Carlton was dead on his feet but he was a happy tired, after all, he had managed to get in almost six hours of Spencer free fishing in, the five basses he bagged were just the icing on the cake. He was damn close to whistling when he walked up the drive and noticed that the elder Spencer's truck was still not there. He smiled widely as he opened the cabin's door and the only noises that reached his ears was muted music and clicking of a mouse coming from the direction of his partner. "This is blissful isn't it O'Hara?" The blond seemed to be broken out of some sort of trance as she shook her head and looked up to see a grungy but happy looking Carlton.
She wrinkled her nose at the mixture of sweat, dirt and fish that assaulted her nose but she still managed to plaster a smile on. "Any luck?" Carlton held up his catches and flung them on the counter causing Juliet's smile to fall to a grimace. "Really?" He shrugged his shoulders and started looking for a knife to prepare the fish for dinner.
"So what have you been doing during the absence of the pain in the ass and his father?" Carlton smiled as he gutted and cut the heads off of their dinner.
"Playing Space Invaders." The matter of fact tone didn't match the wide smile she was wearing. "And I didn't have to hear Shawn's ‘game pointers' or any fighting, bickering, or squabbling. I almost hate to admit it but I've enjoyed not having him here."
"Knew we'd see eye to eye someday." Carlton sprinkled some lemon juice over the now filleted fish and wrapped them up in foil. "Where's Guster, anyways?"
His answer came in the form of a loud yawn and heavy footsteps. "Best. Nap. Ever." Gus came wandering into the kitchen scratching his chest and stretching his back. "Where's Shawn?" He rubbed at his sleep filled eyes with the heel of his palms. "I smell fish."
Juliet had seen a barely awake Gus several times and he never failed to follow the same pattern, he would comment on how good or bad he slept, ask a question and then without waiting for an answer, change the subject, all that was missing was the.....
"Ah-choo!" There it was, the earth rattling sneeze that seemed to get his synapses firing in the correct order, one more rub at his eyes and Gus looked more awake then he had any right to. "So has either of you heard from Shawn or Mr. Spencer?"
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"Next time we made sure to check the coordinates ourselves." Henry shut his eyes tightly at the slurred words his son was uttering, not to mention that up until the last line the entire story was nonsensical. "Da-?" Henry looked down at his extraordinary pale son. " S'not hurting ‘nymore."
Henry sighed and made up his mind on what to do next. "Shawn, I need to try and get some help," He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I have to leave but only for a little bit, ok son?" There was a small nod before he lulled his head to side and his breathing slowed but stayed irregular, Henry knew that he had passed out and that was not a good thing and he shouldn't go but he had to leave, he had to get help. "I'll be back as soon as I can." Henry dug into his son's pants pocket and retrieved the phone, wincing at the blood on the screen he unlocked the electronic, stood, and started to hike up toward the road as quickly as his injured leg and aching head would allow.
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Gus was in full on worry mode and the fact that Shawn's phone kept going straight to voicemail was not helping matters much. He checked the time stamp of the text message and felt himself pale. "How did six hours passed without us noticing?" By the looks on the detective's faces and the way he felt, they all felt an exorbitant amount of guilt.
Juliet didn't know why but she wanted to call Shawn's cell, she knew that Gus wasn't getting an answer but she just needed to check for herself. The woman dug through her pockets, looked around the laptop she had been on, and checked her pockets again. "Where's my phone? Have either of you seen it?" Carlton pointed in the general direction of the couch while he was looking down at his own phone dialing a number. There was her phone, sitting on the book she was reading earlier, looking innocent and yet like it was going to answer all her questions. She quickly crossed the expanse of the combined kitchen-living room and snatched her phone off its perch so forcefully the book fell and slapped onto the wooden floor, causing the two men to jump and look up. She shot them an apologetic look before she pressed the button on the side of her IPhone to wake it up, but instead of her lit up background there was only blackness.
"Dammit." She continued to mentally curse herself as she stomped toward the room she would be sharing with Shawn and started tearing apart her luggage looking for her phone charger. "Stupid phone, stupid charger, stupid dead battery.". The only thing that mattered to the woman at the moment was getting that phone on and calling her boyfriend, she had a bad feeling, the only other times she felt like this Shawn had almost died; the first time he was shot, the second his appendix burst and during the rush to the hospital he declined so rapidly the fear of him never waking up was do very real. "Come one, come on, come on!" After what seemed like forever her battery was finally charged enough to power up completely.
Anxiously she watched as it went through the sequence of pictures and sounds. "Finally!" A small smile crossed her face at her current wallpaper picture, it was of her and Shawn on a pier just as the sun set behind them, she was smiling toothily while he had his usual smirk. The memories of that day were quickly pushed away as her phone beeped at her indicating a text message. Sighing in relief at the name of the sender, she opened the message expecting to see something along the lines of them running late because he just had to watch a Sanford and Son marathon or something as equally arbitrary. What she didn't expect was the complete gibberish that made no sense to her in any way.
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Henry limped up the road quicker than he had any right to, and he could feel the warm liquid running down the back of his leg because of it. After what felt like forever the phone in his hand beeped signifying that he had service. "About time!!"He fumbled a bit with it as he tried to get it operating with one hand when it began to ring.
"Check yes Juliet......I'll be waiting...."
Henry quickly slid his thumb over the phone screen and nearly knocked himself out when he slammed the electronic to his ear. " Juliet, can you hear me?!?" There was some very loud static but faintly he heard the young woman's voice coming in and out.
"Mr. Spen.........where.......you........going on?" Henry cursed his luck, continued to walk down the road hoping the signal got stronger, and tried to get the call for help across to her.
"There was an accident, we need help, we're on the old access road about twenty minutes from the highway exit. It's bad," Henry waited for a response, any response, but all he heard was static. That low hiss seemed to go for an entirety and he was sure that she hasn't heard a word. His desperation rose along with his pulse and for the first time in a long time he began to pray.
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When Juliet called Shawn's phone for perhaps the twentieth time in about ten minutes she expected for it to go to voicemail, so when she heard the ringing stop and some very loud static come through the earpiece she almost dropped the phone.
"Juliet......hear me?" The deep voice of her boyfriend's father was faint, but it was there.
"Mr. Spencer where are you guys? We've been trying to reach you, but the signal isn't the greatest. What's going on?"
The blonde shut her eyes in an attempt to concentrate fully on the noises pouring forth from the device that she had pushed hard against her head, as if the close proximity of it would improve the signal. She heard some grumbling that sounding like speech, but only a few words stuck out to her, which sent her brain into overdrive but stunned her mouth silent; it was like the ice cream truck case all over again except this time the words that shocked her still weren't I love you.
"Carlton!"
Her partner was one to never not listen to her when she used that tone of voice, the tall man was in that room quicker than what seemed possible. Before Juliet could tell him that she had reached the missing twosome he began speaking.
"O'Hara, I just got off the phone with the forestry service, they said that there is a downed tree on the access road and that they just haven't gotten around to removing it." He swallowed and looked at her apprehensively. "I did the math they should be here by now........." As he trailed off, Juliet's mind kick started her stunned mouth. She held up the phone to Carlton who looked at it with confused eyes.
"I just got a hold of Mr. Spencer the connection ummmmmmm......it's bad and I was only able to get a few words of what was said." Carlton snatched the phone out of her hand and put it to his ear.
"Henry, can you hear me?" Juliet had almost forgotten that the call was still connected, and she mentally cursed herself for not trying to get more information from it. "Henry?" He shook his head and handed the phone back to her. "We need to go."
Juliet nodded and watched her partner go into the kitchen, presumably to turn off the stove and grab his keys. She listened to the phone again and the low hiss of static was what greeted her. "Henry, I don't know if you can hear this but we're coming for you. Just hold on, we're coming for you." Reluctantly she ended the connection and joined the men in the large front room. She didn't look at them but instead walked quickly past them and grabbed her VW's keys.
"Juliet." She looked up at her boyfriend's best friend through watery eyes, the worry in his face reflected just how she felt. "Carlton said you were able to reach them, what info did you get?" Three words; three tiny, measly, words had broken through the tentative connection but the inflection behind the trio had meant so much more. "Juliet?"
She swallowed deeply and forced her throat to work around the syllables. "Accident, help, and bad." Those three words were enough to send both men into driven activity, Carlton grabbed his cell and started dialing numbers while Gus grabbed the ever present first aid kit that put most EMTs to shame. Before she knew it they were ready to go.
"We'll take the Fusion, it's better for that road and we'll get there before the rangers and rescue squad." They all knew that Carlton was going to drive like a bat outta hell to get there before the others but at this moment they didn't care.
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Just when Henry was sure that the static was going to be the only noise that was coming out of the devices a voice broke through. "Hold on, we're coming." There was a small click and silence overtook his senses, complete and utter silence, he took a moment and shut his eyes to thank whoever answered his prayer then he began his quick trek back to his injured son. The constant need to get to his son was the only thing that kept him continuing through the throbbing pain in his leg and cranium, it also didn't help that his sock was currently soaked in his own blood and there was a constant trickling adding to it.
When he could see the downed tree about two hundred yards way his adrenaline kicked in and he was prepared to nearly run down the road when his eagle eye vision spotted something along the road. Freezing at the red mess on the road he at first thought that some unfortunate animal had met its demise till he really looked and saw that it was a puddle of blood but it didn't look like it was spilled from a cut it was almost like it was..........Shit. Shawn!!!!!
His near run turned to a full out dead sprint till he jumped off the side of the road that had been disturbed by the truck. He not so gracefully slid down the rocky incline the underbrush abrading his bare forearms and tearing at the bandage on his gashed leg. Once he reached the level area where the truck lay he got to his feet and rounded around the metal machine area dreading that he was going to find his son cold and his eyes clouded over with death. The minute shivers that wracked the younger man's form sent a wave of relief through the older man unlike anything he felt before. Gently he sat down and lifted Shawn's head back into his lap. "I'm back kid." Henry held his breath as the shivering stopped, and the lids over the hazel eyes fluttered as if the young man was trying to open them..
"Da?" It was a whisper but dammit it was the best thing that Henry had ever heard in his life.
"Yeah kid it's me. I got a hold of that pretty girlfriend of yours." Shawn smiled a bit. "They're coming for us son, they're coming." The young man fought against his eyelids again but this time he actually won. Henry fought against the relieved laugh that threatened to escape as he saw that there was still that ever present mischievous twinkle in them. " Bout time you woke up kid."
Another small smile graced the stubbly face before a look of pain overtook the features. The younger man's whole body tensed, his eyes rolled in his head, and then his whole body jerked and convulsed as a seizure tormented his body. The hammering in his chest was the only other thing that Henry could pay attention to as he rolled his son on his side and let the convulsions run their course.
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This was perhaps the most tense, and quietest, car-ride the tall detective had ever experienced since he had gotten Juliet as his partner, and it didn't help matters much that since they hit the access road he had to significantly slow the Fusion down so they didn't meet the same feat as Spencer and his father. "Did he tell you how far up the road they were?" The withering glare the blond sent his direction had the man closing his jaw with a click.
"Carlton, I told you the only things that got through were accident, help and bad. Don't you think I would have remembered anything else." The venom behind her words gave the man mixed feelings, first off he was scared of the seething anger, but on the other hand he was damn proud that she could invoke such feelings in a man who had seen and done many things that would bring a lesser man to their knees.
He turned his vision back to the windshield and the scenery creeped by. Juliet went back to looking out of the passenger side window trying to spy anything that would lead them the missing men. She closed her eyes momentarily and tried to shut out the voice that kept repeating over and over in her head. It wasn't the words as much as it was the desperation that she heard behind them she had never heard the older Spencer sound that hopeless, not even when Shawn had been shot and kidnapped. Opening her eyes back up she continued to survey the surroundings and saw no signs of disturbance that indicated an accident. She was just about suggest they stop and wait for the forestry service or the rescue squad so there were more eyes on the old road when she felt the car lurch forward as Carlton slammed on the brakes. The cabin of the blue vehicle was silent save for the harsh breathing of the three occupants.
"Geez." Juliet seconded the salesman's hissed declaration mentally. "Where are they then?"
She turned around in her seat and saw the fear and worry in his eyes. "I don't know, Gus, I just don't know."
"Over there." The attention shifted to the driver who was pointing over her shoulder and, following it, she saw the broken brush and small saplings that had recently been snapped. An inaudible curse was murmured and then all hell broke loose as the sound of crumbling rock was combined with the Fusion sliding sideways. Juliet's scream filled the little space as the sedan continued to slide and threatened to roll on its side.