FINDING THE LOST, Jeanne Tody Beroza [reading tree txt] 📗

the air at a dead run to her, just as the rifle fired. Mike saw snow spurt up off the ground right where Tahoe had been standing. Everyone with a radio heard the shot and then another. “Don’t shoot!” Mike yelled at the shadow-man in the trees. That’s a search dog! We’re looking for a little lost boy!” Then another rifle report carried over the airways and Mike groaned, “I’m hit. That last shot got me.”

“Mike!” Jana yelled into the radio forgetting to be calm, forgetting to identify him as Rescue 27, “How bad are you hit? I’m going to make my way through the trees over to you with the medical kit.”

“Rescue 30, don’t move!” yelled the Incident Commander. “Both of you take cover.”

“You got Tahoe, Jana?” Mike said, his mouth close to the radio, his voice, just a whisper, was filled with pain.

“I do,” she answered quietly. He could tell by the breathless quality of her voice that she was coming to him, probably at a crouch, probably while she held on to Tahoe’s collar.

“Incident Command, this is Rescue 27, we need a sheriff’s deputy out here and the Stokes, I can see this guy coming my way, looking for me, my position is . . .” and he quietly gave them the GPS coordinates.

“They’re on their way Rescue 27. They shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes out. Stay under cover, both of you,” IC barked over the airwaves.

“Lost boy?” the shadow croaked as he searched through the trees for the voice he’d heard. “What lost boy? I didn’t mean to shoot at you. I was shooting at a wolf. My boy’s lost and I thought the wolf was after him. I turned when you yelled and the gun went off. . .”
“Are you Duane Freeman?” Mike yelled back at the man.

“I’m looking for Davie Freeman,” the man answered, his voice shaky and hoarse, and then Mike heard, “Woof, woof!”

Jana appeared at Mike’s side with Tahoe in tow and whispered, “I think that’s Mr. Freeman and the dog. Should we try to talk him in? How bad are you hit Mike? Where are you hit?”

“The bullet just nicked my upper arm, it tore my coat, see, here,” Mike groaned as he rolled over onto his left side. He’d hit the ground behind a large log just after the bullet grazed him and had landed on his injured right arm. Jana took out her knife and sliced Mike’s coat and flannel shirt sleeve just enough to inspect and then clean the bullet wound with an antiseptic wipe she pulled out of its foil pack.

“You’re right. You’re lucky Mike, its small. I’ll tape a quick dressing on it and you’ll be good to go for now.”

“You folks looking for my boy?” The man stood no more than twenty feet away, holding the rifle in the crook of his arm, pointed at the ground. “That’s a dog you say, not a wolf? He’s with you?”

“Yes, Mr. Freeman,” Jana said. “If you’ll put down your rifle, I’m going to stand up and come to you. We’re looking for your son. This is my search dog, Tahoe. He was on your boy’s scent when you shot at him. We think Davie’s near by.”

The man sank to the ground, his rifle falling into the snow beside him. Jana stood up and still holding onto Tahoe’s collar approached him. A yellow lab was lying in the snow near by. He looked like a young dog and was smaller than Tahoe, smaller even than Sky. The dog laid his head on his paws and whined as she approached. “It’s ok boy,” she soothed, “just take it easy Mr. Freeman, we’re here to help.”

Jana had just finishing checking Mr. Freeman’s vital signs and was calling them in to the ambulance along with Mike’s when Jim Davis and three SAR volunteers came into sight riding two ATV’s, one pulling the Stokes. Freeman was showing signs of hypothermia. He was shivering violently; had cold and visibly pale-clammy skin, and his clothes were wet clear through to the skin and were frozen.

“Before we’re done, we’re going to need three ambulances,” she told the deputy.

“I can get checked out under my own power,” Mike said, “I don’t need an ambulance. Besides, I want to wait and find the boy.”

“You shouldn’t keep searching with that wound, Mike. If you’re sloshing around out here, it will bleed more. At least wait at IC till we’re back in. Deputy, do you have to handcuff him to the Stokes?” she asked when she saw Jim attaching Duane’s left arm to the stretcher.

“It’s a judgment call,” he answered, but yes, I think I should. “He has already shot at your dog, shot at and hit Mike and is irrational. I’ve called in another unit to pick up deputy Moore and bring her from the man’s home to ride back with the ambulance for security. She’ll stay at the hospital with him. I’ll take him out to the ambulance and then will come back, hopefully for the boy.” Almost as an afterthought, the deputy leaned down and picked up the little dog cowering at his feet. He placed him on the Stokes between Freeman’s feet and put part of the blanket over him. The poor little guy was shivering as badly as Freeman.


CHAPTER SIX:

As the ATV’s disappeared into the now graying distance, Jana turned to Paul, a fellow searcher staying behind to take Mike’s place on the canine team. “Ok then, this is what we’re doing. . .” Paul stayed near the log so he could watch the north end of Tahoe’s loop. Jana went back to her previous location and commanded Tahoe to “Find Em” re-scenting him from Davie’s t-shirt. Tahoe had not forgotten who he was looking for.

He resumed his looping pattern, climbing up onto outcroppings of rock, walking into depressions and crawling into caves trying to find exactly where the boy’s scent was coming from. He made his way up into a tumble of rocks; then checked out an open area of needle-covered, snow-dusted, wind-scoured ground, and then another tumble of rocks and then another. He was no longer traveling back and forth, looping across the landscape. He had narrowed his search to a specific area.

“He’s got it,” Jana radioed Paul, ”He’s narrowing the scent pool. The boy is in those rocks somewhere. Call it in. I’m going up there to help him find Davie.”

It was treacherous going, slick and uneven. She slipped on snow-slick granite more than once as she hauled herself up, sometimes on hands and knees, until she got to where Tahoe stood. He couldn’t go any farther. He was a huge dog and the rock crevice he was looking into was too narrow for his body. Peering into the dark little cave between the rocks Jana could see small feet and skinny, jeans-clad legs. “Found him, Paul! I can’t get to him. We’re going to have to grab his ankles and pull him out.”

Paul hurried to where Janna and Tahoe sat in the snow, pulled off his pack, knelt at the entrance to the small cave and by shoving his right shoulder into the crevice as far as he could was just able to reach one of the boy’s ankles. He pulled on it until he could get both legs. Jana quickly grabbed the boy’s shoulders as they appeared. Together they laid the still little body on a flat rock and Jana performed a brief exam. She found a rapid and weak, thready pulse.

“He’s alive,” she said to Paul and grinned. “He’s alive, good find Tahoe, good find.” The boy’s skin was cold and white. His clothes were stiff were ice. He was past shivering. She couldn’t feel a pulse in his ankles or wrists but that wasn’t a surprise. His body was shutting down, pulling all of its blood into his torso to keep his heart and other organs going.

They quickly cleared a spot free of snow, put a space blanket covered by a wool blanket on the ground, then gently placed the boy on top of both, flat on his back. “He’s almost gone,” she said. “I’ve got to get the ice off him and start rapid warming of his torso to keep his heart, lungs and organs going. I can’t actively warm his extremities until his core is re-warmed. I have no doubt his arms and legs have ice crystals in the blood. I don’t want to move him much or get the blood moving in his extremities or we can send an ice crystal to his heart. Help me get his boots, gloves and socks off.”

She wrapped the boy’s icy, pale feet and hands in parts of the blanket then opened his coat, cut the sweatshirt and opened the shirt to get to the thermal top. Breaking open heat packs she placed them on top of the thermals under his armpits, next to his ribs on both sides of his torso, and on top of his chest. Then she rewrapped him in his shirts and coat, tucked the wool blanket tightly around him covering all but his face and added one more space blanket to keep the cold air out.

She motioned for Tahoe to lie on the boy’s lower legs and feet. “He’ll help keep his feet from getting any colder,” she said. “We can hope he hasn’t gotten any frostbite but I wouldn’t bet on it. Tahoe won’t warm him so fast to be dangerous but that big, furry body of his will block the wind and slowly start thawing his lower limbs. I’ll keep monitoring him till he gets to the ambulance.

“They’ll never get ATV’s in this far. They’ll have to carry the Stokes in,” Paul said. “I’ll go out and meet them. Do you need more wool blankets? Want me to radio-in any other instructions?”

“I’ll radio the Ambulance with his vitals. They may want to warm water for an IV. He might be ready for warm fluids by the time he gets to them. I’ve no doubt he’s dehydrated on top of being almost frozen.”

Jana and Paul rode out with the ATV’s. Two extra volunteers had driven rigs in so they’d both have transportation. Tahoe ran beside Jana’s ride. He was just too big to fit on an ATV. He would have been bounced off the Stokes if he’d ridden with the boy. Mike was happy to see the boy come out alive and hugged both Tahoe and Jana. “Good job,” he told them. “He’s alive, that’s amazing.”

Once Davie and deputy Davis had left IC on their way to the ambulance, search staff packed up the equipment they’d hauled to the site; then made the long drive back to the SAR garage. As they cleaned and stowed gear, Jana put Tahoe into his crate, let Sky out to relieve herself and fed and watered both dogs. Then she drove to the emergency room at the hospital to check on Davie. Two of the paramedics from the ambulance were still there. Having not received any other calls to take them back out on the road they’d stayed at the hospital to help the bare bones staff provide emergency medicine for the boy until a doctor arrived.

“Good job re-warming,” the head paramedic told Jana when they passed each other in the hall. Doc’s here now so we’re leaving. His organs were a short time from shutting down. He’s still unconscious. They’ll be keeping him