Page 43 of Kent's Watch
Kent thanked the higher power that he had a firm grip on Tate’s leash, because suddenly a loud crack of thunder soundedoverhead. Kent smirked at Tate when they both saw Vickers duck, and feel his front like he had been shot. Close enough to hear the other man swear, Kent watched as Vickers turned on his heel and disappeared back into the cave. Kent knew nothing of the surrounding terrain, and didn’t know if this was a cave used for mining, or was just a hole in the side of the mountain. Going on a whim, he sighed in relief when he had a weak signal. He sent the photos to Sheriff Jim, along with a quick explanation. The second text he sent was asking what that particular cave was used for. He had gotten the coordinates from his phone before sending it. As he waited for a response, he studied the area around him, and sighed in relief when the answer was quick in coming.
It turned out that it was just a cave, but according to Jim, about a mile away was an entrance to a mine that would eventually connect with that particular cave. It helped to have the sheriff with a set of blueprints, and knowledge of the area. Kent sat on his haunches, trying to make a decision. When another round of thunder sounded, with the wind picking up and lightning off in the distance, he made a quick decision. Keeping low to the ground, he started toward the area Jim had said was an entrance to the mine. After he picked up both packs, he stood, confident he wouldn’t be seen, then started away from the cave. As he walked, he explained what he was doing and why. He only nodded to the dog when he seemed to understand what Kent was saying. When he was confident in the direction he was going, he paused long enough to send a text to his former teammates to tell them what he was doing. He had also sent the pictures of Vickers at the mouth of the cave, so they knew who to look for, and then the coordinates to both the cave, and the entrance to the mine that Jim had sent him. Confident his buddies would have his back, he picked up the leash and told Tate to double-time it to their destination.
CHAPTER 19
Timothy Vickers went backinto the cave and made his way over to the woman lying on the ground. He kicked her feet, but when she didn’t move, he kicked her in the ribs as he leaned down and screamed in her face. “Wake the fuck up, bitch!” When she refused to move, he reached in, used a punishing grip on her jaw and turned her face toward him. He sucked in his breath when he saw all the blood on the side of her head. He immediately dropped her head, jumped back, reached up and pulled his own hair.
“Fuck!” he screamed into the cave. Before he panicked anymore, he reached down and felt for a pulse at her neck. It took a few minutes, but he finally felt one and breathed easier. He hated that he had to wipe the blood off his fingers onto his pants. Panicking, he jumped to his feet to give her feet one last kick to see if she would wake up. “As much as I want you dead, I don’t want to be around when you kick the bucket,” he said, and looked around wildly. With nothing to take with him, he left Rita lying unconscious in a small pool of her own blood and ran for the entrance to the cave. As soon as he rushed out into the open, he screamed as a bolt of lightning came from the sky and struck. Vickers never felt himself fly through the air, or his back hit thesolid wall of stone behind him. The only thing he remembered was that he smelt burning skin before he made contact with the ground.
Kent made his way around to where he thought another entrance was, and didn’t hesitate to extend Tate’s leash to give him the lead. What seemed like hours, but was only about twenty minutes, Tate alerted that he had found the entrance. Kent gave him a treat, then strapped on his pair of night-vision goggles. As soon as he stepped into the small entrance, a rumble of thunder could be heard overhead. He and his dog exchanged worried looks, and Kent looked at Tate with a grin. “At least the thunder will mask our approach.” The dog seemed to agree with him, and quickly started off. He ended up going one way, but quickly turned around and went another. When he did it the second time, Kent realized they were in an area that broke off in five different directions. He quickly pulled out a florescent marker to toss into the entrance to indicate that was the wrong way. Luckily he had different color ones, and he had tossed red ones inside. It ended up that the fourth hallway Tate took was the correct one. Kent paused and used a green stick to mark that as the correct one. He paused long enough to send out a text to tell the people on the outside what he was doing.
It was faint, but the entire time he made his way to Rita, he had heard thunder booming overhead. The deeper into the cavern, the narrower the path. At one point, he had to remove both packs and push them through. Thankfully, Tate was able to make it through ahead of him, and came back to use his teeth to pull the packs through the small opening. Kent had kept his leash strapped to his wrist as a precaution so he wouldn’t take off without him. As soon as he was through the small tunnel, the room they entered opened up and there were only two trails that led off that main room. As soon as the packs were re-strappedto Kent, they both froze and stared at each other in horror when they heard someone scream.
Both man and dog waited until the sound died down, and headed in the direction they thought it came from. Everything seemed to echo off the cavern walls. Kent dropped a green flare in the hallway and prayed it was the correct one. At the other end, Tate stopped suddenly when another ungodly scream rent the air. Kent looked around wildly and saw the entrance to the cave and winced when he saw a flash of lightning crash down and hit the person standing in the center of the opening. He only hoped it wasn’t Rita. Before he could think of anything else, he lunged forward when Tate pulled at his leash.
Kent let him have his space, and sighed in relief when he saw Tate make a beeline to a prone figure. When the dog started whimpering, Kent quickly made his way forward. He sucked in his breath when he saw Rita lying there in a prone position. Before he helped her, he removed both packs, staked Tate’s leash in the ground close to Rita, and with his gun drawn, he went to investigate what he had witnessed at the front of the cave.
It was slow going, but his progress was masked by the sounds of thunder and lightning coming from outside. Once he made it to the entrance of the cave, he lifted the NVG up and slowly looked outside. He winced when he saw Timothy Vickers lying on the ground several yards from the cave. Slowly, with his gun drawn, he approached. As soon as he was closer, Kent shook his head sadly. He could tell by the position of the body that he was dead. To make sure, he approached, squatted down, then felt for a pulse. Nothing. That was when he saw that one of his shoes was missing and the burnt flesh on the limb was actually smoking.
“Shit,” Kent whispered as he pulled his phone. It ended up being the satellite phone, because there was no signal on his cell. He sighed in relief as it was answered before the third ring.
“Faulkner,” came the barked reply.
“Jim, it’s Kent. I’m at the cave. Vickers is dead.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No, it looks like he was hit by lightning.”
“And Rita?”
“I’m going back inside to check on her. She was unconscious when I found her, but I wanted to get to Vickers first.”
“I understand, I would have done the same thing. Call back when you get an update on her. I’ll tell the others that you found her.”
“Thanks, Jim.” Kent rang off and made his way back to Rita. The first thing he did was pull his phone and take pictures. He wanted evidence, though he didn’t know why, since the person who had kidnapped her was dead. After the photos were taken, he quickly untied her hands and feet, then laid her gently on her back. He assessed her injuries and winced when he got to the wound on her head. Before he began, the first thing he’d done was check for a pulse. It was weak, but steady. Once she was laid out, he made sure he had put one of those silver emergency blankets beneath her, and made sure she didn’t have any broken bones. Satisfied he didn’t find any on her limbs, he was unsure of her ribs. He did see severe bruising on both sides, and made Tate lie down next to her to keep her warm. The entire time he worked on her she never made a sound or moved. He knew she was unconscious, and expected a severe concussion from the wound on her head. He took his time to bandage it. When there was nothing more he could do for her, he picked up the phone and made his way to the entrance to the cave. The first thing he did was to make sure Vickers’s body was still there. He sighed in relief when it was right where he had left it. Before making his call, he decided to go back in and remove another silver emergency blanket from the pack. He placed it over the body and held it down with some rocks. As much as Kent wanted to revive the man and kill him all over again for what he had done to Rita,it would be cruel of him to leave him exposed to the elements. Besides, there was no telling the amount of evidence they could get off him.
By the time he had him covered, there was a loud crack of thunder, then the skies opened up and it began pouring rain in sheets. He stepped several feet into the cave to make his call. Again, he sighed in relief when it was quickly answered.
“It’s Palmer.”
“What do you have?”
“She’s alive,” Kent said first, and paused when a cheer went up on the other end of the line. Kent closed his eyes and nodded, though no one could see him. He pinched his nose, drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “She’s hurt, bad. I didn’t find any broken bones, but there is severe bruising on her torso. I suspect she may have broken ribs, or cracked one.”
“Okay, but why do you say she’s hurt bad?”
“She’s unconscious, she never made a sound while I worked on her. She had a deep laceration on her head and there was a pool of blood. I’m suspecting a severe concussion.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I have her bandaged to the best of my ability with the supplies I have on hand, and Tate is keeping her warm. I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but the skies just opened up here.”
“Yeah, it’s not here yet, but it’s coming. I can actually see the wall of rain move in the distance. Bishop was on standby, but he radioed in to say he can’t fly in this. You’re on your own until this blows over, or morning comes. Whichever comes first.”
“I understand. I’ll hunker down here and keep her calm. Any word on Zeke?”
“None yet. Now that you’ve found her, I’ll radio into your team and clear up here to head over to the hospital.”
