Numb3rs Fic: Flight, Chapter Two/10

[aleo_70]

Title: Flight
Author: ALEOaleo_70
Genre: Gen
Characters: Don, Charlie, Alan
Rating: PG 13+
Warning: some violence
Spoilers: nil
Summary: Sometimes a criminal isn't an enemy and cops aren't friends

Status: Chapter 2 of 10
Wordcount (this chapter): 2790
Total wordcount: ~28,200

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just borrowed them. Numb3rs and its characters are the property of those that created them. No copyright infringement intended. No financial reward gained. All real places and organisations are used in a fictional sense. Original characters and the storyline are mine however.

 

CHAPTER TWO

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“Come on.”  The voice urged.  “We have to keep moving.”

He took a step and felt pain radiating up his right leg from his knee.  That was nothing compared to the fire in his right arm.  Wrist, hand and forearm felt like one burning flame.  Something was badly wrong with it.  The jarring as he half hobbled and was half carried over what seemed to be a rough surface threatened to send him back into the dark.  He stumbled and almost fell but a yank on his upper right arm kept him upright, the pain however tipped him over the edge.

“No you don’t.”  The voice admonished.  Something smacked him across the face, the sting driving the dark away and replacing it with a stabbing headache.

He stumbled on a little further, knee gaining in strength as the pain seemed to diminish slightly.  A sprain he suspected, something he’d done on the baseball field once or twice.  He forced his eyes open and in the dim light saw bare ground beneath his feet.  Lifting his unaccountably heavy head he saw trees and some brush, a red glow off to one side looked like a sunset.  Hunh?  It all made no sense.  As the shadowy figure beside him guided him around a few rocks he struggled to understand what was happening.  It looked like he was in a forest but last he remembered he was in Albuquerque, in the FBI office.  How the hell did he end up here? 

“What-?”

“We have to keep moving.”  The voice repeated.  “Just a little further and you can rest.”

“Why-?”

“It's too dangerous to stay there.”

“Hurts.”  He objected.

“I know.  I’m going to see what I can do for you in a minute.  Nearly there.”

He tried to stop moving but the man pulled at him forcing him to continue a little further.  They topped a small rise before moving downhill.  That was his undoing, he stepped on a loose rock with his good left foot and it rolled out from under him.  As he fell he felt the twinge in his ankle that suggested he’d sprained it.  Then he hit the ground and his right arm exploded.

It was cool and he was lying on something uncomfortable.  Opening his eyes he saw only black.  There was a moment of panic as he thought he’d gone blind before he became aware of a silvery glow.  He concentrated and a few seconds later recognised trees, the glow was the moonlight from the almost full moon already high in the sky.   It was still black immediately overhead but he could look down and out into the forest.  He went to sit up and discovered that he was unable to move his right arm.  In the process he found that it was throbbing painfully and the attempt had caused stabbing pains to run from his wrist up to his shoulder.  Note to self, don’t use right arm.  Using his left arm instead and moving slowly he propped himself up.

His right knee and his left ankle hurt.  Plus he seemed to have a fair collection of painful bruises and pulled muscles, not to mention the headache.  He remembered moving through the forest in confusion.  Still not knowing what was going on he looked around and saw a figure sitting nearby in the glow of a pitiful fire.  The light enabled him to see that they were under a rock overhang with the fire and the other man higher up at the rear of the small cave.  He had been looking up at the edge of the rock near the entrance when he’d woken.  The other man did not seem to be aware that he was awake.  He concentrated on what he could see of the man’s face as another small twig was fed to the flames.  Nelson.

The plane!  Everything came back to him.  Don suddenly recalled that the pilot was having a heart attack and they were crashing.  Correct that, they had crashed.  He looked back out the cave entrance down at what he could see of the little valley in the pale light.  No wreckage.  They must have left the plane behind somewhere.  He had no memory of that, all he vaguely remembered was being pulled along somewhat insistently. 

His left ankle twinged when he remembered stepping on an unsteady rock.  Feeling a restriction on his ankle he saw his tie was wrapped around it like a bandage.  That served to remind him of his right arm.  He looked down and in the dim glow from the fire he found his right arm was secured against his chest, his suit jacket folded into a makeshift sling.  Gingerly he probed with his left hand and involuntarily hissed as his questing fingers reached a swollen area halfway up his forearm.  He moved his left hand even more gently and it definitely felt like his right was…

“It’s broken, I’m afraid.”  Nelson suddenly spoke up.

Don’s head jerked up to find the witness looking at him from the fire.  Don looked the other man over.  He had a torn jacket, dried blood on the side of his face and was holding his left leg stretched out in what looked to be an uncomfortable position.  As he watched Nelson pulled the leg in and rose stiffly to his feet.  He limped over and stopped next to the agent.

“How are you feeling?”

How did he feel?  Probing with his left hand at the top of his forehead he found a tender spot.  He must have hit the back of the seat in front of him.  “Like I’ve been in a plane crash.”

“Yeah, me too.”  Nelson agreed.  “Let me help you over to the fire.”

That sounded like a good idea.  The early evening air had barely started to cool but he knew it was going to get colder as the night went on, somewhere in the vicinity of 40 degrees Fahrenheit if last night was anything to go by.  They would want the heat as the night wore on.  He held up his uninjured left arm and with Nelson’s assistance made it to the small fire.  He found in the process that his right knee was stiff, as was his ankle but both would support him.

“You don’t look too bad.”  Don observed as the other man lowered himself back down.

“Just a twisted knee and this.”  Nelson waved his hand at his cheek where Don could now see that there was a small gash.  “But aside from that I’m okay.  Any plane crash you can walk or hobble away from is a good one.”

“Roger that.”  Wait a minute.  The agent looked around, someone was missing.  “Where is the pilot?”

Nelson looked down briefly.  “I’m sorry, Agent Eppes.  He didn’t make it.”

“The heart attack.”

“The impact.”  The older man supplied bluntly.

If it hadn’t been the one it would have been the other, Don knew.  Closing his eyes for a moment Don offered up a prayer for the pilot.  Andrew had tried his best to save the plane whist in the throes of a heart attack.  That Don and Nelson were alive was testament to the dying man’s display of skill.

“Where are we?”

“Somewhere on Mount Taylor I think.”

Don recalled that Mount Taylor was just less than 60 miles from Albuquerque as the crow flies.  Thinking on the path the plane took after takeoff and the rising terrain he’d seen just before impact he had to agree that it seemed likely they’d ended up somewhere on the mountain’s slopes.

  Nelson continued.  “I’ve hunted in the area and I’m reasonably sure that’s where we are.”

Don nodded.  He looked out towards the little valley but had lost his night vision now that he was closer to the fire and it was pitch black.  “Where is the plane?”

“Over there.”

In sudden unease he frowned at the vague wave of the other man’s arm in an arc that had covered a good third of the compass.  If the man was a hunter he would have a better sense of direction than that.  “Why did we come this far from the wreckage?”

“It was dangerous to stay there.  There was Avgas everywhere.”

That was reasonable Don supposed, as far as it went.  Aviation fuel, a kerosene derivative, was flammable but if the plane hadn’t exploded whilst they’d lain injured in the wreckage it was unlikely to do so afterwards.  They would only have had to move a short distance to ensure their safety.  He seemed to recall being forced along a lot further than what he would have thought was warranted. 

“How far have we come?”

“About half a mile.”

His internal alarm bells were getting louder, as was a distant rhythmic noise just now intruding on his hearing.  He turned his face towards the cave entrance and closing his eyes in concentration finally recognised the faint sound, a helicopter.  That meant that a search was underway for them, either the pilot had succeeded in getting the alert out or they were overdue.  Don looked at his watch at that reminder, seeing that it was just before 9pm which made them well overdue.  That they were searching this area meant that either the pilot’s call for help had been heard or the transponder had actually been activated.  The sound faded as he listened, the machine was hardly close and was moving further away. 

He reached for his cell phone and touched an empty spot on his belt.  It was gone, easily knocked off in the crash but somehow he didn’t believe that.  The agent carefully looked over at Nelson as he awkwardly reached around his belt to his right side.  His fingers found nothing as his eyes found what he was looking for.  There was a dark blotch on Nelson’s right hip that had until now been hidden by his jacket.  The older man saw where he was looking and turned slightly allowing the firelight to fall better on his side beneath his open jacket.  Nelson was wearing Don’s gun and holster, the missing cell phone was clipped to the belt just in front of the weapon. 

Don went still as his mind flashed on a range of scenarios and ramifications.  The two men locked eyes for a long moment.  Don broke the silence first, deciding to frame his demand as a question.  “Can I have that back?”

Nelson pulled his jacket around to cover the weapon before casually feeding another twig into the fire.  “I’m sorry, Agent.  But I’ve been given an opportunity that I don’t intend to waste.”

Don knew the man didn’t want to go to California and this was certainly a chance to avoid that.  “In that case why didn’t you leave me behind?  You could have just taken my gun and made a run for it.”

“I realise you don’t think much of me at the moment but I wasn’t going to leave you there for a mountain lion or a black bear to find you.”

That stopped him for a moment.  Don hadn’t thought of the dangerous wildlife in the area.  Nelson had failed to mention the coyotes and bobcats that were common throughout New Mexico as well.  All were predators and normally not inclined to attack a healthy human unless threatened but with his injuries they were all a serious hazard to him.  But he was still suspicious; in his experience offenders didn’t take weapons away from law enforcement officers for purely altruistic purposes.  

“Is that all?”

Nelson seemed a little offended.  “Of course.  I could have travelled a lot further without you.  You were pretty out of it.”

That much Don knew for certain was true, the knock to his head was responsible for that.  “And now that you’ve got me somewhere safe from the wildlife are you going to leave me?”

“No.”

Okay, next question to clarify his status.  “Will you let me leave if I want to?” 

“No.”

He’d had to ask despite having no intention of wandering out into the forest in his condition.  Moving the fire to the entrance to the cave and keeping it burning would have been a much safer option but he doubted Nelson would go for that either.  He decided to push the point.

“Why not?  Gets me out of your way.”

“If I let you do that I should have just saved myself the trouble and left you in that plane.”  Nelson said reasonably.  He appeared thoughtful for a moment.  “To be honest you are partially right, I also have an ulterior motive.  I don’t want to be found by them.”

“I see.”  The point was somewhat moot anyway.  Don listened carefully for the helicopter but it had gone. 

The helicopter would have been the first unit involved in the search for the missing aircraft.  Ground crews wouldn’t be in the area until morning.  The helicopter was most likely just conducting an initial sweep for wreckage and survivors using their Forward Looking Infra-Red system.  If nothing was detected the search would be suspended until morning.  With the cooler temperatures as dawn broke the searchers would have the necessary contrast in temperatures to make the FLIR a viable tool for detecting their body heat with the added bonus of having the visibility to see the ground below.  By sheltering in the cave however detection by the FLIR was now highly unlikely even if the machine flew directly overhead.  The rock overhang forming the cave mouth was several feet lower than the section with the fire thus preventing the warmer air from flowing outside.  Nelson had chosen his bolthole well.

The agent had seen the light flashing on the top of his cell phone indicating that it was on.  “You’ve called someone.  Someone you want to find you.”

Nelson seemed a little surprised at Don’s deduction.  He pulled the cell from his belt.  He pressed the off button and a few seconds later the phone went dark.  “Thanks for the reminder.  I suppose they’ll be going to try to track us by your GPS chip, from what I hear all you feds have them, so I’ll keep this off for now.  I’ve got a friend coming, along with my sons.” 

Don hid his disappointment realising somewhat belatedly that he shouldn’t have mentioned the phone.  He’d learnt a couple of things however, that at least three others were on their way to back up Nelson and, “You do know where we are then.”

“Didn’t take long to get my bearings, remember I’ve hunted here.  I know exactly where we are.”

“From what I know of the roads around here it’s going to take them a while to get here, especially if they are trying to avoid detection.”  There were a whole series of roadways and tracks around and up the mountain.

Nelson looked at him sharply.  “You’ve been holding out on me.  You know this area.”

“I’ve never been to Mount Taylor but I’ve looked it over on a map.  I was stationed in Albuquerque a few years ago.”

“Ever heard of Bosque Spring?”

“No.”  That was true, he hadn’t.

“They are going to meet us there in a few hours.  We have a little hike ahead of us.  Once it’s safe we’ll be on our way.”  He saw Don’s pointed glance at his bandaged ankle.  His voice took on a harder edge.  “No arguing.  It’s just a couple of miles and I know you’re up to it.”

“Keeping me with you is just going to make them hunt you all the more.”  Don warned.

“I’m going to get you to hospital, Agent.  Then I’m going to vanish.”  Nelson explained.

“What about your friend and your sons?  When they meet up with us are they going to be happy you’re dragging a fed along?”

“I doubt it.  But I’ve told them to expect you, so too bad.  Look, Agent, it’s my turn for the ‘see it from my perspective’ argument.  If I let you die out here who do you think they are going to blame for it?  The crash or me?”

“You, most likely.”  Don admitted grudgingly.  “If they could prove I died after the crash and that I could have survived if you had remained with me.”

“Exactly.  Well, obviously you don’t believe me and that’s fine.  I can do it the other way as well.”  Nelson actually sounded reluctant as he brushed back his jacket to expose the holster again and laid his right hand on the butt of the weapon.  “I’ve got the gun.  You are going to do what I tell you to do.  Clear?”

Once again their eyes locked across the fire.  “Clear.”

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