by Lyn Gardner
Walking inside, she was surprised to see that the only person in the room was a man sitting behind a desk working at a computer. Gnawing on the stub of his cigar as he studied what was on his screen, he looked up for a moment to acknowledge her arrival with a simple nod of his head before returning his eyes to the monitor.
“Where’s Campbell?” she said.
“Your partner’s in the restroom,” he said, gesturing to a door across the way.
“She is not my partner,” Alex mumbled under her breath as she glanced around the room. Noticing a coffeemaker on a small table, she walked over and poured herself a cup. Turning back around, she studied the man at the desk. Looking to be in his mid-forties, the green jacket he wore appeared to be of military issue; however, all the insignia had been removed.
“So what happens now?” she asked.
“Well, you were supposed to leave immediately, but there’s a massive storm coming in, so we need to check a few more things before deciding whether you’ll be leaving tonight, or in a few weeks.”
“A few weeks!” she shouted.
Nodding his head, he removed the chewed cigar from his mouth. “Like I said, it’s a mother of a storm.”
Running her fingers through her hair, she said, “Look, I’ve got responsibilities back in London, and I cannot stay here!”
“I understand, love, but if we can get you out of here, it’s going to be one hell of a ride, and I don’t think your partner’s up for it.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“She came in and headed straight for the bathroom. Between you and me, she looked like shit.”
***
The illness that was slowly creeping into Maggie’s body had begun to take its toll, and even though she had been told that she could change back into her own clothes on the plane, she hadn’t been able to find the strength. Still dressed in her frumpy disguise, Maggie sat on the floor of the tiny bathroom as she tried to open the safety cap of the painkillers. Hearing someone knock at the door, she sighed. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“You’ve been in there for almost fifteen, now open the bloody door,” Blake said.
“Just wait your turn, okay?”
Already furious that they may be stranded in the desolate airport for a few weeks, Alex Blake’s temper boiled over. “Campbell, either you open this bloody door or by God, I’ll kick it in!”
Too tired to argue, Maggie paused for only a moment before crawling over and unlocking the door. Sliding back to the corner of the bathroom, she rested her head against the cool tile wall and let out a long breath.
After hearing the latch being thrown, Alex mentally counted to ten before opening the door. Stunned to find Maggie sitting on the floor, it only took a second for Alex to realize that the woman was ill. Although the room was cool, Maggie’s forehead and upper lip glistened with perspiration, and her face had turned ghostly pale.
Kneeling by Maggie’s side, Alex asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just give me a minute,” Maggie said in a hoarse whisper.
“That’s crap and you know it,” Alex snapped. Cupping Campbell’s chin in her hand, Alex turned her face so she could see her clearly, and when she felt the heat radiating from Maggie’s skin, Alex said, “You’ve got a fever.”
“Yeah, I know. I think it’s the flu. It was going around the department last week.”
With a sigh of relief, Alex stood up and stared at the woman on the floor. “Oh, is that all.”
“What?”
“I thought it was something serious.”
Seeing that Alex was about to leave, Maggie swallowed hard. “Blake…wait.”
Turning around, Alex said, “Why?”
“I need to get to a hospital.”
With a snort of disgust, Alex shook her head. “A bit over dramatic, don’t you think?”
Defeated, Maggie shook her head. “I’ll die if I don’t get to one.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Can’t you just trust me?”
“Look, you don’t know this, but there’s a storm coming in. The guy outside said we might be here for weeks.”
“No!” Maggie cried out. “We can’t be. I can’t…I won’t…”
Seeing that Campbell appeared on the verge of hysterics, Alex angrily grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off the floor.
“What the fuck is going on, Campbell? Tell me, or I’m walking out that door, and you’re on your own.”
Maggie pulled away and walked slowly to the sink. Turning on the tap, she soaked some paper towels with cold water and held them against her forehead. Uncomfortable with the fact that she was about to confess a weakness to Blake, she let out a long breath before turning around. Refusing to look the woman in the eye, Maggie said, “Ever since I was a kid, whenever I got really sick, like with the flu or something, I’d end up getting a…a high fever.”
Tilting her head as she processed the information, Alex asked, “How high?”
“High enough to put me in the hospital.”
When Blake didn’t respond, Maggie raised her eyes, and seeing Blake’s expression, it was clear that the Detective Inspector was waiting for something more. Taking a ragged breath, Maggie said, “High enough to kill me.”
When she had walked into the bathroom, the only thing Alex had allowed herself to feel for Campbell was contempt, but seeing the worried look in the green eyes staring back at her, Alex’s disdain disappeared. Without saying a word, she left the room.
Believing that the insolent officer was refusing to help, tears sprang to Maggie’s eyes, but then the door opened and Alex walked back inside.
Placing the bag containing Maggie’s belongings on the floor, she said, “Change your clothes.” Seeing Campbell’s puzzled expression, Alex added, “I’ve got to convince them to get us out of here, and when I do, you’ve got to be ready. Okay?”
Nodding her head, Maggie said softly, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet, darling,” Alex said, offering the woman a weak smile before walking out and closing the door behind her.
In four quick strides, Alex was standing in front of the man at the desk. “I need to see the pilot.”
“There’s no point in that now.”
Narrowing her eyes, Alex asked, “What do you mean?”
“The decision’s been made. We’re grounded.”
“No!”
“Sorry, but—”
“Where’s the pilot?”
“Look, I know—”
“I said, where’s the bloody pilot?” Alex barked.
Taking a deep breath, the man stared at the woman who was glaring back at him. Deciding that he wasn’t paid enough to deal with the likes of her, he gestured toward a door at the opposite side of the office.
“He’s through there.”
Turning on her heel, Alex stormed across the room. Without wasting time to knock, she pushed open the door with such force that it slammed against the inside wall. Startled by the noise, the man sitting behind the desk in the small office jumped, and the coffee mug he had been holding emptied into his lap.
“Jesus Christ!” he hollered as he got to his feet. “What the hell do you think you’re doing barging in here like that?”
“We need to get out of here,” Alex said, ignoring the fact that the front of his trousers were now covered in coffee.
Scowling back at her, he said, “Sorry, honey, no can do.”
“Yes, you can, and by God, you will.”
Flicking the coffee from his hand, he picked up a stack of papers and shoved them in Alex’s face. “Do you see these? These are weather reports, and every bleeding one of them shows three nasty storms heading our way. They’re coming from almost every direction, and in another hour, they’ll be here. The only thing we can do is hunker down and ride them out. We’ve got plenty of food and water to make it through—”
“Do you have a doctor?” Alex blurted, grabbing the pa
pers from his hand and tossing them on the desk.
Thrown off by her question, he eyed her up and down. “You sick?”
“No, but Campbell is.”
“How sick?”
Pausing for a moment, Alex said, “She’s got a fever, and if we don’t get her to a hospital, she’ll die.”
Befuddled, his eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Look, I don’t know the specifics, but she says that it’ll kill her if it goes untreated, and I believe her.”
Sitting on the edge of the desk, he crossed his arms. “Well, that makes one of us.”
“You don’t know her, but I do. She’s as by-the-book as they come, and she wouldn’t lie…not about something like this. I’m begging you, if there is any chance that we can make it to a hospital, we’ve got to try.”
Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his chin as he debated on what to do. Glancing at Alex again, he paused for a moment before rising to his feet. Deciding to question Maggie himself, he walked out of the room without saying a word, but came to an abrupt halt when he saw her standing just outside the bathroom door. He had seen her only a few minutes earlier when she had come into the hangar, and at the time he had noticed that she appeared ill, but now she looked cadaverous. Watching her sway slightly as she held onto the door frame for support, he no longer needed to ask any questions…because she was the color of death.
Without acknowledging Alex as he went back to his chair, his eyes darted back and forth between the weather reports scattered across his desk. Turning to his computer, he began tapping away on the keyboard, mumbling every once and a while at the images flickering on his screen.
Minutes ticked by as Alex stood in silence watching the thick-waisted pilot study the weather reports until finally, he looked up and nodded his head. Standing, he grabbed his jacket and said, “I’ll get the checklist done, and you get her ready. We don’t have a lot of time, so don’t dilly dally…and if you believe in God, you’d best start praying.”
***
He sat in his bedroom sipping a beer, intently watching the images on the three monitors spread across his desk. Lighting another cigarette, he glanced at the window to make sure it was open; his parents didn’t like him to smoke in their house. Most his age would have moved into their own homes by now, but he wasn’t like most. He had no interest in leaving for greener pastures. These were green enough. They fed him. They housed him. They loved him. He loved them back.
They knew of his addiction and tried their best to look the other way. There really wasn’t any harm in it. Police weren’t going to knock on the door because of the Internet sites he surfed. They were legal; put there by people with the same affliction that had caused him to rush home from work that day. He just had to see her again. He had to see them again.
It had started three days prior, and when he saw her for the first time he couldn’t look away. She was large and subtle as she slowly moved in front of his eyes. She was hypnotic, and he had named her Andrea.
Smiling to himself at the names he had given them, he took another sip of his beer and turned his attention to the center screen. This one he called Gabrielle. Although more voluptuous than Andrea, it wasn’t Gabrielle’s full-figure that had caught his eye; it was her muscles and her strength. He could tell that she would be a force to be reckoned with, and his excitement grew.
His eyes moved to the monitor on the right, and he studied the image on the screen. Aloof and wild, he had named the last one Valerie.
His thoughts were interrupted by his mother calling up the stairs. Wishing him a good evening, she asked that he not stay up too late, and easily, he replied that he wouldn’t, but he had lied. Such was the life of a weather geek.
Andrea had appeared a few days before. A low-pressure system which had formed over the Pacific Ocean, she had gathered strength and moisture before slowly, seductively moving east-north-east. She had been stalled by a high-pressure system that had formed over the Great Plains, and remaining cradled in the clouds, she churned patiently, waiting for Gabrielle to arrive.
A massive cold front over two thousand miles long, Gabrielle had swept over the Labrador Sea, hungrily consuming moisture and cold as she continued to move west. Well aware of her track, the National Weather Service in the United States, as well as the Meteorological Service of Canada had issued their severe weather warnings, and he had read them both, wondering if his forecast would match that of the experts. On his way home from work that night, listening to his favorite twenty-four-hour weather station, his chest swelled with pride. He was right. There were three.
Valerie was a nasty bitch that had begun to form over the Arctic Ocean that very morning. Another low-pressure system, she carried with her tremendous winds and frigid, polar temperatures. Meandering south, sucking up every ounce of moisture and wind as she went, she was slowly creeping toward Gabrielle and Andrea with a purpose. Destruction.
A shiver ran down his spine as he thought about the power of Mother Nature. Any one of the storms could easily wreak havoc with just the precipitation that they held in their clouds, but together they were going to be cataclysmic.
Picking up his calculator, he read the data flashing on the monitors, and after entering a few numbers, he sat back in his chair. Fifty-seven minutes.
Chapter Four
Slowed by the fever, it had taken Maggie every ounce of energy she had to change into her own clothes and emerge from the bathroom. Pausing to catch her breath, she closed her eyes and leaned against the door in hopes that the room would stop spinning. She felt surrounded by a thick fog, its murkiness pressing the life out of her as she fought to stay awake and aware. Time seemed to stand still, mired in the muck of pain and aches, she had no idea how long they had been at the airstrip, but for Maggie, it seemed like an eternity. At the sound of footsteps approaching, Maggie slowly opened her eyes. When she saw the smile on Blake’s face, she silently thanked God that her partner that day was the headstrong and defiant Detective Inspector Alexandra Blake.
“We’ve got to get to the plane before they change their mind,” Alex said as she walked past. “Let me use the loo and then we’ll go.”
After emptying her bladder and washing her hands, Alex stared at herself in the mirror. While she hated the fact that she had been partnered with Campbell, she couldn’t just stand idly by and watch the woman suffer, or possibly even die. Although she wasn’t convinced that a simple fever could kill the healthy police officer, the terrified look in Campbell’s eyes had won her over.
Glancing at the medicine cabinet, Alex pulled at the corner and examined the contents filling the shelves. Noticing a bottle of aspirin, she pocketed the painkillers, flicked off the light and walked out. Finding Maggie still standing where she had left her, Alex took her by the arm and led her out of the warm building, and into the beginnings of a blizzard.
Snow had already begun to dust the ground, and as they stood in the shadows getting adjusted to the dim lighting, the arctic wind cut through their coats like a knife. Seeing the pilot walking away from a small Cessna parked on the airstrip, Alex tugged on Maggie’s arm and guided her silently to the plane.
Opening the door, Alex moved the co-pilot seat out of the way, and after tossing in her backpack, she did the same with the shopping bag, and Maggie’s carry-on. As she was about to climb inside, she asked, “Do you need help getting in?”
“No…no, I can do it,” Maggie said. “I’m fine.”
Even though the woman looked frightfully ill, Alex didn’t try to argue. Scampering inside, she tossed her backpack and Maggie’s belongings behind the seat, but when she saw Maggie struggling to climb onboard, she rolled her eyes at the woman’s stubbornness. Extending her hand, she said, “Take it. You’ve never struck me as a stupid person, so don’t start now. Okay?”
Offering Alex the weakest of grins, Maggie grabbed her hand, and seconds later Alex was pulling the door closed behind her. With the help of the gusting wind, Maggie’s
fever had cooled a bit, but by the time she had settled in her seat, she was sweating again. Opening her coat, she welcomed the feel of the chilly cabin air, and when the pilot’s door opened and a rush of wind entered, she breathed it in. Seconds later, a burly man with a large, bushy gray mustache climbed into the front seat.
Turning on the interior lighting, he glanced over his shoulder. “Name’s George Busby,” he said. Pausing for a moment to look at his sick passenger, he asked, “Your partner tells me that you’re ill and in need of a hospital. Is that true?”
In a ragged whisper, Maggie replied, “Yes, sir.”
More than once while he had walked around the plane doing his pre-flight checklist, he had found himself questioning his decision. He was paid to follow orders, and his orders had been to stay on the ground, but the look of gratitude on the woman’s face was undeniable. He was her savior…and they both knew it.
“Right then,” he began, glancing back and forth between his two passengers. “I should let you know a few things before we take off. First, this airstrip…this place is in the middle of nowhere for a reason. It’s here because it’s covert, and the location is only known by a few organizations and governments. Also, my orders were to stay put until the storm passes, and I’m about to break those orders, but in doing so, I will not destroy the integrity of this airstrip. Therefore, I’m going to follow the original flight plan issued for your return journey. It doesn’t take us to a major city, where I’m sure there’d be a hospital, but I have radioed ahead to the airfield where we’ll be landing, and requested that they have a doctor meet us when we get there. Will that work for you?”
Knowing that the question was directed at her, Maggie said, “Yes, sir. That will work.”
Keeping his focus on Maggie, he continued, “I told your partner earlier that there are three storms in the area. The one to our west, I’m not worried about. I can easily outrun it, but the other two might give us a few problems. It’s going to take us about three hours to get where we’re going, and the flight is not going to be comfortable. I’ve flown in this shit before, and it’s doable, but I want you to know that once we’re in the air, there’s no turning back.”
