Go here to see the Challenge that inspired this.

Disclaimer:

This has not been beta-ed.  All mistakes belong to me (big surprise there, right?)  Big thanks to Jenn for her encouragement!  <hugs>

Changes In Latitude
By Purple Lacey

 

Chapter One

Day One

Pain.  It was the first thing he felt: deep, intolerable pain. The second was fear as he took in a mouthful of water.  He coughed and fought weakly to return to the surface as he felt himself begin to sink under the waves. He just didn’t have the strength.  As his vision began to turn black around the edges, he felt someone grab onto the back of his shirt and pull him up again. 

“I’ve got you,” a voice rasped right before the world went totally dark.

********

 Six year old Ezra Standish came to lying with one cheek pressed irritatingly on damp, hard-packed sand. It took several minutes for his sluggish mind to clear enough to recognize that fact.  When it finally registered, the boy tried to sit up only to find his attempt thwarted by the heavy weight that pressed across his waist. 

The child took another moment to ponder his predicament.  Slowly, he turned his head to face the opposite direction.  He wished he hadn’t as the movement set off a throbbing in his head that wrung a moan from him.  The weight around his middle tightened fractionally for a moment and he felt himself pulled closer to a body he discovered was stretched out right beside him in the sand.

“S’okay, kid.  You’re safe,” a vaguely familiar voice mumbled by his ear.

Ezra’s sea-green eyes opened and sunlight speared into them forcing him to clamp them shut again in defense.  After several minutes he tried again, barely opening them to a slit, and then blinking rapidly until his eyes adjusted to the brightness.  He found himself staring at a pale, obviously exhausted face.  Ezra studied the man lying beside him for a moment with puzzlement. Suddenly everything came flooding back to him and he couldn’t help the mournful cry that escaped his lips.  Ezra pulled his legs up to his chest and curled into a trembling little ball of distress.

Hazel eyes snapped open and the man struggled to sit up.

“Hey, it’s alright,” his tired voice told the frightened child.  The man reached out and brushed a strand of brown hair from Ezra’s face. He laid a hand on the child’s back and slowly started rubbing soothingly.  “You’re safe now, son.”

Ezra hazarded a scared glance at the man watching him and sniffled.

“My name’s Chris,” the man informed him. “What’s yours?”

“Ezra,” he replied so softly the man was barely able to make it out.

“Hello there, Ezra,” Chris tried to smile. “Looks like you got yourself quite a bump there.  Does your head hurt?”

Ezra answered truthfully, “Yes, but not as much as it did.”

“Any problems seeing? Are things blurry? Tummy feel upset?” Chris questioned looking for signs of concussion or worse.  He was relieved when the boy answered no.

“Wh…where is this?” Ezra asked “Where’s my mother?”

Ezra could read the flash of sadness that passed over the man’s face before he controlled it.

“I don’t know, Ezra, either where we are or where your mother is.  I’m sorry.”

Ezra nodded and thought for a minute.  “We were on a plane.  We were going to Los Angeles.”

“That’s right,” Chris agreed.

“Something happened,” Ezra stated looking up at Chris with questions in his eyes.

The blond man sighed and ran a hand through his salt encrusted hair before answering, “The plane went down.  We crashed into the ocean.”

Ezra closed his eyes as memories, frightening memories, invaded his mind again.  He drew himself up even smaller and tears started running down his smooth cheeks, but he made no sound.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Chris said softly and scooped the little boy up to sit him in his lap. 

His strong arms closed around the child and his head rested on top of the mussed brown curls.  Instinctively he began rocking the boy.

“Shhh.  It’s okay.  It’s over.  I’ve got you.  You’re safe now. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Chris promised.

The two remained like that for several minutes until Ezra had calmed down again.

“Why don’t we take a look around and see what we can find?” Chris suggested, hoping to distract the child and get his mind on something else beside the harrowing plane crash.

Since he didn’t have anything else, Ezra wiped his nose with his sleeve- a move he knew would have appalled his mother – and nodded.  Chris set the boy on his feet and then rose.  

U.S. Marshall Chris Larabee looked down at the child standing beside him and cursed silently.  This trip had not turned out at all as he had planned. 

Chris and his team of deputies, Buck Wilmington, Nathan Jackson, Josiah Sanchez, Jim Williams, and Sam Zachary, had been returning from Hawaii on a fugitive retrieval mission.  It had been a milk run; a real piece of cake.  The fleeing fugitive, Andrew Saxon, had been spotted by the Honolulu police and Chris’ team had been ordered out to Hawaii to apprehend him and escort him back to the mainland.  Everything had gone smoothly.  The Marshals had, literally, caught their man with his pants down in a local bordello, and had captured him with no injuries to themselves and only a few minor bruises for Saxon.  They had escorted their shackled prisoner onto the jet for the evening flight home and settled back to make the most of the trip back.  It had been midway through the flight when an explosion from the tail section had rocked the plane and sent it plunging into the ocean. It had all happened so fast that the minutes after the explosion were a blur of wind and flames and water to Chris. 

The impact had stunned him and Chris had found himself floating in the water clinging to a piece of wreckage not sure how he had gotten outside.  He had desperately tried to spot his team.  His shouts had joined those of the other survivors as he called out to his men, but in the cacophony of screams and moans he hadn’t been able to tell if any of the voices belonged to his friends.

It was pitch black except for the flickering light that was provided by the burning jet fuel that spread with alarming swiftness across the water.   It was only by the merest chance that he caught sight of the little boy struggling to remain on the surface of the water as the child was backlit by the flames of the wreckage.  Without hesitating, Chris had let go of his makeshift raft and had swum to the boy as fast as he could when he had seen the little limbs stop flailing and the boy begin to sink.  The blond had reached him and grabbed the back of his shirt, wrapping his arm under the little head to hold it above water and swimming to the closest piece of floating debris.  Using a combination of pushing and pulling, Chris had managed to get the boy out of the water and onto the wreckage serving as a makeshift raft.

All through the long night Chris had struggled to keep the two of them alive.  As the morning sun had risen, Chris had heard the welcome sound of waves breaking on the shore and he had used his last strength to pull himself and his charge onto the beach above the waves before collapsing.

Now Chris surveyed the area.   They were standing on the middle of a sandy beach. To his left was the ocean.  To his right lay the tangle of trees and vines of a jungle.  Raising his head he could see the faint outline on a tall ridge over the tree tops.   Ahead of him the beach curved around a lagoon that continued around a lava-rock hill that shielded the other side from his view.   Behind him stretched more beach.   Chris started walking forward, Ezra trailing slightly behind him. 

The beach was littered with debris from the wreckage.  Chris could also see items floating in the waves.   He stopped to look at the pieces of flotsam thoughtfully for a moment.  As tired as he was, he knew what needed to be done.

“We need to gather up everything that washes up, Ezra.  We might need it later and when the tide turns it will probably take it back out to sea.  We have to get it while we can.  Can you help me?”

Ezra looked at the mess on the beach and nodded.

“Yes, sir,” he answered.

Chris smiled in approval at the boy’s ready agreement and together the pair made their way along the beach tossing and dragging items up above the tide line.  Chris waded back into the water to pull out floating items, but refused to allow Ezra to enter the water again so soon.   They found many of the airplane seat cushions that were supposed to serve as floatation devices. A few plastic bottles and several suitcases had also survived.  There was even a very large piece of the fuselage wedged into the sand, but it was too large and too heavy for Chris to move by himself.  Their best finds so far were a water soaked blanket that had snagged on a piece of debris and been dragged to shore with it and a large piece of plastic canvas. 

Chris had tried to lift a cardboard box from the waves only to have the waterlogged bottom disintegrate and spill a shower of little silver packages into the seawater.  The look on Chris’ face as he stood holding the empty box surrounded by a flotilla of little peanut and snack mix bags surprised a giggle from the boy watching on the shore.  In spite of the gravity of their situation, the watching man couldn’t help returning the laugh.

“Well it looks like we just discovered breakfast,” Chris told the boy, still grinning.

After a brief rest they made their way around the point of the cove and started down the next stretch of beach where they made a discovery that sent Chris snapping out an order to stay put to the little boy that had become his shadow while he ran on ahead.  There stretched out on the beach were two bodies.  Chris felt his heart beat faster in a combination of dread and hope as he threw himself down on his knees by the first man.  He reached out and turned the man over quickly.

“Buck!” he yelled and gave the man a shake.  He reached for the man’s neck and grinned when he felt a pulse.  “Buck, you with me?”

Buck Wilmington groaned and tried to push away the hand that was disturbing his sleep so rudely.

“Cut it out,” he grumbled.

Chris sat back on his heels and laughed, relief making him feel almost lightheaded.

“Wakey, wakey, Buck,” Chris smirked, and gave him a harder shove. 

Buck opened his eyes and shaded them with one hand as he looked up at his boss and long time friend grumpily.

“Damn.  You’d think a man that just survived a plan crash and found himself stranded on an island would be able to catch a few winks in peace,” he grouched with his own grin.  “You sure do know how to kill a good time, don’t you Stud?”

“You know some of us are trying to sleep here,” Nathan Jackson said as he pushed up on his elbows and turned to look at his fellow teammates with his own grin.

“Glad you could join us,” Chris smirked.

Nathan sat up and grimaced as he ran a hand over his face to brush off the sand that had adhered there. 

“I’d like to say I’m glad to be here, but that would be a whopping lie,” was Nathan’s dry reply.

“Anybody seen Sanchez, Williams, or Zachary?”  Chris asked suddenly serious.

The smile wiped off Buck’s face as he sat up and answered, “No.  I lost track of them last night.  Williams and Zachary were trying to get Saxon out of the cuffs when I got washed out of the plane.  That’s the last I saw of them. I didn’t see Josiah at all.”

Chris nodded and looked at Nathan.  The black man just shook his head.

“They might have washed up somewhere else,” Chris stated firmly.  “We need to search the beach for other survivors and gather up anything that might be useful later.  Ezra and I already made a good start on the other beach.  We need to hurry and get as much of it as possible before the tide turns.”

“Ezra?” Buck questioned and turned to see the little boy standing several feet away watching the three men silently.

“Well howdy,” Buck smiled at the child. “I take it you’re Ezra?”

A little head nodded.

“Pleased to meetcha.  My name’s Buck, Buck Wilmington.”

“Ezra P. Standish,” the boy replied, daring to come a little closer in response to the open smile the man was giving him. “How do you do?”

Buck laughed and climbed to his feet then replied, “I’ve been better.”  The large man tipped his head to one side thoughtfully and continued, “But I’ve been worse too.  At least I ain’t got holes in me this time.”

“Sir? Ezra asked confused. 

Buck laughed and waved the question away, “Never mind.”

“Ezra,” Chris waved the boy over, “This is Nathan Jackson.”

“Mr. Jackson,” Ezra said with a nod of his head. 

“Nice to meet you Ezra,” Nathan answered with a smile.

“Any signs of civilization on this island?” Buck asked.

“Not so far,” Chris informed him.  “We’ll have to keep a look out.”

“If we’re lucky we’ll find out this is some millionaire’s private island, complete with a bevy of sympathetic beauties just waiting to soothe our fevered brows and take our minds off our sorrows,” Buck declared with a dreamy smile.

“And there’s probably a little person running around shouting ‘Da plane, da plane’ too,” Nathan replied rolling his eyes. 

Buck shrugged and gave him an unashamed grin saying, “Well, a man can dream.”

“Let’s get busy, ladies,” Chris broke in, “We’re burning daylight.”

Together the three men and little boy set to work.   They didn’t bother trying to pile their prizes together but concentrated on getting the salvaged items above the tide line, knowing they could pick it up at their leisure later. They had worked their way to where the beach ended at the rocky wall of a cliff that rose fifty feet above their heads and surged a good hundred feet out into the lagoon making it impassable with out a boat.  Then they turned around and headed back past the beach where Ezra and Chris had washed up.  They had made their way around another curve in the island when they spotted more bodies lying in the sand.  Buck and Nathan ran ahead to check for signs of life.  Chris held Ezra back with a hand on his shoulder, not wanting the boy to be anymore traumatized than he had already been by confronting a dead body. 

“It’s Josiah!”  Nathan called, bending down beside one of the still figures, “He’s alive!”

“Williams,” Buck said quietly and looked up a Chris, shaking his head sadly.

“Damn,” Chris said softly before pushing the pain away.  The time for grief would come later. Right now the needs of the living had to take priority.

Chris tuned to look down at the boy by his side.

“Ezra, I want you to stay here,” Chris told him.

When Ezra nodded Chris jogged over to the other men. 

“How is Josiah?” he asked.

Nathan was busy checking over the unconscious man.

“Got a big gash on the side of his head.  Looks like it’s stopped bleeding though.  Got a pretty ragged laceration on his leg that looks like it could use a few stitches.   Nothing else is obvious but I can’t tell for sure until he wakes up and I can ask him.”

“You stay with him.  Buck, Ezra, and I’ll keep looking,” Chris ordered.

“What about….” Nathan asked jerking his at the dead body lying a few feet away. 

Chris considered for a moment then answered, “Move him into the trees for now.  We’ll have to see about burying him later.  We can’t do anything to help him now so he’ll have to wait.  We have to concentrate on our own survival for now.”

Nathan nodded his understanding.  The three remaining party members continued down the beach, Chris being careful to keep himself between Ezra and Williams’s dead body. 

Their next surprise was not long in coming.  They had traveled out of sight of Nathan when they looked ahead and found a young man sitting on the beach staring out at the sea.

“Hello!” Buck called out and the young man’s head jerked around in surprise then he jumped up to run toward the group coming towards him.

“Oh, man, I’m glad to see you! I thought I was the only one that made it out alive,” he said with relief.

He was average height, although just at the bottom of the scale for it.  His straight black hair was almost to his shoulders, and hung in still damp strings on his head. His deep blue eyes were shining with gladness to discover he had not been stranded on his own.  He looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old.

He threw his hand out and proclaimed, “Name’s JD Dunne.”

Buck stepped forward and they shook hands.

“Buck Wilmington. This here’s Chris Larabee, and Ezra P. Standish,” Buck introduced them.  “The P stands for Pretty good at Picking things up,” he joked, ruffling the boy’s hair.

Ezra giggled and looked up at him with a grin of pride.

“Our friends Nathan and Josiah are a ways back.  Josiah’s hurt and Nathan’s watching after him.  You can meet ‘em later,” Buck informed JD.

“We're looking for other survivors and trying to gather up all the usable things we can salvage while we can,” Chris informed him. 

“Gotcha,” JD said.  “I can help with that.  Four pair of hands are better than three.”

“Good,” Chris approved.  “Keep your eyes open for anything that might indicate there is already someone on the island, too.  I’d love to go around the next bend and find a resort hotel...but I’m not counting on it.  Until we know better we’re in a survival situation and act accordingly.”

“Sure,” the young man acknowledged agreeably.  “That sounds like the smartest thing to do.  Survival is the name of the game.”

They set to work again.  JD kept his mouth as busy as his hands.  Within ten minutes of meeting him, the group had learned that : 1) He was nineteen years old.  2) He was originally from a little town in Massachusetts. 3) He was already a junior at MIT on a full scholarship. 4) He had a part time job at a computer store. 5) He had a girlfriend named Casey that lived with her Aunt Nettie in his home town.  6) He had been backpacking in Hawaii with his college roommate after saving up for the trip for two years.

“Boy sure does love to talk,” Buck whispered to his taciturn friend with a smirk.

“Reminds me of someone else I know at that age,” Chris returned glancing at his oldest friend with a sly sideways look. 

“Hey, look!” JD’s yell returned their attention to him.

They turned to find the young man waving at someone coming out of the trees.  A long-haired, blond, bare-chested man dressed in jeans stepped out onto the sand of the beach and used one hand to return the greeting.  His other hand was occupied holding what looked to be his shirt.  He was using the garment to carry a mound of fruit.  The group walked towards the man, watching him carefully.

“Howdy,” the man greeted as he came to a stop about three feet from the group.  “Y’all from the plane?” he asked looking them over just as carefully.

“Yeah,” JD answered for them. “You too, huh?”

“Afraid so,” He smiled ruefully.  “I’m Vin Tanner.”

Introductions were made all around again.

“I been scoutin’ around some,” Vin informed them.  “Haven’t found much but sand, rock, and jungle so far.  Did find some good fruit trees a little inside tree line.  No source of fresh water yet.”

Chris frowned grimly at this news.  There were ways to survive without a stream or pool of water, but they took time and energy that could be better used in other ways to ensure their continued existence.

 Vin watched the man’s face and could almost read his mind.  “Still got a lot of ground to cover.  Might still find something,” he said staring into the other man’s eyes.

Chris nodded.  Vin looked at the little boy standing by Chris’ side and smiled.

“Hey kid, you like mangoes?” he asked and took one of the pieces of fruit he had gathered and tossed it toward the child who fumbled it for a moment then caught it firmly between his hands.

“I do not know, Mr. Tanner,” Ezra replied, looking at the strange looking fruit in his hands curiously. “I have never tried one.”

Vin grinned at the reply and told him, “The name’s Vin, and you’re in for a treat then.  Mangos are some really good eatin’.  They’re good for ya, too.”

Ezra looked up at the man suspiciously at this.

Chris had to laugh and reached down to ruffle the boy’s hair before looking at Tanner.

“You must not have ever been around kids much,” he said grinning

“Nope. Can’t say that I have.  How’d ya guess?” Vin asked with one eyebrow raised in inquiry.

“Because you never tell a kid that something is good for them.  That’s a sure fire way to get them to refuse to try it,” Chris laughed.

Ezra scowled as the grown ups laughed. 

Hoping to change the subject, the boy stated, “Chris says we have to gather up as much as we can before it gets washed out to sea.  That’s what we’ve been doing.”

Vin knelt down on one knee to get closer to Ezra’s level as he replied, “That’s sounds like a real smart thing to do.”

Ezra’s little head bobbed up and down furiously as he nodded his concurrence to Vin’s statement and stated decisively, “Chris is REALLY smart.  And he’s brave too!  He saved me when I hit my head and fell in the water. I could have DROWNED if he hadn’t come to get me.  Then he held me real tight when I got scared and he promised he’s going to take care of me.”

Vin did his best to look properly impressed.

“Sounds like he’s a real hero alright,” he agreed.

The little head began bouncing again.

Buck elbowed his friend in the ribs and leaned over to whisper, “Sounds like you got an admirer, Stud.  Too bad it’s a half pint and not someone with a few more curves.”

Torn between pleasure and embarrassment over the boy’s words, Chris glared at his laughing friend and tried to get things back on track.

“Did you happen to find a good place to set up camp while you were exploring,” Chris asked the kneeling man.

Vin gave one last smile to the boy and stood up. 

“Found a cave that might do for tonight but I wouldn’t recommend it for a permanent base since there’s a water line around it that tells me it floods periodically,” the long haired blond answered and turned to point back the way he had come.  “It’s about half a klick that way.”

“You think it’s big enough for all of us?” Chris asked.  “I’ve got two men back down the beach, too.  One of them is hurt.”

Vin thought for a moment then answered, “Yeah.  It’s pretty big.  Should have room and then some.”

“Good.  We need to finish salvaging what we can so we can get prepared for the night,” Chris told the group.  “We’ll plan on staying in the cave tonight and looking for better accommodations tomorrow.”

Vin watched as the other man just unconsciously took charge.  Vin had worked under many different commanding officers during his short stint in the Army so he knew how having a good leader could make or break a unit, especially in a survival situation.  Larabee gave off the aura of a natural born leader, but impressions could sometimes be deceptive.   His ideas so far meshed with Vin’s own take of their current situation so Tanner decided to go along with the man for now.   He would suspend final judgment until he had the chance to observe the man in action some more.   If Vin decided the man was not up to the task, or made decisions that endangered them in any way, then he would step in and challenge Larabee’s right to lead. 

The decision made, Vin said, “Sounds good to me,” and then he walked over to a tree on the edge of the jungle. Fashioning his shirt into a sling to hold the fruit he’d collected, Vin tied the sleeves to one of the branches and left it hanging there.

“Why did you do that?” Ezra asked curiously as he watched the blond walk back to the group.

“That will help mark the spot where the cave should be for anybody that needs to find it, and gives me two hands free to help,” Vin explained.

“Oh, I see,” the boy replied looking at Vin and thinking he was smart too.

“I already piled up the stuff from the stretch of beach I washed up on,” Vin told him.

Chris nodded once in pleased acknowledgement. And once again the group went back to scouring the beach and waves.

They had been working for about an hour when they came across another lost soul laying on the beach, this one obviously a woman.  They found her lying on her back as they came around another point on the beach.  All that could be seen was a mess of long blond hair, a sodden blue business suit, and the remains of shredded nylons.  Ezra looked at the navy blue suit and immediately recognized it as the one his mother had been wearing on the plane.  Before Chris or the others could stop him the little boy flew to the woman and fell to his knees beside her.

“Mother! You made it!  I was so scared you were lost.  I...”

The boy broke off as he pulled at her shoulder in his excitement and caught a rope of her hair in his fingers.  The pressure on the hair as he tried to disentangle his fingers pulled the woman’s head around to face the boy.  Ezra stared in shock at what was left of his once beautiful mother. One side of her face was as perfect as ever, but the other was ravaged.  The skin was blackened and drawn up, and charred patches of the woman’s skull could be seen clearly through holes where the fire, burning extraordinarily hot from the jet fuel, had burnt through her skin.

Ezra began screaming in horror and frantically crab-walked backward to get away from the awful sight.  As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t seem to pull his eyes away.  The scream ended only because he ran out of breath to continue it, but resumed as soon as his oxygen starved lungs had drawn another breath.

Chris arrived just moments after Ezra.  He scooped the boy up and ran back down the beach with him, pressing the child’s face into his shoulder to block the terrible sight from him.  

“Ezra!” Chris cried as he held the boy tight. “Ezra, listen to me.  I’m here.  I’ve got you.”

Ezra remained unresponsive.  He just kept on screaming that high, undulating shriek, completely lost in shock and horror.

“Ezra!” Chris tried shaking the boy but still received no results.  This went on for several tense minutes.

Vin came to stand by Larabee’s side watching sadly as the man tried without success to calm the hysterical child. 

Finally he caught Chris’ eye and said, “I’m sorry, but it’s got to be done.”

Then he caught and held Ezra’s face with one hand and slapped him with the other.  Ezra immediately fell silent.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!” Chris yelled, turning around and putting his back between Vin and the child so Ezra was shielded from the other man.

“What needed to be done,” Vin said firmly, but pained regret shown clearly in eyes that had begun to tear.

“Get the hell away from him,” Chris shouted and took off down the beach.

Vin stood silently watching him leave until he felt a hand fall on his shoulder.  He turned to find Buck facing him with sympathy written all over his face.

“I know that was hard, but you did the right thing,” Buck assured him kindly.  “He was going into shock.”

“God, I don’t ever want to do that again,” Vin said as he drew in a trembling breath.

“I hope you don’t have to,” Buck seconded.  “I hope nobody does.”

Vin turned back to watch  Chris as he sat cross-legged on the sand under the shade of one of the trees with Ezra held tight to his chest, speaking gently to the now quietly weeping boy.

“Chris is angry right now,’” Buck told the younger man, “He doesn’t always think too straight when he’s that mad, but pretty soon his brain will come back on line and then he’ll realize you were right.” 

“Maybe,” Vin replied as he turned in the opposite direction and picked up a piece of debris then flung it up the beach with angry force, “But that still won’t stop me from feeling lower than dirt.”

Buck sighed and followed the man.   He stepped close enough to the distraught man to ask quietly, “Would you help me with the boy’s mother?  He doesn’t need to be seeing her lying there when Chris does get him to calm down.”  

“Yeah,” Vin answered throwing a sympathetic glance to Ezra, “I’ll help.  Poor kid.” 

Buck took the dead woman’s arms while Vin got her feet and together the pair carried her into the jungle and deposited her gently on the ground.  Buck picked up a fallen palm frond and covered her ravaged face with it. 

“We’ll look after your boy for you, ma’am,” Buck murmured as he stood looking sadly down on the corpse.  “We’ll do our best by him.  I promise.” 

Chris meanwhile was suffering with every sob that wracked the child’s small frame.  Ezra’s arms and legs were wrapped around him in a death grip.  He wanted to scream at God for allowing an innocent such as Ezra to be put through such terrible trials in such a short period of time.  It was bad enough to risk the child’s life in the airplane crash, but to strand the poor child on an island with strangers and then make him see his own mother that way...that was something no child should ever have to go through.     

Eventually the boy’s crying stopped and he fell in to an exhausted sleep.  Chris continued to hold him for some time, brushing the tears from the reddened face with a gentle hand and hugging him closer, until he acknowledged that he needed to get back to the necessary job of planning for their survival.  He leaned the boy against his chest while he wiggled out of his shirt.  He took the shirt and spread it as best he could under the shade tree.  Then he gently transferred the boy to the shirt.  Ezra curled up into a ball again but didn’t wake.   Chris looked over at the other men busy scavenging and walked back over to help.

Buck was aware of his return but let him stew in silence for a few minutes before making his way close enough to his friend to talk to him. 

“Tanner only did what he did to help the boy, Chris,” Buck told him seriously.  “Ezra was hysterical and going into shock.  It could have been real dangerous for the boy if Tanner hadn’t pulled him back like he did.  If you stop and think about it objectively, you know you would have done the same thing if the tables had been turned.”

Larabee scowled at the larger man, not giving an inch.

“Hell Chris,” Buck swore, “Doing it hurt him more than I bet it did Ezra.  Have you looked at him, really looked at him?  The man’s suffering even though he knew what he was doin’ was for the boy’s own good.   You don’t have to go after the guy. He’s already beating himself up.”

Chris turned away but couldn’t help catching sight of Tanner.   Even from where he stood he could see the slumped shoulders and dejected posture of the man.   Not saying anything, Chris wandered away from Buck but kept within sight of the sleeping boy.

Eventually they had cleaned up all the debris on that section of beach and it was time to move to another.  Chris stood for a moment trying to decide what to do next.  He refused to leave Ezra alone, but didn’t want to risk exposing the boy to any more dead bodies that might be lurking ahead. 

Vin solved the problem by stepping up and stating quietly, “If you want to take the boy back to the cave, me and the guys will go on ahead and finish up.  I don’t think there’s much of this shoreline we haven’t covered yet.“

Larabee threw a hard look at the other man before nodding his head once sharply in agreement.  Tanner stood looking after the departing  man for a moment before exhaling a regretful sigh and rejoining the waiting Buck and JD.

Chris carefully picked up Ezra, shirt and all, and began walking back the way they had come.  As much as he wanted to be mad, Buck’s words and the evidence of his own eyes were getting through to him. Halfway back to the spot where they had met Tanner Chris finally acknowledged the truth to himself.   Buck was right.  Tanner hadn’t done anything but help Ezra.  He deserved Chris’ thanks not his anger. 

Well shit, he was going to have to apologize to the scrawny blond, and he hated apologizing.  Now he really had something to be angry about.

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Chapter Two

Nathan had used his time wisely.  Not one to sit around twiddling his thumbs while there was work to be done, after he had dealt with the body of his deceased coworker, he had started sorting out the salvaged supplies into neat piles.  Where possible he popped the lids on the suitcases they had found and pulled out the contents, spreading them out on the sand to dry in the hot sun.    He nearly jumped for joy when he discovered the small sewing kit someone had swiped from their hotel along with a few towels.  In another he found a bottle of Jack Daniels.   He felt like he’d just hit the jackpot.

Nathan gathered up his prizes and went to kneel beside his unconscious friend.  He opened the bottle of whiskey and was tempted to take a swig but refrained, knowing its medicinal value was too great to waste.   He threaded one of the needles then carefully dipped both the needle and thread into the whisky, one end at a time, to disinfect them.

“Sorry, Josiah,” he spoke to the man lying in front of him as he pulled the man’s torn jeans away from the lacerated area on his leg.  “This is gonna hurt some...alright a lot, but it’s got to be done.” 

This said he tilted the bottle and poured a tiny stream directly into the jagged cut.  The reaction was instantaneous.  Sanchez popped up with a mighty roar that caused Nathan to lose his balance and fall back.  It was only his quick reflexes that kept the bottle from spilling its content onto the sand.

“Holy mother of ...” Josiah said through gritted teeth.

“You’re awake,” Jackson said innocently.

Josiah glared at this friend as he leaned forward and tried to wrap his hands around his stinging leg.  He was intercepted by Nathan.

“Just keep those dirty hands of yours away from that cut.  I just disinfected it and I can’t spare any of this whiskey to do it again.”

“Gimme some of that,” Josiah swiped at the bottle but Nathan was quicker and held it away. 

“Nope.  Can’t afford to waste it on drinking.  This falls under the category of medicine now and we have to be careful to stretch it as far as it will go,” Nathan told him virtuously.

“Hell, Nathan,” Josiah argued with a sly grin, “In the days before anesthetics, a few stiff drinks was considered medicinal.”

“I guess it’s too bad for you that you aren’t living in the old days then,” Nathan shot back.

Eyeing the needle and thread in the other man’s hands, Josiah sighed and asked, “Why do I get the feeling that you’re not through torturing me yet?”

Nathan dropped the playfulness and answered apologetically, “That leg of yours needs stitches, Josiah.  We both know you can’t leave a wound like that untended in the tropics.  It’ll get infected in no time flat and you could wind up losing your leg.  I really don’t want to have to try to do an amputation out here.  I would much rather take care of the problem while it’s still little. ”

Knowing that his friend was right, Josiah gritted his teeth and nodded to let Nathan know he was ready.  Josiah hissed sharply as Nathan wiped at the raw wound with a whiskey soaked corner of a towel to clean it then hissed again as Nathan pierced his flesh with the needle and made the first stitch.

“Are we the only ones?” he asked, trying to take his mind off the pain his friend was inflicting.

“I’m glad to be able to say no.  Buck washed up with me. Chris and a little boy he found made it too,” Nathan paused long enough to look at Josiah.  “Williams wasn’t so lucky,” he said sadly. 

“And Zachary?”  Josiah asked through gritted teeth as Jackson went back to work.

“I don’t know about him,” Nathan disavowed regretfully.   “We found you right after Chris found Buck and me.  I stayed here to look after you while they went on ahead.  I haven’t heard back from them yet.  I don’t know if or who else they might have found.”

“Do you think Saxon made it off the plane?”

Jackson sighed before replying, “I guess it’s possible.  Buck said Zachary and Williams were trying to get him out of the hardware when it hit the fan.  Williams ended up here, so who knows.  Maybe that animal made it off too.   Lord I hope not.  We got enough troubles as it is without worrying about that psychopath running around this island.  If we’re lucky, he went down with the plane.”

Josiah raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked around at the island they were currently stranded on then stated archly, “Luck doesn’t seem to be on our side at the moment.”  

“That’s the last one,” Nathan informed the large man snipping  off the thread with his pocket knife.  “As soon as I can find something to boil water in, I’ll tear up some of the clothes from the suitcases to make bandages and sterilize them.  That leg will do better covered.”

“Thanks, Nathan.” Josiah told him sincerely. 

“Are you hurting anywhere else besides your leg and your head?” Nathan asked.

“Nope. And before you ask, no my vision is not blurry, and I’m not nauseous.  I’ve got a bit of a headache, but it’s very low key.  I’m fine, my friend,” Josiah assured him.

“You’re still going to have to take it easy on that leg.  I don’t want you tearing my stitches out.”

“If they’re your stitches then why is it that I’m the one that felt ‘em going in?” Josiah joked with a grin.

Nathan rolled his eyes.

“Why don’t I bring stuff to you and you can sit there and sort it out.  We need to have some kind of inventory of all this stuff,” Nathan insisted.

Josiah looked around at the semi-ordered mess that Nathan had referred to and answered, “That’s true enough, but there might be one more important step we need to take first.”

Nathan looked at him is question, “What’s that?”

“I’m starting to get a little thirsty here.  I think our first priority should be obtaining some good drinking water.  We’re not going to get very far with out it,” Josiah stated.

“Good point,” Nathan agreed.  “But I don’t know if or where there is water on this island.”

Josiah grinned and replied, “Well this old dog knows a few tricks yet.  If you’ll help me, I’ll show a few of ‘em to you.”

Under the older man’s direction, Nathan gathered up a few ragged sheets of plastic canvas they had salvaged and started digging a shallow hole that was just wide enough to be covered by a piece of the canvas and deep enough to fit one of the plastic soda bottles that they had found while leaving about two inches of clearance space at the top.  Then Josiah had him set the bottle into the hole and cover it with the plastic.  They weighted the edges of the canvas down with a few stones and then Josiah carefully set one stone in the middle of the plastic directly over the opening in the bottle in such a way that the canvas dipped slightly right over the top of the bottle.

Nathan sat back and looked at him questioningly and asked, “Okay, so what now?”

Josiah smiled and replied, “And now we wait for our solar still to work, or better yet, make another one.  The sun will heat the moisture that’s in the sand and it will evaporate and try to rise.  The canvas will trap the condensation. As it gathers underneath, gravity it will make the drops run down the slanted sides of that dip in the middle of the plastic which will act like a funnel causing the water to drip into the bottle at the bottom.  Then viola: fresh drinkable water.”

Nathan looked impressed.

“To collect enough for everyone we’ll need a lot more. If we can find some big rocks, we can build a fire and heat them then drop them into a pit filled with sea water to make a lot more water vapor.  We would use a piece of canvas or even a blanket to catch the condensation then wring the blanket out into a container.  There’s a lot of different ways to do it if you think about it,” he lectured.

“Well then, why don’t you sit there and start digging more holes while I look for more containers and plastic,” Nathan suggested.

Josiah agreed and the two men got busy, happy to have something constructive to do while they waited for the others to return.

It was three hours later that Chris trudged back to join them.  He had debated going ahead and looking for Tanner’s cave but decided it would be better to wait until the man was there to show him.  Depending on how dense the jungle in the middle of the island was, he could spend hours looking for it and never see it.  He really didn’t need to waste the time or the energy that looking for it would entail especially when he would have to be carrying Ezra around with him.  It made far more sense to head back to Nathan and Josiah.  Besides he really wanted to check on his oldest agent. 

Nathan had looked up to see him carrying Ezra down the beach and had hurried over to intercept him.

“Is he alright?” Nathan queried as he drew near. “Did something happen to him?”

“You might say that,” Chris grimaced.  “We found his mother.  She wasn’t in good shape; part of her face was almost burned away.  Ezra saw before we could stop him.”

Nathan looked sadly at the sleeping child and raised a hand to rub the little back.

“Damn, that kid’s really had a rough time, hasn’t he?” Nathan said with a shake of his head.

Josiah limped over about this time and Chris couldn’t help but smile at the large man when he joined them.

“I see you decided to join the party.  How are you feeling?”

“Other than a few scrapes and bruises and a bit of headache, I’m fine, Chris,” Josiah assured him.

The older man studied the child in his boss’ arms carefully.

“Funny, but I don’t remember you having that particular piece of carry-on when we boarded the plane in Honolulu,” Josiah teased with a grin.

Chris grinned back and replied, “It’s amazing what you can find on the beach when you just stop and look.”

The three laughed. 

“Did you find anyone else?” Josiah asked.

“Yeah.  Two more so far,” the blond answered sobering at the subject change. “One by the name of Vin Tanner, and the other JD Dunne.”

Chris held Ezra a little tighter as he said, “Also found the little guy’s mother, but she didn’t make it.”

“Now that is truly tragic,” Josiah replied looking at Ezra.

“Ezra got hysterical when he found her.  I came on back with him while Buck and the other two finish salvaging.  Tanner had already found a cave where we can spend the night.  So shelter is taken care of, at least temporarily.  We need to concentrate on finding food and water now,” Chris informed them, focusing back on their most immediate survival needs.

Nathan grinned and told him, “Well thanks to Josiah, we’ve got a head start on the water problem.”

As the three men walked up the beach Nathan explained how they had occupied their time.  Chris was gratified to see over a dozen of the solar stills had already been completed so far.

“Good work,” Chris told them.  “That just leaves us with food.  Tanner said he found fruit trees in the jungle, and I’ve seen plenty of coconut palms so we should be able to gather a few of those.  Ezra and I found some sealed stuff from the plane.  That should be able to hold us for the night.  We can scout out the island and look for more tomorrow; maybe see if we can catch some fish.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Josiah stated.  “You want to start moving stuff to this cave?”

Chris thought for a moment then decided, “Doesn’t make sense to haul it all over there when we might have to haul it out again.  According to Tanner, the cave is prone to flooding so it won’t make an acceptable permanent shelter.  We’ll either have to find or build a better shelter later.  For now, just take the things we’re liable to need for the night or anything that might blow away during the night if it’s not secured.  We’ll figure out what to do with it all when we’ve had a chance to scout the island more.”

The other two men agreed and they started gathering up armfuls of things to take to the cave.  Chris lead them back to the place Tanner had left his shirt tied to the tree.  He left Josiah to watch a sleeping Ezra while he and Nathan returned for more.   They had just returned from their third trip when Buck, Vin and JD came walking up the beach.  Introductions were made again. 

“We got to talk, Chris,” Buck said quietly after pulling the leader aside while the others got acquainted.  Chris looked at the serious face of his friend and nodded, knowing whatever Buck wanted to discuss was important just by the fact that the usual amused twinkle was missing from the azure eyes.

The mantle of leadership falling naturally on his shoulders, Chris began giving instructions to the waiting men.

“Nathan, why don’t you take JD and get him to help you collect the water you and Josiah distilled.  We’ll leave your stills where they are for now. We can move them later when we know where our permanent camp will be," Chris told them. “ When you’re done with that, you can see if you can gather enough of the fruit that Tanner found to feed us tonight. Josiah, we’re still going to need more water with this many people.  Can you see about making some more stills here?”

“Sure, Chris,” Josiah agreed.  

Larabee lastly turned to the silently watching Tanner.  “Could you blaze a trail to this cave you found so everyone can find it then come back and watch Ezra for me? Maybe help Josiah some?” he asked.

Tanner looked at the man staring at him levelly and realized that by asking him to look after the little boy the blond man was letting him know he trusted him with the child and understood about the earlier slap.  Without one word being spoken, apologies were sent and accepted by both men.  Vin nodded his agreement, not quite trusting his voice not to break.  He felt like a weight had just been lifted from his shoulders.  The corner of Chris’ mouth pulled up in a tiny understanding smile before he turned away. 

“So what are you going to do?” JD dared to ask.

“Take care of my man and Ezra’s mother,” was the grim reply before Chris walked away with Buck at his side.

They had barely gotten out of sight of the others when Chris ordered, “Let’s hear it, Buck.”

“I think we got us a real big problem, Stud,” Buck told him.  “After you left with Ezra, we went further down the beach.”

Buck stopped walking and Chris followed suit.

“We found Zachary and another couple of people.   Their throats had been cut, Chris,” Buck told him grimly. 

Chris didn’t need to hear anymore to know what his friend was thinking.

“You think Saxon is alive and somewhere on this island,” he stated.

Buck nodded and said, “There was too much blood on the sand around the bodies for them to have been dead before they washed up on the beach. Those people were killed after they already made it here. There was a piece of jagged metal, probably a part of the fuselage, by the last body we found.  It had a bloody hand print on it.  Unless there was another psycho killer on that plane, then Saxon must be here.   And Zachary’s hand had been hacked off.  Looks like old “By the Book” handcuffed himself to the prisoner before they left the plane.   Saxon must have killed him then cut off his hand to get the cuff off him.”

“Shit!” Chris growled and kicked at the sand in frustration.  “That’s all we need.  Things weren’t already bad enough.”

“Yep, it sucks big time,” Buck agreed.  “I think the kid was too busy trying not to puke from the sight of all the blood to realize exactly what had happened to ‘em, but I’m pretty sure from the way Tanner acted that he knows, although he didn’t say anything.”

“If he is here then we’re going to have to take precautions.  Nobody can go anywhere alone until we catch him.  That goes double for Ezra,” Chris said running a tired hand through his hair.  “We’ll have to post a watch at night.”

“Tanner found some footprints that led into the jungle.  We may be able to track them.  Look on the bright side,” Buck tried to grin but didn’t quite carry it off.  “He’s stranded on an island in the middle of the Pacific.  Where’s he gonna go?” 

“I’d feel a whole lot better if we weren’t stranded on that island, too.” Chris blew out a deep breath and then said, “Come on.  I want a look at the site, and we still have other work to do.  We’ll just have to keep sharp.  If Saxon is here, we’ll have to deal with it like every other problem we face - one step at a time.”

Both men went back to their grim task, one that had just become larger with the news of more bodies that needed to be buried.  Conversation was sparse as each man contemplated their present situation and calculated the odds of their continued survival; odds that had just gotten steeper with the news that Andrew Saxon was probably alive.

The sun was starting its slow fall to the horizon when the two tired men found their way to Tanner’s cave following the trail the man had made.  They were gratified to find the other men gathered around a large fire a few short paces from the cave entrance.  They were greeted with enthusiasm by JD who scooted to one side to make room for them around the fire.

“Glad you guys are back,” the youth said.  “I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it before dark.”

Buck grinned tiredly at the welcome.

“How’s Ezra?” was Chris’ first question.  “Did he wake up yet?

“Not yet,” Nathan told him, “But don’t worry about him. I just checked on him a few minutes ago.   There’s nothing wrong with him.  He’s just sleeping.  After all that he’s been through, it’s the best thing for him right now. He was completely exhausted.  He’ll be up when his body’s had time to recharge.”

“If you say so,” Chris said as he stared worriedly at the cave entrance.

Nathan grinned then said, “Go on.  Go check on him.  You’re not going to settle down until you do, so you might as well get it over with.”

Chris frowned at the black man at first then had to smile ruefully as he admitted that Nathan knew him too well.  Larabee rose and went into the cave.  He walked over to where Ezra was lying on a bed made of seat cushions and covered by several of the towels that Nathan had discovered.  Chris reached out to feel the little forehead, relieved that it felt warm but not feverish.  He pushed a lock of hair from the boy’s face and just knelt there watching him for a moment longer before rising and going back outside.

He returned to the amused faces of the other men which he pointedly ignored.  He dropped down on the dirt with the others and raised his hands to the fire, enjoying the warmth and letting it sooth some of the tension from his weary body.

“There’s something we need to talk about,” he said quietly as he stared into the flames.  

He immediately had everyone’s attention.

“Saxon is alive,” he said simply. 

Nathan and Josiah immediately started swearing.

JD looked confused then he asked, “Who’s Saxon?”

Chris turned to look at him as he explained, “Andrew Saxon is a serial killer that went on a five state spree before being caught by the FBI about 12 years ago.  He escaped from a maximum security facility last month. We, my team and I, had recaptured him in Honolulu and were escorting him back when the plane crashed.”

“Marshalls?” Vin asked quietly.

“That’s right,” Chris answered. 

“How do you know that he’s alive?” Josiah asked.

“Because we found Zachary and two others on the beach with their throats slashed,” Buck answered for him.

Josiah swore again.  It fit with Saxon’s M.O.

JD looked nervously over his shoulder.

“You think he’s out there...watching us?  Just waiting for a chance to... to...” the kid turned pale at the direction his thoughts were taking.

Chris would have liked to be able to relieve his mind but knew the young man’s safety might well rest on his honesty as he answered, “Yes.  It’s what he does.  And he’s damn good at it.”

Larabee paused long enough to look each of them in the eye before continuing,  "From now on, nobody goes anywhere alone.  If you have to take a piss then you do it with someone watching your back.  Ezra is not to be let out of our sight for a second.  We’ll post a watch tonight, every man taking a two hour shift.  If you think you hear or see something don’t go to investigate on your own.  Wake two of us up, one to go with you to check it out, and one to remain behind to guard the others.  The man is insane but he’s smart.  Don’t under estimate him.  It could cost you your life.”

The others nodded solemnly.

“I’ll take first watch,” Vin volunteered.

“Alright,” Chris agreed.

“How about I take the second and Josiah takes the third,” Nathan suggested.  “We’ve both had a chance to rest and you and Buck haven’t.  That will give you at least six hours of sleep before you have to take your own watch.  JD can have the last one.”

Chris knew Nathan had suggested giving the kid the last watch because he knew the sun should be on the rise by then.  JD’s inexperience would be less of a threat to their safety than it would in the darkness of the night.

“Thanks,” Chris acknowledged the offer.  “Sleep sounds like a slice of heaven to me right now.”

“Before you surrender to the arms of Morpheus,” Josiah interrupted, “You should eat something.  You need to keep up your strength.”

Acknowledging the wisdom of this, Chris accepted some of the pieces of fruit that was passed to him and Buck as well as the half-filled plastic bottle of water that each was handed.

“So you guys are Federal marshals, huh?”  JD asked to make conversation as the other two men consumed their al fresco meal.

”That’s right, son,” Josiah told him as he lay back in order to stretch out his wounded leg.  “I‘ve been with the Marshal service for almost twenty three years now.  Been on Chris’s team for the last seven of those.”

“Three years for me,” Nathan said staring into the fire and not making eye contact with anyone.

“Ole Chris and me have known each other since grade school,” Buck told him after he licked mango juice from his fingers.  “Chris has been working his way up the ladder at the Service and been dragging my sorry butt after him for the last fifteen years.”

“And you, Vin? “JD asked.  “What do you do for a living?”

Vin fed another stick into the fire before answering, “I work on a search and rescue team in Colorado most of the year.  During fire season I also work as a smokejumper.”

“Hey, I’ve heard of that.  You’re one of those guys that parachutes into the woods to put out forest fires, right?” an awed JD asked.

“That’s right,” Vin answered him.

Buck grinned and teased, “I always heard you had to be crazy to join the smokejumpers.” 

Vin suddenly grinned and replied, “It’s not a prerequisite for the job...but it definitely helps.”

“Cool!” JD grinned.

Nathan climbed to his feet and told everyone, “I think I’ll turn in.  It’s been a long day.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Josiah said and reached up a hand to let Nathan help him up.  “I think I’ll join you.” 

“Me too,” JD said as he stood up also.

The others called their goodnights and watched them walk into the cave leaving Chris, Buck and Vin sitting around the fire.

“This guy really as dangerous as you made out?” Vin asked with quiet concern.

“Worse,” was Buck’s stark answer.

“The guy is pure predator,” Chris replied watching Vin process his words, “Only he kills for enjoyment not survival, and he likes to play with his prey before he kills them whenever possible.  You really don’t want to know about some of the things that he’s done to his victims.  I wish I didn’t know.”

“Would he know enough to survive on his own here?” Vin asked.

Chris shrugged.  “I don’t know.  It’s possible.  It’s more likely that he’ll try to take anything that he needs from us.  It’s just one more thing we’ll have to be watching out for.  We’ll have to keep a guard on all our supplies at all times.  That’s going to cut down on the manpower we have available for other tasks, but it can’t be helped.   We’ll just have to work around it.”

“If this guy is as much of a predator as you say, then Ezra is not the only one we have to watch out for,” Vin said looking at the others from across the fire.  “Predators usually target the young and the injured first.  JD falls into the first category, too.  He doesn’t seem like the kind to have any experience in dealing with a bad ass of that caliber.” 

“We need to team him up with one of us,” Chris agreed.   “By using the buddy system in everything, hopefully, we can keep him out of trouble.”

The men watched the fire, each lost in their own thoughts for awhile before Vin broke the silence with another question.

“So what’s Nathan’s story?  I noticed he acted a little strange when y’all were talking about how long you’d been with the Marshals.”

Chris and Buck exchanged a look before Buck replied softly.

“Nathan don’t like to talk much about before he became a Marshal.”

Chris unconsciously nodded his head in agreement of the statement.

“See,” Buck continued, “Nathan was going to be a doctor, a surgeon.  He was just starting his third year of residency at a hospital in Mississippi when...well... you’ve got to understand the kind of guy Nathan is.”  Buck paused to gather his thoughts as he gazed into the flames.  “Nathan is what you might call highly motivated.  When he does something he goes all out.  Everything he does, no matter how big or small, he gives it his best.  There’s no in between, no compromise, for Nathan.  That’s just how he is; who he is,” Buck looked up at Tanner to find him watching seriously.

“While he was doing his residency he had to take another job to make ends meet.  Now, technically that was against the rules, but a lot of folks did it and most people looked the other way.   Nathan, being Nathan, took that second job just as seriously as he did his one doctoring.  He also had a fiancé that...well...I can’t say demanded his time as Raine just isn’t the demanding type, but you get the idea.

Anyway, the long and short of it is he was burning the candle at both ends.  When you mix sleep deprivation and exhaustion with the humongous dose of stress that is part and parcel of a Resident’s life you get a disaster waiting to happen, and it did.  He had a breakdown.  

He was supposed to be scrubbing up for surgery when he started to shake and couldn’t stop.  One of the nurses went looking for him when he didn’t show up at the operating room and found him sitting in a corner with his arms wrapped around his middle, sobbing his eyes out.  She got him up and one of his colleagues gave him a sedative.  They tried to cover for him but one of the hospital administrators found out.  The bastard used the moonlighting as an excuse to can him.”

Buck shook his sad in disgust as he thought of the unfairness of that.

“Nathan had always been an over achiever and had never failed at anything.  He just didn’t have any experience at dealing with it when it happened. He was pretty lost for awhile.  He didn’t work for a long time but eventually settled for job as an EMT with an ambulance company.  Then he met Josiah at a homeless shelter where they were both volunteering.  They got to be friends and Josiah talked him into joining the Marshals. 

He’s good at it. He’s got a sharp mind and he’s detail oriented, and doesn’t flinch under pressure. And his medical training has come in handy many times in the last three years, let me tell you.  If we had to be stranded here then we’re damn lucky that he’s with us.  If you ever have anything go wrong with you, you can trust Nathan to take care of you.  He’s a damn fine doctor.”

“Josiah’s been trying to talk him into taking a sabbatical long enough to finishing his training,” Chris interjected, “But he’s been resisting the idea.  I think he’s just too embarrassed about what happened to consider it yet.”

“Give him time,” Buck grinned, “If anybody can get the man to do anything then it’ll be Josiah.  Josiah will just keep after him until he eventually wears him down.  The man is like water dripping on a stone.  Eventually everyone crumbles.”

Chris and Buck grinned at each other and laughed. Vin chuckled as well.

“I was surprised when Josiah said how long he’d been with the Marshals.  I would have expected him to be bossing his own team after that long,” Vin subtly questioned.

Chris grimaced and said, “You’re right.  He would be leading his own team by now except for two things.  One, he doesn’t want the responsibility and two he has...” Chris paused while he tried to find the right words, “Umm, anger issues,” he finally supplied to Buck’s snort of amusement.

Tanner raised an eyebrow at this and repeated, “Anger issues.”

Buck chuckled and answered the implied question, “What Chris is trying to say is Josiah has a temper and it has come out  many times when he took ISSUE with the higher ups for making decisions that he thought put personnel in unnecessary danger.  He has most of them intimidated and they hate it.  He’s been demoted I don’t know how many times in his career, but he’s just so good at the job that they can’t afford to fire him.   I never saw anybody as good at crawling inside a fugitive’s mind and predicting what they’ll do next. It’s uncanny sometimes.  Even the brass have to admit that.

Anyway, he kept getting transferred from team to team whenever his supervisors either got too unnerved by him or got tired of dealing with the flack he pulled down from the big boys upstairs. Then Chris snapped him up.   Ain’t nobody that can out intimidate Larabee here and Chris is real good at dealing with the brass, so Josiah finally found a place he could fit in.  He’s been with our team ever since.”

“What about you?” Chris asked, turning the tables.  “Why search and rescue?”

The long-haired man shrugged and replied, “It just seemed to fit.  After I got out of the Army I was looking for something to do with the rest of my life when I decided to go camping.  As fate would have it, while I was there a little girl wandered away from a campground and got lost in the forest.  I knew a lot about tracking and volunteered to help look for her and it just so happened that the group I was assigned to was being lead by the leader of the search and rescue team from the neighboring county.  We got to know each other and when he found out I was looking for a job he offered me a spot on his team.  One of the guys on the team was a smokejumper and when I told him I had some parachute training in the Army he got me involved in that too.   Been doing it ever since.

I like not being cooped up in an office all day.  I enjoy the outdoors, and love how my job allows me to get out and experience it in a way most people never get to.  I also like knowing what I do is important and I’m doing something to help people.  I really make a difference in people’s lives.”  

The tracker smiled and shrugged again saying, “It suits me so I keep on doing it,” Vin finished with a smile.

“For how long?” Chris asked curiously.

Vin stopped and thought a moment then replied, “Going on five years now, I guess.  Kinda hard to believe it’s been that long.  Don’t seem like it.  The days go by quick when you’re enjoying ‘em, I suppose.” 

Chris started to make a comment but a huge yawn caught him by surprise.

“I think I’m about ready to call it a day, too,” he said and forced his weary body to rise from the ground.  “I’ll see you in the morning.”

The other men quietly called their goodnights as he walked away.

Chris entered the cave to hear JD’s gentle snores and Josiah’s more sonorous ones filling the space.  The weary man picked a spot on the cave floor within touching distance of Ezra, wanting to be close in case the child should wake in the night and need him.  The man sank down on the sand floor of the cave with a moan of appreciative relief.    The long day finally caught up with him and he was asleep before Buck entered the cave five minutes later, leaving Vin on watch outside.

Chapter Three 

Day Two

For the second day in a row, Ezra woke up in a place not knowing where he was or how he had come to be there.  The view when he finally opened his sleep-crusted eyes confused him at first and he put out a hand to brush against the rough surface of what his still muzzy mind finally decided was a rock wall. Lazily his eyes followed the wall to where it curved into the ceiling and he turned his head to follow it down the opposite wall when he was distracted by the sight of the blond man laying an arm’s length away from him.  

Chris.  The name flashed through his brain and stirred his memories of the day before: the plane crashing; waking up on the beach; helping Chris gather stuff, and laughing; meeting Buck and Nathan and later Vin and JD; his first taste of a mango.   He remembered...his mind suddenly balked.  There was a dark, terrible spot in his mind that frightened him.  Somehow he instinctively knew he didn’t want to remember what was shrouded behind the dark veil in his head.  He shied away from anymore thoughts in that direction and instead he concentrated on his current situation.

Ezra sat up slowly, taking stock of everything.  He was in the back of what appeared to be a cave with several people asleep around him. Most of them he recognized from yesterday, but one very large, not to mention loud, man was unfamiliar.  Ezra watched him for a while fascinated by the rumbling snores that emerged from his open mouth, and wondering with childish curiosity how he could make that much noise without waking himself up.

The little boy suddenly squirmed as an early morning need made itself urgently known.  Ezra climbed to his feet, as quietly as he could so as not to wake the others.  He was familiar with just how much adults usually hated to have their sleep disturbed by children, at least his mother... He broke the thought off as the dark place in his mind vibrated with warning.

Ezra slipped around the sleeping men and emerged from the cave. He frowned as he hurried into the morning sunshine, blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the change in brightness.   The air was heavy with humidity and the ground was wet from an early morning tropical rainfall.   A lone person sat by the damp ashes of what was once a fire. The man was crouched on his heels nursing a flame starting to burn greedily in some kindling he had stacked into a teepee shape.  As the boy watched, the man carefully fed the fire from the small pile of dry wood he had beside him.   Ezra recognized this person from yesterday too.

“Mr. JD,” Ezra said urgently while hopping from foot to foot.

JD was startled by the little voice and jumped before he swung his head around to look at the child.

“Hey! Morning, Ezra.  How are you feeling?” JD called to him, looking him over with concern.

“Mr. JD, I gotta go!” Ezra declared, clearly in distress.

JD froze for a moment in indecision.  He knew he couldn’t abandon his post as watchman, so he couldn’t take Ezra out into the jungle to find a convenient tree.  Chris had made that necessity abundantly clear the night before. It sounded stupid to him to wake the others just to take one small boy to relieve himself. He needed to find another answer to the problem.   Coming to a decision, JD climbed to his feet and grabbed one of the branches from the pile of firewood he and the other men had gathered the previous day.   He led Ezra to a sandy spot on one side of the cave entrance and dropped to his knees.  He used the branch to quickly scoop out a hole in the sand, then crawled back and gestured the little boy forward.

“There ya go, Ez,” he said with a grin, proud of himself for solving the problem without having to disturb the other men.  “We’ll cover this up real good when you’re done.  You’ll be just like a cat.”

Ezra sighed with relief as he took care of his business, then helped JD to push the sand back into the hole.  The child wiped his hands down the legs of his jeans to remove the dirt clinging to them.

“Thanks, Mr. JD,” Ezra said as he looked up at the young man with childish gratitude. 

“No sweat, Ezra,” JD said smiling down at him, “And it’s just JD.  You can drop the mister.”

“Okay,” Ezra said with a shrug.  “I’m hungry, JD.”

“I’ll just best you are.  You slept through dinner last night,” the man said as he led Ezra back toward the fire.  “We still have a few mangos and there’s a bit of the coconuts that Nathan and Josiah managed to open yesterday left.  You can have a couple of packages of snack mix to top it off.  How does that sound?”

“Good,” Ezra said as his stomach audibly rumbled its own approval.

JD laughed.  He walked over to a large rock where the men had spread out a few of the salvaged towels and clothes to air the night before and picked up a small hand towel that bore the name of a Honolulu Hotel embroidered into the terrycloth and took it back to the child.  The cloth was still dripping with rainwater from the early morning rain shower that was typical in tropical climates. JD held out the towel and motioned for Ezra to give him his hands. 

Ezra looked indignant at being treated like a baby and said, “I can do it!”  

Hiding his smile, JD shrugged and handed the rag to the boy who made swift work of the job.   JD took back the towel Ezra handed back to him then settled the boy on the ground near the now cheerfully burning fire and handed him some food. 

“Here, the young man said twisting off the top of a plastic bottle filled with water and holding it out to Ezra, “You’re going to need some water too, I imagine.”

Realizing he was indeed thirsty, Ezra took the bottle and tilted it up to his lips.  It tasted funny but he was too thirsty to really care.  He started gulping the water down until JD stopped him by pulling the bottle back.

“Slow down, Ez,” he said shaking his head at the boy, “Nobody’s going to take it away from you.  If you drink it too fast you’ll just make yourself sick.  Go easy with it.”

Ezra pulled his hands away and hid them behind his back and he hung his head during JD’s scolding. The boy tried to blink back his tears as he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

JD watched the bowed head for a moment then sighed and reached out to stroke the boy’s hair gently.

“Hey!  It’s okay.  I’m not mad at you.  It’s not that big a deal.  I just don’t want you to get sick, that’s all.  That would be no fun whatsoever, would it?”

Ezra risked a peek up to judge JD’s sincerity and relaxed at seeing the smile on the man’s face.

“Now, how about you try that again, but a little slower this time?” JD asked grinning and ruffled the boy’s hair fondly.

Ezra grinned back at him.  Under JD’s watchful eye, Ezra sipped some more water and began to eat his breakfast.

“Ezra!”  Chris’ anxious voice was suddenly heard from inside the cave and the man himself emerged just seconds later, head swiveling from side to side as he tried to locate the child that was no longer inside.

“He’s here, Chris,” JD hastened to tell the man rushing from the cave and looking around apprehensively.  “He’s just fine.”

The blond man looked relieved at the sight of the little boy sitting on the ground watching him with a deer-in-the-headlight look that clearly indicated the child thought he had gotten in trouble somehow.    Chris felt his heartbeat start to slow down to normal on sighting the boy.  Chris had woken up and turned to check on Ezra only to find him gone.  Thoughts of Andrew Saxon roaming around immediately flashed through his mind and all he could think of was finding the child before Saxon did. 

“Chris?” Buck called out sounding worried as he came charging out of the cave while pulling on his shirt and looking around for whatever danger had his friend so alarmed.   He was followed in quick succession by Vin, Nathan, and Josiah.

Chris immediately realized he had woken up the whole bunch of them with his unthinking shout.  Reflecting on his panicked flight from the cave, the seasoned US Marshal had a hard time covering his embarrassment.  Chris only hoped his cheeks weren’t turning as red as they felt.

Smiling weakly at the others, he mumbled an apology trying to ignore the amused grins that broke out on the other’s faces as they realized what had happened.  The blond walked over and folded his legs to sit on the ground beside the warily watching boy.  His smile became more genuine as he looked at Ezra.  The boy didn’t appear to be suffering any undue side effects from his experiences the day before Chris noted with thankfulness.   The rest of the men joined the trio seated by the fire.

“Good morning, Ezra.  I’m sorry if I scared you,” Chris told him, “I thought you might have wandered off and gotten lost.  That would have made me really sad.”

Ezra watched his new caretaker and felt a warm feeling inside at his words. Chris seemed to really care what happened to him. Ezra liked that. He scrunched his shoulders in childish pleasure and a shy, pleased smile peeked out at the man.

“I won’t leave you,” he assured him with the kind of little boy earnestness that melted adult hearts, “I promise!”

Chris had always been a sucker for kids. He could almost feel the rampart’s surrounding his own heart crumble as he gazed at the boy watching him with such innocent sweetness.  Chris ignored Buck’s knowing chuckle.  The man knew him too well.  His only consolation was that Buck shared his love of children and would be right behind him in the falling department.

“I’m glad to know that,” Chris answered a big smile, “I feel better now.”

The two sat looking at each other in perfect accord but then Chris reluctantly broke the moment by saying seriously, “Ezra, while you were sleeping yesterday we found out there is a very bad man that’s stranded in this place with us.  He is very dangerous.  He likes to hurt people.  I don’t want him to have the chance to hurt you.   So it’s very important that you remember your promise and stay with me or one of the others. You must not wander off, but stay in our sight all the time.   You’re going to have to listen and do what we say so we can protect you.   Do you understand?”

The child’s eyes got big and wide at the warning but he nodded his understanding saying, “Yes, sir.”

“Good,” Chris smiled and reached over to ruffle the boy’ hair in an affectionate gesture of approval.  

“So now that we’re all up,” Buck said as he threw a mocking look at the blond man sitting by the little boy, “who’s in charge of scrounging up some breakfast?”

“Why don’t you and JD do that,” Chris told him.  “Today Vin and I will scout the island.  We’ll look for any signs of civilization and maybe a way out of here; barring that, for a more permanent campsite.   Josiah, you and Nathan can check the stills and gather up whatever water they’ve produced.  Ezra can help Josiah and Nathan.”

The blond made eye contact with the two Deputy Marshals and both men nodded to acknowledge the silent order to watch over Ezra.

Ezra sat looking at him with pleading eyes and asked, ”Can’t I come with you?  I’m really good at finding things.”

Chris reached down wrapping an arm around the boy’s shoulders and gave him a squeeze saying, “Not this time, sport.  We don’t know what we might find out there.  Vin and I will have to check it out to make sure it’s safe first. 

Besides we really need all the water we can get.  This is an important job, and I know you’ll be a big help to Josiah and Nathan because you’re such a hard worker.   I promise you can go with me another time once we know it’s not dangerous, okay?”

Ezra looked at him, little shoulders slumped in disappointment, but reluctantly agreed, “Okay.”

“That’s my helper,” Chris told him with another hug and an approving smile.

“If you have enough containers, we can gather the rain that collected on the plant leaves from the shower this morning before it evaporates,” Vin suggested.

“Good idea,” Chris replied.  “We can all work on that while Buck and JD forage for breakfast.  Vin and I will also keep an eye out for a stream or other freshwater source while we’re at it.  But the more drinkable water we can store, the better off we’ll be.”

“Kinda sounds like you’re planning for the long haul, Chris,” Josiah said watching him closely.  “You don’t think we’ll find a way to get off this island, do you?”

Chris started shaking his head before Josiah had even finished his question.

“I don’t have any idea one way or the other, Josiah,” Chris told him honestly.  “I do know that the plans we make now, the way we do things now, could very well make the difference in whether we survive later if we do have to be here for a long time.  I sincerely hope we can get out of here soon, but I... we... can’t afford to let that wish take root too far or we’ll fall unto the trap of only thinking of the short range. The best thing we can do at this point is plan for the worst case scenario – that is, we will never get off this island.  Hopefully it won’t come to that, but if it does at least we’ll be as prepared for it as we can be under the circumstances.”

Vin silently watched Larabee answer the question that he knew was on most of their minds and felt his opinion for the man’s leadership abilities rise. Earlier, he had accepted Vin’s suggestion easily, so he was obviously not one of those leaders that refused to give up an ounce of control or adapt his plans if someone had a better idea.  It also showed he knew how to listen, as did his little speech just then.  He had heard the concern in his subordinate’s question and responded to it, and had done so in an honest, straight forward way, pulling no punches and not trying to sugar-coat anything.  Vin had to respect that.  It was easy to understand why the three other men followed him so willingly.  Vin found himself looking forward to the scouting expedition that day.  It would give him a chance to get to know this man better, which Vin had just decided he wanted to do.

“Well I’m starving, so let’s get busy, kid,” Buck said standing and reaching down to offer JD a hand up. “Breakfast ain’t going to gather itself.”

“Remember,” Chris called after the departing men, “Eyes open and together at all times.”

Buck waved a hand over his head in acknowledgement of the reminder -that had been given mostly for JD’s sake- but didn’t bother to turn around.

“Shall we?” Josiah asked imitating Buck and standing then reaching a hand down to help Nathan rise. 

“The day isn’t getting any younger,” Nathan agreed and the remainder of the group gathered up plastic bottles and headed toward the nearest foliage.

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“Your son sure is a cute little thing,” Vin said as he pushed back a long creeping vine with a stick he had picked up from the jungle floor earlier.

“What?” Chris asked and he looked at the long-haired blond with surprise.

“Your son,” Vin stopped his task to turn around and face the other man while brushing his sleeve across his sweaty forehead as he said, “Ezra.  He’s a real cute little kid.”

“Ezra’s not my son,” Chris corrected him. “I found him in the water after the plane crashed.  I never set eyes on him before yesterday.”

It was Vin’s turn to look surprised.  “I’m sorry.  I thought...” He broke off then tried again, “You were so good with him, and the way he sticking to you like glue, I guess I just assumed he was your son. I got the impression yesterday when you said I hadn’t been around kids much, that you were a father yourself.”

“I have do have a son,” Chris reluctantly admitted, “His name is Adam.  He’s the reason I knew about not telling a child something was good for him if you wanted him to try it.”

“Sorry,” Vin repeated, suddenly realizing he had just jumped feet first into an emotional minefield.  “Being stuck here like this must be hard on you. You must miss him.”

“No more than usual,” Chris mumbled staring out into the dense foliage of the jungle absently.

“Huh?” Vin asked confused.

The older man sighed and returned his attention to his companion saying, “My wife Sarah didn’t like being a Marshal’s wife.  I was gone too much and sometimes got called out at moment’s notice.   It wasn’t the kind of marriage she said she wanted.  The Christmas when Adam was six, I was called out to hunt down a group of fugitives that had escaped from a prisoner transport bus.  I was gone past New Years.  When I got back home I found an empty house. I had no idea where they were for almost two months.  I eventually found out Sarah had taken Adam and gone back to her family in Scotland.  By the time I got over there she had divorced me.”

“Ah man, that’s gotta be rough,” Vin returned compassionately.  “Do you at least get to see him?”

“She has full custody.  I was only allowed to visit him three times a year, and never unsupervised because she had convinced the court that I would try to smuggle him back into the States.   I visited every opportunity I was given for four years.  It was a financial drain to keep flying back and forth to Scotland, and I almost cleaned out my savings doing it, but there was no way that I would miss any opportunity to see my Adam.  I tried to keep in touch through letters and phone calls in between times but it wasn’t the same,” Chris turned away to kick viciously at a low growing bush. 

“So What happened?” Vin asked, instinctively knowing something must have from the way Larabee kept using the past tense.

“Sarah remarried,” Chris said simply.

"Uh-huh,” Vin quietly encouraged, knowing there was more.

“The man she remarried was there- every day, every night...and I... wasn’t.  He was the one to go to Adam’s soccer games, and his school plays.  He was the one who got to teach Adam how to fish and ride a bicycle. He was the one Adam went to for help with his homework or his problems.   I just became this man that sent him cards and gifts and pulled him away from his friends and favorite television programs to talk on the phone about things he didn’t really care about.  I became a stranger to my own son.” 

“That must have cut deep,” Vin stated quietly.

“Oh, but the kicker, the one that really tore my heart out, was during the last phone call I ever made to him. It was on his Eleventh birthday.  I called to wish him happy birthday and he told me they were going out to dinner. I heard Sarah call out to him that they were going to be late and he yelled back for her to “Tell Dad to start the car and I’ll be right there.”  THAT’s when I knew I had lost him completely.   He was no longer my so