Missing (11 page)

     “Try me.”

     “My leg. Not the one that’s crushed but still attached. I can’t feel it at all. No numbness, no pain, nothing. However, the leg that’s missing… I can actually feel it, and it hurts like hell. How weird is that?”

     “I’ve heard that’s common for people after they’ve lost a limb. Something about your nerve receptors in the brain being confused by the limb being gone or something.”

     “Does it ever go away?”

     “I don’t know. I hope so, if it hurts you.”

     “Yeah. Me too.”

     “So, what’s your ulterior motive for asking me so many questions?”

     “Well, as I said, you fascinate me. And we can’t do much else except talk while we’re waiting to be rescued. So I might as well try to get to know you better. And also…”

     “Also what?”

     “When someone has internal bleeding, their body frequently goes into shock. And if they go into shock, it’s important that they remain conscious. If they pass out, there’s a high probability they’ll never wake up again.”

     “Really? Where did you learn that?”

     “The Army makes us take first aid and buddy care classes. So we can take care of our comrades in battle if the medics can’t get to them. Or, in my case, take care of myself.”

     “Is that where you learned to apply a tourniquet?”

     “Yes. I never thought it would come in handy, but guess what? It did.”

     “So, you were just talking to me to keep me from passing out? And I thought you were sweet.”

     “Trying to save your life isn’t sweet?”

     “Well, yeah, I guess.”

     “What time do you think it is?”

     “If I remembered to bring my iPhone I’d ask Siri.”

     “You have a working phone?”

     “No. I’m teasing, silly.”

     “Oh. I was gonna ask you why the heck you didn’t call somebody and get us the heck out of here. I haven’t seen a working cell phone since before the freeze.”

     “I wonder why they haven’t got the cell phones working again.”

     “I heard that not enough of the technicians survived to get the towers and equipment operational.”

     “Yeah, I guess. And it’s about three a.m., give or take fifteen minutes.”

     Joel studied her face for a very long moment.

     “How in the world do you know that?”

     “I’m an astrophysicist, remember? The stars have been a big part of my life since I was a girl, remember? Have you not been listening? The stars were my means of escaping an unhappy childhood.”

     “Hey, just because I ask you questions doesn’t mean I have to listen to the answers.”

     “Oh, you’re gonna get it as soon as I can move again.”

     “That’s what I was hoping for. Then you had to burst my bubble and tell me you were married.”

     This time she couldn’t help but laugh, despite the pain.

     In the dim starlight, he could barely make out the look of agony on her face.

     And he felt guilty for making her laugh.

     “I’m sorry. I’ll quit horsing around.”

     “No. It’s okay. It’s making this whole thing easier to deal with. And all in all, you make a pretty good helicopter crashing partner.”

     “Good. Let’s not make it a habit, though, okay?”

     “Deal.”

     “So how do you look at the stars and know what time it is?”

     “I’ll tell you what. After we get rescued I’ll teach you. Right now I want to hear about you. You’ve heard all about me, now it’s your turn to share some things with me.”

     “I was trying to share some things with you. Then you had to burst my bubble and tell me you were married.”

     “Stop it, you.”

     “Oh, admit it. You’re having fun.”

     She grew serious.

     “No. I’m definitely not having fun. I realize that you’re trying to make me forget the gravity of the situation, and you’re doing an admirable job. For that you’re my hero. But all levity aside, one of my best friends is lying there underneath that helicopter. I’ll never be able to talk to him again. And I’ve got to go back and tell his daughter he’s dead.

     “That’s
if
we make it back ourselves. We’re not out of the woods yet.”

     “That’s the worst pun I’ve ever heard.”

     “Maybe. But it’s true.”

     “Look, Hannah. Maybe we won’t survive until the rescue. I’ve lost a lot of blood, and to tell you the truth, I’ve kept you talking for my benefit as well as yours. You’ve lost just as much blood as I have. It’s just trapped inside your body. If either of us drift off we’ll likely never wake up again. So let’s just put off reality for a while and keep taking about anything… anything at all. And maybe if we’re lucky, and help comes soon, we can save each other’s lives.”

     “Casablanca.”

     “Huh?”

     “Casablanca. I think that’s the name of the movie where Bogey told Bacall, ‘It’s just you and me, kid.’ Only you had it wrong. It wasn’t Lauren Bacall. It was Ingrid Bergman. And he didn’t say ‘It’s just you and me kid.’ He said, ‘Here’s looking at you, kid.’”

     “I just gave you a million dollar speech. It was eloquent, logical and sensible. And you didn’t hear a single word I said, did you?”

     “Oh, yes I did. You said blah, blah, blah. Then you said nag, nag, nag, and followed it up with yada, yada, yada.”

     This time it was his turn to smile.

     “Hey, Hannah?”

     “Yes, sir?”

     “You’re my hero too.”

     She was touched.

     “Thank you.”

     She shivered.

     “I’m so cold. I hope they get here soon.”

     He pressed closer against her in an effort to share his body heat. But he was just as cold as she was, and it did little good.

     “Hey, promise me one thing.”

     “As long as it’s not my virtue.”

     “Shucks.”

     He smiled again.

     “Seriously. Promise me you’ll stay in touch after we get rescued. You have the same weird sense of humor I have. I think we’ll be great friends after we can put this night past us.”

     “Promise.”

Chapter 20

     At just before six a.m., Sergeant Smith drove his staff car down the narrow access road to Highway 83.

     Since there were many service roads in the area leading to water wells, cell towers and overhead power lines, he wanted to make sure the buses carrying the volunteers turned off at the right place.

     They had already radioed in the exact coordinates of the search area, but that was the area northeast of the compound. Lieutenant Colonel Weiss wanted to meet with the team before they started their mission, but would honor Frank’s request not to do it at or near the compound.

     The colonel chose the small lake where Hannah and Mark took little Markie fishing as their rendezvous point.

     The lake was accessible by a dusty service road which passed within a hundred yards of the lake.

     That was the road Sergeant Smith would lead them down.

     Weiss had placed one of his officers in charge of his operations center temporarily while he went to brief the search team, but was still in radio contact.

     It didn’t hurt his feelings to get out of the compound for a bit.

     The mood had been getting more and more somber by the minute.

     News he’d received earlier that one of the search teams was investigating a couple of warm flashes in the woods south of them turned out to be a false lead.

     The warm flashes represented a family on a two day hunting trip.

     It turned out the family had gotten lost as well, and was happy to see the Army chopper land in a large clearing not far from them. They were overjoyed when troops emerged out of the woods and into their small camp a few minutes later. And even more happy when the troops told them they were only a hundred yards west of a road that connected with a county highway.

     So the search team had done some wayward people a good deed.

     But they still hadn’t found Hilo One or its survivors.

     At the compound, the news hadn’t been taken well.

     Despite Karen’s warnings not to do so, Sami had let her hopes build that they’d found John and Hannah. Weiss could see the anguish on her young face when she learned that wasn’t the case.

     Sami reminded Weiss of his own daughter. His heart went out to her. And he never could stand to see a woman cry. So when there happened to be a lull in the action at his operations center, at the same time his team of volunteers was just a few miles away, he saw that a great opportunity presented itself.

     He’d get out of the ops center for a bit and give his volunteers a pep talk.

     Right on time, the three Army green buses appeared on the horizon, and Sergeant Smith pulled the Plymouth Fury onto the highway.

     Immediately, a voice came cracking over Smith’s radio. It was from the driver of the first bus.

     “I have you in sight, Smitty. Following your lead.”

     Smith led the convoy to the dirt service road which led more or less to the lake and turned north upon it.

     The road was rutted and rough, after eight years of periodic rains and absolutely no maintenance work. But at least it was presently dry. And the troops in the buses wouldn’t complain much about the jarring ride.

     They knew that after being rousted out of bed in the middle of the night and forced to endure a two hour bus ride to God-knows-where, they were almost at the end of the journey.

     And they were ready to get started.

     The search team consisted of all men.

     It wasn’t done that way by design. It just worked out that way. The first two barracks in the battalion the duty sergeants burst into happened to be men’s barracks. By the time they swept through the second one, they had their hundred “volunteers.”

     Had they needed more than a hundred, they’d have gone into the next building in the line, which was the only women’s barracks in the battalion. But as it was, they didn’t need to, so the women got to get a full night’s sleep.

     Rumors travel fast in the United States Army, and they are frequently false.

     A couple of the soldiers overheard two non-coms talking about a helicopter that had gone down in the area and spread the word that they were looking for a crash site and the helicopter’s survivors.

     That’s what all three buses of soldiers were anticipating when they received their inbrief at the search site.

     And none of them were looking forward to it. They envisioned the worst. A wide area littered with twisted and torn pieces of helicopter. And twisted and torn pieces of humans.

     But Colonel Weiss had a surprise for them.

     “Sergeant, instruct the drivers to leave thirty yards between the first and second buses, and to have the men form up in the space between them. I’ll brief them quickly, then spend a few minutes with Captain Martin and his lieutenants, and we’ll head back.”

     “Yes, sir.”

     Ten minutes later Smith pulled his car off the dirt road into a clearing that was more or less level and would more or less give him enough room to turn around while the colonel was doing his thing.

     The first driver stopped his bus in the center of the road, and the second driver, as instructed, parked thirty yards farther back.

     Weiss watched as the men formed into four ranks between the buses.

     After they were in formation and put at parade rest, he exited the vehicle and approached them.

     Captain Martin called the men to attention and saluted the colonel. He said, “Good morning, sir.”

     Weiss returned the salute and said, “Good morning, John. Thank you for joining us. Please put your men at ease.”

     “Yes, sir.”

     Weiss turned to face the troops.

     “Good morning, gentlemen. Your mission today is to find a young woman who went to pick flowers in the forest yesterday about ten hundred hours and never returned home.