Chapter 20
AVA
Ava’s eyelashes fluttered open, her head thudding dully at the temples. With a groan, she squeezed her eyes closed again. Her muscles felt like she’d climbed two mountains in rapid succession.
A round of nausea swept over her, but it was fleeting. Then, a chill shook her. She tried to think through what had happened, recalling she had the flu. But how had she gotten on this plane?
She opened her eyes again, searching for answers when she found Kyle hovering over her.
“Hey, you,” he said with a grin. “There you are.”
“What happened?” Her voice, a hoarse whisper, barely carried over the drone of the engines on the private plane.
“We found the cure.” He bit his lower lip before he winced. “After you stabbed a needle into your arm and injected an unknown substance.”
He wagged a finger at her. “Which you should never do ever again, but I’m really glad you did it this time.”
“Okay, well…if we found the cure, it wasn’t what I injected because I still feel like crap.”
“But you’re doing better,” Kyle answered with a grin as he shifted a lock of her hair from her face. “You were fairly bad off.”
She pressed her trembling hands to her face, her vision blurring with tears. “If this is better, I can’t imagine how bad it must have been.”
“You passed out,” Kyle said. “And then, I had to carry you here along with the cure.”
She grabbed hold of his arm, squeezing it. “Aww, I’m sorry. And I ate all those snacks on the plane, too. Sorry.”
“Very funny, Ava. I was more concerned about your health than your weight while I was carrying you to the evac sight after you stabbed yourself.”
“With the cure,” she reminded him with a wag of her finger. “And how far as we from Hemlock Falls?”
“About an hour,” he said. “I’ve already spoken with Shadow. He’s going to be waiting for us at the airport, and he’s got a team waiting to assess the cure so we can get it mass produced.”
“Do we have time for that?” Her heart plummeted as she recalled Alex’s grave condition. “Alex was in a coma. Has there been any change?”
She held her breath, waiting for him to respond. Were they already too late? She’d been out for hours at this point. Anything could have happened.
“He’s still hanging in there. And don’t worry, Ava. I grabbed a few of the vials, so we have enough to test and copy and to give straight away to Alex, Shadow, me, and a few others.”
“Hanging in there,” she repeated. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“He’s still alive, Ava. That’s what’s important.”
She pushed herself up to her elbows, the plane swaying around her a little as she sat up. “We need to get there.”
“You want me to tell them to fly faster?” Kyle asked.
“Can they?” She shot him a pleading glance.
He offered her a reassuring smile. “We’ll make it in time, Ava. And all because you stabbed yourself with that needle.”
“How did that help?” She settled back into the leather couch with a sigh as she pressed herself hand against her still sweaty head. “You couldn’t have known it was the cure.”
“No, I didn’t when I grabbed all the vials after you took the nosedive into the floor.”
She snapped her gaze to him. “You let me fall?”
“Of course not,” he said with a shake of his head as he grabbed a bottle of water and uncapped it, offering it to her.
“I caught you. Then eased you to the floor and grabbed both sets of vials. I found someone’s backpack, dumped its contents, stowed everything in there, slung it on my back, then lifted you into my arms, and fled into the jungle. ”
“Woooow,” she said with a coy grin, accepting the bottle. “Like a superhero.”
He lifted his chin. “Exactly.”
She shook her head, her lips curling into a smile. “You’re a good guy, Doc. You really are a superhero. Now, we just need to get this to Hemlock Falls.”
“And we will. It’s going to Alex as soon as we land. We’ll make it, Ava.”
“Don’t promise something you can’t guarantee, Doc,” she said as she sat up and finally sipped the water.
“I just think you need to stay positive right now. And drink plenty of water. And also, maybe eat something.”
“Wow, you are demanding,” she said as she swung her feet to the floor and took another sip.
She leaned forward and grabbed a packet of the peanuts. She tore it open and shook a few into her hand, tossing them into her mouth. “Happy?”
“Very,” he answered as he shifted to sit next to her.
“Hey,” she said as she twisted to face him, “are you okay after that plane crash? We never really stopped to assess our injuries.”
“I’m fine,” he answered. “A few bumps and bruises but nothing major overall, though we both are getting CT scans when we get back to the hospital.”
She nodded. “After we give the cure to Alex.”
“Of course,” he said with a nod. “And then you’re getting an IV of fluids and some real food.”
She shoveled a few more peanuts into her mouth. “So, did you already inject yourself with the cure?”
“I did.” He pulled his sleeve up to show her the injection site. “By the time we got to the plane, I was already feverish.”
Ava’s features turned concerned, and she froze mid-bite as she pressed her hand against his forehead, then his cheek. “Cool now.”
“Yep, that cure worked fast, considering I was only a mild case.”
“So, when we land, we should prioritize the worst cases for the cure, and wait on the mild cases until we’ve produced more, right?” She crinkled the empty bag of peanuts and tossed it in the trash can nearby.
“Yep,” Kyle said. “We have a few that we can give out right away and those will go to the sickest people–and definitely Alex.”
She shifted in her seat, desperately wanting the first round of injections to include Alex, but guilt roiled inside of her. Were there people on the brink of death who needed it more?
But what if they gave it to others, and Alex didn’t make it while they waited for the first round of manufactured medicine to make it to the hospital?
“How long do you think it’ll take to produce this?”
“Depending on what’s in it, it could take anywhere from a few hours to a few days.”
“Days,” she repeated. “Some people don’t have that long.”
“No, they don’t. Let’s hope we can shorten that time a little bit.”
Ava licked her lips, images floating through her mind of Alex in a coma, fighting for his life.
“Ava, we’re going to save him. We fought hard for this cure. And we’re going to get it to Alex in time.”
“I sure hope you’re right, Doc. I’m just feeling guilty because some of these people aren’t going to make it.”
“Alex has to make it. He’s a priority as a member of our team.”
She pulled her legs up under her, the slight fever she still had send a shiver down her spine. “Right.”
She puffed out her cheeks as she drummed her fingers against the arm of the couch. Each moment that passed ramped up her worry higher and higher, a knot tightening in her stomach.
Until they were at the hospital, she was helpless. Unable to save Alex, unable to be near him, unable to comfort him in any way.
Her hand found Kyle’s and squeezed, needing the comfort.
He wrapped an arm around her. “Drink more water.”
With a sigh and a shake of her head, she downed more of it as the pilots announced they were in their final descent.
Ava shifted in her seat, swallowing hard as she felt the plane shift under her. After the crash in the jungle, she wanted to be on the ground safely.
The landing took longer than she would have liked, but finally, the wheels hit the ground and they slowed to a stop.
The moment the engines powered down, she leapt from her seat, hurrying to the door to open it even before the flight attendant.
Outside, Sebastian leaned against his car, a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead.
“Hey,” he said as they descended the stairs. “You said you have an injection for me, right?”
“I do,” Kyle answered, shifting his backpack from his back around to his front.
“Can we do this while I’m driving back to the hospital? I need to get this to Alex.”
“Sure,” Sebastian said as he climbed into the backseat. Kyle slid into the other side while Ava hopped in behind the wheel and fired the engine.
She struggled not to race there at unsafe speeds, pushing the car to hug each curve as she sped around them.
“So, how long will this take?” Sebastian asked as Kyle jabbed him.
“For you with a mild case, a few hours, and you’ll be back on top of the world.” Kyle slipped the cover onto the used needle and slipped it into one of the pouches of the backpack.
Ava flicked her gaze into the rearview mirror, her heart hammering as she tightened her grip on the wheel until her knuckles turned white. “And for a severe case like Alex’s?”
“That will take longer.”
“But I was only a few hours,” Ava said with a shake of her head.
“You weren’t in a coma,” Kyle answered.
“I passed out in the lab,” Ava countered.
Kyle bobbed his head. “Yeah, from overexertion. You weren’t not in a coma.”
“So, Alex is far worse.” The words stuck in her throat as she forced them out, making herself face the situation.
“Yes, but this should still cure him,” Kyle said.
Ava pressed the accelerator toward the floor, speeding up a little. They had to get the cure to Alex.
“He was okay when you left him, right?” She shifted her gaze to Sebastian.
“Yeah. Stable, but…in a coma,” he answered.
She chewed her lower lip as the buildings of Hemlock Falls filled in around them. Every mile traveled was closer to Alex, but still too far away.
When they finally reached the hospital, she whipped the car into the president’s spot and was already climbing out as she yanked the emergency brake.
“Let’s go,” she called over her shoulder.
Kyle raced behind her with the backpack. They headed straight to Alex’s room, and he pulled another syringe from the backpack, inserting the needle into Alex’s IV and depressing the plunger.
“Okay, he’s set,” Kyle said. “I’m going to get these to the lab and administer a few other doses to our most critical patients, and then I’ll be back.”
With tears in her eyes, she nodded at him, sinking onto the edge of the bed as she took Alex’s limp hand in hers. “Come on, Alex. Please be okay.”
She watched over him, her gaze fixed on the monitors until she saw the first signs of improvement—his heart rate steadying, color slowly returning to his cheeks. When Kyle returned, hope flickered inside her.
“Looking good,” Kyle said. “He should be waking up soon.”
“Can you stay with him? I want to see what’s going on with Shadow.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
She stepped from the room, tears of relief filling her eyes, though she wouldn’t truly feel it until she could see those icy blue eyes of his open again.
“Hey,” Sebastian said as she strode down the hall to the chief of staff’s office, “how’s Alex?”
“Vitals have improved, but he’s not awake yet. How are things looking with reverse engineering the cure?”
“Good. My lab has isolated the active ingredient and are starting production on it now. You heading back to Alex’s room?”
“In a second. Just going to stop in the ladies’ room.”
“Okay, see you there.”
They parted ways, and she pushed into the restroom, locking herself in a stall and allowing a few tears to fall.
With a deep inhale, she allowed the emotions to course through her before she tugged toilet paper from the dispenser and wiped at her cheeks.
She emerged from the stall and checked herself in the mirror before heading back to Alex’s room.
As she entered, she spotted him awake and talking. Her heart lifted as he focused on her, emotions overwhelming her as she hurried to him to take his hand in hers.
With Kyle’s approval on his improvements, she crawled into bed next to him while the others went to check on their respective duties.
Ava snuggled closer to him, their conversation simple, but powerful as they reaffirmed their love for one another.
Kyle returned with celebratory jello cups shortly before Sebastian strode into the room again as Alex proposed they find something to take The Board down.
“That’s a great plan,” Sebastian said, “but unfortunately, we’re not in the clear yet. There’s something else that’s come up that needs our immediate attention before we can think about taking down The Board.”
Ava’s stomach flip-flopped as she sat straighter. “What is it?”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened as he set his eyes on her. “This is going public. The Board is going to try to shirk this off, cover it up. We need to make sure PharmaTech goes down for this. But if we do…retaliation may be severe.”
“When isn’t it?” she retorted. “We need to do this. We need to make sure they pay for this.”
“We have plenty of information,” Alex said. “All of that stuff from the encrypted drive…we can leak it all.”
Ava’s brows furrowed. “Do you think we should get Sierra involved with this? Maybe vet the best ways to make sure the media gets a hold of these details?”
“That’s a great idea,” Sebastian said with a poke of his finger at her.
“I’ll call her. We’ll get this out to the press. PharmaTech isn’t going to survive this.” Ava pulled her phone from her pocket, searching for Sierra’s contact information.
She placed the call, putting it on speakerphone.
“Umm, where have you been? Are you in Hemlock Falls because that place is all over the news with some kind of flu, and I swear that’s where Daddy said you were going,” Sierra answered.
Ava held back a chuckle at the brusque response.
“Sierra, hi. That’s exactly where we are.
We’re okay, and we have a cure in the works.
But this flu…it was released on purpose by The Board.
This was a trial run before they unleashed this on the population.
We need to get that information to the public. Can you handle that?”
“Handle it? Are you joking? I was born to handle this. Send me what you have, and I will make sure every major news outlet has this in the entire country within the hour.”
“Perfect,” Ava answered. “Alex will email everything to you.”
They spoke for another minute before Ava ended the call. She threaded her fingers through Alex’s, sucking in a sharp breath. “Well, that’s that. Let’s see what happens next.”
She bit into her lower lip, wondering how this would all play out. Would this be the beginning of the end for The Board or would they manage to survive this blow and come back fighting?