The Abandoned Spy

Chapter 2

Her eyes roamed over the contours of his face, she could see he was badly beaten, his eyes closed and a lot of dried blood was all over his face. She could see his breathing was laboured and his hand cradled his arm to his chest.

She moved closer, to get a better look at the man, his hair was a brownish blonde combination. Quickly she tried to access his wounds, she started to make mental notes of what she should bring in from the house. There were several bumps and bruises but on further exploration she saw deeper gashed running along the side of his face.

Making her way down the ladder she wondered how he had managed to use the rungs in his condition. She was so lost in thought that she ran straight into her father.

"Now hold up there Laura, you are going to hurt yourself daydreaming like that around here." he held her by her shoulders, watching her closely. "Where is your head girl?" Laura shrugged her shoulders, breaking free from his grasp, smiling at him. "Sorry daddy." she said making her way to the house. She couldn't help but be thankful that he never went up into the loft anymore.

Rushing into the house she grabbed her market basket, and started grabbing supplies from the pantry, looking for the first aid kit, she rummaged through the linen closet for old sheets that could be used as bandages. Boiling the kettle she filled a flask with hot water to help disinfect his wounds.

***

Sneaking back into the barn, Laura carried her basket up the ladder, hoisting it onto the landing. She then quickly climbed back down, to search for a clean bucket. When all her supplies were gathered she knelt next to the mattress, her eyes once again sweeping over the unconscious form.

Emptying the hot water into the bucket she quickly started tearing the old sheet into long strips, keeping a few pieces to clean him. She rinsed one of the squares of cloth in the warm water, gently pressing it against his forehead, trying to clean as much of the dried blood.

He moaned and stirred, Laura watched him closely, wondering what could be the reason for his injuries? How did he make it this far?

She made quick work to get his face clean, disinfecting the cut and putting a bandage around his head. She worked gently taking care not to hurt him further.

Unbuttoning his shirt she noticed more and more bruises, his skin had turned purple across his chest and stomach, his ribs were badly bruised and she hoped that none were broken. She slipped his shirt off his shoulders and heard him groan again, his mumbling getting louder.

Rinsing the cloth again she started running it over his chest and stomach and back up to his shoulders. Slowly she took his injured arm in her hands, he whimpered waking up groggily. "Where am I? What are you doing?" he asked, panic rising in his voice. He sat up quickly, and groaned immediately as he fell back onto the mattress.

"Ouch!" he whimpered looking up at her for the first time.

She noticed his startling blue eyes, "Nice of you to join us." she smiled down at him, "Could you tell me where it hurts? It would make this easier on both of us."

He looked warily at her, taking his time to try assess the situation, the pain in his arm making it unbearable to think straight. After a while he sighed and cleared his throat, "My arm, my arm hurts." he finally answered.

Laura leaned forward, "May I?" she asked softly, when he gave a curt nod she ran her hands up and down his arm, trying to feel if there were any broken bones, she could see it was swollen, but she couldn't feel anything.

"I'm going to strap it up and you should use a sling." he groaned she continued, "You should see a doctor." he sat up, making to get up from the mattress, "No please, no doctors, no police, please."

Laura grabbed his shoulders, pushing him back against the mattress, "I promise, no police." She started bandaging his arm, wrapping the sheet strips tightly around the limb. He moaned a couple of times and when she looked up, he was watching her, biting his lip to stop himself from screaming.

"Almost done." she said as she worked quickly, trying to cause as little pain as possible. When she looked at him she saw sweat running down his face and he was very pale.

Placing his arm against his chest, she helped him sit up, "I'm going to strap it to your chest for better stability." He flinched as she worked. When she was done, she rummaged through her basket finally finding the container of painkillers.

She took out a couple, holding them out to him. "Here you go, it will take off the worst of the pain."

He smiled, taking them gratefully, he swallowed them without water, laying back on the mattress. "Thank you." He said breathing heavily "Is there something I missed?" she asked before starting to pack up all the dirty cloths.

He looked up at her, shaking his head, "Thank you." Laura grabbed the basket. "Try get some sleep, I will bring you something to eat in the morning." she looked down at him, seeing he had already fallen asleep. Reaching down she felt his forehead, feeling the fever starting to subside. "Sleep tight."