Johnny Winchester: River Hunter Read Free Page A

arm?”
    “Yeah.  Well, my shoulder.”
    “Anywhere else?”
    “Some of the cuts hurt.”
    “Okay, we’ll find those.  Anything else hurt that
we can’t see?”
    “Just a headache.”
    “That’s not at all unexpected.  We’ll get you some
Tylenol if the doctor says it’s all right.  Now, can you tell me what
happened?”
    “The plane just went down.  The sound was
awful.  But once it was quiet, that was even worse.”
    “Where?”
    “Up the river.”
    “How far, do you think?”
    “I have no idea.”
    Johnny paused, watching Sam as he cleaned and bandaged
the cuts, letting her rest for a moment.
     “When did this happen?” he asked.
    “I don’t know the day,” she responded, shaking her head.
    “It’s Wednesday.  Was it this morning?”
    Suzi closed her eyes, her brow furrowed as she tried to
concentrate.  “Yesterday, I think.”
    “You spent the night out here?”  With nothing more
than the lightweight red blouse, she should have died of hypothermia. 
“How did you manage to stay warm?”
    “I had a jacket,” she said, lifting her head and looking
around.  “I don’t know where it is now.”
    Johnny patted her forearm.  “Don’t worry, it’s all
right.  You’ll be warm enough tonight.”
    Laying her head back on the pillow, she closed her
eyes.  He waited until they fluttered and remained open before continuing.
    “So, yesterday,” he observed.  “What were you doing
out here?”
    “Seeing the tundra.”
    “Sightseeing?  How many people were on the plane
besides you?”
    “Three.”
    “And where are they?”
    “They didn’t make it.”
    Sam and Johnny exchanged heavy looks, Pete and Dave
froze, even Chip let the camera slip for a few
seconds.  Johnny was unable to ask the next question, he could not handle
knowing what family or friends she had lost in the crash.
    “So,” he started, pausing to look for the right
words.  “You...the plane was near the river?”
    “I could hear it, so I walked towards the sound. 
Then I went downstream.”
    “How far do you think you walked?”
    She shook her head.  “There’s no way to know. 
It seems like I walked forever, but I know that can’t be.  And I probably
wasn’t going very fast.”
    “Not to worry,” he assured her, gently patting her hand.
    With his barrage of questions, as well as Suzi,
exhausted, Johnny dropped into silence, his forehead furrowed, creasing his
brow.  Suzi let her head sink deeply into the soft pillows as Johnny
watched Sam finish applying a series of butterfly bandages over a deep slash on
her thigh and create a makeshift sling for her damaged left arm.  Dave,
keeping track of the time, called back on the Sat phone at thirty minutes on
the dot, and, reaching the doctor, handed the phone to Sam.  While Sam
discussed their situation with the doctor and jotted down her instructions,
Johnny filled a kettle with water and set it over the fire.
    “Can I fix you a cup of tea?” he asked Suzi.
    “That would be wonderful,” she responded.
    “Black or herbal?”
    “Black.”
    “Milk and sugar?”
    “Just black.  Thank you.”
    Putting down the phone, Sam gave an update.  “The
doctor didn’t really have anything to add.  She seemed to think Suzi’s
vitals were pretty good and said to just keep an eye on them.  Gave me a
phone number to reach her in case they change.”  He waved the paper he had
in his hand.  “We can give her three Tylenol every four hours, other than
that, all we can do is keep her warm and fed and wait until morning.”
    “Three is too much, isn’t it?” Johnny questioned.
    “Doc said it’s okay just for
tonight.”
    He nodded, then rooted about in the small, black, nylon
bag that held their rudimentary stock of medicines, pulled out a bottle, and
set it on one of the rocks that made up the fire ring.  While Johnny
crouched by the fire waiting for the kettle to spew steam, the rest of the men
went about making dinner.  Even Chip, with most of the