Page 24 of Kent's Watch
“Head laceration, left broken arm, right broken leg. Lots and lots of scrapes and bruises.” She looked up when she heard something in the distance. “A chopper is approaching, where do you want Kent to take Mikey?”
“Colorado Springs Memorial. I’ll radio it in and bring the parents with me.”
“Thanks, Jim.”
“No, thank you.” They hung up and Rita stuffed the phone in her pack. She grabbed the walkie. “Kent.”
“Here.”
“Sheriff Jim says to take him to Colorado Springs Memorial. He’s going to alert the hospital that you’re on the way. He’s also going to notify the parents and bring them there.”
“Roger, what about you?”
“I’ll head back as soon as Mikey is loaded. Are you riding with him?”
“I am. He woke up and is scared. Tate’s trying to calm him.”
Rita looked over the edge and saw Kent had the boy pinned down with his body. He worked with one hand and soon Tate was there beside the little boy. That seemed to calm him. Five minutes later a chopper hovered over the area and three things were lowered at the same time. A litter, and two men came down. In what seemed like seconds, the boy was put inside the litter, while the men went back into the helicopter. She frowned when only two men went back up and the chopper took off. She looked again and saw someone climbing up the side of the cliff.
Rita stood and waited for Kent to come back up to her.
“You’re not Kent,” she blurted out as soon as the man crested the cliff. He quickly took care of his rappelling equipment and turned to her with a grin.
“Nope, I’m Ryder Callahan. Not that we don’t trust you, but Kent asked one of us to walk back to the campground with you.”
“It’s going to be a long walk,” Rita sighed as she gathered Zeke’s leash, and they started back. “It took us almost four hours to get here. I’d like to know how the hell that little boy got all this way by himself.”
Ryder didn’t have an answer, so he remained silent. Four hours later they walked into the campground and found a police officer and security guard at the entrance. The guard stoppedthem to inform them that the sheriff, and Kelps had left for the hospital.
“Thank you,” Rita told him, and headed toward her SUV. She turned to Ryder. “Do you need a ride somewhere?”
“No, Kent gave me his keys,” he said as he pulled them from his pocket. “I parked my truck at his place, I’ll just take his home, and get mine. Are you going to the hospital?”
“Yes, I’ll bring Kent home.”
“Thanks, Rita.” Ryder stuck his hand out to shake, then quickly went to Kent’s truck and drove away. Rita settled Zeke in his seat and got behind the wheel. She turned the radio on low, and when she pulled out onto the highway, she headed toward Colorado Springs instead of home. She used one hand to drive, and another to fish out a protein bar from her pack to munch on as she drove.
Rita sighed in relief when she finally arrived at the hospital. Without saying a word, she parked, and got Zeke from his space in the back seat of the SUV. Once she strapped his vest and leash on him, they headed toward the entrance to the emergency department. Because Zeke wore his vest, he was allowed in the hospital as a service dog. Fifteen yards into the department, Rita stopped to look around, the first person she saw was Kent sitting in a chair against the wall, with Tate lying with his head on his paws beneath his chair. Kent looked haggard as he sat there with his head leaning against the wall, and his eyes closed. When he opened them, he looked directly at Rita, and she felt as if he was looking directly at her soul.
He didn’t even raise his head from the wall when he asked in a gravelly voice that sent shivers to her core and woke her girly parts, “Please, tell me you have a burger and fries in your pocket.”
“Sorry, but we can stop on the way home.”
Kent sat up and scrubbed his face. “When you called me this morning, it was before I even had breakfast. I think I ate my last protein bar when we took that last break before finding Mikey.”
“Sorry, I ate my last one on the way here.” Rita sat beside him, and smiled when Zeke went beneath her chair to be with Tate. “Ryder took your truck to your place, then he went home. We combed the area after he came back up on top.”
“Did you find anything?”
“Yes, it seems like the side of the cliff gave way. With that storm we had last month it’s going to be different in some places.”
“How so?”
“We’re going to have to watch out for places that were solid before that might now be weak or washed out. Well, we’re not going to, as in you and me, but the park rangers and others. That storm hit us hard and there will be washouts all over the area. That’s what Ryder thinks happened. At one point he had a hell of a time getting up from that ledge.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, luckily you’d tied yourself off to a tree further away from the edge. It could have been bad if the side had given away when either you or Ryder were using the ropes.” Rita sat there for some time, and finally looked over at a tired Kent. “Are you ready to go?”
