First Blood (Rambo: First Blood Series Book 1)

by David Morrell

Before, at the hospital, Kern had shown up damn mad at him for rushing into the forest after the kid without waiting for the state police. “It’s my jurisdiction, and you took advantage, and now you can just stay the hell out of this,” Kern had said. Teasle had taken it all, letting Kern get rid of his anger, and then slowly he had done his best to convince Kern that more than one person was needed to organize this wide a search. There was another argument that he did not use, but he was sure that Kern was thinking it: as many men could die this time as at the start, and somebody ought to be around to share the responsibility. Kern was that sort of weak leader. Teasle had seen him rely on others too often. So now Teasle was here helping, but not necessarily for long. Despite Kern’s faults, he did worry about his men and how much work they could stand, and if he once thought that Teasle was in too great pain, he could easily decide to send him away.