Echo-Foxtrot (3 page)

“Are you OK?” Jack asked.

“Cold.”

Jack put a hand on her forehead. “You're hot. Humor me and let me take your temperature.”

“Fine.” She sighed. “You sure you're not my mother?”

“Quite sure. Your mom's a whole lot prettier than I am. Hold still a sec.” Jack used one of the in-the-ear thermometers she hated. “It's 102 degrees. We need to get you cooled down some.”

He rummaged around in the bag beside her and pulled out a vial and stuck in a needle. Next, he injected something into the line in her hand.

“There you go. That should help the fever.”

Lou shook her head. “Go away, Jim. I'm tired. It can't be 2 AM already.”

“I'm not Jim.”

Lou looked at him blankly. “Bill? I'm sorry. I never meant to get Jim and Staci in trouble. It's my fault. Jim wanted to find you, and Staci and I ran away to go with him.” She shivered, seeing Deefer sitting beside her. “I'll take you for a walk in a bit, boy. I'm really tired and don't feel so good. Should never have gone fishing and been shark bait.”

“Shark bait?”

Lou did a double take, not sure why the dog was talking to her, but answered him anyway. “Jim was cross because I drew all over his precious logbook, so he fed me to the sharks…”

Deefer's radio crackled. The fact the dog was now wearing green uniform didn't strike her as strange either.

“Colonel, this is Dr. Andrews. Do you copy?”

Deefer snatched his radio. Why did his paw have fingers? “Hi, Doc. Where are you?”

“Five minutes away. How is she?”

“Pretty sick. Her temp is 102, resps shallow, pulse too fast for me to count, and she's talking to people who aren't here. Her leg is way worse than the kid's radio message said. It's very infected—my guess from the smell would be gangrene. I've started the IV to get some fluids into her. I've also given her paracetamol to reduce her temperature.”

Lou squinted at him before her heavy eyes slid shut. “Deefer, I am here, you know. An' since when did you talk with an American accent?”

“Hang in there, Colonel. We won't be long. Out.”

Jack shook Lou slightly. “Did you hear that?”

“Yes.” Lou opened her eyes. “Jack? What are you doing here?”

“Rescuing a damsel in distress.” He smiled. “Chopper's coming. We'll soon have you home safely.”

“No...” She broke off and closed her eyes.

Jack's fingers touched her wrist. “Don't you dare die on me now, kid.”

She forced her eyes open. “Not…going…to. Just wanna sleep…”

“In a bit. Look, here come the cavalry.”

The chopper flew overhead and landed. A woman in a flight suit ran over to them before the dust settled. “Colonel?”

Jack smiled. “Hey, Doc. This is Lou Benson.”

Dr. Andrews smiled. “Hi, Lou. I'm Doc Andrews. Anderson's CMO. Can I have a look at your leg?”

Lou nodded slowly, struggling to stay awake. “Tired, sleep now.”

“Stay with us, honey,” Jack told her. “You can sleep in a few.”

Dr. Andrews pulled a face as she gently examined Lou's leg. “Does that hurt?”

“Not really. Not as much as it used to,” Lou whispered. “Got bit by a shark…”

“I spoke to Jim and he filled me in.”

“OK.”

She and the medics lifted Lou onto the stretcher and strapped her on securely. Then they slotted it into the chopper. “I'm going to give you something to help you with the pain, Lou. You'll get sleepy too, but that way, you'll be more comfortable on the way back.” She smiled. “And yes, you can sleep now.”

Lou nodded. “Stay with me, Jack.”

Jack sat next to her and took her hand. “I'm right here, kid. Your mom would have my guts for garters—her expression, not mine—if I let anything happen to you now.”

“Mum's here?”

“Waiting for me to take you home.”

Lou's eyes fluttered as the meds filled her system. “Tell her…sorry.”

“You can tell her yourself, kid…” His voice faded as everything began to float.

4

Jim, Ailsa, and Staci tucked into the third plate of meatloaf, beans, and mash with as much enthusiasm as they had the first. Mum, Dad, and Nichola sat with them. His parents had eaten one plateful, although Nichola hadn't even gotten food. Three armed security officers sat at the next table.

Jim pushed his plate back. “That was wonderful,” he said. “I'm nicely stuffed.”

“It has been so long since I had what Mum'd term proper food,” Ailsa said.

“It must be harder for you,” Staci said. “After all that happened on the island with your parents and all.”

“To be honest, it's not hard at all. Mum and Dad were never there, not in that sense anyway. It was just me. That part of my life is over. I shan't forget, but it is time to move on.”

Dad looked over at her. “Ailsa, do you have any family at all I can contact for you?”

Ailsa shook her head. “No. It was just my parents and me. I never knew my grandparents and there aren't any aunts or uncles.”

“What will you do?” Staci asked.

“I don't know. I never really thought beyond this point. I know Jim said he wants me around, but I don't want to get in the way.”

“You're not in the way,” Jim said quickly. “You won't ever be. I want you with me, one way or the other.”

“You'll stay with us,” Mum said decisively. “If you want to, that is. Things have changed. Losing people you love puts things into perspective. We saw a lot of people lose family and everything they own in the last few months and we thought we'd lost Jim and Staci. I don't intend to lose any of you again. And if you have nowhere to go, then you can have a home with us.”

“Thank you. I'd like that.”

Mum nodded. “Good. At least until you get settled and decide what you want to do, if not longer.”

Airman Trant appeared at the table. “I've come to take you three to the infirmary. The doc wants you where she can keep an eye on you for a few nights.”

General Merrick came across, a look of concern on her face. “Mrs. Benson? The helicopter carrying your daughter is on approach. The doc asked me to prepare you as to Lou's condition.”

Nichola looked up. “I thought they said she was stable?”

“Things are worse than we first thought. Lou is seriously ill. The doc is concerned about the massive infection in her leg. They had to do CPR at least once.”

Nichola paled and sank back in her chair. “No,” she gasped.

General Merrick put a hand on Nichola's shoulder. “We will do all we can. I have the best surgeons in the Air Force here.” A helicopter could be heard outside. “That's them. She needs to go straight to surgery. If you want to see her, it has to be now.”

Jim got up. “Can I come too, please?”

Nichola nodded.

Dad stood. “I'll go with and catch up with you guys in the infirmary.” He looked at his wife. “Make sure they don't get lost en route, Di.”

Mum held his gaze. “I don't intend to let them out of my sight.”

Jim ran with them to where the helicopter had just landed. They stood in the doorway and watched as a second medical team swooped on it and deftly put the stretcher onto the waiting trolley. They ran with it towards the building, Jack running with them.

As they drew level with General Merrick, she halted them.

Nichola gasped as she saw Lou lying motionless, tubes and wires everywhere. Her eyes moved downwards until she saw Lou's red and swollen leg. “Lou, what have you done, baby?”

“We'll do what we can,” Dr. Andrews promised and they ran on towards the OR.

Jack slid a hand into Nichola's. “They'll take good care of her, Nicky.”

“Is she OK?” she asked, her gaze lingering on the vanishing med team.

Jack shook his head. “She's pretty sick. But she's in good hands. I've been praying constantly the whole flight home. I know God heard me. He'll do what is best for her.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “What about you, honey? Are
you
OK?”

“I'm fine.” She rubbed a hand over her eyes.

“No, you're not.” He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “C'mon, I got time for a coffee first before the debrief. Let me just dump the bag.”

Nichola smiled at him. “You shouldn't talk about people like that. And you should at least shower and change first.”

Jack grinned at her, then glanced at his crumpled and stained flight suit. “You're right. On both counts. Give me ten minutes. I'll meet you in the mess.” He squeezed her hand briefly and headed off.

Jim looked down. He felt horrible, useless, and alone. This was his fault. Didn't matter how much he apologized, if she died, it'd be solely down to him.

Dad touched his shoulder. “Come on, son. Let's go and find the others. Mum and I need to talk to you and Staci.”

Jim nodded. “OK.” He walked slowly with his father, not looking forward to anything his parents had to say.

In the infirmary, Staci lay curled up on the bed. “Jim, where's Lou?”

Jim sat on the bed next to her. “They took her straight to surgery. They're really worried about her.”

“Is she going to die?”

He pushed a hand through his hair. The length of it hadn't bothered him in weeks, but now it did. All he wanted was to cut it. Daft…his best friend was dying and all he could think about was his hair. “She could. It's all my fault. If I hadn't taken her fishing because I wanted the fish…”

“I asked for the fish in the first place.”

Jim shook his head. “It was my decision to take her fishing that morning, because I was angry with her. I wanted the fish more than anyone, because I was tired of tinned food. I should never have let you come. Either of you. I should have turned around soon as I found you both that first morning, never mind after her idiot stunt in the docks.”

Dad slammed his hand down on the bedside unit. “James Tiberius Kirk. That's enough,” he thundered. “I don't want a pity party or a let's-blame-each-other-or-myself attitude. James, I want you to explain, from the beginning. And I want all of it.”

Jim shifted uncomfortably. “Where's the bag? It has the logbook in it…”

“Never mind the logbook. There's plenty of time for me to read that later. Just talk.”

He glanced at the others and began from the beginning, explaining what he and the others had done. Explaining it all, the explosion in the docks, Hurricane Erika, the shark attack, the shipwreck, volcano, and forest fire made it sound awful. Which it was. And a miracle they had all survived.

He supposed it was a good job that God was looking out for them, because he hadn't done a very good job at all. And he was meant to have been the grown-up in all this.

“I'm so sorry. I just wanted to find you,” he finished. “No one was looking and you'd been declared missing.”

Dad nodded. “There wasn't any communication possible for days. Nothing much in or out where we were. There was a lot of damage, but we were high enough to avoid the floodwaters. It just cut us off. They managed to get the news crews into the main towns, but anything else just wasn't possible. It was chaos, no one knew where anyone was, so many people hurt, dead, or simply missing.”

Mum took his hand. “We finally got rescued three weeks later and rang home. Nicky said you'd all left. We got the first flight home we could—which wasn't until September. By which point Jack had been in touch, saying he'd seen you all.”

Staci looked up slowly. “Are we grounded?”

“Forever,” Mum replied.

“Already asked that,” Jim muttered.

“And got the same response,” Dad said.

Jack came in. “Nicky's sleeping in my quarters here on base tonight in case Lou needs her.” He held out his car keys. “I'm going to stay here as well so she's not on her own. You guys can drive yourselves back to the house when you're ready.”

Dad took the keys. “Thanks, Jack.”

Jim looked at Jack. “Any news on Lou?”

He shook his head. “She's still in surgery and probably will be most of the night. I'll see you in the morning.”

Jim watched him leave. Salt burned his eyes. If Lou died, it would be his fault. How would he ever forgive himself? How would anyone else forgive him?

God, please,
he began and broke off. He didn't know how to phrase it, but then it didn't matter, as God knew his deepest desires better than he did.

5

Beeping and hissing surrounded her. For a moment Lou thought she was in some kind of weird poacher trap. Not just one with vicious teeth, but hundreds of snakes that bit and stung. Voices echoed around her, snippets of conversation creeping into her mind as faces came and went.

“How is she, Doc?” That sounded like Jack.

“Colonel, are you still up? It's 0330.”

“Heading to bed now. I promised Nicky I'd check in first.”

“It's not good. We couldn't save her leg below the knee and the infection appears to have spread. We're pumping her full of antibiotics in an attempt to save the rest of her leg.”

“Is she going to die? And don't sugarcoat it either. I need to be able to prepare Nicky for the worst.”

“It's possible, yeah. She crashed again about half an hour ago. Each time that happens, it makes getting her back more difficult.”

Everything faded again for a long time. Then more voices. “OK, we got her back.”

“I want to see her…” That sounded like Mum, but she was in England.

“Not now, Nicky…”

“Yes, now.” Footsteps echoed, mixing with the snakes and the beeps. “What happened?”

“She coded. We got her back this time. We'll watch her carefully the next few hours.”

“Coded? What does that mean? I don't understand…Jack?”