Page 54 of Talon
“Nothing.I was too busy trying to keep from puking my guts out.What’s happened?”Robyn opened her eyes and looked at Madison, desperate for any information.
“Jake is tracking her phone.Signal is in and out but he’s here keeping an eye on it so he can update them when a new location pops up, but the rest of the men, except Talon and whoever’s at the gate, are headed in that direction.”
“Why not Talon?Is he here too?Do we need two men to guard us?”
“No.He’s with Heather.They’re getting the first aid stuff ready, just in case she needs care.They’re getting ready to go wherever needed if she needs them.”
Robyn exhaled and visibly relaxed against the cushion.
“Good.They’ll find her and she’ll be back soon.”
“Is there anything I can get you?”Madison offered.
“I can’t think of anything.The last couple of days if I eat a couple of crackers and lay still for about an hour, it seems to pass.Not sure how my stomach will react after getting up and rushing over here, but I’ll deal.Resting is the best thing for a little while.”
“Can I get you a blanket or anything to make you more comfortable?”
Robyn shook her head.“I’m good for now, thank you though.”
“How’s she doing?”Bonnie’s voice from the doorway made Madison look up.
“She’s okay.”Madison pushed herself to her feet and went to Bonnie, ushering her from the room so Robyn could rest.“I feel like I should be doing something, but I don’t know what or where to start.”
Together, they went back to the kitchen.Madison noticed that Jake’s cup looked a little light when he picked it up and took a drink so when he set it down, she snagged it and refilled it before giving it back to him.
“Thank you,” he said, barely looking up.She didn’t want to distract him or keep him from seeing if a new location popped up for Kerry.In order to occupy herself, she wandered into the attached pantry, motioning for Bonnie to join her.
“What are we doing?”Bonnie asked as she pulled the door close behind them.
“I’m thinking about what I can start now for dinner.Even if she’s not hurt, Kerry isn’t going to want to have to cook after all this.If I can find something that I can start now, that will cook all day, then be ready whenever we are, even if they trickle in to eat, then it will do two things.It will keep me busy and make it so she doesn’t have to worry about dinner.”
Bonnie stood next to her and scanned the shelves.Madison didn’t know what she was thinking, but hoped she was trying to help with the dinner dilemma.She wasn’t used to feeding a dozen people at least twice a day and could use all the help she could get.
Madison scanned the shelves for several minutes, nothing coming to her.
“How about stew?”Bonnie suggested.“It will take a while to be ready but once it is, it can simmer, and people can help themselves as they’re ready to eat.And if we’re wanting to keep busy once we get the stew started, we can make bread to go with it.”
Madison turned and looked at Bonnie for a moment, her mind spinning with possibilities.
“You’re brilliant!”Madison gave Bonnie a brief hug before pulling away.“Would you mind gathering whatever vegetables there are in here?Fresh only.I want to see what we can do with fresh before we go canned or frozen.I’ll go poke through the freezer and see what I can find for meat.”
“No problem.”
With a plan, she left the pantry and went to the large freezer to see what they had she could make work.She hoped they’d all be back soon, with Kerry in tow so she could tell them what was going on, but she’d be prepared if they didn’t find her and had to keep looking.
39
Atthebikebarnas Talon had started thinking of the barn where they stored the ATVs, dirt bikes and their motorcycles, he and Heather pulled out the first aid kit.
“This is one hell of a first aid kit,” Heather said as she started going through each of the modular boxes that stacked on top of each other, locking into place on the largest, bottom cube of the modular mobile toolbox, equipped with wheels and a long handle to make moving the entire thing easy.
What she was looking for, he wasn’t sure, but she seemed to be finding whatever it was or at least making note of what was in each one before moving on to the next box.
“Were you in on putting this together?”
Talon shook his head.“It was here when I got here, why?Is it missing something?”
“Not for general use, at least not as far as I can see off hand.But I think I’ll take pictures and show it to Dr.Kurt.These would be handy to have in the trucks when we make ranch calls, or even in the office for when we need to move things from room to room.”She closed one box and moved to another, checking the contents then closing it up and reassembling the whole thing so it would be ready to go.“Do you know if there’s anything we could use for a makeshift stretcher?Just in case she’s not conscious or needs to be hauled flat?”
