Chapter 11
Daniel stood at the counter with his back to us, entering notes on his iPad. The clinic was quiet. Outside the small porthole window the weather was clearer, sun shining on the dark waters of the ocean.
He set the iPad down and turned around. “So,” he said. “Clear skies yesterday.”
Sam looked up. “Fog in the morning.”
“Correct. But the fog burned off by nine.” Daniel crossed his arms.
I had been lying very still with my eyes mostly closed. My check up had gone great. No lasting damage but I didn’t want more needled poked so I was playing dead. A head peeked in the doorway of the clinic. I recognized Adrien’s face.
“Uh…bad timing?” He asked. Grant was behind him. “We heard Viktor is up but—”
“Come on in.” Daniel gestured to them. “I could use some audience.”
“For what?” Grant asked stepping inside and taking a chair next to Adrien.
“We are discussing Sam.” Daniel informed them. “So, Sam, I checked the weather log. Visibility good all day.” He tilted his head. “You called a mayday.”
Sam shifted in his chair. “There was heavy rains all day before, Doc.”
“Yes. Something very common. It wasn’t even a thunderstorm.”
Grant and Adrien exchanged a look.
“Viktor was down with a head injury.” Sam’s voice had gone a bit low.
“Mm.” Daniel picked up his iPad again. He was such a bastard. My roommate had been cooking something up. I didn’t know what but he was patiently laying the trap. I could see it in his expression.
“Here’s what’s interesting to me about that.
” Daniel tapped on his Ipad. “You remember the undergrad study group three seasons back? Chen’s team?
Four students, one of them went through the ice on the eastern side of Torgersen.
You had them back at station and filed your report before the station chief even knew what had happened. ” He glanced at Sam. “No mayday.”
Sam said nothing.
Daniel turned to the two who had joined. “Grant, you will remember the accident with the Wisconsin B-16 team. What was it — two years ago?”
“Oh, Yes.” Grant nodded.
“Blizzard came in fast from the west. Seven researchers, two with no real field experience. Sam, you sheltered them for eleven hours and walked them out when it broke.” He set the iPad down. “No mayday.”
The clinic was very quiet. But Grant was fighting a smile and so was I.
“And the tourist group.” Daniel’s voice stayed even, conversational, almost friendly.
“The civilian visit. The iceberg fragment?
You had nine tourists in two Zodiacs and the calving started twenty meters off the port side.
I remember you describing it as — " he looked at the ceiling thoughtfully “— moderately inconvenient.” He glanced back at Sam. “No mayday.”
I peeked at Sam’s face. He was looking everywhere but at Daniel.
“So it was Viktor.” Daniel finally delivered his coup da finale.
The muscle in Sam’s jaw worked once. He did not answer.
Adrien and Grant started grinning like two five year olds. Oh, this was good.
I waited until Daniel turned back to his counter. Then I folded my hands on my chest, stared at the ceiling mimicking his gesture, and spoke in the pleasant, conversational tone he had used.
“I had the most interesting experience on that helicopter.”
Sam’s head came up fast.
“I was drifting in and out, you know how concussions are, and I kept hearing this voice.” I turned my head and looked at him with mild curiosity. “Going on about how he was a coward.” I paused. “His word, not mine.”
Sam had gone very still.
“There was something about walls.” I tapped my chin. “Walls that someone had apparently waltzed right past. Ring any bells?” I watched his ears go red. “And then there was the part about falling so hard.”
Sam made a choking sound and Adrien was outright giggling. Daniel and Grant looked on like smug parents.
I let that hang in the air for a moment for full dramatic effect. “Very poetic. I didn’t know you had it in you, Sam, honestly.”
“Viktor—”
“And then.” I held up one finger. “The part about impure thoughts.” I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling.
Grant barked a laugh.
“I have to say, having been the subject of impure thoughts for apparently quite some time without being informed, I have some opinions about that.”
All the men were laughing now. Sam’s face had gone from red to something deeper. He was staring at a point on the wall above the instrument tray with the focused attention of a man who was considering whether the wall could absorb him if he concentrated hard enough.
“For what it’s worth,” I said, dropping the tone by just a fraction, “just don’t die on me is a very good line. I thought so when you said it. I still think so now.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Sam rubbed a hand over his face but he was smiling.
“I’m going to bring this up periodically,” I informed him. “Not constantly. Just — seasonally. You understand.”
The sound that came out of Sam was not quite a laugh. But it was close enough. “You guys are bullies.”
Daniel pointed his stylus at Sam. “Admit it. You called a Mayday for emotional reasons because Mr. Beckett can’t think straight when it comes to Viktor.”
“Fine, Doc, fine. You wouldn’t understand anyhow.” Sam shook his head at Daniel. He was still smiling.
Suddenly a deep voice from the doorway said, “I’d have done the same for Dr. Park.”
We all whipped around to stare at the stranger.
The man standing there was large — broad through the shoulders, his head nearly clearing the top of the doorway opening.
Dark blue eyes. A crew cut growing out at the edges.
A nose that had been broken at least once and reset slightly crooked, a scar cut clean through his right eyebrow. He was looking at Daniel.
He was in a flight suit with the sleeves pushed to the elbows, a paper cup of coffee in one hand that looked comically small against the size of him.
Sam swung around in his chair. I sat up straighter. The man continued, “I understand.” Though he was apparently talking to Sam, he was still looking at Daniel.
Daniel had gone completely white.
Nobody spoke. The light shifted through the porthole as a cloud came over the sun.
Sam frowned. “Who,” he said carefully, “are you.”
The man crossed the room. Deliberate. He stopped in front of Daniel and raised his free hand and pressed it against the side of Daniel’s face, his thumb at Daniel’s cheekbone, just holding.
I froze. Adrien gasped. Sam and Grant were on their feet in one movement. Sam’s hand caught the man’s arm and pulled. “Hey. Back up. The doctor is married.”
The man turned his head and looked down at Sam. His expression was very calm, very patient. “Yes,” he said. His voice was low and unhurried. “The doctor is married.”
He glanced back at Daniel. “To me.”
***
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Wade.