AGAINST HOPE
by: PEBBLES
Part 6
~~^~~^~~^~~^~~^~~
Doug squeezed
Luka’s hand, wondering what to say. “Hey, I’m
not going to leave you. Come on Bud. I’m not going
anywhere.” He watched Luka’s face and was
relieved to see the wild look leave his eyes. He searched
for a topic of conversation that didn’t dredge up ghosts
from the past.
“Look, I’m
sorry about back there, at the hotel. I behaved like a real
asshole!”
“Don’t
be.” Luka dead panned. “If I thought someone was
making a move on my girlfriend I would shoot first and ask
questions later.”
“Yeah?
Well, it sure took me by surprise. Carol always tells me
everything - even if I don’t want to hear it!”
Doug shook his head. He was still genuinely confused by her
reticence.
Luka was silent
for a while, struggling with the pain in his thigh and the
uncontrollable shivering which racked his body. “Well,
I think for her there was not so much to tell. There was no
- what d’you call it? - ‘relationship’.
She was just a good friend to me when I first came to County.”
He paused, searching for words. “Kerry and Mark seemed to be
locked in some kind of power game. Benton made no secret of
not trusting me. I welcomed Carol’s friendship and I
tried to be a friend to her as she seemed also to be alone.“
Luka paused again
to see how Doug would react to this story. He just nodded
to Luka to continue. “I never asked her about the
father of her babies. I did not want to… to invade her
privacy. She could tell me if she wanted to - I thought.
Later, I started hoping she might be interested in something
more.” He pulled a tight smile. “But when I
tried to get romantic she put me straight pretty quick. You
were the only one for her!”
“Yeah.
Well, I’m glad she finally realised it!” Doug
grinned. “Maybe I’ve got you to thank for finally
bringing her to her senses!”
“Yeah,
maybe.” Luka grinned back.
“Perhaps we
might be friends, huh?” Doug hoped that they would at
least get the chance to be. He couldn’t live with
himself if his pig-headedness resulted in this man’s death.
“You never
know - we could even go out drinking some time! You ever
tried Sljivovica?”
“What the
hell is that?” Doug wrinkled his nose.
“Plum
brandy. Usually I try to avoid it but I could do with a
shot now!” Luka tried to imagine the fire of the
mostly home-made hooch he had consumed as a student slipping down
his throat to warm his belly. Somehow his mind couldn’t
get past the deadening cold which now possessed his body.
“Would you
like to see a picture of my wife?” Luka suddenly felt
the need to share more with his new friend. If he was to
spend his last few hours with Doug Ross then he wanted to feel
like he was really a friend, not just a stranger. “I
have one in my wallet, in my jacket, there.” He nodded his
head towards the pile of sodden clothing, which Doug had
discarded.
Doug picked up
the jacket and started to go though the pockets, finally bringing
out a black leather wallet. As he passed it to Luka, a
trail of water poured out of its fold. The look of panic on
Luka’s face pierced Doug’s heart like an icy claw.
~~^~~^~~^~~^~~^~~
Kerry stamped her
feet on the ground to try and keep warm. The fog was definitely
clearing now. She could make out the glow of the moon above
and the trees, which encircled the hotel car park, were emerging
from the mist.
It was so silent;
Kerry strained her ears to hear anything. What was taking
them so long? She looked at her watch. Half an hour had
passed since her telephone call. She realised that she had
lived in the city too long. Out here, the emergency
services had to travel great distances. She tapped her
crutch nervously on the stone step.
A soft footstep
behind her seemed unnaturally loud to her straining ears. Carter
cleared his throat, unnecessarily warning her of his presence.
“John?”
She turned towards him.
“Kerry.
How are you doing?” Carter moved closer to her.
“Oh, I’m
fine.” She thought for a moment, wondering whether it
was appropriate to voice her fears. Looking into Carter’s
concerned eyes, she found herself opening up to him. “I’ve
just got a bad feeling about this. I can’t explain it.”
“What do you
mean?” Carter frowned. “You said inside
that you didn’t think Doug was really as drunk as he made
out.”
“Yes, I
know. And I do think that. It’s… It’s
Luka.” Kerry kept her eyes fixed on her shoes. “It’s
not rational, I know, but I just have this awful feeling that
something has happened to him. He’s in trouble and
were stuck here waiting for the emergency services to show up. I…”
She waved a clenched fist in the air in frustration.
Carter stuffed
his hands in his pockets to keep warm. “There’s
no reason to think that. They’re probably just lost. They
could walk in here at any moment.”
“I know
that! I’m sorry I said anything!” Kerry was
annoyed more at herself for admitting to such irrational
feelings.
“No, don’t
be Kerry. You are human you know! I… er…
couldn’t help overhearing your conversation earlier.”
Now Carter looked embarrassed but he decided to press on. “Is
there something going on between you two?”
Kerry shot him a
shocked glance. “No! I mean, there isn’t
anything…” She wondered why his question left her
feeling so flustered. Just then they heard the roar of an
engine and a Devon & Cornwall Constabulary Range Rover swept
into the hotel car park, closely followed by a white 110
Landrover Defender. Two uniformed officers stepped down from
their vehicle and a heterogeneous crew of civilians piled out of
the Landrover. Kerry forced herself to put her feelings on
hold and stepped forward to introduce herself.
“Dr Weaver?”
One of the officers offered her his hand. She nodded
taking his hand, which he shook vigorously. “Sergeant
John Crosby.” He introduced himself in a soft
westcountry bur. “And this is Constable Bradley.
Can you fill us in on the details? I gather there are two
men missing?”
“This is Dr
Carter.” After they had acknowledged the younger
doctor, she continued. “Why don’t you come
inside? You’ll need to talk to Miss Hathaway who saw
them last, although you will find that she’s quite
distressed.” Kerry turned towards the steps with the
two officers in tow. The rest of the party remained outside
getting themselves kited out with wet-weather gear, ropes and
flashlights.
Inside the hotel
lobby, Kerry introduced the police officers to Carol. Having
got past the formalities, it was straight down to business.
“So, it’s
now about two hours since you last saw Dr Kovac and Dr Ross?”
Sergeant Crosby turned to Carol with his questions.
“Yes, that’s
right. I left them by the side of the road and when I came back,
they had disappeared.” Carol shot a look at Kerry,
wondering if she had already told the officer about Doug’s
behaviour prior to this.
“And Dr Ross
is a diabetic?” Crosby waited for Carol to reply.
Kerry butted in.
“No, I didn’t say that Dr Ross was diabetic. Just
that he was exhibiting behaviour that might by symptomatic of
hypoglycaemia.” She stared down the police sergeant
daring him to challenge her.
He obviously
decided to let it go as he moved on to other topics. “They
were both wearing suits but with no outer clothing? Right?
And you left them on the right side of the road between one and
three miles of here?” To all this Carol just nodded
her agreement. “Well, Miss Hathaway I would like you
to come with us and see if you can identify the spot where you
left them.”
“I should
like to come too. I am a doctor and—”
Sergeant Crosby
interrupted Kerry. “We already have a doctor on the
team.”
“I would
like to come anyway and Dr Carter, too.” Kerry stood
up.
“Fair
enough.” Crosby shrugged. “Let’s get a move
on then.”
~~^~~^~~^~~^~~^~~
Doug put the
sodden wallet in Luka’s outstretched hand. He fumbled
with the fold, trying to extract the photograph from its hiding
place but his fingers would not co-operate. Hot tears
rolled down his cheeks and Luka flung down the wallet in despair.
His shoulders heaved as frustration and grief overcame him,
causing yet more pain to rip through his already exhausted body.
Doug quickly
picked up the wallet and sat down next to Luka, squeezing his
good shoulder in a gesture of comfort. “Hey, come on
Luka. We can get this dried out. We shouldn’t
try and get the photograph out now in case we damage it.”
Luka continued to
shake with cold, his breaths coming fast and shallow. It
was just too much effort to talk anymore. He shut his eyes
and sought an escape from this waking nightmare.
Doug was
beginning to shiver himself from the cold. Mid November was
not a good time to be spending the night outside in a thin shirt
and your underwear. He still held Luka’s wet Jacket in
his hands and whilst he wondered what to do next he
absent-mindedly went through the pockets. Perhaps there was
something else he should rescue from the damp. His fingers closed
around a small cylinder. It couldn’t be? Yes, it
was - a lighter!
“Jesus
Christ! You’ve got a lighter!” Doug’s
excited shout brought Luka back from the edge of consciousness.
“I can make a fire!”
Doug jumped to
his feet and started gathering bracken together in an untidy
heap. Shielding the pile from the breeze, he flicked at the
lighter. “Come on baby, light damn you.” He
muttered, trying to cup his hands around the fragile flame.
Luckily the bracken was dry and in no time there was a crackling
sound as the leaves ignited.
“Yeah! We
have fire!” Doug fed the fledgling flames with more
bracken and then searched around for something more substantial
to keep the fire going. Within a short radius he found
several slender pieces of branch which he broke into pieces and
fed to the fire. He was pleased to see that a steady stream
of smoke was going up into the air. Not only would it warm
them but the fire might also help a rescue party find them.
Luka was no
longer shivering. Doug knew that this was not a good sign.
There was not much heat from the fire yet, so he settled himself
down behind Luka and eased the taller man up into a semi-sitting
position. He wrapped his arms around him, trying to pass on
some of his body warmth, such as it was.
“Thank you.”
Luka murmured. “I am not afraid of dying. If
there is a heaven then maybe I will be reunited with my wife and
my children.”
End of Part 6
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