Missing (25 page)

     Hannah just stared at her.

     “You are at the Wilford Hall Regional Medical Center, in south San Antonio. And we’re going to take very good care of you. Do you remember your name?”

     Blink.

     “That’s a good thing. A lot of our trauma patients don’t. Do you know this gentleman standing behind me?”

     Blink.

     “Do you remember his name?”

     Blink.

     “Is he your husband or boyfriend?”

     Blink.

     “Does he always behave like a wild monkey in a cage?”

     Blink.

     Mark laughed and said, “Hey! No fair ganging up on me.”

     The second nurse reentered the room and injected the painkiller into Hannah’s IV line.

     The first nurse wasn’t finished.

     She looked down at the foot of Hannah’s bed, where Hannah’s toes made twin peaks beneath the sheets.

     Then she said, “Can you wiggle your right toes for me?”

     Hannah wiggled her right toes slightly.

     “Very good. Did that hurt too much to continue?”

     Hannah stared.

     “Good. Now let’s wiggle the left toes, if you’re able.”

     Mark and the nurse stared in rapt anticipation.

     Hannah struggled.

     Finally, after several seconds, the great toe on her left foot twitched. Ever so slightly.

     Hannah released a breath. It was obvious the movement was greatly difficult for her.

     The nurse said, “Okay. I’ll annotate that on your chart. But don’t let it concern you too much for now. Would you like to rest before we continue?”

     Blank stare.

     “Good girl. I’m almost done. I’m placing my finger in your right hand. With your unbroken fingers, can you feel it?”

     Blink.

     “Good. Can you move your unbroken fingers just a bit?”

     She did so.

     “Good. Now the left hand. Can you feel my fingers touching yours?”

     Blink.

     “Can you move them?”

     She did.

     “Good. That’s it for now. Mostly good signs. I’ll be back in a bit to check on you, and your doctor will be in to see you in an hour or so. Is there anything that’s bothering you besides the pain?”

     Blink.

     “Let me guess. You’re painfully thirsty.”

     Blink.

     “I thought so. That’s what everybody says. I’m sorry, but you can’t have anything to drink. Would it help if I gave your husband some balm to put on your lips to moisten them?”

     Blink.

     “Once the doctor lets us take the tube out of your throat we’ll let you suck on some crushed ice. For now, though, we’ve got to be pretty hard-line on the fluid intake.”

     Hannah managed to nod her head slightly. She didn’t like it, but she understood.

     “Is there anything else I can do for you right now?”

     She shook her head slightly.

     “Okay. Is the pain medicine starting to help now?”

     Blink.

     “This last part is very important. If you need me, either because you’re in pain, or having trouble breathing, or anything else at all, I want you to look directly at your husband and blink three times. He will run to find me, or one of the other nurses, immediately. Do you understand?”

     Blink.

     The nurse turned to Mark and asked, “Do
you
understand?”

     Mark, always the smart aleck, was tempted to blink his answer.

     Then he thought better of it.

     “Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter 51

     After Nurse Ratchet left, Mark and Hannah just gazed into each other’s eyes for two full minutes. It was as though they were reading each other’s thoughts.

     As if love was the only language they needed.

     Then Hannah decided she had some questions, and turned her eyes toward her right hand.

     Surprisingly, Mark got the message, and placed the pencil back in her fingers.

     She struggled to write the name “Markie.”

     Her penmanship was even worse than before, yet Mark was able to read it immediately.

     “Markie is fine. When I left all the women were fighting over who got to watch him. And they were all promising him things. Helen told him if he stayed with her, she wouldn’t make him go to school today. Karen told him if he stayed with her they would go picking apples together. Marcy said they would bake cookies together. I swear, by the time we get back home that boy is going to be spoiled rotten.”

     Hannah raised her eyebrows.

     “Okay, I know. He’s already spoiled rotten. But that’s your fault.”

     She raised her eyebrows again.

     “Okay, okay. I helped.”

     She was able to raise the pencil slightly.

     He placed the small pad of paper beneath it again.

     She wrote “love.”

     He smiled and said, “Thank you, honey. I love you too.”

     Her eyes moistened again.

     He kissed her, then wiped her tears with a tissue.

     He very carefully placed his cheek against hers. Just barely. He didn’t want to hurt her, but wanted her to feel the warmth of his face. And to feel hers.

     Tears came to his eyes too. But luckily, she couldn’t see them.

     After a couple of minutes he straightened, and noticed her pencil raised again.

     This time she wrote “Joel.”

     He didn’t understand. He didn’t know anyone named Joel.

     He thought she was getting tired, and was confused.

     “Do you mean John, honey? I’m sorry, he didn’t make it. But you can take solace in knowing the last thing he did for you was save your legs.”

     She looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, like he was crazy. She didn’t have a clue what he was referring to. But she managed to shake her head just a bit.

     “No? Not John? Did you mean Joe? He’s fine. He wrote you a song to sing when he comes to visit you. I haven’t heard it, but Debbie has. It’s about inner strength and Debbie said it made her cry.”

     He could see the frustration in her eyes.

     “Not Joe either? It looked like Joel. Did you mean Joel?”

     Blink.

     “Joel?”

     Blink.

     “Who the heck is Joel?”

     Hannah grew even more frustrated. She was desperate to know whether her friend made it.

     But she wasn’t in a position to explain who Joel was, or why his welfare was so important to her.

     She turned her eyes toward the door, in an attempt to get Mark to go get someone who might know who Joel was.

     Mark was never very good at taking hints.

     “What, honey? Is the light too bright? Want me to close the blinds?”

     Blank stare.

     “Want me to pull up your blanket? Are you cold?”

     Blank stare.

     “I’m sorry, baby. I don’t understand.”

     Then Hannah remembered her instructions from the nurse.

     She blinked three times in rapid succession, with conviction.

     And Mark said, “Oh, shit.”

     He was out the door in a flash and headed straight for the nurse’s station.

Chapter 52

     Mark wasn’t sure whether his wife was having chest pains or difficulty breathing. But he remembered the nurse’s instructions. Three blinks were a distress signal. They were Hannah’s SOS. Her mayday. They meant she needed the nurse stat.

     “I don’t know,” Mark was explaining a minute later when he rushed back into the room a step behind Nurse Ratchet.

     “She seemed to be fine and was writing words to me, and then she just seemed to get upset.”

     The nurse checked her pulse and heart monitor, then her oxygen level.

     “What did she write, exactly?”

     Mark handed her the note.

     “I’m not sure, but it looks like “Joel.”

     The nurse looked at Hannah and asked, “Honey, are you asking about Joel, the crewman who came in with you?”

     Blink.

     “He came through surgery just fine. He’s been asking about you. Would you like to see him?”

     Blink.

     “He’ll be confined to his bed for a few more days, but I’ll see what we can do. He’s been driving us crazy. Trying to make time with all the young nurses and wanting them to marry him and such.”

     Hannah wanted to laugh and say, “It figures.”

     But she couldn’t even manage a smile.

     She blinked, and the nurse seemed to read her mind.

     “Let me guess. You too?”

     Blink.

     The nurse said Hannah’s words for her.

     “It figures.”

     Mark said, “What? This guy made a pass at you? Want me to whoop him for you?”

     Hannah couldn’t answer, so she glared at Mark as hard as she could.

     Nurse Ratchet translated the glare into English.

     “If you do, I’ll break all your bones and put you in traction myself. That man kept your wife company, at his own peril, from the time of the crash until they were rescued. The rescue team said he almost certainly saved her life.”

     Hannah blinked.

     Mark relaxed a bit.

     “Well, okay. I guess I’ll let him off the hook just this once. But you did tell him you were married, right?”

     Blink.

     “And you told him that I was the only man you loved, right?”

     Blink.

     “And you told him I was handsome and sexy, right?”

     Blink.

     “And the most witty and charming man you’ve ever met, right?”

     Nothing.

     “Well, okay. I’ll settle for handsome and sexy.”

     Nurse Ratchet did something Mark didn’t think she was capable of.

     She smiled. Then she said, “I’ll arrange for Joel to pay you a visit in the next day or two. In the meantime, you need your rest. Is your pain level back down?”

     Blink.

     “Good. Is there anything else you need?”

     Nothing.

     “Good. I’ll be back to check on you in a bit. And you…”

     She wagged a finger at Mark.

     “…You behave yourself.”

     “Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter 53

     Duke seemed to have a renewed sense of purpose, as he fairly sprinted with abandon through the forest.

     The trees were thinning now, and although the blood drops had virtually disappeared, he seemed to have no problem following the scent.

     In fact, it seemed to Bryan that the dog was getting excited. He was more animated than he’d been three hours before when they’d set out.

     Ben called back over his shoulder to explain the dog’s behavior.

     “The scent is getting stronger.”

     But then the team broke into a clearing, almost two miles due east of the compound’s gates, where a power company from San Angelo had once cut down a line of trees in order to construct a high tension power pole.

     Running north to south, alongside the power pole, was one of the few paved utility roads in the area.

     A mere twelve feet wide, it stretched as far as the eye could see to the north, where it followed a long string of similar poles. To the south, it eventually connected with Highway 83.