Page 17 of Saving Veronica
“For?”
“When she’s found, we’ll have to call him, so he can to dispatch a medivac, or a bus,” Finn said and winced when comprehension dawned on her face.
“I don’t care if every bone in her body is broken, you bring her back to me. I can deal with anything, except dead. You hear me, Gerald? We can fix anything, but we can’t fix dead.”
“I do.” Gerald held her tightly while everyone else stood in silence.
Chapter 6
Finn looked around and when the Pennyworths broke apart, he cleared his throat. “Okay, so here’s what we’re going to need. Flare guns and flares.” He looked around and saw confusion on his next request. “Road flares.”
“What do you need with road flares?” Johnson asked.
“They can be seen after dark, from the sky, and they don’t go out if it rains. Whoever finds her first needs to light a flare, so the others can find them. I don’t know about you, but it looks like it’s going to rain.” He pointed to the window. “Besides, they’re easier to light than trying to find any dry wood for a campfire.”
“I have some in my car,” the sheriff said, and waved to move on.
“Satellite phone?”
“We all have them,” Gerald said, and watched Hector cross the office and pick up Ronnie’s. No one said a word that it wasn’t up on the mountain with her. “Our numbers are programmed along with the local search and rescue.”
“Okay. How long before they can get here if we need them?”
“Two, possibly three hours,” Amos sighed. “Our local search and rescue team are volunteers. All of them have regular jobs closer to the city. By the time they get here, it’d be at least two hours. However, we don’t have a search dog.”
“That’s okay. That’s where Major comes in.” He looked at Maggie and snapped his fingers. “Maggie, could you find a plastic bag and a dirty shirt of Ronnie’s? Try not to touch it with your fingers.”
“So it has her scent on it?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be right back,” Maggie said, and hurried out. As soon as she left, the vet, Grady Appleton walked in with a box.
“I don’t want to say this in front of Maggie, but we may have a problem.”
“What?” Gerald asked.
“Hypo,” Finn and Grady said at the same time.
“Excuse me?” Patterson asked.
“Hypothermia,” Grady said, and opened the box he’d brought in. “Here are at least six dozen hand warmers. What hunters use. I use them in the office when dogs come in that are left out in the winter. As long as you wrap gauze around them, they work well.” He activated one, wrapped it and passed it around.
“I’ve got a lot of gauze in the truck you can divide up and take. I don’t have any way to warm blankets.”
“Hey, do you happen to have any saline solution?” Finn asked, as he studied the hand warmer.
“I do, and it’s good on humans, why?”
“Is there a way we can wrap some of these around a bag of saline to warm it? It’s going to take a couple of hours to get to the meadow, right? I’m trained to start IVs, so I can put one in, that’ll help if she has hypo. In my pack, I have heat blankets.”
“Let me run back to my office and get you supplies. I’ll hook you up,” he said, and turned to leave. “I’ll be back in half hour or so.”
“What else are we going to need?” Finn looked around, and when he saw his father, he snapped his fingers. “Dad, behind the driver’s seat in my truck, can you get the camo pack and the long black box beneath the seat?”
“Be right back,” William said, and was back in under five minutes. “What the hell, son?” He huffed as he set the pack down. “What’s in here, rocks?”
The former military men laughed. “Life’s essentials,” Finn said, as he put his pack on the desk and began unloading it. Everyone watched as he pulled out medical supplies and rations. It surprised them he had up-to-date items.
