Missing (14 page)

     For several minutes the women just held each other. Then Rachel happened by.

     Karen said, “Rachel, are you busy?”

     “No, ma’am. I just dropped by to see if anything had changed.”

     “No. I’m afraid not. Would you mind manning the control center for half an hour or so? I need to get Sami away from here for a bit so she can get some fresh air.”

     “I understand. Take your time. In fact, I’ll finish her shift so she doesn’t have to come back.”

     Standing behind Sami’s back and facing Karen, Rachel mouthed the words, “Make her get some sleep.”

     She was afraid to say the words aloud, certain that Sami would snap at her for it.

     Karen was an excellent lip reader, and nodded her head slightly to indicate she got the message.

     Actually convincing Sami to lie down was easier said than done.

     Karen stepped back from Sami and used a tissue from a pocket on her blouse to wipe the younger woman’s tears.

     “I’ve been blowing my nose on this all morning, I hope you don’t mind.”

     Sami managed a smile, but it was forced and both women knew it.

     Sami said, “I’m sorry, Karen. Thank you for being there for me, even when I’m being a bitch.”

     “Hey, you can’t help being a bitch. You were born that way.”

     This time Sami’s smile wasn’t forced. It was genuine.

     It also showed a tiny bit of shock. Karen was the only person she knew who never said a curse word. Not even an occasional “damn.”

     “Wow, that’s harsh language for someone who normally only speaks butterflies and candy canes.”

     “Butterflies and candy canes?”

     “That’s what my grandmother used to tell me when I was little. That I was so sweet I spoke my own language. All butterflies and candy canes. Saying the word ‘bitch’ is quite a stretch for you, isn’t it?”

     “Yeah, well, no other word seems to fit.”

     Sami stuck out her lower lip and asked, “Why, Karen! Am I really that bad?”

     “In a word, yes.”

     Sami laughed out loud for the first time in two days. It felt good and was what she needed more than anything.

     Karen suspected as much.

     “Now then, young lady. You need to stop being such a worry wart. It’ll just make you feel foolish when your father and Hannah show up here in perfect health. And if you can stop being a worry wart, you’ll be able to relax enough to lay down and get some sleep.”

     But Sami wouldn’t be getting any sleep anytime soon. As soon as Karen finished her words, the radios on both of their belts sprang to life.

     “Sami, Bryan, Frank, Mark… please come to the control center immediately.”

Chapter 26

     Hannah looked at Joel, unsure she understood what he said.

     “What do you mean, there’s something else we can do, but I’m not going to like it?”

     “It’ll mean I’ll have to leave you again for a while.”

     “Why? Where will you go? And do you have enough strength to get there?”

     “It would help if we could signal the chopper the next time we hear one fly past. And if we can draw their attention, it might speed the process as well.”

     “How could we do that?”

     “Every chopper carries a signal flare in its crash kit. The pilots don’t like to call it a crash kit. They call it an emergency kit. But it boils down to the same thing.”

     “Do you know where it is?”

     “Yes. I found it when I was searching for your water. It’s laying on the ground beneath a large piece of wreckage. I couldn’t quite reach it, but I think if I could find a big stick, I could push it out the other side.”

     “Will they be able to see it?”

     “Oh, it’s visible for miles if I’m a good enough shot.”

     “Meaning?”

     “I’ll have to shoot it straight up, through the break in the treetops. The same break we were watching the stars through last night.”

     “That’s not a very big window.”

     “I know. It’ll have to be a lucky shot. But if I can fire off the first shot as soon as we hear the chopper, I might have time to load a second cartridge and fire off a second round before it gets too far away. Hopefully they’ll see one or the other. Or one of the other choppers is close enough to see it.”

     “I really don’t want you to leave me, Joel. I’m afraid.”

     “I know you are, doll. But I don’t know how much longer you can survive your injuries without medical care. I can already see the paleness in your face. Your speech is starting to slur and you can’t lift your arms anymore. I know because I’ve been watching you closely.”

     “Should I be flattered or angry?”

     “Neither. Do you deny anything I said?”

     “Yes. I can too lift my arm.”

     “Which arm hurts less to move?”

     “I don’t know. I can’t feel either one of them.”

     “If you can touch your nose with either hand, I’ll stay here with you. If you can’t, I’m going to go after the flare gun. If you’re that weak, your life may well depend on it.”

     “You’re on.”

     Hannah was able to raise her right hand only a few inches before it fell limply into the dirt beneath her.

     She couldn’t lift her left hand at all.

     “You’re worse than I thought. Open your mouth a bit, but not as wide as last time.”

     She did as she was told.

     He poured a bit of water in her mouth the same way he’d done before.

     “Now, then. Do not swallow it. Use it to moisten your mouth but don’t swallow it. Push the rest of it out with your tongue.

     “I’ll be back in fifteen, maybe twenty minutes tops. If you get scared, hum a little tune to yourself.
You Are My Sunshine.
Do you know it?”

     She nodded. It was little Markie’s favorite bedtime lullaby before he decided he was too old for them.

     He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

     She didn’t understand he was kissing her goodbye, in case she died before he got back.

     She thought he was just being fresh.

     “You try that again I’ll kick your ass.”

     “Oh, I doubt it. Even with one leg broken and the other leg missing, I can probably still run faster than you.”

     Then she grew serious.

     “Are you sure you have the strength to go?”

     “Are you kidding? I’m stronger than Superman. And twice as handsome.”

     “Thank you for saving me, and taking such good care of me.”

     “We saved each other, doll. I wouldn’t have survived if you weren’t here to give me something to live for.”

     “Be careful.”

     “I will. Don’t forget. If you get scared, just hum that little ditty until I get back.”

Chapter 27

     Sami and Mark fairly ran back to the control center, but Frank somehow managed to beat both of them there.

     For Bryan, it wasn’t so easy. He was half a mile away from the compound, in dense woods. Calling Sarah’s name, and hearing what sounded like echoes all around him.

     It was actually other searchers, doing the same thing.

     Bryan paused long enough to answer Rachel’s call.

     “Rachel, this is Bryan. I can’t come. I’m in the woods. Did somebody find something?”

     “Yes. One of the soldiers just called in to Lt Col Weiss. He found something and wants you to meet him at thirty degrees, thirty three feet north by ninety seven degrees, thirteen feet west.”

     “Rachel, I don’t speak GPS. English, please.”

     “Sorry. Hold on.”

     Rachel held the key down with her thumb. In the background Bryan heard her ask someone, “Can you point this out on the map for me?”

     Then she came back.

     “Bryan, it’s about one hundred yards north of where the cell tower road connects with the path to the lake. Are you close by?”

     “Maybe five hundred yards. I’ll be there in ten or fifteen minutes.”

     “Okay. Colonel Weiss said to tell you he’s instructed his guy to signal you with a yellow smoke canister. He said the wind is blowing south. Just follow the smoke to its source and his man will be there.”

     Rachel had more to tell, but she dared not say it over the radio.

     As the others gathered around the control center, she turned white as a ghost and was unable to speak.

     Lt Col Weiss did for her.

     “Didn’t you say your friend went into the forest to pick flowers?”

     Mark said, “Yes.”

     But he was afraid to ask why.

     “Our searcher found a loose bundle of picked flowers in a clearing. As well as a good deal of blood.”

     Karen put a hand to her mouth. Sami gasped. Mark asked, as calmly as he could, “But no sign of her?”

     “No, sir. No sign yet of your friend. But that brings us one step closer to her. And we’ve got an ace in the hole.”

     They just looked at him, unsure what he meant.

     “An hour ago, we finally succeeded in locating a tracking dog. We never had a need for one until now, quite honestly. And we didn’t know if such a thing existed anymore. But my guys made a lot of phone calls and were able to find one in a small town called Wall.

     “We explained the situation to the sheriff there, and asked if we could borrow the dog and its handler. They left Wall an hour ago and should be here soon.

     “Now that we have identified her last known location, the dog can get a scent off her blood and take us right to her.”

     “Who’s the man meeting Bryan where they found the flowers?”

     “The soldier who made the discovery is standing by. His sergeant was also dispatched to the location to oversee the smoke canister. Some of our men have a bad habit of setting dry grass on fire, so we only allow our noncoms to carry them on search operations.”

     “Does the sergeant know there’s a tracking dog on the way?”

     “Yes. We just notified him over our radio. He’s been instructed to notify the husband. What was his name again?”

     “Bryan.”

     “Yes. Thank you. He’s been instructed to notify Bryan that the dog and handler are on their way, and to try to get him to stay put until they arrive.”

     Frank shook his head.

     “Good luck with that. Your entire Army won’t be able to hold him back after he sees that blood.”

     “I suspected as much. And I can’t blame him. If it were my wife I wouldn’t wait. Not after finding out she was injured.

     “In any event, I spoke briefly to the dog handler to ask if human tramping around out there would interfere with his operation.

      “He said no, people in the area wouldn’t kill Sarah’s scent. So I told my man if Bryan insists on going, to just step back and let him go.

     “Hopefully he won’t get lost out there himself. Two search and rescue operations at one time is about our limit.”

Chapter 28

     Karen caught Frank’s eye and made a motion with her own eyes.

     The signal was unmistakable. She wanted to talk to him alone.

     Frank excused himself from the others and went to the dining room to pour himself a cup of coffee. Then he sat alone at a table and waited.

     A couple of minutes later Karen followed and joined him.

     She looked around to make sure no one else was within earshot, and then said, “You’re going to consider me a foolish old woman for what I’m about to tell you.”

     Frank had only been living in the compound for a few months. He and his wife Eva were invited to join the group after becoming ham radio friends with Hannah and several others, and after most of their block in San Antonio was wiped out by marauders.

     But Karen had become one of his closest friends, and he felt quite comfortable in teasing her a bit.

     “I already consider you a foolish old woman, so you have nothing to lose.”

     Karen smiled and pretended to take offense.

     “I’ll beat you later for that remark, but for now I have something serious to discuss with you.”

     The look on her face told him this was no time for levity.

     “Okay. You have my undivided attention. What’s up?”

     “Glenna came to me earlier and told me she was in the woods with Marty recently. She said she had the sense that she was being watched by something, or someone.”

     “Who?”

     “She didn’t know. She said she wasn’t even sure it was a person.”

     “Meaning it may have been an animal?”

     “She didn’t say that. She wasn’t sure herself. She just described it as ‘something evil.’ She used that term several times.”

     “I can’t think of any animals out there we’d have to fear, or that could do any of us damage. I mean, there haven’t been bears in these woods in fifty years or more. And I’m pretty sure the freeze killed off most of the wolves and coyotes.

     “I’ve been out tromping in those woods many times, hunting for deer or rabbits, and I’ve never seen any kind of canine tracks.

     “So we can rule out wolves and coyotes, and foxes as well. Raccoons have survived, I saw one in a tree not long ago. Possums too. But neither of those will attack a human, and if they did, the attacks wouldn’t be lethal. Unless…”

     “Unless what?”

     “Unless they were rabid. Rabid animals don’t fear humans. They don’t run when they sense the scent or see a human. They are very unpredictable, and have even been known to attack a human, even though the human is several times larger than they are.”

     “Oh, my God. Do you think that’s what happened to Sarah? She got attacked by some rabid animal?”

     “I don’t know. I’d have to inspect the area where they found the blood. If she was attacked by an animal of any size, there would be signs of a struggle. Animal tracks. Scratches in the dirt. That kind of stuff.

     “I’ll have Colonel Weiss talk to his man at the scene, and see if any of that stuff exists.”

     “But even if she was attacked, that wouldn’t prevent her from coming back here to be treated for her injuries, would it?”

     “The attack itself would probably be relatively minor. I mean, probably just scratches and bites, before the animal ran off. The injuries would be survivable, as long as she was treated for rabies, which would be the real threat.

     “However, if the attack was particularly brutal, she might be so injured that she is confused, or disoriented. Maybe to the point she can’t find her way back home again. That would explain why she’s out wandering around in the woods.”

     “And if she’s that badly injured, then it’s even more critical we find her soon, so we can get her treated.”

     “Exactly. I’ll ask Colonel Weiss if the hospital at Kelly Air Force Base has the capability of treating her for rabies, and ask him to pull some strings so we can get her down there when we find her. If that’s what caused her injuries, that is.”

     Karen sensed he had something else to say, and raised an eyebrow.

     “Of course, it might not have been an animal at all. It might be human.”

     “Maybe.”

     “Did Glenna ever lay eyes on whatever… or whoever it was? Or did Marty see anything?”

     “No. She said she felt its presence more than anything.

     “Wait, she did say that something came out of the woods and knocked down their things and may have rummaged through them.”

     “Did they take anything?”

     “No. She said nothing was taken, nor was it damaged. It was just knocked around.”

     “It’s a shame she didn’t see anything.”

     “Come to think of it, she said she saw some movement in the tree line. And saw some low tree branches move.”

     “How low?”

     “She didn’t say. Why, is that important?”

     “Maybe. I mean, if the branches were several feet off the ground, it would rule out raccoons and possums. If they were that high up, it would have to be a human. Or another large mammal.”

     “Could it have been a deer?”

     “I don’t know. Maybe. They survived the freeze, because I’ve seen them. Maybe it was just a deer nuzzling their things out of curiosity.

     “And maybe she looked over too late to see the deer disappear back into the forest, but not too late to see the movement of the branches it rubbed against.”

     “Maybe. As far as her contention that there was something evil lurking about… should I be concerned?”

     “I wouldn’t. After everything she’s been through, a little bit of paranoia would be in order.”

Chapter 29

     Hannah was only able to hum a few bars of
You Are My Sunshine
before her world started to blacken again. Joel wasn’t even out of sight yet before the merciful darkness came.

     It lasted longer this time. She was weaker now, and had lost much more blood. Her nervous system was already shutting down, and her organs were starting to as well.

     She was within a couple of hours of death.

     Joel Roth considered himself relatively fearless. He wasn’t afraid of dying himself. But the prospect of losing Hannah scared him to death. As the only Army survivor of the terrible crash, he considered it his solemn duty to make sure she made it.

     He returned forty two minutes later, tossing the box containing the flare gun and cartridges a few feet at a time in front of him, then dragging himself forward to toss it again.

     When he saw that Hannah had lost consciousness again, he panicked.

     “No,” he shouted. “Don’t you dare!”

     He felt her wrist for a pulse and found none. Then he felt her neck and got a very faint carotid pulse. Her skin was very pale and clammy. He knew she was in shock and had very little blood left in her veins.

     And he let himself cry.

     He knew he was losing the battle. He was failing in his mission.

     And he was losing a friend.

     He made a pact with her.

     “Don’t you dare die on me, girl. We’ve come too far together. We’ve saved each other. It’s not the time to give up. If you can hear me, hear this… if you let yourself die, if you let yourself give up, I’m giving up too. After you draw your last breath, I’m loosening my tourniquet. Then I’m going to lay my head on your bosom and wait until everything goes black. Because I’m not going to be out here alone. I’m just not gonna do it.”

     He wanted to scream, and to shake her awake.

     “Damn it, Hannah, wake up! You said I saved you. Well, if I did, then it’s time for you to return the favor. Open your eyes and live, so I can live too. Please…”

     But she didn’t open her eyes.

     Not for awhile, anyway.

     Joel lay beside her, softly sobbing and wishing he would just die and get it over with. He softly caressed Hannah’s right forearm, hoping that perhaps she’d respond better to his touch than his voice.

     He’d just about given up when her head turned almost imperceptibly to the right.

     “Joel, are you there? Is that you?”

     His face was next to hers in a flash.

     “I’m here, Hannah.”

     “Joel, are my eyes open?”

     “Yes, baby. They are open and are so incredibly beautiful.”

     “Joel, I can’t see. Everything is black.”

     Joel knew she was in the final throes of death.

     He wanted to scream, but managed to hold it off.

     Then, “Joel?”

     “Yes?”

     “I think I hear a helicopter.”

     Joel heard nothing.

     “Are you sure, honey?”

     “I think so.”

     Joel saw this as his very last chance to save his new friend.

     He tore open the case containing the flare gun, jammed a cartridge into the chamber and slammed the chamber closed.

     Then, with both hands, he carefully aimed the barrel toward a break in the treetops and fired.

     His aim was true and the flare sailed into the clear blue sky. It flew for a quarter mile before it started to curve and fall back toward the earth.

     Every inch of the way it left a trail of smoke.

     Beautiful orange smoke.

     It wasn’t until the “whoosh” of the flare being fired off left his ears that he finally heard the same thing Hannah heard many seconds before.

     The steady chop, chop, chop of a Blackhawk’s propeller, far off in the distance.

     He had to get a second shot off, in case the first one wasn’t seen.

     His fingers fumbled the canister for a split second, and he thought he’d missed the chance for the insurance shot. But then it slipped into place, he slammed the chamber shut, and was able to fire a second shot.

     It was as true as the first.

     But this time, after the sound of the flare cleared his ears, all he heard was silence.

     He was convinced he’d failed.

     But he was wrong.

     Major Danny Ortega, flying Rescue Two, radioed back to the Kelly Operations Center.

     “Kelly Ops, this is Rescue Two. Do you still have us on radar?”

     “That’s affirmative, Rescue Two.”

     “Mark a target one hundred and ten degrees from our present location, and approximately half a kilometer north northeast. Smoke spotted. It appears to be a signal flare. Veering off now to investigate.”

     “Roger, Rescue Two. Keep us advised. Rescues One, Three, and Four, maintain your current sweeps, but make note of Rescue Two’s target and prepare to assist. Rescue Two’s target is three zero degrees, zero five feet north, nine eight degrees, four seven feet west, elevation one eight zero zero. All units confirm in order.”

     “Rescue One, copy.”

     “Rescue Two, copy.”

     “Rescue Three, copy.”

     “Rescue Four, copy.”

     At the first report of a signal flare, Lt Col Weiss had sent a runner to summon everyone at the compound’s security desk.

     Before the transmission ended, Frank, Sami, Mark and Karen were standing behind the Army radioman, hanging on every word.

     Karen held Sami’s hand, Sami took Mark’s and Mark took Frank’s.

     All four of them bowed their heads and said a silent prayer.