77
Jack awoke to the sounds of hospital noises. He was lying in a bed with white linen, fluorescent light shining off the chrome railings on the side of the gurney.
Laura sat next to him, holding his hand. The bruises on her face still showing. She smiled at him, her radiance restored to her.
“Hi there,” she said.
“Hi.”
“You going to make it?”
“I think so.”
“I thought I would never see you again.”
“I know.”
He could hear orderlies talking outside his door. “I’m sorry I ran off.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m sorry for a lot of things.”
“I know.” She squeezed his hand. He felt pain flare up in his knuckles where the chain had come down, but he didn’t tell her. He didn’t want her to let go.
“I hate Las Vegas,” he said.
She laughed.
He drifted back to sleep.
Red came into the hospital room sometime later. He pulled up a chair on the other side of Jack’s bed and started asking questions of Laura. Jack tried to follow the conversation, but drifted in and out.
“We found your rental, miles away from any road.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
“What happened?”
“The car died on a highway, nobody came.”
“What highway?”
“I’m not sure, we were just off sightseeing.”
“Did you walk away from the car?”
“No, Boots came and got us. He saved us. Took us back to his place.”
A long pause.
“Boots?”
“Yes.”
“You sure that was his name?
“Yes.”
“Uh-huh.”
Jack drifted into darkness again.
“Do you know where this trailer is?”
“Not really,” she said.
“Can you take a guess?”
“About an hour from the cave, I would think.”
“You sure about that?”
“Pretty sure. It seemed like that long from the back of the truck.”
“Could you see any landmarks?”
“No.”
“No?”
“I was tied up in the truck bed.”
“Yes, you said that already.”
Jack woke again as Red was leaving the room. The cop came back and stood next to him. His old grizzled features worn from desert living. He addressed the couple.
“You’ve both had quite the ride, haven’t you? Well, you put up a pretty good fight, Jack. Took a lot of guts.”
“Thanks,” Jack said weakly, his head still spinning between dreamland and reality.
“I wouldn’t recommend doing it again, taking on a killer with your bare hands, but if it was my missus up there, I’d like to think I would be able to do the same thing.”
Jack thought about those words . . . “taking on a killer.” He had never been as scared in his whole life as he had been walking up that mountain. He doubted whether he would ever be able to forget that feeling. The fight blurred together in a flash of blended action, but the walk, no, he would always remember that and find quiet pride inside that he had done it. Had fought against all fear, and saved Laura. It was an accomplishment to last a lifetime.
Red started to leave when Laura spoke up.
“Boots will confirm what we told you. We wouldn’t be here without him.”
The cop stood by the door, nodded to them, and left.
James was standing in the hallway waiting for him. He had spent the morning talking with Molly in the waiting room.
“What’s the girl say?” Red asked.
“Said that Cole picked her up at a diner in Vegas. That he took her up to that cave and tied her up. Said something about a guy named Boots came up and rescued her. Took her back to his trailer. That’s where she met up with these two.”
“Hmm.”
“So you think we should go looking for this guy?”
“Search all you want, James, but you won’t find nobody out there,” Red replied as he started walking down the hall.
“No? What you mean?”
Red stopped and looked back, contemplating what he was going to say next. “How long have I lived here?”
“Longer than me, Red. Almost your whole life.”
“Would you say I know the area pretty well?”
“Better than anyone, I guess. What you getting at?”
Red took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He walked back to James and looked him in the eye. “That’s right, James. I’ve lived here almost my whole life. Know almost everything there is to know about this place. And trust me. There ain’t no old man living out there in a trailer.”
James stared back blankly as Red sauntered down the hallway and out the exit door.