Chapter 37
THIRTY-SEVEN
TEVENNE – ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
The storm never stopped. It changed from violent chaos to something heavier. Wind now roared steadily through the broken windows, and rain swept across the floor outside Blake’s office in cold sheets that pooled along the cracked tiles.
Ford sat slumped against the wall beside the couch. The IV line still ran into his arm, but
the bag above him hung nearly empty. He knew he was in trouble.
Across the room, Nadya shifted on the mattress with the baby in her arms. Little Ford finished nursing and was making small restless noises against her shoulder. “Alright,” she whispered softly.
She lifted him upright and gently patted his back. A few seconds later, the baby let out a tiny burp. Nadya laughed. “There we go.”
Ford watched from across the room, his vision slightly blurred. “You’re getting good at this.”
She glanced over at him. “I’ve had practice.
Two months.” She adjusted the baby carefully in the blanket.
“I started spotting back at home.” She shrugged faintly.
“Dr. Blake made me come out here every week. The surrogate family paid for a place in Victoria. I stayed there, but when people started to get sick, they wouldn’t let us go.
Now I realize they were afraid we’d talk.
” She tucked the baby into a padded plastic bin they’d lined with blankets earlier.
Little Ford squirmed once before settling again. She stood and crossed the room toward him. Ford noticed she moved more confidently now.
Nadya wasn’t panicked anymore. She was focused. She knelt beside him and carefully pressed another bandage across his ribs. “Still bleeding.”
Ford didn’t answer. She added more gauze and wrapped a new pressure dressing around his chest. She pulled another blanket around his shoulders. “You’re freezing.”
“Shock.” Ford placed the back of his hand on her forehead. “Your fever broke.” She tightened the blanket, and he managed a faint smile. “See?”
“What?”
“You’re getting good at this.”
Nadya shook her head slightly. “I’m improvising.” She looked around the room. “Which is apparently the theme of tonight.”
Ford’s gaze drifted toward the desk across the room. “My radio.”
She followed his eyes. “It’s over there.”
“Can you grab it?”
She brought it back to him along with another protein bar. Ford’s hand shook slightly as he keyed the mic. “Kieran.”
Static filled the speaker. “Ford, you still with us?”
“Yeah. Nadya, her newborn and I are still here.” Ford swallowed. “Get Hunt.”
There was a pause. “Why?”
“Do it and don’t let Eira hear.” It hurt to breathe through the words.
The silence on the radio stretched a moment longer. After a breath, Kieran said, “Stand by.”
The storm continued to roar through the broken building. Ford leaned his head back against the wall while he waited. Across the room, Nadya checked on the baby again, but he could feel her eyes on him.
Hunter’s voice came over the radio. “Ford.”
Ford exhaled slowly. “Hey, Hunt.”
“What’s going on?”
Ford glanced toward Nadya and the sleeping baby. “Nadya delivered a thirty-one-weeker.”
Hunter’s tone sharpened immediately. “Alive?”
“Yeah.” Ford nodded faintly to himself. “He nursed.”
Nadya looked over and smiled.
Ford continued, “Breathing on his own. Skin-to-skin.”
Hunter let out a breath on the other end. “That’s good.”
Ford closed his eyes briefly. “Hunt, listen.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve got a gash. Runs from my armpit around to my sternum.” The wind slammed the building again. “I’m on my third 500-cc bag.”
Hunter’s voice tightened. “Is the bleeding controlled?”
“Pressure dressing.” Ford glanced down at the soaked bandage. “But I’m bleeding through.” He took a ragged breath. “Hunt…”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“Don’t let Eira feel guilty.” Ford gulped. “She’ll try.” The storm howled outside. “Take care of her for me.” He closed his eyes.
Hunter’s voice exploded across the radio. “Don’t you dare talk like that.”
Ford opened his eyes again. “You hear me?”
“I hear you. You are not dying out there.”
Ford managed a weak smile. “I’m not giving up.”
“Then stop saying goodbye.”
Ford shifted slightly against the wall. Pain shot across his ribs, and he sucked in a shallow breath. “I’m just…” his voice faded, “…getting tired.”
Hunter didn’t speak.
Ford tried to inhale deeper. It didn’t work. “It’s getting harder to breathe.”
Across the room, Nadya looked over sharply. The storm had settled into a long, relentless roar. Water began to seep beneath the threshold.
The lantern on the desk burned lower, its flame bending every time the wind forced its way inside. Ford sat with his back braced against the concrete wall. Every inhale scraped across his ribs like broken glass.
Ford managed to ask, “How are the winds?”
“Still too high to launch,” Hunter replied. “But they’re dropping. Another forty-five minutes, maybe less.”
Ford nodded faintly. “Alright.” There was a pause on the line, and Ford could picture Hunter standing in the command room at Kasavoa, staring at the weather screen, calculating the same numbers over and over again.
“Ford, stay with me.”
He let out a tired breath that turned into a weak laugh. “That’s the plan.”
Nadya was watching him more closely now.
Ford shifted his head back against the wall. “Hey, Hunt? I’m putting Nadya on the radio. If something happens to me, she needs instructions for the baby.”
Hunter sighed. “Alright.”
Ford held the radio out, and Nadya stood slowly and walked over with the baby tucked against her shoulder. “Hello?”
“Nadya, this is Hunter Montgomery. I’m a doctor on Kasavoa. How’s the little guy doing?”
She glanced down at the baby. “He’s breathing fine. He nursed.”
Ford nodded faintly beside her. “He did a good job latching on,” he added.
Hunter’s voice sharpened slightly. “That’s excellent.”
Nadya adjusted the blanket around the baby. “He’s tiny.”
“That’s normal for thirty-one weeks,” Hunter said calmly. “Is he warm?”
“Yes.”
“Keep him skin-to-skin as much as possible,” Hunter said. “Your body heat will regulate his temperature.”
Nadya nodded. “Okay.” There was a small pause. “Hunter?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated, glancing at Ford. “He’s not telling you everything.”
Ford closed his eyes briefly. “Nadya…”
“No,” she said firmly. She shifted the baby higher on her shoulder and leaned closer to the radio. “He’s been bleeding all night. He’s soaking through the bandages. Every time I check and add more gauze.”
The storm rattled the building again. Nadya’s voice softened. “He keeps pretending he’s fine so I don’t panic.”
Hunter asked, “How is his breathing?”
Nadya looked down at Ford. “It’s shallow.” When he opened one eye, she told him, “You’re a terrible patient.”
Hunter’s voice came back steady through the radio. “Ford, you hear what she said?”
He managed a faint smile. “I hear it.”
“You’re not allowed to check out,” Hunter said.
Ford shifted slightly, wincing as pain shot across his ribs. “I’m not planning on it.”
Nadya studied him for a moment then handed the radio back.
Ford took it carefully. “Hey, Hunt… If I pass out…”
“You’re not.”
Ford let out a weak breath. “You always were optimistic.”
Hunter didn’t laugh. “The boats are ready. The second the winds drop, we’re coming.”
Ford looked toward Nadya and the baby curled against her chest. The newborn stirred slightly beneath the blanket. “Good. If I pass out… It’s getting harder to breathe,” he repeated himself.
All he had to do was stay alive long enough to see them arrive.
KASAVOA – COMMAND ROOM
The wind changed. Eira felt it before she reached the command building. The storm still drove rain sideways across the compound, but the violent gusts began to break apart into uneven bursts instead of the solid wall of wind that battered the island for hours.
That meant the system was moving. She pushed through the command room door, shaking rain from her jacket as she stepped inside. Rourke was one step behind her.
The room glowed with the pale light of radar screens and weather monitors. Radios hissed softly on the communications table. Kieran stood at the far wall studying the storm bands creeping east across the sea. At the center console, Hunter stood with a radio pressed to his ear.
Eira wasn’t paying attention to the conversation at first. She moved toward the weather board. Then she heard the voice coming through the speaker. “…If I pass out…”
It was Ford. Her head snapped toward the radio.
“…it’s getting harder to breathe.”
The words struck like a physical blow. Before Hunter could react, Eira crossed the room in two steps and pulled the radio straight out of his hand.
“Ford.” The room fell silent behind her. There was nothing but static and the distant roar of the storm.
“…Eira?” His voice was weaker than she’d ever heard it.
She swallowed. “Ford.”
Across the room, Kieran closed his eyes briefly.
Ford exhaled slowly on the other end of the line. “How much did you hear?”
Eira tightened her grip on the radio. “Enough. What’s wrong?”
“I got whacked by a tree branch. It’s just a small gash.” A faint sound of movement came through the transmission, followed by his breath catching slightly as he tried to inhale deeper. “Don’t be too mad at Hunt.”
Eira glanced briefly at Hunter, who raised both hands in surrender. “Too late,” she muttered.
Ford gave a faint breath of laughter that turned into a cough. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. “How are you feeling?”
The question caught her off guard. “You’re bleeding out in a typhoon, and you’re asking me that?”
“Yeah.” Another shallow breath. “Seems like the right thing to ask.”
Eira could hear the effort it took him to breathe between words. Each inhale sounded thin and strained through the radio. “I’m fine.”
“Good.”
A pause. “You sleep at all?”
“No.”
“You should.”
“Ford.”
“What?”
She closed her eyes for a second. “You’re doing that thing.”
“What thing?”
“Trying to make small talk while you’re dying.”
“I’m not dying…”
When he tried to take another breath, she heard the hitch in it immediately.
“…just tired.”
Eira gripped the radio harder.
Another quiet exhale came through the speaker. “How’s Véronique?”
Eira blinked. “She’s stable.”
“Good.” The word came out soft. “Tell her and Kavi I said hi.”
“You can tell them yourself.”
Another pause. When Ford spoke again, his voice was raspier, and she could hear the strain behind it.
“You keep talking to me,” she said firmly.
“About what?”
“Anything.”
There was a faint rustling sound. “Baby’s breathing and nursing,” he said after a moment.
“Good.”
“Nadya’s holding him.”
Eira nodded. “Good.”
Ford’s breath caught halfway before he managed to finish it. Eira’s chest tightened. “Ford, you stay awake.”
“Working on it.”
“Keep talking to me.” The radio felt heavier in her hand than it should have.
Kieran stood by the weather screen, watching the wind numbers flicker downward by fractions. But Eira wasn’t looking at the screen. She was listening to Ford breathe. Each inhale came thin and uneven across the speaker. Not gasping yet—but working harder than he should have to.
Ford’s voice returned, even quieter now. “Eira.”
“Yes?”
Another pause. When he spoke again, the tone had changed. More serious. “If something happens to me…”
“No.”
“Listen.”
“No.”
“Eira.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Don’t.”
“I need to say this.”
Her irritation flared instantly. “You’re not dying out there.”
“Maybe not,” he said softly. “But if I do…”
“Ford, no.”
He pushed on anyway. “I want you to enjoy your life.”
The words landed like a spark in dry grass. Eira’s head snapped up. “Oh, absolutely not.”
Across the room, Hunter winced.
Ford continued, “You deserve that.”
Anger rose under the fear now. “Don’t you dare give me some noble goodbye speech.”
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
He took another breath that caught slightly in the middle. “I’m not Jonah.” The words hit harder than he probably meant them to.
Eira’s voice sharpened immediately. “I know that.”
“Please, listen.”
“I am listening.”
“Eira, understand this—” Ford sucked in a breath, “you’re allowed to be happy.”
Her grip tightened on the radio. “I will be when you stop saying things like that.”
There was a long pause. When Ford spoke again, his voice carried a tired softness. “I’m sorry.” The tension in the room eased slightly. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
Eira closed her eyes and sighed. She didn’t want to fight either.
The storm rattled the windows again. Ford exhaled slowly on the other end of the radio. “Eira.”
“Yes?”
“You are the love of my life.” The words landed quietly, but with a weight that filled the room. She was too stunned by his words to respond. While she was still reeling, he continued, “Put Kieran on.”
Kieran stepped forward immediately and took the radio from her hand. “Kieran here.”
Ford’s voice shifted back into the calm focus he used in crisis. “We’re in Blake’s office.”
Kieran glanced at the map of Tevenne pinned to the wall. “Copy.”
“The water’s starting to come over the threshold.”
Kieran’s jaw tightened. “How much?”
“Couple inches so far.” Another breath. “If it gets deeper, I’m putting Nadya and the baby on Blake’s desk.”
Kieran frowned slightly. “Why the desk?”
“It’s solid hardwood. Heavy enough to stay put.” He paused briefly. “It’ll keep her and the baby dry until you get here.”
Kieran nodded slowly. “Understood. You get up there too.”
Ford’s voice came again through the radio. “Copy.”
“We’re coming.” He glanced at the wind monitor—twenty-seven knots. It was close.
Kieran lifted his own radio. “All patrol boats stand by.” He lifted the microphone in his other hand. “Hold on, Ford.”
Outside the command building, engines were starting along the docks.
The radio still hummed faintly in the room after Ford’s last transmission.
The storm continued to lash Kasavoa, but something about the wind had changed.
The gusts were no longer constant. They came in bursts now, rising and falling like the storm itself was losing strength.
Eira stood beside the communications table, her fingers still tight from gripping the radio.
Across the room, Kieran’s attention shifted completely to the wind monitor. The digital numbers flickered. Twenty-seven knots… twenty-six knots.
The room held its breath. Another gust passed across the island, and the reading climbed again, then suddenly it dropped to twenty-five knots. The number held.
Kieran looked at Hunter. “Go with the lead boat. Rourke, go.”
Hunter didn’t hesitate. “On it.”
Kieran turned toward Eira. “Ready the trauma room.”
The words snapped her back into motion. “Okay.” All the fear and anger from the radio conversation folded back into the place where she kept everything during surgery. She grabbed a clipboard from the table and turned toward the door.
Behind her, Kieran lifted the harbor radio. “All patrol units launch the second Dr. Hunter Mongomery and Adrian Rourke arrive.”
As Hunter and Rourke ran toward the harbor through the rain, Kieran watched the storm radar one more time before turning back to the room. “Bring them home.”