Missing (22 page)

     He’d challenged the forest, and the forest had kicked his ass. He knew it, and every one of the men in the search party knew it. He’d committed a rookie mistake by being in too much of a hurry.

     He only hoped that Sarah didn’t have to pay a heavy price for his stupidity.

     It didn’t take long, once Duke was running point, to find the break Bryan had been looking for.

     The dog stopped dead in his tracks, and refused to move.

     Instead, he turned his head to the right and looked directly at his master.

     Ben went to one knee and examined the trail. It came to a fork. Each of the forks marked a fresh trail, indicated by bent twigs and overturned pine needles.

     Ben turned to Bryan for verification.

     “The left fork… that’s the circle you went around, right?”

     “Yes.”

     Ben patted the ground leading to the right fork and said, “Let’s go, boy. Let’s go find her.”

     Duke was off once again like a shot, the others struggling to keep up.

Chapter 45

     At Wilford Hall Medical Center, Bryan was sitting at Hannah’s bedside, stroking the inside of her forearm.

     It was one of the few places on her body that wasn’t either swollen, bruised, or wrapped in bandages.

     Or all three.

     He leaned over and kissed her tenderly on the forehead.

     Something caught his attention that he hadn’t noticed before.

     It was natural for him to think, or perhaps assume, that Hannah would always smell like Hannah. After all, she’d never been in the hospital before. At least not since he’d known her. And even when Saris 7 forced them into the mine so many years before, she made darn sure she took plenty of her favorite shampoos, body washes and colognes in with her.

     Now, after being bathed by the hospital staff, she didn’t smell like Dior. She smelled like antiseptic.

     As illogical as it sounded, it detracted from her beauty, as much as her swollen face did.

     Well, maybe not that much.

     But it gave Bryan an idea.

     “Karen, when you guys go back to the compound, would you do me a favor?”

     “Sure. Just name it.”

     “Would you have the van wait for just a minute? And would you run to my apartment and get a bottle of Hannah’s perfume? She’s got two or three she really loves, and they’ll all be there on the vanity.”

     “Okay. Why?”

     “She always insisted on never leaving the house, or later our room, without putting it on. She told me once it made her feel like a movie star.

     “I know her. She’s not vain by any means. But she always took care of herself. And the first thing she’s going to think when she wakes up all bandaged and bruised is that she’s ugly.

     “I think some of her favorite perfume will brighten her spirits. If the bruises and bandages make her feel ugly, the perfume will help her feel pretty again.”

     “Good idea. Did anyone help you with that?”

     “No. Why?”

     “Oh, nothing. All this time I thought you didn’t have a clue about how to deal with women and their insecurities. Maybe there’s hope for you after all.”

     She smiled.

     She obviously approved of his idea.

     And she’d go one step further. She’d gather up Hannah’s favorite body wash and shampoo while she was at the compound, and perhaps even a couple of her favorite dresses.

     When Karen’s mother was in the hospital several years before the freeze, it was a rough time on everyone. Karen’s mom knew she was dying, and so did everyone else.

     She’d lost all her hair, withered away to skin and bones, and was terribly self-conscious about the way she looked.

     In her last days, Karen had brought several wigs for her mom. So she could finally realize her lifelong desire to be a redhead, then a blonde, then a brunette.

     She hired a makeup artist to apply some tricks of the trade to make her mom’s face look fuller.

     But what brightened her outlook more than anything was the old dancing dress Karen had found in her mom’s attic.

     It was beautiful. Ruby red with sequins and a black silk collar. It also hadn’t been worn since her father courted her mom back in the fifties.

     Karen watched her mother tear up when she draped it over the hospital linen and smoothed it out on top of the bed.

     “Oh my,” her mother said when she looked down. “It’s the next best thing to wearing it again.”

     The dress made the old woman smile for the first time in weeks, and brought back long forgotten memories of youth, of romance, and of better times.

     The last two days before she died, Karen was at her side, listening to stories of how her mother and father once stole away to the wheat field behind his father’s barn to make love under her stars.

     How he taught her to jitterbug, and how they once won a dance marathon.

     The night they snuck out to go to a drive-in movie, and her father’s parents by some strange coincidence happened to pull into the spot beside them.

     And how they decided on Karen’s name by drawing straws because they couldn’t choose between Karen and Elaine.

     Karen told her friends that in those last two days, she learned more about her mother than she’d learned in the previous twenty years.

     The last thing her mother ever said to her was to thank her for finding the dress, and asking to be buried in it.

     “The only good thing cancer ever did for me was help me slim down. And darn it, I’m able to wear this dress again and I’m going to do it.

     “A lot of folks might be shocked to see me buried in a ruby red dress,” she said. “But I don’t care. That was one of the best times in my life, and I want to take a piece of it with me.”

     The old dress fit her perfectly.

     Karen smiled, remembering how fetching her mother looked in that casket, dressed in red with a matching hat and clutching a single red rose.

     “If Dad was still here, he’d have given you this rose himself. He’d have told you it’s the one last thing you needed to look exactly like you did the night he fell in love with you.”

     Karen more than anyone knew that simple gestures could make a woman feel pretty again, and could change her whole outlook.

     Hannah was a great friend. And Karen would make sure she felt like a movie star.

     And she would make a point, before she left the hospital that day, to take Mark aside.

     “Under no circumstances,” she’d tell him, “are you to allow any mirrors in that room. Consider them like kryptonite to Superman. Like garlic to a vampire. Keep them away from her at all costs. You have to trust me on this. Keep the mirrors away from her and tell her she’s gorgeous a hundred times a day.”

Chapter 46

     The first group of visitors had to return home without being able to speak to Hannah or to comfort her.

     As promised, though, the hospital provided them an extra pillow and a couple of black sharpies. They were able to write their get well wishes on the pillow to show her how much she meant to them.

     And all of them promised Mark they’d come back after she woke up.

     Mark stayed behind, fully expecting to sleep in the cramped chair next to Hannah’s bed.

     And he would have settled for that, in order to be near her.

     But the charge nurse would have none of it.

     She walked into the room like a commanding general with three hospital aides in tow.

     “Move that extra IV rack out. We won’t need it. Move the supply cabinet over there under the window. And get rid of that trash can. We can use the one in the bathroom.”

     At first Mark was a little bit puzzled, not knowing exactly what they were doing.

     Then a fourth aide appeared in the doorway, pushing a wheeled hospital bed.

     The nurse addressed Mark directly.

     “This one doesn’t have power, so if you want to adjust the head or foot you’ll have to do it the old fashioned way. The cranks are tucked under the foot of the bed. But I had them put a mattress topper on it, so it should be comfortable.”

     Mark wasn’t quite sure what to say.

     He managed a “Thank you.”

     She went on.

     “We can take her vitals and draw her labs from her left side, so we’ll push your bed right up against hers on her right. The only time we’ll have to disturb you will be when we change out her antibiotic and morphine bags at three a.m.

     “You won’t have to get up. They’ll just roll you out of the way, change the bags, and roll you back. If you’re asleep, they’ll try not to wake you. But if you happen to wake up and think you’re on a carnival ride, don’t freak out. They’re just moving you out of their way.

     Again, Mark muttered, “Thank you.”

     “Oh, you don’t have to thank me. I’m going to put you to work. Nothing’s free around here, so you have to earn your keep.”

     He looked at her blankly.

     “Uh… okay.”

     “Your job is to watch her closely for any signs of distress. We can monitor her heart rate at the nurse’s station, but we can’t see her facial movements or hear her whimper if she’s in pain.

     “That’s your job. To tell us if she’s in pain. If the morphine isn’t doing the trick, we can increase the drip or give her something else, so she’s able to rest comfortably.

     “Watch her face. If she starts to wince or if her face contorts, or if she starts to whimper, or if her eyes tear up… those are signs she’s in pain. If you notice any of that, come and tell us.

     “Also, when she wakes up, tell us immediately.”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

     “Now, then. You know where the bathroom is. Have you been to the cafeteria?”

     “No, ma’am.”

     Mark had been starving for a couple of hours, but had more important things to worry about.

     “It’s in the basement, and there are signs as soon as you get off the elevator to get you there. Food is free for the patients and family members. All others have to pay a pint of blood.”

     He smiled.

     She was glad he got the joke.

     “And speaking of that, we’re critically short on blood. If you’d donate a pint during your visit, we’d appreciate it, and so will the person whose life you’ll save. If you can talk some of your friends into donating as well, then I’ll make sure they don’t accidentally wheel you into surgery while you’re sleeping.

     “However, if your friends choose not to donate, and they do accidentally wheel you into surgery, they won’t remove any body parts you can’t live without.”

     “Um… I’ll make sure everybody gives a pint.”

     “Atta boy. The blood bank is located right next door to the cafeteria. Are there any questions?”

     “Yes, ma’am. Is there a ham radio nearby so I can check on things back home?”

     “In the hospital control center. Fourth floor. It’s supposed to be for official business only, but isn’t used much at night. Just go after twenty two hundred and before oh four hundred and they’ll let you use it.”

     “Twenty two hundred? Oh four hundred?”

     “Sorry. Between ten p.m. and four a.m.”

     “Thank you.”

     “One last thing. I know you’ve been too busy to notice, but you need a shower. Did you bring a change of clothes?”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

     “There isn’t a shower in the bathroom, but you can use the men’s shower room on the second floor. It’s right next to Operating Room One. You’ll see the signs.”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

     “Anything else?”