He reached as far as he could but he immediately felt a sharp pain in his ribs. They must have cracked them when they jumped on him, he thought. The pain intensified as he tried to stretch to reach the sink.
He could just reach the faucet and push it until he could hear the water running. He couldn’t reach the water no matter how hard he tried. It was so close yet so far away. That made his thirst even worse. He then got an idea to get some moisture at least.
He reached down and picked up the wad of cloth and unravel it, holding one end he tossed the other in the sink. He let it soak in the water a few minutes before pulling it out and sucking on the end of it. It was one of the best things he had ever tasted. He did it several more times before the dryness started to subside. His ribs hurt but at least he had water.
After drinking until content, he lay on his back and tried to find a comfortable position. It was an exercise in futility and he finally gave up. Eventually he drifted into a restless sleep.
The Jeep Cherokee raced up to the main security building with the lights flashing. People stopped and watched as the guard jumped out of the vehicle almost before it stopped and ran, clutching what appeared to be a pair of torn pants and a shoe, into the security building.
A few minutes later he emerged with several guards. They rushed to their vehicles and the procession sped off. Everyone watching knew something had happened and most speculated that they had found the missing person who had been object of non-stop searches.
Talk of the event quickly spread throughout the main base and it didn’t take long for it to filter all the way out to the S-4 complex, twelve miles away. It became the main topic of conversation for most groups as they ate lunch.
A few hours later the security vehicles returned but this time, no lights and at a normal speed. Obviously, whatever they found, it wasn’t good. The general came out and they all stood around the vehicles while he inspected the pants and shoe. No one had to get very near to understand that it wasn’t good news and the expression on the face of the general said the most of all.
He slowly walked back to the security building, holding the bloody pants and shoe.
“Mr. President,” the general said, “I have bad news.” His voice was somber.
“Concerning Raymond?”
“Yes sir. We haven’t located him but one of the security patrols searching in the mountains came across a cave. It was obviously a coyote lair. They went in and found a chewed up pair of pants and one mangled shoe. They are both soaked in blood. We don’t know for sure if it is Mr. Eller’s but it is consistent with what he was wearing. I was going to have the articles sent to the medical lab in Las Vegas for testing to see if it was human, and if at all possible, DNA testing. Would anyone have a DNA sample we could have sent to them for comparison?”
“I have no idea. That’s not something I would know,” the President said, thinking that was a strange request.
“I guess we can go through his personal belongings here and see if we can come up with something that can be used. I just didn’t want to snoop in his items.”
“Well, I suggest you not worry about that and get what you need.”
“Yes sir.”
“Did they find his body?”
“They found bits and pieces of bone fragments and little else. The cave was pretty big so it looks like there may have been a pack of them. We are going to set a trap tonight to try to kill them off,” the general said.
“Just don’t let the animal rights freaks about it. As far as I am concerned you can kill every one of those damn things.”
“Yes sir. I’ll let you know when we have the results back from the lab.”
“Yes. As soon as you know for sure I will need to make some changes and have his next of kin notified,” the President said.
“I’m very sorry about this sir. I wish we could have done more,” the general said.
“It’s not your fault. I am sure he was just trying to do his job and something went wrong. It was one of those things that is out of anyone’s hands. He was a good man and will be greatly missed,” the President said.
“I understand how you feel. We had an uneasy relationship but I respected his integrity and dedication,” the general replied. He smiled as he hung up.
Dr. Yuriss was morose and had little enthusiasm for her work at present. The news about what the security people had found quickly made its way to her group. She was stunned and distressed about Raymond and what might have been. Most of all she was saddened for the loss of a very kind and good man.
She was going through the motions of working but her usual exuberance was clearly missing. She caught herself two or three times not paying attention and making silly mistakes.
“Dr. Yuriss. Dr. Yuriss are you okay?” her assistant said.
“What? Oh, yes. Sorry. I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head to clear it.
