11:27 AM
Andy glanced up from the legal pad lying on his lap, raising an eyebrow at the flurry of action on the television in front of him. "Who the fuck is actually that stupid? Everything is dry as fucking dust, but you still get idiots that insist on having a bonfire, or whatever the hell they were up to!"
"No, that was no bonfire," Jake informed him. "I guess you weren't paying attention, but they just said a minute ago that the fires started in cellphone towers, so either there was some sort of power surge, or somebody did it on purpose."
"Why the hell would anybody want to set fire to a cellphone tower?" CC mused.
"No clue, man, but they just put up the 'breaking news' banner," Blasko said. "So everybody shut up, and maybe they'll explain it."
They all turned their attention to the screen, where a helicopter provided an aerial view of a large body of water, before passing on to the forested area beyond. "We're flying over the shores of Cachuma Lake, where fire crews have made great progress in containing the fires caused earlier this morning by the explosion of several cell-phone towers. Now, however, it seems that the fires may not be the only issue, as we've just been alerted to multiple emergency vehicles, including a Medivac copter, being directed to an area well away from the fire sources."
The chopper traveled over the treeline, then hovered over a narrow road as multiple ambulances sped past, lights and sirens blaring. The cameraman then shifted his position to show a medical copter hovering some distance away, with someone dangling from a rope being slowly lowered into a rather deep gorge, along with what appeared to be a stretcher. Then, as the camera panned around the area, then zoomed in for a close shot, they were somewhat surprised to see numerous law-enforcement personnel scurrying along the edge of the drop.
"Shit, look at that!" Jake exclaimed. "Highway Patrol and FBI out the wazoo. Must be something major for them to be there."
"I wonder what, though?" Andy said. "Like the guy said, they don't seem to be anywhere near the fires."
"Well, if somebody actually did set them, maybe they're looking for the guy," Jinxx speculated. "Or maybe that's where they've cornered him."
The reporter resumed speaking, announcing, "All right, I've just received word that it has been confirmed that the fires were deliberately set, and that there has been a standoff between members of law enforcement and the suspected arsonist, resulting in at least four people being injured, including the suspect. There is also rumor spreading, which we're unable to confirm as yet, that the suspect may have also been wanted for other crimes. If more information becomes available, I'll pass it on to you as soon as possible. Now, back to you, Rita."
The newscast switched back to the studio, and Blasko reached for the remote, planning to turn off the television. But before he could hit the button, the anchorwoman made a statement that froze them in place, gaping at the screen in disbelief.
"Thanks for that update, Pete. And now, in other late-breaking news, we have just received word that the police raid on a suburban Los Angeles home earlier this morning is definitely connected to the ongoing Streetsweeper murder investigation. Police Chief Paul MacDevitt has called a press conference, which is scheduled to begin in less than thirty minutes, where it is speculated that he may name a suspect. Our own Jessica Lucas will be covering the event, which we will be broadcasting live as it happens, so please stay tuned."
Blasko scrambled for his laptop, pulling up the local newsfeed and scrolling until he found the story, everyone huddled behind him, reading over his shoulder. "So according to this, some kids went to their uncle's house to pick something up, and found that missing woman locked up in his basement, so they called it in. Apparently he booked, though."
"Boy, I bet his neighbors were freaking the fuck out when they heard that!" CC observed.
"Well, wouldn't you?" Andy responded. "But seriously, that had to truly fuckin' suck for those kids. How long do you think it's gonna take 'em to get over that?"
"Quite awhile, I'm sure," Jake stated quietly. "But if they actually know who the bastard is, hopefully they can track him down before he can hurt anybody else. Because the sooner they lock the fucker down, the sooner we get Ash back."
The strains of cello music drifted to their ears, and Jinxx pulled his phone from his pocket, glancing at the display. "Well, it's one of our middlemen," he announced. "Maybe he knows something." Connecting the call, and activating the speaker, he said, "Hello. If you're planning to tell us about the press conference, we've already heard about it."
"Not even close, dude," the youthful voice responded. "I don't know shit about a press conference, and I don't care. I'm calling you to tell you that you might wanna get your buddies together and get your asses on the road if you wanna see Ash."
"What?"
"Where?"
"What the fuck?"
Jinxx waved his hand as the others talked over each other, motioning for quiet. "On the road to where?"
"A town called Solvang, he's on his way to the Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital. At least I think that's what they said it's called."
They all stared silently at each other for several seconds, before CC finally found the nerve to ask the question that none of them were sure they wanted the answer to. "A hospital, huh? How bad is he hurt?"
"His knee's pretty jacked up, but he'll live," the caller replied, tension becoming more apparent in his tone. "But he was seriously losing it before they put him in the ambulance, because that motherfucker tossed our friend Briar over a cliff right in front of him."
"Holy fucking shit!" Andy hissed. "Is she...? I mean, she's not...?"
""She's still alive, at least for now, but we're not sure how bad off she actually is. They're life-flighting her to the hospital right now, so I guess we'll find out when they get to check her over. Listen, dude, I really don't feel like talking right now, but I remembered that Ash doesn't have any family around here, so I thought you guys might wanna get them in the loop, and maybe be there for him."
"Hell yes, we'll be there as soon as possible!" Jinxx returned. "Thanks for letting us know, we'll let you get off the phone now. And I hope everything turns out for your friend, man."
The words, "Yeah, me too," followed by what sounded like a sob were the last thing they heard before the line went dead, leaving them all in stunned silence.
"Okay, where the fuck is Solvang?" Jake queried, whipping out his phone to access a roadmap. "Here we go. It's about a two hour drive, not far past...," he began, before trailing off and simply staring at the screen.
"Past what, dude?" CC prompted impatiently, before noticing the shocked expression on the guitarist's face. "Dude, you don't look so good. What the hell's going on?"
"That stuff on TV just now, about the fires and shit, I think that may be them," he murmured quietly. "Solvang is a few miles past the opposite end of Cachuma Lake, and the cops were up on the edge of some sort of drop..."
"And the chopper was dropping somebody down into the gorge, too," CC continued. "Aww, geez! No wonder the dude says Ash is a fuckin' wreck, if he had to watch something like that. He was talking to me about this chick after that break in at his house, and he said that she's a really cool chick, and he could see them being good friends."
Blasko, who had just concluded a phone conversation of his own, turned toward them and barked, "My buddy Gene has his own plane, I told him what's goin' on, and he'll meet us at the airstrip in thirty minutes. So call the girls and fill them in, or whatever else you need to do, while I call his grandparents before this shit goes national."
The band members all scrambled for their phones to make the necessary calls, and were finished within minutes, rushing to their respective vehicles to follow Blasko to the airstrip so they could make the trip to see their injured friend, and offer him whatever support he might need to work through whatever trauma he might be suffering. And, hoping that it wouldn't be made any worse, because they all knew firsthand how fiercely loyal and devoted Ashley was to those who he claimed as friends, and no one was sure if he would fully recover from witnessing the loss of one of them in such a horrific manner.
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12:40 PM
They hustled through the entrance to the ER, and rushed to crowd around the admissions desk. "Excuse me, we were told that a friend of ours was brought here, and we were wondering if you could give us any information?" Blasko asked the desk clerk.
"Name, please?" she responded, fingers poised over the keyboard in front of her.
"Ashley Purdy."
After a bit of tapping, she said, "Yes, it looks like Mr. Purdy has been sent to Radiology. If you'd like to wait, I'll be happy to make a note that you're here, and someone will come to speak with you when he's finished."
She directed them to the waiting area, and they walked around the corner to find themselves in a room scattered with uncomfortable-looking chairs and sofas, which was already occupied by a young woman and several other men. As they entered, the others looked up at them, and a familiar-sounding voice came from the corner, saying, "You guys must have broken every driving law in existence to get here this fast."
They turned to see a boy in his late teens, with shoulder-length red-blond hair, standing in front of a row of vending machines, holding a can of Sprite. As he began to move toward them, Jinxx replied, "No, we just got lucky. Our manager here has a friend with his own plane, and he brought us in." He then stepped forward to meet the boy, extending his hand. "Thank you, sincerely, for letting us know what happened. If you haven't already figured it out, I'm Jinxx, and the others are Andy, Jake, CC, and Blasko."
The boy accepted the handshake, responding, "Hi, I'm Cody Frazier." He then lifted his hand, pointing one by one at the others. "This is my dad, Wiley, my cousins Tom and Kevin Dailey, and Tom's chick Lindsey Reese. That's Detective Bremerton, and the guy in the corner with his phone is Agent Merrifield."
Almost as if the mention of his name had summoned him, the agent lowered the phone from his ear and walked over, addressing the detective. "That was Yesenia. Apparently your boss is on his way here, so he'll be responsible for custody of the walking stool sample until he's transferred out of here, and until the DA decides whether there will be Federal charges on top of the state ones."
After Cody introduced the agent to the band members, they found seats, and CC inquired, "Can anybody tell us what actually happened out there? I know you said you had them stashed away somewhere, so how did this jack-off find them, anyway?"
They listened raptly as the other group offered up as many details as they were aware of, including Ashley's attack on Harris. "Yeah, I can see that," Andy responded. "Ash isn't one to just sit on his ass and do nothing if somebody hurts one of his friends. He's normally a pretty laid-back dude, but he definitely won't back down if you piss him off, and he can hold one hell of a grudge. Not a good idea to be on his bad side."
"Is someone here for Mr. Purdy?"
Everyone pivoted in the direction of the voice, to find a tall, lanky Hispanic man in scrubs standing in the doorway, looking at them expectantly. The entire band, as well as Blasko, shot up from their chairs, and Jake said, "Yeah, that's us. How is he?"
"Physically, none of his injuries are life-threatening," the man informed them, after introducing himself as Dr. Guzman. "He has a tear in his lateral collateral ligament, as well as one in the meniscus, and some severe muscle bruising, but he should make a full recovery, provided that he follows the course of treatment properly. We've put a brace on the knee, and he needs to stay off of it as much as possible for the next several weeks, until his personal physician determines that he's recovered sufficiently to begin physical therapy."
He sighed, then continued, "As I just told you, he's in a bit of pain, but he'll be fine physically. Emotionally, however, he's agitated and rather uncooperative, because no one can tell him anything about his girlfriend's condition. He's insisting on being released, but I told him that I'll only consider it at this time if there's someone willing to accept responsibility for him. Is there anyone willing to do that, and sign a waiver releasing the hospital from liability if his agitation leads him to re-injure himself? He's informed us that his family is out of state, but that he's willing to accept any of you in the position."
Reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose, Blasko stepped forward and said, "I guess that would be me, since this is pretty much what I do on a daily basis anyway."
"That will be fine. Come with me, then, and as soon as we get the forms taken care of, Mr. Purdy will be free to go."
"Does this remind anyone of the bus incident?" Jinxx muttered as Blasko followed the doctor down the hall. "That's pretty much what the EMT's said that time, too. Agitated and uncooperative."
"Guess Ash just isn't what you'd call a model patient," Andy responded.
They sat back down to wait, and within fifteen minutes Blasko returned, followed by Ashley, who was seated in a wheelchair, with his leg extended stiffly in front of him, encased in a bulky-looking brace. It seemed that the two of them had been conversing on the return trip, because Ashley was saying to Blasko, in a rather heated tone, "And I told you, I'm not fucking going anywhere until I know what's going on with Tink! She didn't leave me when I got hurt, even when I told her to, so don't even think I'm gonna bail on her! You'll have to physically carry me out of here, and I guarantee if that happens, one of us gets hurt!"
"Who's Tink?" Andy queried.
"That's what he calls Briar," Wiley explained. "Not exactly sure why, though."
The others saw immediately that their friend was very near his breaking point, so they rushed to intervene. "Ash, calm down," Jinxx said, trying to reason with him. "If you keep yelling like that, they might kick you out, and then you won't be able to see her at all."
This seemed to strike a chord, as he clamped his lips closed and leaned back in the chair, still glaring at their manager. The expression he wore was enough to prompt Andy to pull Blasko aside and say, "No, dude, just... no. I know he needs to rest and everything, but I also know that's not gonna happen until he hears something about the girl, one way or the other. And if you try to push him, you're more than likely gonna damage your friendship with him, which would make it a lot harder to do your job."
He stood quietly for a few seconds, then turned back to Ashley, "Okay, I get where you're coming from, so fine, we'll stay. If you keep your ass in that chair and do exactly what the doctor told you to do."
"Yeah, I can do that," Ashley answered. "Not exactly like I have a fuck-ton of other options right now anyway. But what about Briar? Have they said anything at all?"
"No, not yet," Cody informed him. "As far as we know, she's still in surgery."
"But from what the doctor said to us a little while ago, you've been making quite a fuss trying to find out yourself," CC added. "Apparently they're under the impression that you're actually a couple."
The quick flash of emotion that flickered across his face wasn't lost on any of his friends as he said, "If that means that they aren't gonna try to keep me in the dark, that's fine. Let 'em think what they want." The other five exchanged glances, but decided to wait until a later time to pursue the matter, and sat back down, allowing Ashley to share his part of the story. Shortly after that, Garrett Sanger arrived, and proceeded to divide his time between checking on Weintraub, making arrangements for guards in Harris' room, and waiting with them for word on Briar's condition.
Then, as the sun was starting to drop below the horizon, a plump black woman entered the room, prompting Wiley and Cody to spring from their seats. "How is she, Dr. McLaren? Did everything go all right?" Wiley inquired hopefully.
She glanced at the others, seemingly hesitant to speak, until Cody spoke up, "It's okay, Doc, you can talk in front of them, they're all friends," Then his eyes lit up, and he pointed to Ashley. "This is her boyfriend, so he's got as much right to know as we do."
The doctor nodded, then sat down, saying, "Well, that may be extremely helpful later, when she comes out of the anesthetic. There were some complications, and she's going to need people who will provide emotional support."
This statement caused everyone to glance at each other in confusion and alarm, then Ashley said, "Please, just tell us how she is. She's going to live, right?"
"Barring any unforseen infection, or reactions to medications, then yes, I think that is reasonably certain. But she is badly injured, and her recovery will take quite some time. We had to remove her spleen, and part of her liver, and her kidneys are badly bruised, but they should heal on their own. She also sustained numerous broken bones; her collarbone, right wrist, three fingers on her left hand, and multiple fractures to both legs, as well as a dislocated left shoulder and a number of cuts and bruises."
They stared at her incredulously, and Sanger blurted, "Jesus Christ, how is she still alive?"
"That, sir, is the same question we asked ourselves when she arrived," the doctor responded. "Falling from the height that was reported, her injuries should have been worse than this. She's a very lucky young woman."
"She's a movie stuntperson," Wiley explained. "She knows how to take a fall, so I guess her training kicked in."
"Wait a sec, you said something about 'complications' a minute ago," Ashley interjected. "What is it you haven't told us yet?"
She turned to look him in the eye, her expression grave. "As I said, your girlfriend is a very lucky young lady, but she may not be as inclined to agree, at least not right away. You see, sir, when she fell, it seems that her legs took the brunt of the impact, and both of them sustained multiple fractures. The right leg broke cleanly, and should heal nicely, but the left had what are known as compound fractures, which mean that the bone breaks the skin."
Everyone winced at the image this conjured up, and Ashley prodded, "So that means she's going to have scars, or a limp, or what?"
She reached out and placed her hand over his, which told him, even before he heard her answer, that it wouldn't be good. "No, young man, that's not what it means, or at least not the way you're thinking, and this is why I said that she's going to need a good support system. The bones in her left leg weren't just broken, they were essentially pulverized. We weren't able to save it, we had to amputate just above the knee."