Eagle Down (Cyber Cowboys Series Book 3)

by M Elle Kelso

  “C.J., I don’t think he’s dead. Look at his face. His color is pale but it isn’t deathly. And the blood is still wet, as though the cut is still oozing.” Blake was playing his flashlight beam over David’s face as they approached him.

  “Patrick, who does this ranch belong to?”

  “It belongs to Gus Lowden. He’s one of the ranchers that lost cattle.”

  “He’s also on the list David gave us to check out, the people Mike saw at that meeting with his father.”

  Jared spoke quietly, looking at the downed helicopter. He felt ill. He’d been busy telling himself that C.J. had been worried about nothing. That she was exaggerating.

  This was no exaggeration.

  “I called the ranch and the men there are going to stay at your place, C.J., until we’re back. And the Guardian Flight guys are on their way with the medivac helicopter. I told them where we were, gave them the best directions I could. They figure about an hour, maybe less.”

  C.J.’s knees buckled. Blake and Jared caught her and steered her toward a rock. She was looking at the rocks around the helicopter and suddenly stood and started toward the cockpit. No one tried to stop her. When she was close enough, she reached out to touch him.

  She gently put her hand against his cheek and felt his cold skin. He wasn’t dead, but his body temperature was lower than it should be. Probably shock. Maybe hypothermia. She moved her hand to take one of his. Standing there, holding his hand, she began talking to him.

  “David, I know you’re in there, so maybe you can hear me. We’ve found you. We’re going to get you out of here and get you to help. You need to be in the hospital, for whatever your injuries are. The Guardian Flight team is on its way. They told Jared they’d be less than an hour.” She took a shuddering breath, then continued.

  “Mirage was the one who found you, sweetheart. That horse was kicking the barn down until we decided to let him see if he could find you. He came straight here. So he must have known you were in trouble. Remember, you said you thought he could read your mind? I believe you. Now.”

  C.J. had been trying to find some way to sit down and finally decided that the edge of the big rock was the best she was going to get.

  “David, we’re all here, honey. Blake, Jared, Patrick and Kaycee. They all came with me, love. Will, Mac and Hooch are at the house, waiting to hear from us. As soon as the helicopter gets here, we’ll take you to a hospital. You don’t look like you have many cuts. I think most of your injuries are minor. There must be a cut on your head, because the blood is dripping out of your hair. And you’ve got little cuts on your face and arms, probably from the windows shattering.”

  C.J. continued to sit there, talking about nothing, talking about anything, trying to stop herself from crying and trying to tell him what was happening. If he could hear her, she wanted him to know they were there.

  Blake came up behind her, taking a good look at David. His hand on David’s cheek told him that they’d better get this man out of there in a hurry. He went back to the horses and brought two of the blanket rolls from behind saddles. He gently laid one across David’s shoulders, being careful not to move him. The other he tucked around his legs. He moved back, but he could still hear C.J.’s voice, talking to David, telling him what she’d done with her day, re-telling him how Mirage had found him, and repeating her love for him, over and over and over.

  For C.J., it was the longest hour of her life.

  She didn’t know if she could last until the helicopter got there. She couldn’t stop talking; she had to maintain some kind of contact with David. Something told her that this would be the most important part of his recovery. He had to know she was there and that she loved him.

  The sound grew, so gradually that no one realized they were hearing it, until C.J’s head snapped up and looked to the south. They all heard it then. Kaycee raced back to her horse, grabbed the flare gun she had stuck in at the last minute and shot it skyward, away from the wreck to avoid setting any gas fumes on fire. The neon pink glow from the flare lit up the scene, making it look worse that it actually was.

  The helicopter’s spotlight came to life, strafing the ground with its beam. It circled the crash site, looking for a place to land. The group on the ground thought it would land below them so were surprised when it began hovering, then descending to a spot just up the mountain from them. Jared, Kaycee and Patrick had grabbed the horses, holding them and comforting them against the noise and the gusting wind. The ranch horses were used to the helicopter, just not quite that close.

  C.J. noticed the horses moving around restlessly as the helicopter landed, then she saw Mirage. The horse wasn’t moving, he just stood there, looking at David. She could see his chest and belly move occasionally and realized he was rumbling softly, as horses did. Usually it was a mare to her foal; in this case it was a horse to his human partner. Once the noise from the helicopter had stopped, she could hear him clearly.

  It was as if the horse was trying to tell David something. Giving him strength, giving him encouragement. The terror and flight signs that had so scared her in the barn were gone. His ears were pricked, tuned to David.

  It’s as if he’s willing him to live, she thought. She turned to find Blake.

  “Blake, can you come here please?”

  Her voice was soft and he barely heard her. When she repeated her request, he was beside her in seconds.

  “Blake, will you look and see if there is any way to get Mirage closer to David?. I want David to hear him and know he’s here. These two have some uncommon bond, and considering we’d never have found him without Mirage, I think he should be allowed to know he succeeded.”

  “I’ll look, C.J. But once the medics start to work, he’ll have to move back.”

  “I know. Just for a minute, that’s all I think they need together. Just time for both of them to know the other is okay.”

  Blake led a very alert Mirage closer to David, all of them hearing the strange noises he was making, wondering what the horse was doing. The closer he came, the louder he got. As though talking to David.

  That’s what they all saw; a horse trying to communicate with his human owner. Having been around animals all their lives, none of the watchers could doubt something was happening. Just what, they didn’t know. But they couldn’t discount the possibility that it would help David.

  Mirage stood next to him, touching David’s face with his muzzle and blowing. C.J. and Jared both recalled the first time these two had met, the same blowing ritual had happened then, only that time, David had blown back at the horse. Now, it was a one-way communication.

  When the medical crew arrived, they took in the whole scene in a disbelieving manner, wondering what on earth these people were doing, letting the horse get that close to an injured man.

  Blake saw the look of the crew leader and led Mirage back to the rest of the horses. Patrick took him from Blake.

  “He was talking to him, wasn’t he? Must mean he knows David can hear him. Horses know these things. Don’t know how or why, but I really believe they know.”

  “I know, Patrick. I’ve seen it before, but never like this. That horse was definitely telling him a story, that’s for sure.”

  C.J. had moved aside to let the EMTs get to David. Blake returned to her, drawing her back into the shelter of his arms, trying to give her comfort and warmth.

  “It’s okay, C.J. They’ll have him out in no time and then we can get him to the hospital. There’s only room for two people to go with them when they take him. Who do you want to go with you? Kaycee?”

  C.J. looked up the hill to her friend, but when she looked back to Blake, she surprised him with her answer.

  “I’d like Jared to go with me Blake, if he will. Would you ask him? Kaycee needs you to help get the horses home. But as soon as you can, would you please come to the hospital? Where will they take him?”

  “Probably the United Medical Center; they’ve got a good trauma team there. The helic
opter lands on the roof right above the trauma unit.”

  “Well, can you both come, whenever you can or just you if Kaycee doesn’t want to leave the kids. I’d like you there, and I know David would want you, too.”

  Blake went to talk to Jared while C.J. continued to watch the flight crew. When they brought the backboard and stretcher down the hill, she began to shake with worry. Moving closer, she asked one of the medics why they had the backboard there.

  “That’s normal practice, just in case there is any back or neck injury. The impact can cause that even if the person doesn’t look too badly injured. In this case, it’s because we’re seeing blood pooled around him that seems to be coming from his back.”

  C.J.’s look took on a new measure of gravity.

  Jared came to stand next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders. Just watching her pain made his heart ache for her.

  “Blake told me you want me to come with you. I’ll let Annie know once we’re ready to leave and Patrick has said he’ll take the horses back and bed them down, give them all an extra flake of hay and some oats. Blake will take Annie and the kids with them, and they’ll all go over to Patrick’s. Then he and Kaycee will come to the hospital. They should all be there in a couple of hours.”

  “Thank you, Jared, I appreciate that. I think David will want you and Blake there when he wakes up. You are his best friends.”

  They stood, waiting impatiently, as the flight crew slowly worked David onto the back board. As they moved his still body onto the stretcher, one of the medics noticed blood on David’s shirt and thought to check under it for the source. What he saw stunned him. Turning to his crew captain, he yelled.

  “Cap’n, we got a problem here.” Everyone turned to see what he meant.

  “This man has been shot!”

  C.J. would remember the moment for the rest of her life.

  For a few seconds, there was absolute silence, then all hell broke loose!

  “What do you mean, shot?”

  “There’s an entry wound from some kind of slug on his right shoulder, down quite low. May have hit a lung on the way through, although I don’t think so, because he’s not having that much trouble breathing. And there’s not that much blood, so it may be just a clean, straight through shot. Means we’re going to have to move him even more carefully, in case he’s bleeding internally. But now, we gotta get some speed going to get him to that hospital. We don’t know how much blood he’s lost.

  Suddenly, there seemed to be an added urgency to every movement the crew made. They wanted him loaded and on his way as soon as possible, in case he was more seriously injured than they thought. As soon as they had David stowed aboard their helicopter, they called to C.J. and Jared, indicating they should get aboard and do it fast.

  While they were belting in, C.J. heard the motor start, and the rotor began to turn. Within moments, the helicopter was lifting off. From where she sat, C.J. couldn’t reach David, but her eyes never left him.

  The scene at the hospital was utter chaos.

  Emergency room technicians, nurses and doctors surrounded David’s gurney, leaving C.J. to wonder what was happening. The shock trauma unit was in high gear.

  Without Jared, she would have been lost. He took over and made sure that they were kept apprised of the situation. When the Doctors decided it was time to take David upstairs to operate, Jared found a doctor who would talk to them and tell them what was happening.

  “Mrs. Taylor, Mr. Wynn, I’m Dr. Granger. We’re are sending your husband up to the operating room, Mrs. Taylor. He is suffering the effects of two bullet wounds to his body. There’s a cut on his head that was probably from the crash. That’s where all the blood was coming from. Those types of scalp wounds look serious, but they seldom are. They bleed profusely. We think that’s why he’s unconscious. There may be a little swelling of the brain depending on how hard he hit his head. We’ll know that better once we’ve taken a complete CT scan.”

  He paused to check his pager when it interrupted him. Obviously it wasn’t anything important as he ignored it.

  “The more serious wounds are the two in his back. One is a gunshot wound. As for the other, I’m guessing, but I think some piece of the wreckage may have fallen on him.

  C.J.’s gasp had Jared reaching for her. He wouldn’t let go of her arm again.

  “What do you mean, two shots? They said he was shot in the shoulder. Where’s the other one?”

  “They were right, he was shot in the shoulder. We don’t think that one hit anything major, so there’s just an entry and exit wound to look after. But the other shot is much more serious and the bruising from whatever hit him is just as bad or worse.”

  Jared could feel C.J. coming unraveled. She was shaking, her eyes were filling with tears and her breathing was coming in great gasps.

  “Mrs. Taylor, let’s sit down over here.”

  Dr. Granger led them to the chairs in a side room.

  “The second wound in your husband’s back is below his waist, but it is so close to his spine, that we are extremely worried about it. There is no exit wound. We won’t know until we’ve done a full work up where the bullet is lodged. That’s what we’re up against for now. We have to try and get to it.”

  The hospital P.A. system squawked to life, drowning out his next words. He waited for the announcement to finish then started again.

  “Mrs. Taylor, the two other things that may be a problem is that we don’t know how much blood he’s lost and we don’t know how, or if, the hypothermia will affect him. I’ll be honest with you. Right now, his chances don’t look good. It all depends on the shot he took in the back and the other injury. Once we know what organs have been affected, we’ll know better. In the meantime, we’ve done everything we can to stabilize him for surgery.”

  He turned to Jared, watching C.J. out the corner of his eye.

  “If you want to take Mrs. Taylor downstairs, the surgery is being done on the third floor.”

  “What about blood transfusions, Doctor. Will he be needing blood?”

  Jared’s question brought the Doctor back to face him.

  “I’m sure of that, especially if they have a lot of surgery to perform. Why?”

  “My partners, Blake Corbin and David Taylor, and I have an agreement in place that if any one or the other of us needs blood, that one or both of the others will donate it at the time of surgery. We’re all the same blood type. I just want you to know that I’m ready to give it now, if it is needed. David does not want to get blood from any other source. That’s why we made the deal. There’s too much risk.”

  “What type are all of you?”

  “A-positive.”

  C.J.’s head came up as he spoke.

  “I’m A-positive as well, so if he needs it, I can give it, too. That will make three of us you have as donors.”

  Jared could feel C.J. coming to grips with the situation and bringing herself back under control. She must be stronger than he thought, because he hadn’t thought she’d get through all this as well as she was. His respect for her grew even more.

  “All right. I will tell the operating team that you are out here. If they need it, you’ll be the first donors they’ll call.”

  As Dr. Granger left the room, C.J. grabbed Jared’s arm.

  “Let’s get downstairs, quickly. I want to be there if they need us.”

  Jared led her to the elevator, holding her arm all the way. He didn’t want to be separated from her in case the news when they reached the surgical floor was worse than Dr. Granger had told them.

  When they approached the desk, the nurse’s sympathetic smile nearly had C.J. in tears again. Only her strong will kept her going.

  “Mrs. Taylor, your husband is in the O.R. being prepped for surgery. As soon as we know anything, I’ll call you. Mr. Wynn, would you please come with me? They want to draw some blood from you in case they need it during surgery. I gather there are two others who will be donating, too. Are they
here yet?”

  “One is, it’s Mrs. Taylor. The other is Blake Corbin and he’s on his way. Should be here in the next few minutes.”

  Jared hoped Blake was as close as he calculated.

  “Let me just make Mrs. Taylor comfortable over here and I’ll be right with you.”

  As he led her to the chairs against the far wall, Jared was pulling his cell phone out. Punching in Blake’s number, he waited impatiently for him to answer.

  “Blake, where are you? You’ve got to get here, fast. They want to take blood from us for David’s surgery.”

  “I’m in the parking lot, Jared. We’ll be right up. And we have Mac with us; he’s another A-positive. See you in a few minutes.”

  Jared turned to tell the nurse that they had two more donors coming, just as the doctor came out of the scrub room. Jared recognized the man. Matthew Hawkins was considered one of the best orthopedic surgeons in the state. Anyone with a spinal injury was considered lucky to have him.

  Jared was rolling his sleeve as he walked up to the nursing station, waiting for the nurse to show him where he needed to go. As she led him through the double doors that led to the surgical suite, he saw Blake and Mac getting off the elevator. He waved as the door closed behind him.

  Blake spotted C.J. and hurried toward her. She looked at him as though she couldn’t understand what was happening or why.

  “C.J., honey, Kaycee is coming, she’s downstairs. She’ll stay with you while Mac and I give blood. How’re you holding up?”

  “Oh, Blake, I...”

  Unable to finish, she crumpled against him where he knelt in front of her. In just a few moments, she pulled herself together, sniffling into her sleeve. She looked at Blake. Her eyes looked haunted.

  “Blake, he was shot twice. The blood in his hair was where he banged his head on something. There’s the shot the EMT found, going from his side and exiting his back. The other one is his shoulder...” she finished describing what Dr. Granger had told her.

  Mac Blade had been standing back, but now moved to sit beside C.J.