Missing (16 page)

     “Colonel Weiss, they said there were only two survivors. One man and one woman. Can you find out their names?”

     “I’m sorry, ma’am. It’s against Department of Defense policy to release the names of survivors until the next of kin for the deceased have been notified.”

     He saw the sadness in her eyes and said again, “I’m terribly sorry.”

     Weiss turned and walked away to discuss something with one of his lieutenants.

     Karen went to Sami and held her.

     “They said the male survivor was about thirty,” Sami said with a flat, lifeless voice. “But Dad always looked young for his age. He didn’t have any gray hair, and only a couple of wrinkles around his eyes.

     “He could pass for thirty years old if they didn’t know him.”

     She was grasping for straws.

     Karen saw no need in dashing her friend’s hopes and forcing her to accept reality.

     Not just yet.

     “You’re absolutely right, honey. Don’t give up on your dad, not just yet. If anybody can survive something as horrific as a helicopter crash, it’s him.”

     Brad returned from the kitchen with a cold glass of water for his fiancé.

     “Here you go, baby. This will make you feel better. But don’t drink it here. Let’s go sit in the orchard for awhile.”

     A year before Saris 7 collided with the earth, Bryan and Mark planted a small orchard in the northwest corner of the huge compound. Twelve apple trees of different varieties, pecans, walnuts, plums and peaches.

     Most of them didn’t survive the freeze.

     But those which did thrived, and the orchard became Sami’s favorite place to go when things were troubling her.

     It was also where she’d made love to Brad for the first time two years before, in the still of a hot autumn night.

     Under a paper-shell pecan tree.

     No one knew that except for the two, but they returned to that tree many times since to talk and dream about their future together.

     Sami liked to tell everyone it was where she and Brad fell in love.

     Mark reminded her that it was also the same tree she was sitting under when she was shot by bandits trying to capture the compound seventeen months before.

     But Sami was a “glass is half full” kind of girl who tended to ignore the bad things in her life and focus on the good.

     Brad laid out a picnic blanket he’d grabbed from their apartment and lay upon it.

     She lay next to him and rested her head upon his chest.

     He said, “Hand me your radio.”

     She did as she was told, and he switched it off.

     Then he did the same thing to his own.

     “Regardless of what happens in the days and weeks and months ahead, the next couple of hours belong to you and me. No distractions and no news, good or bad. We’re just gonna lay here together and clear our heads. And then when we’re finished, we’re going to get back up and go conquer the world.

     “No matter what it has to throw at us.”

     From the south exit door of the big house, Karen and Rachel watched the couple forlornly.

     Rachel said, “That poor child has some rough days ahead of her. John was the only family she had left.”

     “No,” Karen said. “She’s got all of us. And collectively, we can give her so much love that she’ll scream.”

     “When is her baby due?”

     “I don’t know. Debbie said she couldn’t be sure until she got a little closer. But she thinks she’s about four months along now.”

     “Will a new baby help ease the pain?”

     “Couldn’t hurt. Let’s go see what the latest news is on Sarah.”

Chapter 33

     Onboard Mercy One, which was in essence a flying emergency room, Hannah and Joel were connected to an array of monitors. IV bags of saline solution and pain killers were pumped into their arms. In Joel’s case, a blood thinner was added to prevent a deadly clot from breaking free from his leg and making its way to his heart, or to his brain.

     The crew seated themselves and strapped themselves in, constantly ready to jump back up should the need arise.

     Hannah, who had been drifting in and out of consciousness, awoke and looked to her right, to see Joel staring at her intently.

     The medical crew decided not to intubate her at the crash site. She appeared to be breathing well enough on her own, despite the damage to her ribs and bruised lung.

     She did, however, have a cup over her nose and mouth to make her breathing a bit easier on her.

     She tried to speak, but the mask prevented her from being heard in the noisy chopper.

     And Joel couldn’t read her lips, because he could only see part of them.

     Joel still saw his role as her hero, although there were now several other heroes watching out for her.

     Part of his role as her hero, as he saw it, was to keep her spirits up. He knew that a good attitude was essential for the healing process.

     So with that in mind, he wanted to make her smile.

     After all, she had such a pretty smile.

     “I can’t hear what you’re saying, beautiful. But guess what? We made it, doll.”

     He could see the corner of her mouth lift, even through the mask, and knew he’d accomplished his mission.

     Then, just as quickly, her smile vanished.

     Joel had no clue why it vanished. He didn’t know that Hannah suddenly realized she was leaving John back at the crash site. John was long past caring, and Hannah knew that. Still, in her mind, it wasn’t right to leave him there alone while she was flown off to God-knows where.

     She turned back to Joel and tried to mouth the words, “Where are we going?”

     But it was a wasted effort.

     Joel, for his part, tried his best to figure out what she was saying.

     “What’s that you said? You want to divorce your husband and marry me after all? Well, it’s about time you came to your senses.”

     She smiled again. It was working.

     “And you say I’m way more handsome than your husband ever was? Even with one and a half legs? Well, thank you, doll. You’re pretty hot stuff yourself.”

     She reached her hand out to touch his. He could tell it took a lot of effort in her weakened state, and he wouldn’t let her down. He reached out his left arm, and was just able to touch her fingers.

     The Mercy One medics watching the pair could have been forgiven in thinking they were romantically involved.

     But that wasn’t it at all.

     They had been through a horrible event together, and had helped each other survive. Regardless of what might happen in the months and years ahead, even if they were separated at the hospital and never saw each other again… they now shared a bond that could never be broken.

     Joel could see the sadness in Hannah’s eyes. He still had no clue what she was thinking.

     His own thought was that even when overshadowed by sadness, the eyes were among the prettiest he’d ever seen.

     “You know,” he told her. “No matter what happens from here on out, we’ll always have Paris.”

     Her eyes changed. The sparkle came back.

     It turned out that he knew all along about the movie
Casablanca.
He knew all along it was Ingrid Bergman, and not Lauren Bacall, who played alongside Humphrey Bogart.

     If she was mad at him for hiding that fact, she didn’t show it.

     In fact, he got the sense that he’d have made her laugh, if she’d been able to.

     He continued to play the clown for her.

     “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.”

     She smiled again.

     The magic was back.

     “You know, Hannah, I really would like to meet your husband sometime. I think we could be great friends. After all, we already have something in common. We both fell in love with you.”

     Her eyes began to moisten.

     “Maybe we could go hunting together. Does your husband like to hunt?”

     Hannah managed a slight nod of her head.

     “Good. Me too. He and I can go hunting together sometime. And if only I come back, I swear in advance, it was only an accident. I didn’t really mean to shoot him twenty times.”

     Her smile turned into a frown. Or maybe she got the joke and was trying to make a face at him.

     In any event, he got the sense he’d gone too far. That maybe joking about death, or even talking about it, was more than she could handle at the moment.

     So he backtracked a little.

     “Just in case they separate us when we get to Wilford Hall, and just in case I never see you again, I want you to know something.”

     Hannah raised her eyebrows, asking, “What?”

     “We’ve gone through a lot together. You expected me to save your life, and I don’t know if I helped you or not. But I do know that you saved mine. I was ready to take off my tourniquet and bleed out if you hadn’t made it. I didn’t want to be out there alone.

     “When you opened your eyes, just before you heard the chopper, you saved both of us. You are my hero. I wanted you to know that. And no matter where we go from here, I will always love you.”

     This time he could see a small tear form in Hannah’s right eye and roll onto her pillow.

     She couldn’t speak. But she managed to release her fingers from his just long enough to hold up two fingers.

     She loved him too.

     And that was more than enough to make
him
smile.

Chapter 34

     “Kelly Air Control, this is Mercy One. We have Wilford Hall in sight.”

     “Roger, Mercy One. You’ve got the air all to yourself. We’re handing you over to Med Center Control. Good job out there.”

     “Roger.”

     “Med Center Control, this is Mercy One. How do you read?”

     “Loud and clear, Mercy One. The landing pad is clear, transfer team is standing by. Do you need a spotter?”

     “Nope. We’ve done this a time or two.”

     “Roger, I expected as much. Winds are from the west at eight knots. Happy landing.”

     “Roger.”

     Mercy One’s skids touched down so softly Joel didn’t even realize they were on the ground, until he heard the buckles snap open on the crewmembers’ straps.

     All of a sudden he and Hannah were being swarmed by medical technicians. The aircrew was responsible for getting their patients unstrapped and their stretchers out of the aircraft and onto two waiting gurneys outside. From that point, the transfer team would roll them directly into the emergency room. Surgeons, anesthesiologists and scrub nurses were standing by in two operating rooms and would get their respective patients as soon as the ER doctors determined they were stable enough for surgery.

     Since the thaw, this was now the largest trauma center in the United States. If anyone could keep Hannah alive, it was the staff at the Wilford Hall Medical Center.

     Joel stole one last look at Hannah before he was lifted off the chopper.

     Her eyes were closed now, and she appeared to be sleeping peacefully.

     He knew that wasn’t the case, though. He knew she had passed out again, but he was no longer worried. He could see the heartrate monitor hanging above her head and saw the bouncing line indicating a normal rhythmic rate.

     He assumed that now, a full day after the crash, her body and mind were finally relaxed enough to allow Hannah some rest.

     “Enjoy it while you can, doll,” he whispered. “They’re gonna wake you right back up again in the ER.”

     And they did.