Part Two
Roy and Pidge sat at the folding table that was locating in the rear of the med tent. Each was lost in thought but Roy looked up as Dr Morton and KJ joined them.
"How is he, Doc?" Roy asked with genuine concern. Sure, Brice was a pain in the ass but he had caught a glimpse of the glass in Brice's eyes and no one deserved an injury like that especially when he got it trying to help what he thought was a fallen comrade.
"It's not good, Roy," Morton leveled with him. He needs to get back to Rampart and into an OR STAT. There's a limit to what I can do for him here. There were no signs of concussion and I've given him given him a pain killer. But he has to get to Rampart and he has to go by chopper and one of you three have to go with him." He looked at Roy, KJ and Pidge. He didn't want to assign another paramedic that task. He'd sent both Johnny and Cassie and now they were dead. How could he ask someone else to risk their lives so soon?
"I'll go with him," KJ said simply. Before they could object, as she knew they would, she continued, "Chet will wake up soon. He's going to need all the help and support he can get. That's what you have to think of at the moment. That shot Brice got has mellowed him considerably, from what I have heard about him. Besides, he's a fellow paramedic and he surely deserves the same kind of care we would give to any other victim. I'll take care of him and you two take care of Chet."
"Like Cassie always said, we all gotta do our own thing," Pidge's voice caught but she knew KJ's plan was right. She also had to admit that more than likely neither she nor Roy would be able to set foot in a chopper right now. It was too soon.
Morton made arrangements with the Incident Commander for a med*evac airlift to Rampart. He forced himself to be all business but the idea of putting two more paramedics into a chopper almost made him request ground transport instead. Still, Brice's eyesight was hanging in the balance. If he didn't get into surgery soon, he'd loose it. There was no time for ground transport. He had liked the idea of being in charge up here in the beginning. Now he realized that sending people into danger was part of the job and he didn't care for that at all.
He walked back to the med tent. The four other paramedics in there were packaging Brice for transport.
"DeSoto?" Brice said when he recognized Roy's voice.
"Right here, Brice." Roy put his hand on Brice's shoulder to let him know where he was since his eyes were bandaged.
"I - uh- I heard about Gage. I'm sorry. He was a....good man....good paramedic...," Brice struggled against the painkillers to maintain control.
"Thanks, Brice," Roy swallowed hard. Neither he nor Johnny had ever really had anything positive to say about Brice and now, when he was obviously hurting himself, he took the time for what he ordinarily considered useless social amenities. That meant a lot to Roy. "Look, you're going to be alright. Once you get to Rampart they will fix you right up. You'll see." It sounded stupid to Roy the minute he said it. Even in his semi-drugged state Brice would know it was hogwash.
"Chopper is ready," Morton said simply.
Bellingham stepped up to the exam table. "Look, Brice. This wasn't your fault. The problem, as I see it, was there just were no regulations in place about running down a hill. If you'd have had regs to follow this never would have happened. I expect you to come up with those regs now that you have discovered the problem, then I expect you to get your damn skinny self back in harness. I'm not anywhere near done training you. You hear?"
"Bellingham," Brice said simply, "Go to Hell!"
Bellingham grinned, "A few more months with me and I'll make a human out of you yet."
"Let's get this show on the road," Brice ignored his partner.
They helped get Brice out to the waiting chopper. Roy thought about what Bellingham had said. He knew Bellingham had been joking but everyone assumed that the Department had partnered Brice with Bellingham to teach him not to be such a slob. What if it had been the other way around?
"Brice," Roy thought to introduce him to KJ. "This is Karen Jacobs -- KJ. She works B-shift at 18's and she'll be riding in with you."
"DeSoto, that is hardly necessary ---"
"Brice! I'm surprised at you. You have an IV. You know the regulations," Roy laughed.
Brice muttered something under his breath.
Once they were airborne KJ leaned close to Brice so she could be heard above the sound of the chopper's engine.
"Are you comfortable enough? Can I do anything for you?" She had heard her partner Suzy say it to patients many times. She had thought it may have been something that Suzy had learned in nursing but patients seemed to respond to it by relaxing.
"I'm fine, Jacobs," he said stiffly.
"Most people call me KJ," she said as she took another set of vitals.
"I usually use last names. I find it less confusing it times of emergency."
"Why are last names less confusing?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" Brice's philosophy on names had never been questioned before. "I -- I--ah read that once.." He was having a little trouble concentrating due to the painkiller that Dr Morton had administered.
"Sounds like something the military would come up with," she laughed.
He decided he liked the sound of her laugh. "Are you familiar with the military?"
" I was in the Coast Guard for eight years. How about you?"
"Only indirectly. My father was in the military. We moved around a lot."
"So you were always the new kid," she guessed.
"Yes. Never fitting in. Always fodder for the bullies. I guess maybe that is why I tried so hard to do everything right. To please the teachers and my father, of course. Not that that was ever possible...." he muttered as much to himself as to her.
KJ had had her share of disagreements with her family. She knew exactly what he was saying. She understood all too well the type of man she guessed his father to be. A small, bookish son was not the fondest dream of a soldier.
"It doesn't matter if you please your father. The point is you have to please yourself. Chose your own road. Be yourself."
"I'm afraid myself doesn't really please too many people," he admitted.
"I don't know. Your partner seemed pretty concerned about you. He never left your side and the mess tent was open."
Brice laughed. "You know Bellingham pretty well. Would you mind if I called you Karen? Let me start with first names and them maybe I can graduate to nick names."
"Sure, if you'll let me call you Craig."
"I think I'd like that very much," Brice said quietly.
***
Dixie looked up from the chart she was working on. "Room 2," she told the ambulance attendants and one of her nurses, Theresa Torres. The patient was a 14 year old boy named Miguel del Rios who thought he'd try to ride his skateboard while wearing his rollarblades. Theresa was speaking to him in Spanish as Dixie led the way to the treatment room. Theresa was a nurse who was what they called a floater because she worked on many services. She had often worked the ER and she enjoyed it. She had been one of the nurses who had volunteered to work as a fill-in paramedic for Station 18. This fire had called three of the paramedics to the fire so she had been working this shift with Suzy Parker. No one had yet addressed the fact that there was now a permanent opening for a paramedic at Station 18.
Theresa spoke to the boy in Spanish but translated for Dixie and Dr Joe Early who followed the gurney into the room. She gave them the latest set of vitals and concluded by telling them that Miguel's biggest problem seemed to be that he was afraid to have his parents find out what he had done.
"Too late," Dixie smiled. "We had to call them to get permission to treat him. They are on the way."
Miguel was not happy to hear that. After a brief exam, Dr Early called for X-Rays and they stepped outside the room so the radiologist could do his job.
"So, Theresa, you're not thinking about leaving us for the Fire Department, are you?" Joe asked.
"No way, Doctor. I am definitely not tough enough for that. I prefer that the patients are brought to me not that I have to crawl into car wrecks and up trees to get to them. I don't know how these girls do this. And believe me, I am mostly just watching. The first time the alarm sounded I almost jumped out of my skin. You should try this, Dixie."
"Not on your life," Dixie was emphatic.
"Why not, Dix. I'd love to see you riding around in a big Fire Truck," Joe laughed.
"You seem to forget that when this program first started, I did ride along with paramedics."
"I clocked my share of riding in ambulances when I was an intern," Joe remembered. "And that was long before telemetry."
"And the ambulances were horse drawn," Dixie teased.
"I don't have to stand here and be insulted," Joe said as the radiologist left the treatment room and Joe and Theresa went back inside.
Dixie went back to the nurses' station. To the casual observer things had completely returned to normal at the ER but that was more a credit to the professionalism of the staff than it was the actual truth.
Suzy Parker came up to the nurses's station. Theresa was not checked out to drive the squad and in this case her linguistic abilities were needed with the patient.
"Hi, Suzy."
"Hi, Dix," Suzy forced herself to smile. "Any word from the fire?"
"As matter of fact KJ is on her way in with a patient. She should be arriving momentarily."
"What happened?" Susy asked. Odds were that KJ's patient was a firefighter.
"Craig Brice was injured. He has glass in his eyes. My guess is he'll be rushed up to the OR almost upon arrival. It's pretty serious," Dixie admitted.
"Man," Suzy said sympathetically.
***
The pilot had told KJ to sit back down and strap herself in because they would be landing soon. She was sure it was the medication that had loosened Brice's tongue and she was sure he would not remember their conversation but she felt she had a little more insight into the unpopular paramedic and even more compassion for him. She could sense that he felt he was alone in the dark. She instinctively reached out and took his hand. She had a certain code of conduct she had always forced herself to adhere to while on duty. She had always practiced it since her days in the military. Handholding was not the sort of thing that would have been approved of in the military and that may have been why she did it. She noticed he did not let go.
Once they landed, there was an ambulance at the helipad to meet them. Within minutes they were hopping out of it and running into the ER.
"Doctor Brackett is waiting for you in three," Dixie told them.
Once Brice was transferred to the exam table thing started happening fast. In less than ten minutes Brackett ordered him taken up to the OR.
"Craig, is there anyone I can call for you?" KJ asked.
"No," he said in a quiet voice. "No one close at all."
"That's where you're wrong, buddy boy. I'm here. I'll be pulling for you."
"We'll all be pulling for you," Dixie added her voice to what KJ was trying to do. "If you think we are going to let anything happen to the one organized paramedic we've got you have another think coming."
"I think I've been insulted," KJ said.
Brice just smiled as they whisked him off to surgery.
KJ walked out into the hall with Dixie. "Come on, I'll buy you a cup of coffee. Suzy is in the lounge."
"Then I'll let her buy me a Diet Pepsi," KJ smiled.
"You people that don't drink coffee. I'll never get used to it. Between you and Cassie ----" she stopped herself. Neither really knew what to say. They walked into the lounge. Suzy and Theresa were enjoying a moment's relaxation but the handy talkie was on the table between them. With so many units working the fire, even more calls came in for the ones left to cover the territory. A few stations had been pulled off line completely to cover the fire.
"KJ!" Suzy said pleasantly "How are you? You look tired. How's Brice?"
"They are taking him up to surgery."
"Jeez, that's awful about his eyes. Man," Suzy shook her head sympathetically.
"Kel has gotten a team of specialists together for this. Everyone seemed very willing to help once they found out the patient was a fireman who'd been injured working the fire. Especially after -- after the word of the crash got out," Dix finished quietly. She had opened up the drink machine with a key she took from her pocket. She handed a can of Diet Pepsi to KJ.
"How are things at the station?" KJ asked. "Thanks, Dix."
"Well," Suzy sighed, "It's been a little bleak. The phone has been ringing off the hook so much Captain Williams had LA route all our calls through there so they could screen them for us. Otherwise we'd do nothing else. The press is being directed to the PIO but with everyone else, it's anybody's guess."
"What kind of calls are you getting?"
"All kinds. Some sympathy calls but even those are a little hard to take and then go on with the job. Lot of crack pots. I heard that some one had called HQ and practically accused them of murder," Suzy shuddered.
"Is this going to crash the program?" KJ hadn't meant to be so blunt but this was such an important issue and she was so tired that it was impossible to be tactful.
"Don't worry about that," Dixie said firmly. "There are people who are owed favors in some circles who would have no problem at all calling in a few markers. Dr Brackett and I will not let that happen."
"How is A-shift taking it?" Suzy asked. They worked with Cassie. This would be even harder for them.
"I think Pidge is pretending to cope a lot better than she is. But I think she and Roy are kind of pulling each other through."
"How is Roy doing?" Dixie asked. "Joanne has called several times and I really don't know what to tell her."
"Like the rest of us, he's trying to stay busy. Chet -- well, they had to sedate him."
"Poor Chet," Suzy said sympathetically. She was fond of Chet. He always made her laugh.
The four women sat quietly each lost in her own thoughts till Sharon Walters came into the lounge. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Miss McCall," she said nervously.
"Yes, Sharon, what is it?"
"Mrs. DeSoto is on the phone. She is asking if we have any information. I'm sorry, but I think I've made a terrible mistake. She asked about a paramedic. I assumed she meant the one that was in surgery by the time I realized -- well, she was so upset. I couldn't get through to her. Could you please try?"
"Sure, Sharon. What line is she on?"
"Line 2. I'm really sorry about this."
"It's alright, Sharon, we've all been under a lot of strain lately," Dixie said as she got up and crossed the room to the wall phone.
The younger women thought that Dixie looked more tired than they had ever seen her. This fire was taking its toll on everyone.
"Joanne?... Joanne, listen to me. There has been a misunderstanding. Roy is not injured. Do you hear me?..... That's better.... I understand completely. No, the injured paramedic is Craig Brice. He is in surgery.....It is too early to tell. No, he does not have any family close by..... I'm sure he would appreciate that Joanne. Your chocolate chip cookies are legendary. Listen, Joanne I have another paramedic here who has been at the fire. Would you like to talk to her? I'm sure she could tell you how Roy is doing..... No problem. Hold on.... KJ could you come here for a minute. Roy DeSoto's wife is on the line would you like to talk to her for a few minutes? Joanne, this is Karen Jacobs."
As Dixie handed her the phone KJ remembered Johnny joking that Dixie always made you earn 'free drinks' and that she should be suspicious when Dixie starts handing them out. So this is how she would 'pay' for her Diet Pepsi. She didn't really mind. Johnny had always spoken very highly of Joanne. She almost felt that she knew her. "Hello, Joanne?"
"KJ, you're a friend of Johnny's. He has spoken of you often," Joanne said in a friendly manner.
KJ was momentarily speechless. Partly because Johnny had spoken of her and partly because she suddenly was not sure that Joanne knew about Johnny's death. Luckily Joanne also talked a lot when she was nervous and she did not wait for KJ to respond.
"I always wanted Johnny to invite you over for dinner --- I'm sorry! How thoughtless of me rambling on like this when you have lost a friend. We all have, KJ. I tried to avoid telling the kids. I guess it was cowardly of me but I wanted them to see that Daddy was safe before they had to deal with that but they heard it on TV."
"I'm so sorry. How are they coping?" KJ was sorry. She knew how young Roy's kids were and how devoted they were to Johnny.
"Well, please don't tell Roy because I'm sure he has enough on his mind right now, but it's been terrible. They are so young. When their grandmother died it was foreign to them. They barely knew her but Johnny! They aren't eating well or sleeping well. They are so afraid for Roy. If it wasn't for the support of the other wives, I just don't know what I would do. There I go again. When we were kids Roy used to call me Jabberjaws Jo. Just tell me about Roy. How is he handling this?"
"It is difficult for us all. Everyone knew and loved both Johnny and Cassie but I think maybe the fact that Roy can keep busy now is therapeutic. But, I also know that he misses you very much."
"Thank you KJ. I -- I really needed to hear that he was alright. He and Johnny were so close. When you see him again could you please, please give him my love. Don't tell him about the kids. I can handle that. And could you tell Craig Brice that I am making him up a big batch of my chocolate chip cookies and that we all wish him well? I'm rambling, I'm so sorry. Thank you so much, KJ. I do feel better now. Well I'd better get busy. Maybe I'll get the kids to help me. You try and get some rest now. Take care of yourself. And, KJ, once this fire is over Roy and I will expect you for dinner. I mean that."
"I'd be honored to accept. Thank you, Joanne. Good-bye."
"Good-bye, KJ. See you soon." Joanne hung up the phone.
KJ had never met Joanne but she felt like they were old friends. She came to this job with a respect for firemen. She now also had a deep respect for firemen's wives.
***
"Alright, you two grunts, get back to the aircraft and sit down. Nobody is leaving and that's all I want to hear about it," Watson's voice sounded casual enough but he had the gun pointed at them.
Reluctantly they obeyed. Once they were sitting where he'd told them to sit, he ordered them to stay put and went back to the working on the radio. The gun, however, was kept within easy reach.
"What the hell is happening here?" Johnny whispered. He did not hide the fear and confusion he felt very well.
"I think he's flashing back to NAM. Damn! I should have caught on sooner," Cassie was disgusted with herself.
"Where the hell did he get that gun?" Being shot at made Johnny very nervous.
"Probably has a holster under his seat. Lots of chopper pilots did that in the war."
"As often as he crashes it's a wonder he hasn't shot himself by now," Johnny muttered.
"He must have hit his head in the crash. I never even thought to check him out." Cassie wanted to get Johnny back into paramedic mode.
"And he wasn't even wearing a helmet," Johnny agreed reluctantly. "Let me try to talk to him." Carefully Johnny got up and walked toward Watson.
Almost immediately the gun was in Watson's hand. "You don't follow orders very well, do you, soldier?"
"I'm not a soldier, Watson ---"
"That's Colonel Watson to you, son." Watson's voice was now more menacing.
"Look. I'm a pa -- I'm a medic. I'd like to check you out. Make sure you weren't hurt in the crash," Johnny tried another tact. He'd dealt with psychotic patients before. Sometimes the best thing to do was to just play along with them. Only this time trusty ol' Roy wasn't sneaking up behind the victim with a sedative of some kind. Johnny continued to approach but he was only too aware of the gun that was pointed at his abdomen. He was positive that Watson was an expert marksman. He was an expert everything else. As he got closer he could see some evidence of bruising on Watson's right temple. He was sure that behind his aviator sunglasses there was even more.
Watson seemed to be debating then he said, "That's not necessary. I got work to do---"
"Sorry, Colonel. Regulations -- you know," Johnny grinned pleasantly as he bluffed his way closer to Watson. It looked like Watson was going for it. Johnny hadn't thought about bringing a first aid kit with him but he had his penlight. "Wa-- Sir, could you remove your sunglasses so I can check your pupils?" he asked respectfully.
"Son, this is a waste of time but I suppose the sooner we start the sooner I can get back to the real job at hand," Watson grumbled.
Johnny noted the deep bruising on his temple and around his eye. There was a marble sized welt on the side of his head. "Does that hurt?"
"Not especially," Watson growled.
Watson's pupils were unequal and the one near the injury did not respond to the light stimulus at all. He could find no signs of any other injury in the cursory exam Watson allowed him to do but these symptoms coupled with his behavior suggested a possible head injury to Johnny.
"Enough. Enough," Watson snarled, suddenly becoming more agitated."You did your job now go back over and there and sit down."
"Sir, I really think ---"
"Grunts don't get paid to think. They get paid to obey. If you don't obey right now," Watson trained the gun on Johnny's nose. "I'll shoot you for treason. You got that?"
"I-I got it," Johnny said co-operatively as he back peddled toward the spot where Cassie sat.
Watson squeezed the trigger and a bullet dove into the forest floor three inches from Johnny's foot.
He instinctively jumped then hurried back to Cassie. Once he was seated next to her Watson turned his attention back to the radio.
"What's his condition?" Cassie demanded before Johnny could slip out of paramedic mode completely.
"Looks like he suffered a trauma to the right temple. He has some swelling and several contusions. I didn't see any lacerations or obvious bleeding but his right eye is not responsive to light stimuli and the left one is sluggish. No other signs of injury or impairment but I'd say a possible concussion definitely. I don't know how he's even walking around much less shooting at people."
"Then he needs medical attention ASAP."
"Cassie, if we don't get out of here within the hour, none of us are going to need anything," Johnny worried glancing nervously at the fire which was visibly closer.
"Well it looks like the first order of business it to get that gun away from him ---"
"That's kinda what I had in mind just then but Watson didn't seem to be rational enough to just hand it over. It doesn't look we can make it out of the clearing without his being able to get a clear shot at us. If we had time, the thing to do is just wait till he passes out but I don't think we have that kind of time. Those Santa Ana winds have this fire on the move and it's going to cut us off very soon," Johnny was blunt.
"Like I said, the first thing we gotta do is get that gun away from him."
"Cassie, don't you think I know that?! I'm just not real big on wrestling guns away from people. They tend to go off and being shot is very painful!"
"I don't imagine being caught in a fire is any walk in the park either. Johnny, I don't intend to die in a fire."
"Then you picked a damn strange line of work!!" Johnny snapped. They were in the worse mess he'd ever been in and there was no one around to help them.
"Tell me about it," she muttered. "Look were you kidding about his having a black belt?"
"He says he has several and knowing him, he does."
"Good. That's how we'll get the gun away from him."
"What are you talking about?" Johnny asked suspiciously. He was shocked to see that she was unbuttoning her shirt and pulling the shirt tails out of her pants. "What the hell are you doing? If you have some kind of weird notion about distracting him with a strip tease or something you'd better forget it. This jerk would probably shoot you for being out of uniform! Cassie!!"
"Not exactly. But I am going to distract him so you can get the gun."
"I told you I don't want to wrestle ---"
"I'll get him to put it down."
"Oh God! This is like something out of a bad spy movie. Cassie, this is a dumb plan. While most guys would be distracted by a naked woman I bet Watson ---"
"Sorry to disappoint you, Johnny," she said casually as she removed her scissors holster from her belt and slid it off. "But there's no naked women in this plan." She also removed her shoes and socks and watch. She stuffed the watch and socks inside her shoes. Then she pulled one side of the shirt over the other and put the belt on backwards over the shirt. Fire department shirts were men's shirts and the shirttails came down well past Cassie's hips. She then took off the clips that were holding her long braid up close to her head. It was now in a que that reached to her waist. She opened up the front pouch of her back pack and removed something she was never without. It was a headband that was emblazoned with the symbol of the double dragon dojo and the Chinese symbols for champion she hoped he might recognize . It was her lucky charm. She tied it around her head.
"What are you doing?" Johnny whined fearfully.
"Trying to make this uniform look as much as possible like a gi."
"A what?"
"Traditional fighting outfit for most martial arts."
"He doesn't recognize the fire dept uniform how's he going to recognize -- now wait a minute, did you say fighting outfit?!!"
"Yes."
"Are you out of your mind?! That guy is almost a foot taller than you and he's probably got 100 pounds on you!!!"
"The bigger they are the harder they fall," Cassie shrugged.
"Cassie, he really is a black belt!"
"Johnny, so am I. I am willing to follow you into a fire because you say it's what we have to do to survive. You have the experience. I trust it and I trust you. Now I am asking the same thing of you. One day in three I wear a Fire Department uniform and I am a paramedic and a firefighter. The other two days I wear a uniform like this and I am a martial arts instructor. Because Watson felt the need to carry a gun, it tells me a lot about his skills and training. I'm certain he learned martial arts in the military which means he was only taught the physical side of it. That is just the tip of the iceberg in the Arts and his lack of knowledge will make it easy to defeat him."
"You're serious," Johnny shook his head in disbelief. "I can't allow---"
"This is out of your hands," she told him firmly. There was something in her voice he felt compelled to obey. "I'm going to go and challenge him. I'll shame him into putting the gun down and work him away from it. Once I have his complete attention, you sneak around behind the chopper and get the gun and get rid of it. Once you have it I'll take him out easy so he is not injured farther."
He wanted to argue. He didn't agree with this at all but he found himself unable to argue or do anything but carry out his part of the plan.
Cassie closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths then she got up and began slowly walking toward Watson. She did not look back or give Johnny another thought. She knew he would do as he was told. She concentrated on Watson and how she could disarm and disable him without causing him any further injury.
Watson looked up as she approached. His expression was one of both curiosity and amusement. "What are you supposed to be?" he almost laughed.
"I am from the Double Dragon Dojo and I challenge your honor and thus your right to command," she said simply but forcefully.
"That's a champion's head band you're wearing. You earn that?"
"Yes, as a child. One of many I now hold. Are you honorable enough to accept my challenge?"
The change in her demeanor and the strange cadence with which she now spoke made Johnny break out in a cold sweat. He longed to wake up from this endless nightmare.
"Now look, kid," Watson began.
"Kid," she scoffed. "I am not hiding behind the playthings of the west. If you are a man, drop that and show me what you are truly made of."
"I don't need this to take care of you," Watson was beginning to anger.
She held up her left fist revealing to Watson the small tattoo of purple dragon that she had on the inside of her wrist. There were many philosophies in the martial arts. They had been around for hundreds of years. One school of thought was the Dragon. The Dragon had an arch enemy. It was the Tiger. Many US military men had studied under Tiger instructors.
The sight of the dragon made Watson snap. He threw the gun down and charged headlong into an enemy he'd had for over 600 years.
Shit shit shit, Johnny thought nervously, I don't believe this is happening. He couldn't take his eyes off the combatants but he found himself moving around the chopper and going over to the place where Watson had thrown the gun. He found it. He pulled out the clip and the firing pin then threw the clip, firing pin and the gun itself into the forest, pitching each in a different direction.
Cassie had stood stock still as Watson charged toward her. When she was within arms' reach she sidestepped and allowed Watson's momentum to carry him harmlessly past her. She could have easily polished him off at this point but she would have had to deliver a blow to his head and due to his condition she had decided against that. She settled for a light but firm kick to his lower back. When teaching this move to her students she always used a not so light kick to the backside.
Watson fell on his face landing on the pine needle carpet that nature had provided.
Watson moved fast for a large, injured man. He rolled onto his back immediately and wrapped his legs around her ankles in a scissor hold then yanked them out from under her so she started to fall onto her back.
I got rid of damn gun, Girl Wonder. Now how the hell am I suppose to keep him from beating the snot out of you? Johnny thought desperately.
Cassie's fall was a controlled fall giving her enough leverage to pull her feet out of his grip. Once she hit the ground she threw herself into a backwards somersault and was once more on her feet and standing in a fighting stance ready for Watson's next move.
He kept his eyes on her as he got up.
She started moving around him feigning with blows and kicks but always moving. He moved with her so that she did not gain the advantage of having his back exposed to an attack. He warded off the blows and jabbed a few at her. He had the weight advantage. He figured all he had to do was connect once.
She began moving even faster and peppering him with numerous blows to defend against. The air was hot from the fire and smoke that was now wafting their way was making it difficult for both combatants to breathe. This worked to the disadvantage of the larger man.
Johnny was watching with morbid fascination but he was also aware that the winds had shifted and they were driving the fire into the only direction that could possibly offer them any hope of escape. Damn it to hell!
Then Cassie stopped moving them around in a slow circle. Suddenly she began spinning herself. As she approached him she aimed a kick at his head. As expected, he ducked it. As he started to straighten up, she reached out and jabbed three fingers forcefully into the center of his sternum. She actually applied relatively little pressure but he dropped to the ground unconscious.
Johnny now felt able to move and he ran to them. She was breathing heavily. Johnny knelt down to check on Watson. "What the hell did you do?!" He had to yell. He was too frustrated not to.
"Got him tired and dizzy enough that he could be safely taken down." She put her hands on her knees and gulped air.
"You barely touched him. How did you knock him out?" Johnny was checking him over.
"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."
"Cassie, this isn't funny. I've never seen anything like this before!" He was angry.
"And you wouldn't have seen it now if it hadn't have been absolutely necessary. He'll sleep for a while. I suggest we get a Stokes and get the three of us the hell out of here."
Once again Johnny felt compelled to obey. There wasn't much more he could do for Watson even though they were carrying some medical supplies. His vitals, what he could take, were almost more consistent with being asleep than with being deeply unconscious. He concentrated on packaging Watson for transport and tried to put all the weirdness out of his mind. These kinds of things never happened to Roy!
While Johnny went through the med supplies and loaded up another field pack Cassie put her clothes back the way they belonged. She wondered if Johnny would be able to forget what he'd seen or if he'd just avoid her like the plague. She had always enjoyed Johnny's company even thought he, like the rest of Station 51, had appointed himself another big brother to her. Just what she needed. But now it might even be a worse situation. She knew that what he had seen both confused and frightened him and that could result in the loss of his friendship. Still, it had to be done so there was no point in worrying about what might happen. After all, she thought angrily as she tied her shoes. If he's not man enough to handle the truth, do I really need his friendship?
When they had everything that they needed gathered up Johnny brought a stokes basket and backboard over to the spot where Watson lay. Wordlessly they logrolled him onto the backboard, then lifted him up and put him into the stokes. Johnny secured him with pieces he cut off a role of IV tubing. This was going to be a rough trip and they wanted Watson to be a safe as possible.
Johnny and Cassie each wore their backpacks and they put the extra one into the stokes at Watson's feet. They each picked up an end and walked into the forest. The left and right arms of fire were a lot closer to one another than they had been an hour ago. Johnny hoped to hell they could get below the fireline before the two arms met. He knew that carrying Watson lessened their chances of making it but he knew that neither one of them would leave him behind.
***
Roy was sitting at the table in the med tent. It had been quiet since Brice had left. They had treated a small cut and some blisters but he knew that lull could end at any time. Doctor Morton had insisted on taking Pidge over to the mess tent to be sure that she ate so Roy had volunteered to hold the fort down while they were gone. He did notice that Morton always called her Liz not Pidge and he could have sworn she actually called him Michael once. Johnny would have had a field day with that information. Johnny! How the hell could it be true? Look at all the things he managed to survive. I'm gonna miss you, Junior. God! Am I gonna miss you! He felt his eyes tearing up and willed them to stop. He wasn't going to lose it. Not here. He'd wait till he was with Joanne. She was his rock. She could get him through anything. She got him through his mother's death a couple of years ago. That had been different but not totally unexpected. This would almost be worst. He saw Johnny everyday. Depended on him. Now....now what the hell was he going to do? Stop it, Roy, not here. Not now. You'll mourn for Johnny but not yet. He will -- he would have understood. He rested his head on his arms with his palms over his eyes and commanded himself not to lose it. He had to be strong. He always had to be strong for someone else's sake but right now there was no one else. He was alone in this big empty med tent----
A noise got his attention. It took him a minute to identify it. It sounded like a low moan. Then he remembered. He wasn't alone. Chet! This whole thing would be, if anything, harder on Chet. He wondered if he should send for Morton but he decided against it. If Chet wanted to talk about this it should be him that he talked to, not a stranger.
He hurried over to the field cot that Chet was sleeping on. He was starting to toss and turn as if he were having a nightmare. "Chet," he said kindly shaking his shoulder.
"AHHHH," Chet startled awake.
"It's alright. I didn't mean to scare you. How are you feeling?" Roy tried to be pleasant. He knew Chet was apt to be confused when he first woke up due to the sedative.
"Oh man! My head feels like I was kicked by a mule," Chet admitted weakly.
Roy knew that in the struggle to contain him, Chet's head had connected pretty forcefully with Mike Stoker's knee. "That wasn't a mule. That was Stoker."
"Stoker?! But why ----" Chet looked around. Suddenly it all came back to him and he fell back on the pillow with a look of shock and depression. "It wasn't a dream," he said quietly.
"‘Fraid not," Roy cursed his voice for cracking.
"Damn it, Roy! Why? Why the hell did it have to be them?" Chet stared at him a minute through watery eyes then rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head.
Roy patted his shoulder supportively then walked away to give Chet some privacy. All the times that he wanted to kill Chet were forgotten. Like him, Chet had had a big void shoved into his life and he was going to have to deal with it. He didn't have Joanne waiting to help him either.
***
It was slow going for Johnny and Cassie as they made their way down the mountainside. Johnny vaguely knew this area although the fire has certainly caused a lot of landmarks to look different. They followed a game trail as it zigged and zagged down the steep slope. Johnny knew that the game trail would eventually lead to a water source which, in these mountains, would be a stream or a creek. Once they found that it was a simple matter of following the flow of the water down out of the mountains. The simple plan was complicated by the fact that they were also dodging not one but two separate fires. When the trail lead close to either one it would become dark and difficult to breathe because of the smoke that the hot Santa Ana winds was whipping around along with the flames of the fires.
It took over two hours of this before they reached the creek Johnny had been looking for. Whenever he came to the wilderness he always navigated by stream not trail. He now knew exactly where he was. He also knew for sure that they could not get to a safe zone before nightfall. "Let's rest for a minute," he suggested.
They put Watson down and checked him over. The cold pack they had applied to his head had reduced the visible swelling and his vitals were strong. Then they each enjoyed a drink from the canteens. "Drink as much as you want. We can refill them from here. This water is safe to drink."
They had only stopped once for a quick drink to prevent dehydration but they had rationed themselves that time. "You okay?" Johnny asked without quite daring to look at her. She had been exceptionally quiet and he had learned when women were quiet they were usually mad. He had yelled at her back at the chopper so he knew there was a possibility that she was mad at him.
"Yeah," she sighed wearily. "But I'm afraid my knuckles are going to start dragging on the ground any time now."
He laughed. Carrying Watson had made his arms and shoulders sore too. "Well, all we gotta do now is follow this stream on out of here."
"That sounds simple. How far will we have to follow it?"
He looked around. Night was fast approaching. As they had learned during the phases of darkness they had passed through these skinny mountain trails could be treacherous. While he didn't think he would lose the stream if they traveled in the dark he might miss a landmark that he needed to guide them out. The stream was noisy enough but if the fire got close the noise it would make would easily drown it out. The smoke would block out any starlight or moonlight that might aid them. If it were just he and Cassie he might chance it, but carrying the stokes made it out of the question. "I know of a series of small caves not too far from here. Maybe we can take refuge in one of them."
"I thought we had to get the hell out of here before the fires cut us off!" She was taken completely by surprise by this idea till she thought it through. "We're not going to make it, right?"
"It'll be dark soon. I don't think we can travel this terrain without any light. Not carrying him."
Cassie knew she had flashlights but they had their hands full with the stokes and had no way to actually carry them in any way that would be of much help.
"We can hole up in one of the caves and get some rest. Maybe by morning......."
"Can we survive the fire in the cave?"
He took a deep breath. He had the urge to assure her that they could but he thought she deserved the truth. "It is possible, in theory but there's no guarantee."
"Do we have any other alternative?"
"Yeah. We could leave him in the cave and take our chances in the dark." He looked away from her to the other side of the creek. She also deserved to know all the options.
"I couldn't do that. Could you?" She was shocked at that suggestion.
"Course not, but I figured I should lay all the cards out on the table."
"So how far is this cave?" she asked stretching her arms to relieve some of the tightness in her shoulders.
"Not far at all. Come morning we'll come back here and follow this stream out and be back in the firecamp by suppertime," he promised enthusiastically.
She knew he was lying but she couldn't see any other option either. They would either survive in the cave if the fire cut them off or they would die for a man neither of them particularly liked. Her mother used to always say firemen were crazy.
Johnny's cave turned out to be little more that a large hole in a rock. Not at all like the pictures of caves she had seen. It also required a climb to gain entry. Cassie was very happy when he pulled the stokes into the cave behind him and all she had to so was climb on in. She had given him a flashlight and taken one for herself. She played it around the cave. "You sure some bear or cougar isn't going to object to us crashing here?"
"I'm sure," he laughed "This isn't an animal's den there are no dropping and no signs of any prey being either eaten or stored here. Plus it's too hard to get into."
"We got into it. Who's to say something else isn't going to want to wait out the fire here?"
"Large animals tend to run from a fire not go to ground. Us Indians know this kind of thing, Cassie," he grinned "I camp up here quite a bit. It's very peaceful and relaxing."
"When it's not on fire," she reminded him.
"Yeah. Look why don't you check on Watson. I'm going to go refill the canteens before it gets any darker." He picked up the four canteens by the straps and grabbed a blanket then headed for the door.
She thought his grabbing the blanket was odd unless he was going to try and rig up some sort of privacy curtain for an outdoor bathroom. She couldn't wait for that. As soon as Johnny was far enough away she slipped back outside the cave and found some bushes. She bet Johnny was doing the same thing.
She returned the the cave and gave Watson a more thorough check. His vitals were fairly good now. Maybe he was Superman. She sat back against the cave wall. At least it was dry. She always thought of caves as damp. There wasn't a stalactite or a stalagmite to be found. All and all not much of a cave. It was starting to get cold in there though. It had that much right.
***
Susy and Theresa had gotten a call. KJ had gone down to the cafeteria to eat then she wandered back to the ER. She was restless and needed something to do. She walked up to the nurse's station.
"Oh, KJ, I just got a call from fire dispatch. They have grounded the choppers for night flights so it looks like you're off duty till morning. I can give you a ride home if you want. I'll be leaving soon."
"My car is at the station."
"I can give you a ride there then," Dixie offered. She was dreaming of a hot shower and crawling into bed. She assumed that KJ would be thinking along those lines even more than she was after having been stuck up at the fire for a couple of days.
"Thanks, Dixie, but I told Craig I'd wait and I really would like to."
"Let me call up to the OR and check on him."
KJ paced around while Dixie made the phone call then walked back to the station once she'd hung up.
"Good news," Dixie smiled. "He came through the surgery just fine. They were able to repair all the damage. He'll have to have his eyes patched for a few days till everything heals up but the specialists are calling for a complete recovery."
"That's great!"
"And he won't wake up before morning so there is absolutely no reason for you to stick around. Come on, let's get out of here before the next crisis strikes."
KJ felt reluctant to leave but there was really was no point in sticking around here. She didn't really want to go home to an empty apartment either. Spending the night at Station 18, however, did sound appealing. This was the time to be among friends. They had to stick together even more than ever now.
***
They had finally convinced Roy to go and eat something. He sat alone in the mess tent. There were other guys there but none that he knew, at the moment. He looked around absently while he tried to determine if he was eating thin stew or thick soup. Many of these guys had come in from other counties and other states to help work this fire. They'd all been at it a long time and there was no end in sight. For every foot they drove the fire back in one place it gained several yards in another place. Every man in the tent was bone tired. Too tired to even talk. They ate in shared silence and a shared determination that whatever it took, that's what they'd give. No one but Roy knew the firefighters that had been killed by the fire but it was for them that the firefighters fought this time. It was more than their usual desire to protect the lives and property of civilians it was personal now. The death of any firefighter anywhere touched every firefighter everywhere.
The food was tasteless although Roy suspected it was partly the mood he was in. He wasn't as tired as the men who had been fighting the fire. He wasn't really tired at all. He just plain felt numb.
When he finished eating he threw his styrofoam bowl and plastic silverware into one of the large cans provided. He then went back through the line to get something for Chet. He probably wasn't hungry but he really did need to eat.
As he was walking back to the med tent but he was surprised to see Chet sitting on the hood of one of the supply trucks, leaning back on the windshield looking up at the smoke-filled sky.
"Chet, you alright?"
"Looks like a typical LA sky ---full of smog," Chet remarked.
"Look, I brought you something to eat. I know you're not hungry but you really do need to eat." Roy handed him the plate he'd fixed for him. He had plastic silverware in one pocket and a can of coke in another.
"Thanks, Roy," Chet said absently. "Any idea what it's supposed to be?"
"I was trying to figure it out but I came up dry," Roy admitted. It was far more important that food in a fire camp be filling than tasty.
Chet took a bite. "Haven't a clue either," he commented but he did force himself to continue to eat.
" The Incident Commander offered to shuttle you back," Roy said. There was really nothing Chet could do there since he'd been relieved from fire duty.
"I know but I'm not ready to go back. There's too many phone calls I'm not ready to make yet. You - ah - you have to call anyone about Johnny?"
"He never talked about anyone at the reservation or anything. I don't even know what reservation. It's amazing how little I know I guess, when you think about it."
"Doesn't he have an aunt?"
"She's not really his aunt. Just someone that helped him come to California to go to high school. I don't even know her name. Damn! He was my best friend and I never bothered to even find out any of those things!" Roy was getting angry at himself.
"Roy, I don't think you could have. He definitely did not want to talk about his life on the reservation. He wanted to forget it and we were good enough friends to let him, that's all," Chet said quietly. "Once I realized it went past bugging him and into prying I quit messing with it."
"And the cap threatened you," Roy smiled.
"Well that too. But we all have secrets that we want to keep private."
Roy suddenly realized that he had no secrets he wanted to keep private. I must really be a dull guy.
"I still can't believe it," Chet said in such a quiet voice that Roy almost didn't hear him.
"I know exactly what you mean. I keep expecting Johnny to come around the corner with some fool problem or other and ---" he stopped short. He was supposed to be comforting Chet not spilling his own guts to him. He'd lost his sister, for crying out loud.
"They ain't gonna though, are they, Roy?" Chet put down his plate and sat back against the windshield again. The smoke cleared a little and a few stars peeked down on the fire camp. "Cassie and I used to do this when we were kids -- course we were looking for UFOs. Never saw any."
Roy hopped up on the hood and sat next to Chet and gazed at the stars also. They were both quiet for a while then Chet went on, "I read somewhere that the Indians believe that the stars are the campfires of their ancestors. And when they died they went to the sky and visited all their ancestors' campfires an then got their own, I guess. So if you noticed a new star then you knew where they were. Guess we'll have to look for a new star, huh, Roy?" Suddenly he sat up straight. "You know, Roy, I'll bet those two are sitting up there around one of those campfires laughing at me. Finally pulled one over on the old big brother -- is that what you think, Cassie? Sitting up there with Gage of all people. Just to bug me. She'd do that, you know. And you, Gage! You finally get a girl and it has to be -- to be....." he turned away and buried his face in his hands.
For a minute Roy had been afraid Chet was going off the deep end again, he was getting so agitated. But when he broke down he decided to just put his hand on Chet's shoulder and let him cry. Somehow he found the idea of Johnny sitting around a campfire with his ancestors and with Cassie to be somewhat comforting.
Finally Chet calmed down and leaned back on the windshield. He seemed calmer now. They were both quiet for a while. Chet was deep in thought. Roy couldn't think of the right words to say what he wanted to say.
"I promised my mother on her death bed that I'd take care of her," Chet blurted out "And then I went and let this happen!"
"Hold on a minute, Chet. This wasn't your fault. Nothing you could have done would have prevented it."
"If she wasn't a damn fireman, it wouldn't have happened!" Chet flared.
"Hold it right there. Cassie loved what she was doing just like Johnny did. She was a damn good paramedic and a damn good fireman. We all know that something like this could happen but we do the job anyway. It's what we know and it's what we love. Cassie was happy doing this. How many people live their whole lives doing some boring but safe job that they hate? Would you have preferred that she be miserable?"
"I'd prefer that she still be here. That's all," Chet growled. "I'm gonna take a walk."
Roy let him go. He wasn't sure if he'd helped Chet or made things worse. He knew there was a whole range of emotions Chet was going to have to face to get through this. He wanted to help but Chet had to work a few things out. Anger, guilt, sorrow all of that had to come before acceptance and each person had to find his own road. Chet did and so did he. He needed to be busy so he headed for the med tent. There must be something he could count or fold or throw.
When he stepped into the tent Dr Morton called him over. "I have some good news. Brice is out of surgery and everything looks real promising for a complete recovery."
"That is good news," Roy smiled. He would have never wished blindness on anyone and Brice would have never been able to handle it. He remembered that Brice had spoken highly of Johnny. That still meant a lot to him. After the fire was over he intended to go and visit Brice.
***
Johnny climbed back into the cave carrying the four canteens and the blanket which was now soaking wet.
"I heard you coming a mile away," she teased. "So much for the stealthful Indian."
"For your information, I wanted you to hear me coming. I didn't want you to think it was a cougar or a bear and get scared," he teased her right back. "How's Watson?"
"Still asleep but his vitals are almost normal. He's probably in better shape than we are. What are you doing?" she asked, as he took the wet blanket and put it over the opening to the cave. He was stuffing the corners into crevices and shoving small stones into the crevices to help hold it in place.
"Hopefully creating a smoke barrier in case the fire comes this way. There is nothing right at the cave mouth that will burn but the smoke will be really thick," he explained.
"Makes sense," she said looking around with the aide of her flashlight." Suppose this is what the cave people called home BF?"
"BF?"
"Before Flintstones. That was the beginning of civilization, you know."
"Maybe you should eat something," he suggested. With this chick it was impossible to tell if she was delirious from hunger or just acting normal.
She wished she had something to throw at him but settled for grabbing her back pack instead. "You want an orange or some nuts?"
"I thought you didn't like nuts?"
"I like them straight -- just not in peanut butter or candy bars," she explained.
He just shook his head. He grabbed the field pack he had packed. "Well, to me nuts and fruit do not constitute a meal." He pulled a can of SPAM out of the field pack. A quick look at her told him she thought even less of his meal than he did of hers. He was too hungry to worry very much about it. The bread he had brought had been pretty well mutilated by things jostling against it in the pack but he managed to make a sandwich anyway. "I brought the peanut butter but I'm not sure there's enough left of the bread to spread it on," he offered.
"Actually this is a fairly normal meal for me," she told him.
"Glad something is normal about this whole mess. Look, Cassie, I'm sorry I yelled at you back at the chopper. It's just that ----"
"That you saw something you didn't understand and it scared you. People often react to things they don't know anything about with fear and anger. If it is different, it must be bad."
"Well, I hope I'm not that prejudiced. I mean, I have been on the receiving end of that notion myself but you are right I don't understand."
"Would you like to?"
"Not if you have to kill me," he grinning and hoped he was joking.
She laughed too. She couldn't believe he seemed willing to listen and not just judge. "I think I can spare you as long as I swear you to secrecy."
"Who'd believe me anyway?" he asked. "You just touched him and he's still out!"
"His body requires rest to heal itself. What I did actually was a deep, dark secret at one time. In English it is called the Touch of Death. To put it simply the Chinese believe that the body is surrounded by an energy field called Chi. It is this field that protects us and keeps us alive. The center of the chi is right here, in the sternum. By touching Watson there I interrupted the flow of his Chi. A light touch will induce sleep. A heavy touch will permanently interrupt the flow of Chi and the person will die."
"Die?!"
"Aren't you glad you asked?" she wondered.
"I'm not sure, but thanks for telling me anyway. That is not something I care to get involved with though, I can tell you that much."
"That's because you're a healer not a warrior."
"Excuse me? You are a paramedic too."
"Yeah but I was a warrior first. I come from a long line of warriors but you -- your people were healers."
"My grandfather was a shaman, but how in the world did you know that? I sure never told anybody."
"Just a sense I get of you. I bet that your family tree is full of shamans."
"It was a job that was passed down from father to son -- or daughter. Us Indians aren't as prejudiced as white men," he was happy to say.
"Then why the hell did you balk so much at the idea of a female fire station?!"
"You wanna know why? Well I'll tell you why....The truth of the matter is...is.....I don't really know," he sputtered the admission.
"Maybe you are listening to other people's truths and forgetting your own," she suggested.
"That sounds like something my grandfather would have said,"he told her.
"He sounds like a smart man."
"Yeah, he was," he stretched. He was tired but mostly her really did not want to be having this conversation. It reminded him of a part of his life he thought he had buried.
"So we still friends?" she asked tentatively.
"I sure hope so, but usually when a girl wants to be friends it means she's dumping me," he grinned. Funny he never found any humor in that situation before.
"Well I can't be dumping you. It's not like we could ever date anyway. You hate my music. I hate bowling. We have nothing in common date-wise. To say nothing of the fact that we'd both get whiplash looking around for Chet to find out about it."
"Chet would kill us," Johnny laughed.
"No, he'd just make us wish we were dead," she disagreed.
"Well, Captain Tacy, she might kill us -- me anyway."
"See -- just plain too complicated," she pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess you are right," he yawned. Now he really was tired. He knew tomorrow could be even more strenuous than today had been.
Cassie had already pulled one of blankets out of the ties of her back pack and had it around her. They had blankets under and over Watson. He seemed warm enough.
Johnny pulled one of the blankets from his pack and spread it out on the floor. There was very little room in the cave and Watson took up some of it. "Um, we will probably be warmer if we --um..."
"Boy, if Chet ever finds out about this," she teased.
"I still think he'll kill me," Johnny told her. Once the blanket was on the ground they each stretched out on half of it. Each one also wrapped up in separate blanket and used their pack for a pillow.
"Quite laughing, Kelly," he muttered as she quietly giggled about their situation. It was logical to share body heat in a situation like this. So why could neither of them forget about Cassie's statement in front of God and everybody that Indians were better lovers than white men? Chet is definitely going to kill me.
To be continued......
