Spiral and Torn Books 1 and 2 of The Salzburg Saga Trilogy

by D. U. OKONKWO

  Nina rubbed her still cold hands over her face. She felt like she would never be warm again, despite the warmth of their snow cave. They were back at the cave but Emily was no longer with them.

  First Ben had died and now Emily had gone too. Both of them. Gone. Forever. Gone amongst the cold and frigid Austrian peaks. Two people with their whole lives ahead of them gone forever.

  She couldn’t believe it, and the guilt at not foreseeing that Emily had planned to kill herself ate at her like cancer. She should have foreseen it. Should have known. Ben had been killed, Emily’s husband of only a few months. What had made Ange and her believe that Emily had merely wanted to go for a walk? Emily had been right: they had been dense.

  “I was in the water too, maybe not for as long as Ange, but...she’s stopped shivering,” Nina pointed out hopefully....

  “That’s not necessarily good,” Jake said from behind them....

  Nina and Rita both turned. He stood with Neil, Justin, and Parker, all of them grim-faced and haggard. Jake hadn’t needed to change his clothing, still relatively dry. But his dark brown hair stood up in damp uneven snow-clumped streaks. And though he had since removed the bandage he’d had on his bleeding nose, it remained red and sore looking.

  Neil pressed a hand to Angela’s forehead, his eyes were troubled when he looked back at the rest of them. “An electric blanket would be best,” he murmured. “She’s still cold.”

  Nina hugged herself. “Rita said you guys think she may have hypothermia?”

  “She was slurring when she gained consciousness,” Jake explained. “Not to mention she seemed to have no recollection of where she was.”

  “How can less shivering be a bad thing?” Nina asked, confused.

  “If someone has hypothermia they stop shivering in order to conserve energy,” Justin explained. “But... it means they’re getting worse.”

  “How long was she in the water?” Parker asked.

  Nina shuddered at the memory of that ice cold water slicing into her flesh like little knives. “I don’t know...it seemed like...like forever. For both of us.”

  Justin slanted Jake a considering look. “She might get frostbite, too.”

  Jake grunted in agreement....

  “Frostbite?” Nina shook her head, denying all possibility. “No way. Besides, her hands and feet seemed fine when Rita and I changed her clothing, even though her gloves were soaked through.”

  “We won’t take any chances,” Parker said. “We’ll keep watch over her. We all want Angela to pull through this.. “She needs to be monitored; it’s as simple as that.”

  The blood drained from Nina’s face. “Cardiac arrest?” she gasped. “And if she does...then...what? We’re nowhere near a hospital.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks as horror threatened to take hold and wring out the last vestiges of hope from her. “I can’t believe this has happened. All we did was go for a walk.”

  Jake’s gaze whipped to her. “And why did you go for a walk?” he snapped. His cold gaze pinned her to the spot with the full force of his anger. “Especially without telling anyone.” His tone was like stone. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  Slowly, Nina removed her hands from her face and met his frigid stare with her own. “I don’t appreciate your tone.” Her voice was low with tiredness and stress and she couldn’t strengthen it.

  “I don’t give a–” he began, when Neil intervened.

  “You did have us worried, Neen,” Neil admitted. His eyes were bloodshot with worry and lack of sleep. “It’s not like you not to tell people where you’re going. The fact that you didn’t here, of all places.” He drew a deep breath. “What happened out there?”

  Nina tried to get the image of Emily’s empty eyes out of her head. “Emily wanted to go for a walk. Ange and I went with her because we didn’t want her going out alone.”

  “You–”

  “Let her finish,” Neil snapped as Jake interrupted.

  Jake compressed his lips but his bleary blood shot eyes spoke volumes.

  “And before we left,” Nina continued, “I was on my way to tell you both where we were going, but Emily said she’d already told you, Jake, and that you’d soon be joining us.”

  Jake’s eyes blazed with anger. “She lied. She didn’t tell me anything. I was asleep when she left.”

  “How was I supposed to know that?” Nina whispered fiercely. “You two share–shared–the same room. You’re friends. It made sense that she’d tell you what she was doing.”......

  Jake’s eyes bored into hers. “Any fool could see she wasn’t herself, Nina.” He spoke slowly as if speaking to a clueless child. “She was hurting. She’d been hurting since Ben was killed. Do you really think she only wanted to take a walk?” Anger and hostility carved his face into angles as hard as stone. “She was vulnerable. She wanted to die. You allowed her the perfect opportunity. Well done.”

  Nina drew back as if he’d slapped her. “Go to hell,” she managed.

  Neil moved between them and shoved Jake back a step. “How dare you say that to her?” he demanded. “She and Ange didn’t have to go with Emily; they could’ve stayed here, warm and safe. They did the right thing by going with her. If they hadn’t, Emily still wouldn’t be here, and we’d have no idea what happened to her.” He drew a deep breath when Jake remained stonily silent. “Look at Ange.” Neil jerked his head in her direction. “Look at what she’s going through because she put your friend first.”

  “Emily hasn’t been acting normally since the jet went down,” Jake stated flatly. “She hasn’t been herself.”

  “This trip is the first time any of us had ever met Emily,” Neil reasoned. “How do we know what her normal code of behavior is?”

  “Normal?” Jake gave a bitter laugh as he turned back to Neil. “Does anything about this situation say normal?”

  “Listen–”

  “Leave it, Neil.” Drained, Nina leaned back against the wall and closed her aching eyes. “Leave it. Let’s just all leave it.”

  “I won’t let him blame you and Ange.” Neil met Jake’s eyes. “Emily was a grown woman who knew what she was doing. She made her choice. She didn’t want to be here. You need to accept that. ”

  “Easy for you to say.” Jake’s voice was bitter. “Whom have you lost since we’ve been holed up out here? Emily lost Ben because of this trip, because of Hugh Drayton.” His stony eyes lashed to Parker who closed his. Jake looked back at Neil. “Like me Emily was out here merely doing her job. Her job. Did she ask for her husband to be killed because of some drunken maniac called Hugh Drayton? Ben’s death made her go out there tonight, made her go out into that cold and kill herself. She hasn’t been stable since Ben died. She shouldn’t have been let to go out there tonight.”

  Nina opened her eyes and caught Neil wince. “I understand–” Neil began. “But Emily was a grown woman. She made the choice to go out there, Jake. It’s horrible. Awful. I wish I had been awake, I would’ve stopped her. You and I both would have. It’s no doubt the reason why she didn’t tell us.”

  “And Angela and Nina tried to save Emily, Jake,” Justin cut in softly. “But from where I was standing, it looked like she didn’t want to be saved.”

  Nina felt her heart twist. Had she known subconsciously what Emily had planned? The woman’s lightheartedness about Hugh had surprised her, but she’d admired it at the same time. Both she and Angela had admired it. Gullible, that was what Emily had called them, and she wondered if it were true. Had the circumstances of this trip caused her to lose the good judgment she was known for?...

  “Emily didn’t want to be saved,” Justin repeated softly, his eyes on Jake. “When Jake and I reached them, Emily was fighting with Angela. She had a cricket bat and was using it to break the surface of the lake.” He grimaced. “She’d stripped down to only her underwear too.”...

  Rita blanched. Neil briefly closed his eyes.

  “Good God,” Parker whispered in disbelief. “She’d gone
mad.”

  Jake sent him a frigid stare.

  Parker flushed. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t mean...I wasn’t–”

  “Forget it.” Jake shot a look at Justin. “They don’t need a blow-by-blow account of what happened out there.”

  “Maybe not, but don’t blame Nina. She didn’t give herself that shiner. We both saw Emily land that.”

  Her black eye, Nina remembered as all eyes turned to her. She lifted fingers to her left eye and hissed at its soreness. She glanced over at Ange. Her friend’s cheek was puffy from Emily’s violence with the cricket bat too.

  Rita curved an arm around Nina’s waist. “I barely noticed it before, but it’s swollen pretty badly now. Can you see out of it?”

  “A little.”

  Rita slid an uneasy look at Jake. “Do you have that thermometer? And any antiseptic cream by any chance?”

  Jake’s gaze shifted from Nina’s black eye, then to Rita and he nodded. “There might be some cream in Emily’s bag.”

  “Ah...” Rita hesitated, clearly uncomfortable at the idea of going through the dead woman’s things.

  With a mutter Jake pushed himself off the wall. “I’ll get it.”

  She managed a smile. “Thanks.”

  They all turned when Angela suddenly coughed, her body wracking with it. “What–where...?”

  Nina, Neil, and Rita were the first at her side. “It’s okay, Ange.” Neil frowned when Angela began gasping.

  “She needs her asthma pump,” Nina said, and looked around anxiously.

  “Inside the pockets of her trousers that we took off her.” Rita pointed to Angela’s bag. “Quickly. They’re hanging over there.”

  “It’s not in here,” Neil said after a moment. He looked around, eyes narrowed in concentration.

  Nina began rummaging through Angela’s ski suit pockets, but they were empty. “What about...?” She trailed off and stilled. Angela had had her pump with her when they’d gone for the walk. She now remembered seeing her use it. As Angela continued coughing, her body shaking with it, coldness seeped into Nina’s body once more despite the warmth of the cave. “Oh, no. No.”

  Her fingers began to shake. “Ange had it...she had her pump when we went for a walk,” she insisted. “She used it and then put it back in her pocket...” Her horrified gaze met Neil’s. “The lake,” she whispered. “It must have fallen out at the lake.”

  The group’s story continues in TORN, the second book in the compelling Salzburg Saga, which follows. Turn over to read now.

  ––––––––

  TORN

  The Salzburg Saga #2

  D. U. OKONKWO

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2016 by D. U. Okonkwo

  ISBN: 978-0-9931617-5-9 – Ebook

  ISBN: 978-0-9931617-6-6 – Paperback

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical photocopy, recording, scanning, or other – except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles without the written permission of the publisher.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any similarities to any person, living or dead are purely coincidental.

  ––––––––

  www.duokonkwo.com

  Edited by Double Vision Editorial

  Torn: (adjective)

  Finding it difficult to choose between two possibilities.

  “Can no one tell the truth?”

  Chapter 1

  ––––––––

  Hazel checked her phone again. Still nothing from her sister. This isn’t like you, Neen, she thought. Not a missed call from Nina, not a text, or voicemail. Nothing.

  This wasn’t like her sister at all.

  At the communal kitchen table across from Hazel, her university housemate Becky cut into her mackerel. “Nina still hasn’t called?”

  “No.” Hazel was already punching in her sister’s number. “I’m just going to call her. I wanted to give her some time to settle in like you said, but...”

  Becky sprinkled dry dill leaves over her mackerel. “Do it if it’ll make you feel better.

  “Yeah, and besides,” Hazel said, “she would’ve settled in by now and hopefully had some fun on the slopes.” Phone at her ear, Hazel waited to be connected.

  “It has not been possible to connect your call, please try again later.” She took the phone away from her ear and stared at it, perplexed. Since when was it impossible to connect from the UK to another country in Europe? She tried again and received the same message.

  “What’s happening?” Becky asked.

  “It wouldn’t go through. A voice recording message said it’s not possible to connect.”

  “To Austria?”

  “That’s what I thought.” She pursed her lips, thinking. “She gave me the number of Parker’s chalet,” she remembered. “Let me go get it.” She rose from the table and left to retrieve it. She returned a minute later, piece of paper in hand and already dialing the number with her other. She gritted her teeth when it rang several times before going to voicemail. With a sigh she left a brief message addressed to her sister.

  “I thought the Drayton guy was rich?” Becky pouted. “He needs to hook himself up with a maid or housekeeper or something. They’ll answer his phone. None of this voicemail business.”

  Hazel grinned. “You’ve been watching too many period dramas. It’s turning you into a snob.”

  Becky only grinned.

  “Besides,” Hazel said, “Neen has said that Parker’s really down to earth. He does a lot of things himself.”

  “What’s the time over there?”

  “They’re an hour ahead of us.”

  “So it’s about seven in the evening there.” Becky considered that as she chewed. “It’ll be dinner time over there too. They’re probably eating seabass in some fancy restaurant.”

  Hazel nodded towards Becky’s mackerel. “Fish on the brain?”

  “If you say so.”

  “If I can get through to Parker’s chalet, why can’t I get through to Neen and Neil’s phones?” Hazel drummed her fingers on the table. She shouldn’t be worried, she thought, but she was anyway. She knew Neen could take care of herself, but it was so...un-Nina like not to make contact when she was traveling. Not to mention she had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn’t shake. Without giving herself a chance to change her mind, she punched in one more number. “Let me try her boyfriend Alex.” His phone went to voicemail but she shied away from leaving a message. “I’ll go to Neen’s house,” she decided, and hung up.

  “You’re going to their house?” Becky gaped at her. “But, Haze, what about the house party at dorm fifty-three tonight?”

  “It won’t take long to go to Neen’s house and come back. I have my car. Besides, the party won’t get started until about ten. That’s four hours from now.” The thought of seeing Alex again, the useless excuse of her sister’s boyfriend didn’t appeal to her before. But she wouldn’t be able to rest until she had at least spoken to him and found out if he had heard anything from her sister. How could she expect to like a man who leeched off her hardworking sister? It was asking too much.

  Becky sighed. “Okay.” She finished off her meal. “Want company?”

  Hazel smiled. “Thanks. I’d love some.”

  ––––––––

  “Will he be in?” Becky asked an hour later.

  Hazel shifted gears and prepared to turn into Nina’s street. “Don’t see why not. He’s not working at the moment.”

  “Oh.”

  Trees lined both sides of Nina’s street, their twigs free of leaves from the cold February weather. Half past seven in the evening and it was pitch black. From the front seat, Hazel saw two people returning from work, hunched under the collars of th
eir winter coats.

  Grabbing her purse, she slid from the car and waited for Becky to do the same. Once she’d set her car alarm, they headed for Nina’s front door and rang the bell. When no response came after a few minutes, Hazel dug out her keys and let her and Becky in.

  The stench of alcohol assaulted their nostrils before they’d made it over the threshold.

  “Jeez.” Becky wrinkled her nose. “Someone’s been on all-night bender.”

  “I know,” Hazel gritted through clenched teeth. “Two days Neen has been gone and look at all this.”

  They stepped over several unopened letters littering the hallway. Large shoe imprints marred them. When they reached the living room, they stopped and simply stared. Empty beer and wine bottles covered every conceivable surface. The two paintings on the wall had been turned, slanting haphazardly on the wall; dried food soiled the wooden floors, and the long rectangular gray sofa appeared to have a red wine stain on it.

  Becky’s expression held both fascination and disbelief.

  Hazel dragged her eyes from the wreckage and turning, marched up the curvy staircase. Becky ran to catch up.

  “Alex?” Hazel stalked across the small corridor. Reaching Nina’s room, she flung the door open.

  He lay in a ball in the middle of Nina’s bed; the black silk bed sheet at his waist.

  Becky peered at him over Hazel’s tense shoulder. “I can’t hear any snoring,” she whispered. “Maybe he’s... dead?”

  “Don’t get me excited, Becky. My heart can’t take it.”

  They moved to the bed, and in only a few seconds saw Alex’s chest rising up and down as he slept. “He’s alive,” Hazel muttered. “More’s the pity. Alex,” she demanded, “wake up.”