Kristin sang softly to herself as she drove through the warm Florida night.  It had been good to see Joshua… and even better to meet his new wife.  She shook her head a little with a smile.  It was kind of hard to imagine Joshua Levin married but he was… and from all appearances happily so.  Tori, his wife, had turned out to be an absolutely wonderful woman, pretty, smart and quite a conversationalist.  Which explained why she and Nathan didn't manage to leave Joshua's house in Richfield until after 2 a.m. and why she was driving home on a dark road this late at night.  At least they didn't have to worry about letting Lucas know where they were.  He and the boys were up in Pensacola for the weekend at some sort of car race.

She glanced quickly over at Nathan who was sound asleep in the passenger seat.  It was a darned good thing she'd insisted on driving.  He probably would have done one of his patented `falling asleep and driving off the roadway' tricks.  Kristin put one hand on his thigh and gently rubbed it.  That was alright, let him get his sleep now.  They had the whole weekend alone, something that didn't happen too often and she figured that she'd come up with some ways to keep him occupied for the rest of the weekend.  He wasn't going to be getting too much more sleep if she had her way about it.

The man in the small car listened to the phone ring one more time before it was answered.

"Yeah," was how the man on the other end answered.

"They just turned westbound onto Gladeview Road from Highway 27.  It looks like they're the only ones on it.  Does that work for you?"

"That'll do just fine.  I'm not too far from there.  I'll let you know when I get done."

"Alright.  Just make sure you do a good job."

The other man's laugh was dry and humorless.  "Don't worry.  I know what to do.  I'll take care of them."  The man hung up his phone and reached down to start the van.

Kristin really enjoyed driving at this time of night.  She loved it when she was the only car on the road.  For that matter, she'd left the highway and taken the back road to make sure that she had the roadway to herself.  It was so calm, so open and she could see the ribbon of asphalt stretch out before her lit only by her lights and the soft glow of the moon.  She again glanced over at Nathan.  That was another good reason for him not to be driving.  She guaranteed that if he was driving on this road he'd be going nothing short of
100 miles an hour.  His driving had surprised her.  For a normally well-centered and conservative guy he really liked his speed.  Fortunately he was picking up on the fact that fast speeds made her more than a little bit nervous.  Hell, they scared the lights out of her, and he was learning to temper his speed, at least while she was in the car.

She frowned a little as she saw the oncoming headlights of another vehicle well down the roadway.  Intruding on her road, how dare they, she thought to herself with a smile as she dimmed her high beams.  Nathan shifted a little and she took her hand off his thigh and brought it back onto the steering wheel.  Sleep well, my boy, she thought.  We'll be home in a little over an hour and after that… well, sleep would be the last thing he was going to be doing for a while.

Yes, just about an hour, Kristin thought as she looked at the speedometer.  Just a little over the limit.  Not too bad.  Certainly not the speed Nathan would drive at but then again, she was happy with it.  She squinted just a little as the other vehicle came over a slight rise which caused the headlights to shine in her eyes.  No other cars beyond it so after this one passed she'd have the road to
herself again she thought with satisfaction and then she gasped as the other vehicle suddenly swerved into her lane.  Kristin automatically turned the steering wheel to the right to avoid the oncoming van.  She felt the thump of a collision on her front fender before her car flew off the asphalt and onto the shoulder.  The speed of the car and the angle of the shoulder conspired to drop the right wheels off the edge and Kristin screamed Nathan's name as she felt
the car begin to roll.

Nathan woke suddenly as Kristin jerked the car to the right.  He had an impression of oncoming headlights but they were too close.  Way too close… then he felt a crash as the oncoming vehicle bounced off their fender and their car slipped off the roadway.  Nathan felt that sinking feeling he'd had a few months ago when he crashed his car as the car left the road and dropped off the shoulder.  He knew what was going to happen.  The car was going to roll.  Kristin screamed his name and threw her right arm across his chest as the spin began.  He felt the car roll all the way over spinning through the air and then
landing back onto its wheels.  Felt it break through some bushes and then he saw the tree in front of them in the headlights and he knew they were going to hit it.  As they struck the tree the headlights went out and Nathan felt himself get thrown forward and then back as the front of the car seemed to come back and meet his body.  And then nothing.

"Yeah?"  The man in the small car answered the phone, mimicking his partner's earlier phone manners.

"All done," the man in the van said.  The satisfaction he felt was evident in his voice.

"You do a good job?"

"Of course… it was one of those we should have had a camera for.  She never even saw it coming."

"You're sure?"

"I'm positive," he insisted.  "They had to be going at least the limit and when I drove at them they went off the side of the road right into the trees.  They even rolled once as they went off," he grinned.  "They had to go at least 40 feet off the road.  No one's going to find them for a long time."

"Any movement from the wreck?"

"Nah, they stopped really hard when they went in so I guess they probably speared a tree… and not a creature was stirring afterwards… don't worry.  I do good work."

"Alright.  Come on back."

"On my way," the man said as he closed the phone.

Nathan awoke confused.  He was in Kristin's car but it wasn't moving… and something was wrong.  It seemed smaller than it had before.  There were no sounds around him except for a slight hissing from the front of the car.  Crashed… they'd crashed.  He suddenly felt a rising panic.  Kristin.  He turned towards the driver's seat only to fall back as a wave of blinding pain radiated from his right shoulder.  Gasping for air between the stabbing feelings in his shoulder Nathan brought his left arm up to cover his right chest.  He felt the grinding of broken bones in his shoulder as he settled back on the seat and closed his eyes momentarily.

Then, more gingerly, he moved his left arm over to where Kristin lay silent.  He touched her face and gratefully felt the warm flow of her breath against his hand.  Moving his hand over to her neck he felt her steady pulse beneath his fingers and then he also felt the warm stickiness of the blood that coursed down her head and neck.

"Kristin?" he called to her.  He moved his fingers across her cheek, "Kris?"  He sighed as there was no movement, no sign that she had heard him.  Nathan brought his hand back and fumbled in his shirt pocket until he was able to extract his phone.  He flipped the cover open and the small screen on the phone glowed a light green.  The only light in the car at all.  Gritting his teeth against the pain, Nathan carefully dialed 9 1 1 and pressed the transmit button with his thumb.  He closed his eyes as he leaned his head back against the
headrest and brought the phone to his ear.

"911 emergency. Tarpon County Sheriff's Department.  Where is your emergency?"

Nathan tried to keep his voice level as he spoke.  "I'm not really sure… we've had an accident."

"A car accident?"

"Yeah."

"Alright sir, is any one hurt?"

"Yeah, we're both hurt and Kristin is unconscious."

"And where are you, sir?"

"I don't know," Nathan paused just a moment.  "I was asleep.  I don't even know what road we were on."

Bill Bennett grimaced at the obvious sound of pain in his caller's voice.  You never knew what this dispatcher's job was going to bring you.  Even at 2:30 in the morning.  "That's alright, sir," he said reassuringly.  "We'll find you.  For that matter I can tell what tower you're transmitting from but for some reason I don't have a triangulated location for you.  You might be in a low coverage
area."  He thought for a moment.  "Where were you coming from and where were you going to?"

"We were coming from Richfield and going to New Cape Quest."

"And you don't know what road you were on?" Bennett asked calmly.

"No… but Kris was driving and she doesn't like highways."

"Are you on the roadway?"

"No, we're off the road.  We're in some trees."

"Can you see the road?"  He listened to the pained gasp from the caller on the other side.

Nathan turned his head to look back at the roadway and gasped as pain coursed through his body again.  Now he knew why the car seemed smaller.  It was.  The dashboard had been forced back and was pinning his legs.  He gingerly leaned back against the seat again and steadied his breathing as well as he could before he spoke again.

"OK, I'm not going to try to do that again."  He took a couple of breaths.  "My legs are pinned beneath the dash and I can't turn to look."

"That's alright.  Don't move any more than you have to."  Bennett quickly ran through the options in his mind.  "What's your name?"

"Nathan… Nathan Bridger."

"Hi Nathan, my name is Billy.  Look, you're going to hear some blank sounds here while I talk to my squad cars but I'll stay on the phone with you.  I'll be able to hear you even if I'm talking on the radio so if you need to talk to me you can.  Don't hang up.  Stay on the phone with me."

"Alright," Nathan said weakly.  He heard some clicks and then no sound from the phone while Billy talked on his radio.

"You still there, Nathan?"

"Yeah, I'm still here."

"Can you tell me anything about the road you were on?"

Nathan thought a bit, trying to remember anything he'd seen.  "I only saw the road just when we had the accident."  He paused.  "I think it was only two lanes, one either direction… and there were trees on the sides."

"Do you remember the accident?"

"Some of it.  I remember something woke me up and Kristin screamed.  There were headlights coming towards us and then a thump."  He paused again and caught his breath.  "And then we went off the side.  The road is raised a little because the shoulder went down and we rolled at least once before we stopped.  I guess the trees stopped us."

"So there was another car?"

"Yeah.  I don't know what happened to them though but they were in our lane, that much I know."

"Alright.  Look, I've got squad cars checking the sides of all the east-west roads in the area looking for you."  Nathan heard someone else talking to Billy.  "Hang on a second here, Nathan."  Billy started talking to the other person in the room but left Nathan on the line.  "No, we can't send up the state chopper," he said to the other person, "`cause it blew an engine last week."

"You need a helicopter with infrared?" Nathan asked.

Billy came back on the line with him.  "Yeah, but the one we would use is out of service," he said in a frustrated voice.

"I can get you one."

"How?"

Nathan smiled a little.  "I work for the UEO.  Call the duty desk at UEO headquarters and explain to them the problem and that Captain Bridger is involved.  They should have a ready helo available and they're always looking for a reason to send it up."  He heard Billy's muffled voice talking to the other person in the room.

"I've got someone making the call, Nathan… how are you doing out there?"

"I've seen better," Nathan said weakly.

"How bad are you hurt?"

"I'm alright.  It's Kristin I'm worried about."

"How bad is she hurt?"

"I don't know.  It's too dark to tell."  Nathan cradled the phone on his good shoulder while he reached his arm out again to Kristin.  "She's still unconscious and she's bleeding pretty bad from her head but I can't tell how bad she's hurt otherwise."

"She's breathing okay though?"

"Yeah, she's breathing and her head is leaned back against the headrest so her airway's okay… it's just that she's bleeding a lot," Nathan said helplessly.

Billy could hear that Nathan's voice was getting weaker and he tried to keep him talking.  "Nathan, Kristin was driving the car, right?"

"Yeah."

"Are there any roads she likes to drive on that she might have taken?"

"Not that I know," Nathan said between short breaths.  "She just really doesn't like highways so she takes backroads whenever she can."  Another pause.  "I should have driven," he said softly.

"It probably wouldn't have made a difference, Nathan.  Did you see the other car?"

"Not really, only for a moment," he knitted his brows as he thought but it was becoming harder and harder to keep his thoughts in place.  "It was bigger than a car… the headlights were higher.  Like a van or something."

"Do you remember anything about the shoulder.  Was it a wide shoulder and was it grass or gravel or dirt?"

"I don't know," said Nathan discouraged.  "It was just a shoulder but it went down lower than the roadway, I do remember that… that's why we rolled."  His voice faded off as he finished talking.

"Nathan!" Bennett said loudly.  No answer.  "Nathan, talk to me!"

"Yeah," he heard faintly.  "I'm still here."

Bennett was getting worried now.  "Nathan, I need you to stay awake and talking to me.   Don't fade out on me."

"I'm trying not to," Nathan said weakly.

"Nathan, listen to me… you're the best chance we have to get Kristin out of there and get her medical help.  If you pass out on me it's going to take a hell of a lot longer to find you two… and it sounds like Kristin needs help as fast as she can get it."

"Yeah, she does," Bennett could hear that his voice sounded stronger.  "I'll stay awake."

"And I'm going to keep on talking to you until we find you."  Nathan heard another new voice in the background.  "So stay on the line with me."

"Alright."

"Nathan, the UEO sent us a guy with a radio who can talk to the helicopter.  They need to get an idea of what size signature they're looking for.  What kind of car are you in?"

"It's a sports car.  A hunter green Jaguar… which means we'll blend in with the trees a bit."  Bennett was relieved to hear a tone of humor in Nathan's voice.

"Alright, Nathan.  This looking for you hodge-podge isn't working.  I'm going to try something else.  I'm going to talk on the radio again for a little bit."

"Okay," Nathan leaned his head back again and listened to the blank sounds on the phone until Billy came back on the line.

"Nathan, you there?"

"I'm here," he said softly.

"Nathan, I'm going to have the cars set off their sirens one by one and I need you to tell me if you hear them… alright?"

"Yeah, I'm listening."

Nathan heard another blank sound as Billy talked on the radio.  "Anything?"

"No."

"Okay, we'll try a squad east of that."  More blank sounds.  "Anything?"

"No."

"Then we'll try again."  This time Nathan heard a siren in the distance.  "Anything?"

"Yeah, I heard it but really faint."

"Could you tell from which direction?"

"No."

"Alright, let's try another."  A much closer siren could be heard this time but the sound seemed to bounce off the trees.  "How about that time?"

"That one was a lot closer."

"Any direction?"

Nathan picked up his head as another sound reached his ears.  "Thump, thump, thump."

"Huh?"

"The helicopter.  I can hear the helicopter."  Nathan heard Billy talking to someone else in the room.

"Do you know how far off the road you are?" Billy asked.

"I have no idea," Nathan said.  Suddenly a light swept over the car and then the car and all of its surroundings were lit up with a blinding light.  "I think the helo just found us."

"How do you know?" Billy asked.

"Spotlight.  They're right on us."

"Yup, they see you, Nathan."

"Thank God," Nathan said sincerely and then looked over at Kristin.  His breath caught as he was able to see the severity of her injuries for the first time.  Besides a serious cut on her head she was bleeding profusely from a deep gash in her left shoulder.  Nathan could see that her left arm was bent in directions it shouldn't normally go.  As they crashed Kristin's side of the car must have met up with a tree because the roof was smashed down and the side of the car had crumpled in.  The top of the car now rested where Kristin's head was.

Nathan heard people crashing through the trees and an officer slid next to the car on Nathan's side.  "They're here now, Billy."

"Great, Nathan.  I'll leave you in their able hands."

"Hey, Billy," Nathan said.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks, a lot….."

"My pleasure.  Take care of yourself," Nathan heard the line go dead.

He looked at the officer staring in his window.  "Take care of her first," he said weakly before he passed out.

Nathan grimaced as he gradually woke up.  He frowned when he found he
couldn't move his arm or head.  His right arm was somehow pinned to his chest and his head was immobilized.  Nathan heard some machinery running and then the frown became deeper as he realized that there was something over his head.  He brought his left arm up to grasp the material.

"Hold it, Bennie," he heard someone shout.  The yellow sheet over his face was pulled back and Nathan found himself staring at the smiling face of a firefighter.  "Hi, welcome back."

Nathan frowned again and then quickly glanced to the left as well as he could.  He didn't see Kristin at all.  "Kristin," he said.

"She's on her way to the hospital.  We got her out about ten minutes ago and the chopper is medivacing her out."

Nathan closed his eyes and visibly relaxed.  "Good."  He looked at the firefighter again.  "Was she alright?"

"She was holding her own.  She'll be fine."  He glanced through the windshield at the others standing around the car.  "How are you doing?"

"I think I'll be a little better when this car and I stop being one."

The firefighter chuckled.  "Why don't we see about getting you out of here then.  I'm going to put this sheet back over your head while we pull the dashboard up.  The windshield will probably break up and we don't want you covered with glass."

The rest of the extrication all blended together in Nathan's mind.  He remembered the feeling of relief as the dash was pulled back and his legs were freed which was quickly replaced by more pain as his legs protested against how they had been pinned in and the blood that had been restricted in his legs suddenly started flowing again.  The firefighters took great care as they slid him and the short backboard they had attached him to from the front seat of the car onto a long backboard for the trip to the hospital but he felt every movement of the stretcher and every bump was accented with a flash of pain.

Bill Noyce paced the waiting room at Tarpon County General Hospital impatiently waiting for any word.  He looked up at the door as Jonathan Ford hurried through.

"Sir?" Ford said with a heavy look of concern covering his face.

"Nothing yet, Commander," Noyce said shaking his head.  "Doctor Westphalen is in surgery and the emergency room is still working on Nathan."

"What the hell happened?" Ford asked as they sat down in chairs opposite each other.

"We don't quite know.  I understand that Nathan told one of the police officers that he thought that there was another car involved in the accident that was in their lane but he was asleep until just before the accident and wasn't sure what had happened… and there was no other car at the scene.  Only Kristin really knows."  He sat up and looked over at the man who had come through the double doors to the treatment area and was talking to the admissions people.  His hopes increased when the woman at the admissions desk pointed their way.

The young man in the blue medical scrubs smiled as he came over to them and they stood.  "Good morning, I'm Doctor Restly," he said holding out his hand.

Noyce couldn't wait anymore as the doctor shook Ford's hand.  "How are they, Doctor?"

Restly motioned towards the seats and he sat down next to Ford.  "Captain Bridger is doing alright.  He's got several injuries including a broken right collarbone and arm, a slight concussion and some serious bruising on his legs but he was very lucky there.  The dashboard came back towards him and by all rights he should have ended up with a couple of broken legs.  We did some tests to ensure that he didn't have any internal injuries but those came back negative.  He should be ready to be released soon."

"What about Doctor Westphalen?" Ford asked softly.

Restly leaned back and sighed.  "I'm afraid that she's much more seriously injured than Captain Bridger.  She's in surgery now for a collection of injuries including compound fractures of her left collarbone and arm, some substantial internal bleeding, several broken ribs and we're not sure how bad her head injuries are yet."

"You're not sure?" Noyce asked with concern.

"No, she was bleeding internally rather badly and it was decided that we needed to get her into surgery quickly.  They've just completed that surgery and now she's going down for a meta-cat scan."

"How did the surgery go?" Ford asked.

"Unfortunately, we ended up having to remove her spleen.  When the car rolled the side she was in apparently landed very heavily which crushed in the door and the roof as they rolled over.  Then they were stopped by a tree that they crashed into.  She was pulled against her restraints which caused a rather serious tear in her spleen and the door crushing in is what probably broke her arm and collarbone."

"And her head injuries?"

"Appear to have been caused when the roof collapsed as the car rolled.  She was unconscious at the scene and hasn't shown any signs of regaining consciousness yet," the doctor continued in a serious voice.  "We'll have to wait for the results of the scan but I wouldn't be surprised to find that at the very least she's suffered a serious concussion."  The young man took a breath and then looked up at them again.  "And when she gets done with the scan we need to bring her back into surgery to tend to her arm and shoulder.  It'll be several hours before we can give a good estimation of her condition."

"But for right now?" Noyce asked.

"Right now, I'd assess Doctor Westphalen to be in critical condition, sir."

"What are her chances?" the Secretary General asked quietly.

The young doctor looked sincerely up at him.  "Honestly, sir, I'd be guessing if I gave any estimation.  It'll be a couple of hours before we'll know."

Noyce nodded slightly.  "Any chance that we can see Nathan?"

"Of course, sir," Restly said standing.  "He's waiting to have his arm casted right now."  They walked towards the treatment area.  "We've given him some medicine for the pain but it doesn't seem to work too well on him."

"Yeah, he's had that problem before," Noyce said softly.  "Does he know about Kristin?"

"No, sir," Restly said stopping in front of an individual trauma room.  "I'll tell him if you'd like."

"No," Noyce said shaking his head.  "We'll tell him."  He looked over at the young doctor.  "Just be sure that you're around for the next few minutes in case he has a question that we can't answer."

"Yes, sir," Restly said pushing the door to the treatment room open.

Noyce and Ford cautiously entered the room.  Nathan was lying on the treatment bed with his eyes closed, a deep look of pain covering his face.  There was a dramatically colored bruise on the right side of his face and his arm was taped across his chest with a soft cast on the forearm area.  As they approached the bed they saw Nathan grimace and groan a little.

Noyce tenderly laid his hand on Nathan's left arm.  "Nathan?" he said softly.

Painfully, Bridger opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times before focusing on Noyce.  "Got you up again, did I, Bill?"

"Yeah, but I'm used to it," Noyce smiled softly.  "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright," Nathan breathed.  "But they won't tell me about Kristin."  He closed his eyes and frowned against another wave of pain.  "Have they told you?" he asked tightly.

"Yes, she's just out of surgery.  Apparently she pulled against the restraints pretty hard and it caused a tear in her spleen."  Nathan had his eyes open now and nodded a little.  "They had to remove it."

"But she's okay?" Nathan asked hopefully.

"We don't know yet, Nathan," Noyce said gently.  "She suffered some head injuries in the crash and they don't know how bad they are yet."

"Why not?" Nathan asked stridently.

"Because she was bleeding internally bad enough that they had to care for that first," Noyce said calmingly.  "But she made it through that surgery alright."  Nathan closed his eyes again and nodded softly.  "When she gets done with the meta-cat they're going to need to take her back into surgery," Noyce continued delicately.

Nathan still had his eyes shut but Ford could swear that he had stopped breathing.

"Why?" was all he asked.

"To repair the damage to her arm and shoulder.  She has compound breaks in both."

Nathan opened his eyes and swallowed heavily before looking up at Noyce.  "Is she going to be alright, Bill?"

"They don't know yet, Nathan," Noyce said gently placing his hand on Nathan's left shoulder.  "Right now they're classifying her as being in critical condition."

Nathan looked at him silently for just a moment.  "She's got to be alright," he whispered as an orderly came in to take him to get his arm casted.

An hour later Nathan, Ford and Noyce were sitting in the surgery waiting area.  Ford watched Nathan as he stared at the opposite wall unblinking.  The bruising on the side of his face accented how pale he was and his occasional grimace was evidence of the pain that he still felt.

"Nathan, you really can't do anything here," Bill Noyce said gently.

"If you think there's a chance that I'm leaving you're out of your mind," Nathan said tiredly never moving his head.

"There's nothing you can do for Kristin right now."

"I can be here for her, Bill.  She's done that for me and I owe her at least that much," he stopped a moment and painfully moved his head to look at him.  "And I can't leave.  I've got to know that she's okay," he said quietly and leaned his head back again.

"Alright, if you're staying then we're staying with you," Noyce said settling his head back on the wall.

Nathan felt his chair move as someone sat next to him.  He opened his eyes and looked gingerly to the side.

"Hi," Joshua Levin said.  "How're you feeling?"

"I'm banged up but I'm alright," Nathan said softly.  "How's Kris?"

"She's out of surgery.  It wasn't as bad as it looked.  She'll be okay."

Nathan closed his eyes again and let out a heartfelt sigh.  "Thank God."

In an office in a non-descript warehouse two men sat trading stories as they sipped on their coffee.  They both turned as firm footsteps were heard outside the door.  One man wore a smirk on his face as the hard-looking blond woman entered the room.  Her expression was unreadable until she came to stand next to him.  He never saw it coming.  Never saw the arm that came up sharply to smash across his face and throw him from his seat.

A genuine look of shock covered the man's face as he rubbed the side of his chin where she had hit him.  "What???" he asked perplexed.

"They're both still alive, you idiot," she spat out.

The man scrambled up.  "They can't be," he objected.  "That car rolled and then took out a tree.  There's no way that they're alive."

"But they are," the woman said coldly.

The second man cautiously watched the woman, glad that he was on the other side of the table.  "Bridger seems to be a hard man to kill."

He straightened up warily as she turned towards him.  "There will be *no* new seaQuest," she said ominously.  "We can't afford it.  We can't allow it."  Both men jumped as she slammed the riding crop she always carried down on the table.  "If we can't kill Bridger," she said forcibly.  "Then we must destroy his new toy."  She glanced between the two of them.  "Do you understand?"

"Aye aye, Captain," they both said meekly.
 
 

<<The End>>