents?”
She pulled up Tony’s records. “No, we have it, but thank you for offering. The surgical team will give periodic updates. I’ll let them know he has people here. The waiting room is that way,” she said, pointing toward the elevator they’d just exited.
They went back down the hall and into the waiting area and sat down—Wyrick chose a chair in the corner, Charlie in a chair by the window, directly across the room from her.
The physical distance between them was telling. It was only when they were working that their connection went live.
Wyrick pulled out her phone.
Charlie shoved a hand through his hair and then rubbed the back of his neck. Between sleeping on the ground last night and crawling around in a cave this afternoon, he had a stiff neck. He was too damn tall for small tents and low ceilings.
And so they sat while the sun went down, and night came to West Texas.
About two hours into their wait, Baxter and Macie Dawson walked into the waiting room. When they saw Charlie and Wyrick, Macie burst into tears and hugged him.
“We’ll never be able to thank you enough,” she said.
“Thank Wyrick, too,” Charlie said. “If it hadn’t been for her, I would still be looking.”
“I thought you were in Dallas all this time,” Macie said.
“I was,” Wyrick said.
Macie frowned. “Then how—?”
“She flew herself down. Now that we have the waiting room to ourselves, we need to talk. Come sit down, both of you,” Charlie said.
“They said he’s still in surgery,” Baxter said. “Thank you so much for being here.”
“Yes, I did the job you asked me to do, but there are things you need to know about this case before I leave. I don’t know how it’s going to play out, but there’s a whole lot about Randall and Justin’s story that doesn’t match up to what I found.”