“I finally have a signal, Byron.”
“Then look for the nearest hospital or clinic.”
Tara tapped the request into her phone’s search bar. “I’ve got it. White Sulphur Springs has a hospital.”
“Are we on the right road, and how far is it?”
“Um, we’re on Highway 12 now, but we were on a different road when we found the girl.”
“Okay, it looks like we’re coming up on Checkerboard. How far is that from White Sulphur Springs?”
Tara quickly tapped her phone keys. “It’s twenty more miles. Damn it.” She looked over the seat. “The girl isn’t moving.”
“Call 911 and see if you can get through to anyone. Tell them we’re heading west on US 12 and we’re just passing Checkerboard now on our way to the hospital in White Sulphur Springs. We have an unidentified girl with us who has a serious head injury. Let them know she’s unconscious and needs immediate medical attention. They have to dispatch an ambulance east to meet us.”
“Got it.”
Tara made the call, got through, and was told that an ambulance was on its way. She ended the call and repeated the message to Byron. “We’ll likely see them heading north in ten minutes or so. We’re supposed to flash our headlights on and off and honk our horn so they know it’s us, then we need to stop along the shoulder and they’ll turn around.”
“Good enough. How does her head wound look?”
Tara frowned. “The T-shirt is soaked through. I don’t know if she’s going to make it.”
“What exactly happened back there?”
Tara shook her head. “It happened so fast. I was just looking for a private place to pee, and I heard a man’s voice. He was threatening that girl with his rifle and kept telling her to move it. That’s when I stumbled backward. He saw me and then clubbed the poor girl with the end of the gun and ran into the woods. He did go in the direction of that truck, though, and then we noticed it was gone when we got back to the car. Do you remember anything about it?”
“Only that it was a dark color. Honestly, I didn’t pay any attention to it. We’ll have to talk to the cops, you know.”
“I’m fine with that.”
Byron returned his focus to the road and pressed the gas pedal to the floor. Tara leaned in closer and looked at the speedometer. He was going eighty-five.
“Am I going too fast?”
She waved him on. “No, it’s okay. We’ll see them any minute, won’t we?”
“Five minutes or so, I’d say. They’ll stabilize her until they get her to the hospital. It’s more than we can do.”
Tara looked over her shoulder again. “I don’t want her to die. She’s just a kid.”
“There they are!” Byron pointed out the windshield and flashed his lights. He honked the horn, and when he saw that the ambulance was slowing down, he pulled to the shoulder.
“Thank God!” Tara reached for the door handle, and Byron grabbed her arm.
“Honey, wait until I put it in Park.”
“Sorry.”
Seconds later, Byron and Tara exited the car and opened the rear door. The ambulance pulled up behind them, then two sheriff’s office squad cars squealed to a stop in front of Byron’s car.
“She’s in the back seat!” Tara yelled. “She was clubbed in the head with the stock of a rifle, and she’s been unconscious since.”
“Back away, please. We need room to get her out.”
One EMT rolled the gurney to the back seat, and the other rounded the car and opened the opposite door. They needed to assess the girl’s condition and secure her head before moving her.
“How long ago did this injury happen?”
Tara looked at Byron. “What, forty-five minutes ago?”
“Yeah, that sounds about right. We couldn’t get a phone signal back on that canyon road. It wasn’t until we got onto Highway 12 that we were able to make a call.”
“You said she was hit in the head with a gun?”
“Yes.”
“And she was walking on her own prior to that?”
“She was.”
“Okay, then we can assume she doesn’t have a spinal injury. How’s her head, Tim?”
“She’s secure.”
“Then let’s slide her this way and get the gurney beneath her.”
Once the girl was in the back of the ambulance, the EMTs sped off, and the deputies took over.
“We need to see your ID’s, folks, and we’ll need a formal statement. The ID’s now and the statement at the sheriff’s office.”
“Yes, of course. Whatever we can do to help,” Tara said. “I hope she makes it.”
The deputy nodded then looked at Byron’s ID. “Where were you folks headed, Mr. Philips?”
“Home. We were coming back from vacation and decided to take the back roads to see interesting landscapes instead of the same thing along the interstates.” He shook his head. “Never would I have—”
The deputy interrupted. “Vacationing where?”
“Oh, we were visiting family in Minot, North Dakota,” Byron said. “My wife, Tara, is pregnant, and we wanted to take a fun road trip before she was too far along.”
Deputy Smythe tipped his head. “Congratulations.”
Tara smiled. “Thank you.”
The other deputy, R. Knight, took over. “Okay, folks, we’re going to have you pull out right behind my car and follow me to the sheriff’s office in White Sulphur Springs. We’ll take your statement there since it needs to be on record. Deputy Smythe will be right behind you.”
“Sure thing,” Byron said.
After Knight climbed into his squad car and flashed his left blinker, Byron pulled out behind him. Byron checked his rearview mirror, and Deputy Smythe took his place behind their car.
Tara looked back. “So we’re squeezed between them deliberately, right?”
Byron shrugged. “Well, yeah. For all they know, we could have clunked that girl in the head ourselves.”
“But that’s ridiculous. Why would we clunk her, load her in our car, and still call for help?”
“We wouldn’t, honey, but the deputies don’t know us from Adam, and they’re only doing their job by taking precautions.”
Tara read the road sign they’d just passed and saw it was five more miles to White Sulphur Springs. “I wonder where that man was taking her. I didn’t see a single building or house along that road, only mountains and forests. Do you even remember what the name of that road was?”
“I looked when we were at the stop sign before turning onto Highway 12. It was called Spring Creek Road.”
“Good. I’m glad you took note of that. Do you think the sheriff’s department will conduct a search of the area?”
Byron shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s a lot of land to cover if they do.”