The Survivalist (Frontier Justice)

Chapter 23

Mason slouched in an oversized leather chair that pulled out into a one-person sleep sofa. Bowie rested in a huge furry pile at his feet, snoring softly. A few feet away, Chief Blue was lying on a hospital bed, an intravenous tube dangling from his arm to a bag of clear liquid. He was looking intently at Ava, who stood next to the bed studying his medical chart.

"Am I going to make it, Doc?" he choked out in a gravelly voice.

She shrugged. "Hard to say."

Chief Blue smiled. "Doc, your bedside manner needs some work."

"With enough rest, you'll be fine," she said, squeezing his shoulder. "We recovered the bullets and largely repaired the damage. But you're going to need a couple of weeks of bed rest and even more months of taking it easy. Give your body a chance to heal properly, okay, Chief?"

"Believe me. My wife will insist on it."

Ava looked over to Mason.

"How's my other patient?"

He touched the scab that had formed on his scalp.

"Tender."

"That's not a word anyone would ever use to describe you." Her face was serious. "What you did was ..." She closed her eyes, and for a moment, he thought she might cry.

"I'm fine, Ava. You know that better than anyone. A graze here." He touched his scalp again. "Another one here." He gently rubbed his shoulder. "They're nothing."

She nodded, tears welling in her eyes.

"Yes, but an inch here or there, and we'd have lost you."

He stood and put his uninjured arm around her.

"I'm fine," he repeated. "How's your eye?"

She touched the edge of the large bruise surrounding her left eye.

"A reminder to stop being stupid."

He kissed her eye very gently. In turn, she kissed him on the lips. Then she pulled back and straightened her doctor's coat.

"Okay, then. I have more patients to check on." As she swung the curtain aside to leave, Don and Vince stood waiting like kids outside the principal's office. "Well, go on," she said, "but keep it short. The chief needs his rest."

Don had repaired his prosthetic leg and was back on two feet again. Both men had an assortment of small cuts peppering their faces.

"You two look like you gave mouth-to-mouth to a bobcat," said Mason.

"What are you talking about?" said Vince. "We look great."

They all laughed.

"When they blew the rooftop door, we both took a face full of splinters," explained Don. "Missed the eyes, thankfully."

"That was good work holding the tower." Mason looked from one man to the next. "It took a lot of grit." Embarrassed, they both looked to their feet.

"I can only speak for myself," said Vince, "but I was as afraid as a six-year-old schoolgirl facing a pack of wild dingoes with nothing more than a squirt gun."

Don snorted and rolled his eyes.

"You should have heard him bellyache over a little hole in his hand, and there I was with an entire leg missing!"

They laughed again. Chief Blue closed his eyes in pain.

"Please ... please," he begged.

Don reached out and patted Vince on the back. "Jokes aside, my man and I, we held it together."