Chapter 22

Everyone except Linda and Keri were ready to sit down to lunch when they heard the chopper circle around and land down below. For some reason that he would never be able to explain, Karl decided he wanted to see the helicopter take the prisoners away. He excused himself from the table and walked out onto the porch.

When the helicopter lifted from down below, then landed in the goat yard, Karl wandered over to the end of the porch nearest the gate to see what was happening. He was surprised to see the young woman who had been acting as a guard waiting for it. He was even more surprised to see her climb inside the chopper after the doctor climbed out. When the young woman’s body came flying back out, knocking the doctor to the ground, Karl leaped into action. He wheeled to grab his rifle, then set off at a run toward the field.

As he ran, he saw the copter actually quiver as if something large were being thrown around inside it. Then the huge body of the man who had attacked Trudy and raped Keri came leaping out and looked as if he was about to attack the doctor. Karl didn’t pause to think, he simply stopped, raised his rifle, and shot. His shot was echoed an instant later by one from the helicopter, then another from the remaining Navy guard standing near the goat shed. Although Karl levered another shell into his rifle, he knew it wasn’t needed. This time a Kevlar vest wouldn’t save the raping bastard’s life. He hadn’t aimed for the man’s chest. Instead he’d made good his previous resolve and had dotted an eye. Even while he was reloading his rifle, Karl was running toward the fallen bodies of the doctor and the young woman. By the time he had reached them, both women were showing signs of movement and the helicopter pilot was looking out the door.

“Hold it sir. Drop your rifle and stay where you are,” the pilot ordered, holding a pistol aimed at Karl.

It took Karl an instant to realize that the order was meant for him, so he stared at the pilot in surprise, but he slowly lowered his rifle.

“It’s all right, Captain,” he heard the guard call from behind him. “This man lives here. He’s one of the people we’re protecting.”

“Right,” Dr. Baker said shortly. “Only, I’d say in this case he was the one protecting us. Thank you, Karl. That was a damn good shot.”

“Jesus Christ, how did that big bastard get loose,” the pilot snapped.

The little service woman who had rolled from on top of Dr. Baker sat up. Sitting up, she muttered; “He was loose ... when I got in. He just exploded upward ... and he kicked me. He hit me so hard that ... I flew right out ... of the chopper.”

She gasped then, and grabbing at her chest, she seemed to crumple. The doctor shifted to look at her closely, then grabbed her wrist.

“Captain, radio back to L-C Greene and get some help up here. We’ve got a woman who needs to be carried on a stretcher and a dead man who needs to be loaded back onto your helicopter. Don’t anyone touch the body of that dead son-of-a-bitch for now though. Leave him where he is at the moment.”

“Yes Ma’am,” the pilot disappeared back inside the chopper.

“Wilcox, in my pack there are some emergency blankets. Cover the dead man with one and give me one for Mathews,” Dr. Baker ordered the guard who had come up. “Be careful though. Don’t touch any of the bodily fluids leaking from the dead man’s wounds. Wear some of the latex gloves out of the medical pack just in case you accidentally brush against him.”

“Yes Ma’am,” the guard said quietly, moving to obey her

“Are you sure the son-of-a-bitch is dead?” Karl growled. “The cock sucker came back to life on me once before.”

“Yes Karl, I don’t even have to look closely to know he’s dead. A rifle bullet shot directly into the eye will definitely destroy a man’s brain. However, right now I have a young woman who probably has broken ribs and needs attention. I’m the only doctor around, but I’m also the senior officer on site, so I’m in charge. I want you get to hell back to the house and stay there. I’ll speak to you later.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Karl said quietly and walked slowly toward the house.

Keri awakened in Linda’s arms, but the first thing she thought of was the bathroom, then she realized that she hurt badly. And, oh was she ever thirsty, her mouth and throat felt bone dry. All she could do was moan.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Linda sighed and then to Keri’s delight, she helped her sit up and held a glass of water to her lips. “Ely warned me that you’d be very thirsty, so try a sip of this.”

After Keri’s first sip of water, Linda pulled the glass away.

“Sorry Love, but Ely said to just let you sip a bit at a time, and not to let you gulp too much at once,” she sighed, her eyes brimming with tears.

Keri nodded, able now to lick her lips and try to smile.

“More?” she pled, her voice a croaking sound.

Another sip, then a pause, another sip and suddenly Keri absolutely had to go to the bathroom. Her guts almost tied in a knot as she cramped up.

“Toilet!” she groaned.

It was all she could do to get to the bathroom, even with Linda helping her. She hurt so much it was hard to move, but once she was there, the relief was tremendous. Keri actually moaned as her bladder drained.

“Are you okay?” Linda seemed so tender, so caring.

“Oh God, it’s such a relief,” Keri couldn’t help moaning.

The feeling was so intense that she actually felt tears come to her eyes. Linda just smiled at her and began to run the tub full of water.

“When you’re done there, how about a nice warm bath?”

“I guess, but ... is it raining?”

“No, it looks like it might, but I don’t think it is now.”

“Then could you help me to step out on the deck? I don’t know why, but I want some fresh air before I do anything else.”

“Honey, then if I have to go downstairs and throw your dad out of his wheelchair, we’re going out on the deck,” Linda grinned at her.

“Oh, I might be slow, but I think I can walk,” Keri smiled back. “I do hurt though, so let’s take it easy.”

They made it out to the deck quite easily, but when Keri saw the tents, Linda had to explain that Karl and George had called in the Navy. Linda also told her that Karl hadn’t killed Keri’s attacker before since he was wearing a bullet proof vest, but that two special agents, who were there with the Navy, had caught him that morning. They were still standing there when the helicopter came in to land and they stared in shock at the happenings that followed. Keri went white and whimpered when she saw her attacker dive out of the helicopter and gain his feet, but she heaved a sigh and nearly collapsed after he was shot. Somehow, Linda managed to get her back to bed, then she ran downstairs to get Ely.

Keri’s eyes were open when Linda and Ely came racing back into the room.

“Is he dead?” she snarled. “Was Karl able to kill that bastard this time?”

“We don’t know yet,” Ely answered.

“Well, find out, please!” Keri demanded. “I’ve got to know that the big bastard is dead and done with. If he isn’t, I’m going down there with my shotgun and I’ll blow his fucking head right off.”

Ely hurried downstairs, meeting Karl at the front steps to the porch.

“Keri wants to know, is that bastard dead?”

Karl just nodded, then slowly collapsed into one of the deck chairs, but Ely simply turned and raced back inside. At that moment he felt very old.

When L-C Greene had insisted that the prisoners’ arms had to be fastened in front of them for the flight, Dr. Baker had protested, but she was alone in her protest. Still, she felt uneasy as she climbed into the helicopter with them, so just to be sure, she did a quick check on the prisoners once she was inside the chopper. All of them seemed to be fully relaxed and still under the influence of the sedative that she’d administered. Since that amount of sedative was meant to last a very large man for a minimum of an hour, she relaxed slightly during the short flight up to the plateau.

As the chopper settled in for a landing, she heard a slight grinding noise that she couldn’t identify. Not being an experienced flier, she simply thought it was another of the odd sounds a helicopter makes. As soon as she saw Able Seaman Mathews appear at the open door, she handed out her pack and her medical bag, then climbed out herself. While she bent to pick up her burden, Mathews was boarding. Dr. Baker was completely unprepared for Mathews’ body to come hurtling out of the helicopter and land atop her, so the impact sent both of them sprawling on the ground.

Even as she hit the ground and had the breath knocked from her, she twisted, trying to get free of Mathews’ weight, trying to get up, trying to free her sidearm. She knew that she had to free her gun in order to use it to protect herself. She knew instantly that one of the prisoners had broken free and that he was dangerous. She knew that she had to get up and she had to help the single guard who was still in the copter, but Mathews’ body held her down, slowing her movement. She saw the huge prisoner get to his feet, saw him physically throw the remaining guard aside just as if he was tossing a fly. Then the massive felon was leaping out, regaining his feet. Somehow he was free, on the ground, outside the helicopter, standing over her.

He was a towering menace, his eyes like gimlets as he glared at her, still she struggled to move, fought to protect herself, time seemed to creep. She knew that threatening giant was going to kill her, yet she was helpless. She saw his hand lift and had the time to notice the blood on his wrist. She even had time to realize that he’d injured himself as he’d struggled to get free, but that hand was now a claw and she knew it was going to tear her throat open...

Then she heard a shot and immediately saw one eye explode, saw the glowering face balloon for an instant, then it was suddenly thrown to one side and bounced off one of the giant’s shoulders. Almost at the same instant she heard another shot, then a third, the last two coming so close together they were almost simultaneous. The towering body was hit, falling to one side and away from her as it crashed to the ground. Finally she managed to get a grip on Mathew’s body and began to press her own body to one side in order to gain her freedom.

Her mind was still operating at tremendous speed, and she recognized that she was high on adrenaline. She knew that the first shot she’d heard had been Karl’s because the sound of the shot had been different from a military weapon. The second shot came from a military rifle, while the third was a pistol of some sort. She struggled to regain her feet and saw Karl coming toward her, his rifle at his hip, but still pointed in the general direction of the thug, still ready for use.

“Hold it, sir. Drop your rifle and stay where you are,” she heard the pilot order and saw that he was holding a pistol aimed at Karl.

She saw Karl pause and stare at the pilot in surprise, but at least he lowered his rifle. Then Wilcox spoke up for Karl and the pilot eased off and put the pistol aside.

Lieutenant Fran Baker paused for an instant then, assessing the situation. She had injured people to care for, so she had to be a doctor, but since she knew that she was also the highest ranked officer on the site, she needed to make decisions as well. Instantly her mind dropped into command mode. She began to set things to order, simply telling people what to do and operating by rote. She even ordered Karl to move away.

“I want you get to hell back to the house and stay there. I’ll speak to you later,” she told him brusquely.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he answered, which surprised her and she took an instant to stare at his retreating back, he didn’t sound like himself.

She realized she didn’t have time to worry about that right now. Ordering Mathews to lie still, she moved to the chopper to see about the condition of the other two prisoners and the guard. Both prisoners seemed to be under the influence of the sedative as yet, but the guard was lying buckled over a seat in an awkward position. Just from the angle of his arm, she knew he was injured, perhaps having a broken or dislocated shoulder. Leaving him, she turned to the pilot who was just putting down the microphone from the radio.

“Captain, are you done with your calls?” she asked.

“Yeah, that was Greene. The stupid ass wanted to know what you did wrong, ma’am. I set him straight that it was his fault for tying that crook’s hands where he could get free.”

“Thank you for your support, Captain, but you shouldn’t have done that. After all, he is a commanding officer.”

“Ma’am, this is just between you and me, but he’s a commanding ass-hole. I should have backed you up on the issue of their hands, but I was busy with the engine of the chopper and missed my chance. I don’t care who knows how I feel. I’m a civilian pilot, not military. I just got drawn into this because I was needed, so fuck the Navy palaver and the military bull shit. I tell ‘em like I see ‘em. And I intend to talk to the big brass in person about this when I get back to Esquimalt. I’ll tell them straight out that they’ve got a loose cannon running around out here and they need to muzzle the son-of-a-bitch before the prick gets somebody else killed. Now, how long do you expect that we’ll be on the ground?”

“Oh ... uh, well ... we need help to move people, but we shouldn’t shift things until there’s been witnesses to what went on. Why, is there a problem?”

“Fuel, Ma’am,” the pilot sighed. “If I let the chopper idle for long, I’ll need fuel before I can go anywhere.”

“Then would it help to shut the engine down?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“So do it,” she ordered. “Peacock can handle radio traffic.”

“Oh, the batteries will be good for a while. This thing is rigged with extra batteries because of all the cameras and gear it usually carries,” the pilot smiled as he set about shutting down the craft.

“When you’re done shutting down, I could use a hand here,” Dr Baker said as she turned back to the injured guard.

“Can I help with that, Ma’am?” Wilcox, asked from outside the door.

“No, Wilcox, you’re on guard duty. I want you to keep an eye out for any other possible problems,” she snapped. “But, since you’re standing right there, would you check on Mathews please, is she breathing okay?”

“Yes Ma’am, she’s not doing too bad,” he answered. “She appears to be in pain and her breathing is shallow and laboured. Her heart beat is rapid, but steady. However, she’s still under stress, if she has broken ribs, that’s within the norm.”

Dr Baker looked up at him in surprise. “Do you have medical training?”

“Not really, but I was a volunteer fireman before I got into the Navy,” he answered. “I used to attend a few EMT calls. Mathews will be okay, if she get’s proper care fairly soon.”

“Okay, but you may be flying out on this chopper later because of that EMT experience. For now though, I still need you to keep guard,” she replied, trying to ease the injured sailor who’d been on guard duty into a better position.

In only a moment the pilot was helping her. They got him turned, then settled on the floor. She found that he did have a dislocated shoulder, as well as a broken jaw, and probably a concussion. From his laboured breathing, she suspected he had cracked or broken ribs as well. There wasn’t much she could do though, since she didn’t have the facilities to treat either him or Mathews properly.

“Damn, this man needs to go to the hospital, so does Mathews,” she announced. “But, I have to take a chance, we need to reseat his shoulder now. It can’t wait or it will require an operation to put it back into position. Wilcox, get in here for a moment, we’ll let the Flight Captain keep an eye out from the cargo door. I need you to hold this man’s body steady while I try to put his shoulder joint back in place.”

“Ma’am, I’ve done that job before and sometimes it takes a lot of strength,” Wilcox said as he scrambled into the chopper.

“I know Wilcox, but what I’m more worried about is having him shift inadvertently; we could puncture a lung with the end of a broken rib if things go wrong.”

They carefully positioned both their patient and themselves, then began by slowly applying pressure. To the surprise of both of them, they had hardly applied any pressure when the man’s shoulder made a dull popping sound and seemed to jump back into place almost on it’s own.

Dr Baker looked at Wilcox and smiled. “Thank you, Wilcox.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Wilcox said quietly. “That has to be the easiest replacement of a dislocation on the books.”

“I think when they x-ray this man, they’re going to find that he has damage to that socket from previous injuries,” she frowned slightly. “It popped into place as if it had been dislocated and restored before.”

“Someone’s coming on the run,” the pilot broke in at that moment. “He’s in uniform though.”

Wilcox was out the door, on the ground, and standing guard almost instantly, then he snorted.

“It’s Springfield, Ma’am,” he said, then chuckled. “Of course he’d be the first guy back. He’s on the ball. Oh, there comes Elgin too, Ma’am. That’s not a surprise either.”

Dr Baker breathed easier at that news. When Springfield got to the chopper, she explained in detail what had happened. While she spoke, she was finishing any treatment she could on the guard, then doing what she could do for Mathews.

Springfield was furious that L-C Greene had insisted the men be retied with their hands in front, but managed to control his anger. When Dr Baker asked about L-C Greene and the rest of the men, he had to tell her that he and Elgin had been ordered to climb up and assist her. Meanwhile all the others, including Winchester, were still hunting the last fugitive. He watched her grit her teeth, but was surprised when after a few seconds of thought, she spoke calmly.

“All right, if that’s the way things are, that’s what they are. Wilcox, you will go in the chopper just in case an emergency crops up with either of our two injured. Elgin, you go too, you’ll be there to guard the two prisoners. We’ll wrap up the corpse of the rapist in another of those emergency blankets to make sure no one touches him inadvertently and we’ll send him along,” she turned to the pilot. “You’ll have to contact the base at Esquimalt, then fly directly there so they can get these patients under care as quickly as possible. That is if you have enough fuel, if not, and if you have to land for fuel anywhere else, you’ll be the only one to leave the helicopter during refuelling. Understand?”

“I can make Esquimalt fine, but that leaves you with just one man here, Ma’am,” the pilot protested.

“We’ll do just fine,” she said firmly. “We’ve got Peacock on the radio as well.”

“What do we say when they want a report about the situation?” Elgin asked.

“Just tell the truth,” Springfield said quietly. “I guarantee that there won’t be any whitewash on this situation. Someone’s ass will be in the sling this time.”

“Yes, Sir,” Wilcox snapped

Springfield saw that Wilcox had to work to keep the smile off his face and guessed that he had little love for L-C Greene. He imagined that Wilcox’s report was going to be somewhat caustic and wouldn’t leave out anything that had happened. He shrugged, knowing that part of that report would show that he had actually gone outside of L-C Greene’s orders himself. That didn’t really bother him much, he’d been reprimanded by the regular forces before. Another slap on the wrist wasn’t anything he expected to lose sleep over.

It only took a few minutes before the chopper was loaded and it had lifted off. Once they were in the air and leveled off in flight, the pilot turned to Wilcox who was riding in the jump seat.

“Does she really know what she’s doing? She does only have the one effective man.”

“Hmph,” Wilcox snorted. “She’s got Springfield, Peacock, and ol’ Karl, those three are about equal to a fucking regiment in most people’s books.”

“I don’t get you?”

“Springfield is JTF2, that means the best of the best in all of the forces. Peacock is not only a great radio op, but he’s also a crack shot. Karl put a shot in that big galoot’s eye at about a hundred yards ... while running as hard as he could. To top that off, I heard a rumour that Karl claims the women in the house can out shoot him four ways from Sunday. Right now that place is like a killer bee’s nest that’s been disturbed. Anyone walking in there and trying to raise trouble would be in deep trouble themselves. I’d rather tackle getting into Fort Knox than try to attack that house.”

“Oh, I forgot about the civilians,” the pilot was a lot quieter.

“Well, the rumour was that Karl warned L-C Greene that if the guy who raped the women in his family showed up on their doorstep, they’d treat him like a varmint. I’d say Greene should have listened a little closer,” Wilcox chuckled. “I was in the mess tent this morning when Karl heard that the guy he’d shot had been wearing a Kevlar vest. He said, sort of quiet like, “If I’d known that, I’d have shot him in the eye.” I wrapped up that body just now. There’s a two-inch hole in the back side of that guy’s skull and his brains are splattered all over the side of your chopper. Oh, and his right eye seems to have disappeared. I’d say ol’ Karl made good his promise. He shot first too, so the guy was already dead by the time you and I pulled the trigger.”

The pilot suddenly remembered ordering the old guy to lower his rifle and he recalled the quiet look the old man had given him before lowering the rifle. That’s when a shiver ran down his spine.

For some reason, the rest of the flight back to Esquimalt was made with hardly any conversation.

As the helicopter flew off, Dr Baker and Springfield both sighed softly, then turned to stare at each other.

“Why did you sigh, Springfield,” the doctor asked quietly.

“I should have ‘accidentally’ held that sleeper hold just a bit longer when I put Karpichov out, then neither of those people would have gotten hurt,” he answered honestly. “But, if you repeat that, I’ll deny I said it.”

Dr Baker smiled. “And I was thinking that I should have either given him a larger dose of sedative because of his size or insisted that Greene leave his hands double tied and behind his back.”

“I can’t believe Greene had the bastard’s hands retied. Single tied, with plasti-cuffs, and his hands in the front?” Springfield asked incredulously.

“Yeah, I protested, but he said the men were asleep, so what did it matter. Having them tied in front was supposed to make it easier to transport them. As well, he said it was more humane. He claimed that he didn’t want to have anyone in his command accused of maltreating a prisoner.”

“Well, those plasti-cuffs were temporary anyway. Why didn’t he at least use regular handcuffs? I know we had several pairs issued for this mission. This was a police action and we were expecting up to half a dozen arrests.”

“I really don’t know anything about that, however I’d best get busy. Right now I want to check in with Leading Seaman Peacock. First to report to Esquimalt that the chopper is coming back with two injured personnel, two prisoners, and a body. Then secondly I want to check if there are any preliminary results from those blood tests. After that I want to see Keri and Trudy to see how they are doing. I wish we had one more man up here to spell you off. Before you do anything else though, I’d like you to speak with Karl. I think actually having to shoot that big brute upset him badly, but I think he’d listen to you if you explained to him that it was necessary. Someone had to do it, and it was poetic justice that Karl happened to be outside, with his gun handy.

“Oh, don’t get him wrong,” Springfield snorted. “He knows that shooting that thug was necessary, but it probably still upset him. By the way, if you want, I can have another man here in under a quarter hour. Remember there are two men down guarding Karl’s boat. I can have Gatling send up his mate up here. He’d be fine on his own for a while.”

“Which would leave him alone on the boat with a fugitive still free and running loose in that area? I don’t like that either. I suppose we can make do for the two-hour round trip the chopper will take getting to Esquimalt and back. Either that, or I’ll get help from down bottom, L-C Greene has got to be made to understand that we need help. Now I have to get over to Peacock. You can check to make sure that the area is relatively secure, then please talk to Karl.”

“Ma’am, I would like to have a second man here. In fact, I pretty well need another man,” Springfield frowned. “He can always rush back to the boat if necessary. Besides, Greene’s going to want to keep the men down there for support of his hunt. What worries me is that the guy they’re hunting for may have found a way to climb up the cliffs and might well be up in this area. I’m not as pessimistic as Karl about someone scaling those cliffs.”

“My military training isn’t up to yours, Springfield, and I know it. You do what you think best,” she said as she turned away. “I’ll warn Peacock to have a sidearm handy though, since you think we may have a surprise visitor.”

“Now, just a minute, I really don’t expect to be under attack...” Springfield started to say, but his voice trailed off as he realized he was only speaking to her back as she hurried away.

Karl sat on the front porch absently stroking the dog, his mind in turmoil. This time there was no doubt, he had taken a man’s life and he’d done it in front of witnesses. What truly tortured him was that he didn’t feel guilt, instead he felt relief. That actually frightened him. All his life he had been taught that a human life was sacred. Now he’d been forced to shoot a man in cold blood. He was almost terrified because it had been so easy to do and it had felt so right. He sighed softly, worried that the action of shooting a man that he’d learned to hate was going to haunt his life.

Even though his mind was wrestling with it’s own demons, his eyes still scanned the area, and his rifle was near to hand. In his own way, he was still on guard against danger. He noticed the activity around the helicopter and he saw Springfield arrive from below first, followed only seconds later by Elgin. However, he was astounded when everyone left in the chopper, leaving only the doctor and Springfield behind. His mind made note of the happenings, but he didn’t move, instead he sat there quietly, watching and taking note of what went on.

When the doctor hurried off toward the tents and Springfield approached the front steps, his eyes seemed to finally focus on something in particular. He sighed deeply at Springfield’s frown.

“Hello Karl,” Springfield said quietly.

“Hi.”

“You okay?”

“No!” Karl snapped, answering honestly.

“It’s a bitch ain’t it?” Springfield eased into the other deck chair and absently stroked the dog’s head when Bruno swung his head to check his scent.

“How the hell can you do it?” Karl almost whispered.

“I don’t know,” Springfield answered. “Part of it’s training, I guess?”

Both of them sat silently for a moment, both of them waiting for the other to speak.

“I suppose it’s like gardening,” Springfield finally sighed. “Someone has to chop down the thistles or they’ll choke out the peas and carrots.”

“Mmm,” Karl grunted, as if forced to acknowledge the other man’s words.

“He’d probably have killed the Doctor, you know?”

“I guess.”

“It might not have been your shot that killed him either. Both Peters and Wilcox shot him too.”

“Not fucking likely that they shot first, but it doesn’t matter. I didn’t miss.”

“So what?”

“Pardon?”

“You were protecting a life. He was a raving maniac at that moment, bent on murder. If I or even L-C Greene had been here, we’d have done exactly what you did, only maybe not so well.”

“Whatever.”

“Don’t you damn well give me that, you old bastard,” Springfield growled. “Under the circumstances, you had to do exactly what you did. You didn’t have a choice in the matter. You know you didn’t. There isn’t a court in the land that would do anything, but commend you for what you did. So how can you be so upset with yourself?”

“That’s just it,” Karl finally snapped an answer. “It was too bloody easy. I didn’t even think. I just reacted. I saw who it was and what he was doing. I simply had to stop him, so I shot him. Now he’s dead!”

“Did you have any other way to stop him?”

“Fuck no. I was too far away.”

“Did anyone else have a chance of stopping him?”

“Not that I could see.”

“So, let’s get this straight. Circumstance put you in a position where you were forced to react. You reacted in the only manner open to you at that time. Your action was identical to what any civilized man’s reaction would have been in the same circumstances. Yet you’re sitting here condemning yourself for your action.”

“No, not really,” Karl sighed. “I know I had to do what I did, I’m just upset that I don’t feel guilty.”