were as black as his whiskers, and then peeled back the wrapper from her other candy bar and headed north.
* * *
Tony Dawson was on the beach at La Jolla. He knew the water would be cold, but he loved the feel of the hot sand between his toes and the scent of salt water in the air.
Two gulls were fighting over a scrap of bread beside a trash can near a pier, and a pair of seals were sunning on the rocks just offshore.
The sun was in his eyes, and he was wishing he’d brought his sunglasses when he heard someone calling his name. He turned to look, and then everything exploded in a flash of light.
He was no longer at the beach. He was on a ledge, then falling backward and looking up at his friends who were watching him fall. After that, everything began happening in slow motion—looking up at the near-perfect blue of the sky, seeing a hawk dip toward the earth, knowing he would never see his parents again, accepting that these were the last things he would ever see.
Then a miracle was happening. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it, arms encircling him, holding him, like they were bracing him for impact, and then everything went black.
He knew nothing about the race to save his life, or that he’d even been found.
* * *
A trauma team was waiting when the Medi-Flight helicopter landed at the hospital in Odessa. They’d already been briefed about his injuries, and the X-rays they’d taken at the hospital in Alpine were already there and waiting. After four long days, Tony Dawson was finally where he needed to be.
Six
Charlie woke up as Wyrick was radioing for permission to land at the Midland-Odessa airport. He shifted his headphones back into place and looked down. The last time he’d flown over the Permian Basin, the landscape had been rife with pump jacks. But the oil boom had come and gone, and oil prices per barrel were half of what they used to be. There were still pump jacks, but they weren’t all working, and nowhere near the quantity that they’d been before.
This made him think of Annie. Lots of things weren’t like they’d been before, including them. He was no longer part of a couple. He was alone. Married. Still in love. But alone.
And then the chopper was landing, and Wyrick was all business, shutting it down.
“I rented a car to get us to the hospital. Get what you want out of the chopper. I’m going to lock it.”
“I plugged my cell phone into a power pack back at the lodge. Let me get it,” he said, and dug it out of his backpack.
Wyrick didn’t comment. She understood it was his connection to Annie now. As soon as he dropped it in his pocket, he dug a boot out of his backpack and put it into Tony Dawson’s backpack.
“Here’s the cap Macie gave me that helped me see Tony,” Wyrick said.
Charlie took the sack, shouldered the backpack and waited as Wyrick locked up the chopper. Then they headed toward the terminal to pick up their rental, a late-model SUV.
“I’m driving. You navigate,” Charlie said, as they got in the white Ford Explorer.
Wyrick was already in the midst of locating the hospital, and slipped into the passenger seat while Charlie got in behind the wheel.
The airport was midway between Midland and Odessa, and, compared to Dallas, the traffic was minimal, and the drive was short. It was nearing sundown when they arrived at the hospital.
“God, I hope there’s good news,” Charlie said.
“His parents won’t be here yet,” Wyrick said.
Charlie patted his pocket to make sure he had his phone. “One of the downsides of Texas. It’s a long way to anywhere here,” he said, and got out.
Wyrick was right beside him all the way into the lobby, then up to the front desk.
“We’re here for Tony Dawson,” he said. “Medi-Flight brought him in a couple of hours ago.”
The lady checked her computer for a room number.
“He’s in surgery.”
“Where’s the waiting area?” Wyrick asked.
The lady gave them directions, and they headed for the elevator, then up to the surgical floor to the nurse’s desk.
“We’re here for Tony Dawson,” Charlie said.
The nurse looked up, first at Wyrick, then at him.
“Are you family?”
“No, ma’am. The family hired us to find him. They’re en route from Dallas, and likely won’t be here for another couple of hours.”
“I can’t give you any—”
Charlie interrupted. “I can give