Paul crouched beside Ben, checking his pulse, lifting his eyelids to examine his pupils.Ben stirred at the touch.
"No hospital," he slurred, the words barely audible.
"Ben."Kari squeezed his hand."You need medical attention.You could have internal bleeding, brain swelling—"
"No hospital."His eyes opened briefly, finding hers with an intensity that cut through the fog of exhaustion."Please."
Then his eyes closed again, and he was gone—not dead, just unconscious.Just his body finally giving out after three days of hell.
"He's right to want to stay away from hospitals," Paul said quietly."A regular ER is too exposed.Too many people coming and going, too many records that anyone with the right access could pull."
"He needs help," Kari said."I'm not going to just watch him die."
Paul stood, brushing dirt from his knees."The tribal medical center."
"What about it?"
"Your people control who comes and goes.Tribal police can post someone at his door."
"And what if whoever took him has people inside tribal police?"Kari doubted this very much, but it was certainly possible.She didn't want to underestimate these people.
"Then we're screwed no matter what we do."Paul's voice was blunt."But we have to assume that's not the case, or we might as well give up now.The tribal medical center is our best option.It keeps initial jurisdiction with the tribe, and it buys us time to figure out our next move."
Kari looked down at Ben, troubled."There's something else, isn't there?Something you're not saying."
Paul was quiet for a moment."I have to report this.A kidnapped law enforcement officer, held for three days, beaten and interrogated—that's not something I can pretend I didn't see.The Bureau is going to want answers.They're going to send someone to question him."
Kari bristled."The same Bureau that closed the Naalnish case in three days?The same Bureau that's been warning you to stop investigating Devco?You bring them in, and whoever's been protecting these people will know exactly what Ben saw, what he knows, what we're planning."
"I know."Paul met her eyes."But the alternative is that I become part of the cover-up.I could lose my badge, my pension, everything I've spent thirty years building."
"What a shame that would be."
"And more importantly," Paul said, ignoring her jab, "I lose any ability to help you from the inside."He shook his head."I'll delay as long as I can.Buy you a few hours, maybe a day.But the report has to be filed.There's no way around it."
Kari wanted to argue, wanted to find some alternative that didn't involve trusting the same institution that had already failed them.But she could see in Paul's face that this wasn't a negotiation.He was telling her how it was going to be.
"Fine," she said."But I'm staying with him.Every minute, from the moment he goes into that medical center until he walks out under his own power.Anyone wants to get to him, they go through me."
"I wouldn't expect anything less."Paul moved toward Ben's other side."Help me get him into the SUV.We'll take my vehicle—it's faster, and the tribal medical center is on my way back to the field office."
Together, they lifted Ben as gently as they could manage.He groaned but didn't wake, his body limp and heavy in their arms.They maneuvered him into the back seat of Paul's SUV, and Kari climbed in beside him, cradling his head in her lap to cushion it against the rough road ahead.
Paul drove quickly but carefully, navigating the fire road with the skill of someone who had spent decades traveling the back country of the Southwest.Kari kept her eyes on Ben's face, watching for any change in his breathing, any sign that something was going wrong.
"He's going to be okay," Paul said from the front seat.It sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as her.
"You don't know that."
"No.I don't."He was quiet for a moment."But from what I know of Ben Tsosie, he's one tough cookie.Whatever they did to him, he survived it.He got himself out.He made it to that ridge under his own power, which must've been quite a feat in and of itself.That's not someone who gives up easy."
Kari said nothing.She just held Ben's hand and watched the desert roll past in the darkness, counting the miles until they reached help.
* * *
The tribal medical center was a low, sprawling building on the eastern edge of Chinle, its parking lot mostly empty at this hour.Paul pulled up to the emergency entrance and Kari hurried out of the vehicle without waiting for Paul, waving a hand to flag down the nurses who emerged with a gurney.
The next few hours blurred together.Doctors and nurses surrounded Ben, whisking him away to an examination room while Kari answered questions she barely heard.What happened to him?How long was he missing?Does he have any allergies, any pre-existing conditions?She kept her answers vague, saying simply that he had gone missing for several days.She didn't speculate on what had happened to him.The nurses could draw their own conclusion.
