32. Erik #3
Liya looks toward the satellite image, then back at me. "You're still not going in alone."
"No."
She nods once. "Then I'm done asking."
Serena sets her medical bag on the table beside us. "Good. Now both of you can stop discussing whether I'm coming."
I look at the bag. "You're not landing with the first team."
"I'm not armed, I'm not tactically useful, and I'm not stupid." Serena opens the top compartment and checks the contents while she speaks. "I stay with the aircraft until Makari clears a location. After that, I go where Rowan is."
Makari comes over from the map. "What are you expecting?"
Serena stops checking supplies and looks at him. "Dehydration first. She has probably had inadequate food and fluid for three days, with exertion on top of it. I expect bruising, soft-tissue injury, and possible head trauma from the initial abduction."
I force myself to stay where I am.
Serena sees it and does not soften the rest. "Triplet pregnancy increases what I care about.
Bleeding, cramping, uterine irritability, abdominal trauma, blood-pressure changes, and dehydration all matter more.
At fourteen weeks, preterm labor is not the immediate concern in the same way it would be later, but complications can still threaten the pregnancy. "
"What do you need from us?"
"When you find her, you do not make her walk because she says she can.
" Serena closes one side of the bag and opens another.
"You do not give her food or a gallon of water because she asks.
You tell me whether she lost consciousness, whether she was struck in the abdomen, whether there is bleeding, and what medications they gave her if you find records. "
Peter comes over with his jacket on and a radio clipped beneath it. "Can we move her by helicopter?"
"If she's stable enough. If she isn't, we stabilize her there."
I look at Serena. "If Orell has used sedatives?"
"Then I identify them if I can." She zips the bag. "You find Rowan. I handle the medicine."
That division is simple enough to keep.
Makari's phone vibrates. He checks the message and turns toward Peter. "Your dock team has the charter crew under observation."
Peter puts in his earpiece. "They stay untouched until boarding."
"Correct."
Peter looks at me before heading for the elevator. "You bring her back."
It is not phrased as an order, though from him it may be the closest thing available.
I nod. "You keep the dock open."
He gives me a humorless smile. "I've been closing docks longer than you've been making bad decisions about women."
Liya groans. "Please leave."
Peter steps into the elevator. "That was affection."
The doors close on him.
Despite everything, I almost laugh.
Rowan would have.
The thought hurts enough to get me moving.
Makari hands assignments to the first team while Liya stays with the communications station. Harper wakes when Serena takes the notebook from her lap, blinks at the room, then gets to her feet.
"You found the island because of me," she says to Makari.
He checks the magazine in his sidearm before looking at her. "Yes."
"I want that preserved in whatever version of the story you later tell badly."
Makari puts the weapon away. "I will have it notarized."
Harper looks surprised, then smiles despite herself. "You're getting funnier."
"That is an alarming medical symptom."
Serena points toward the guest room. "You are going back to sleep."
Harper opens her mouth.
Serena doesn't even look at her. "That was not a debate."
Harper closes it again.
Makari watches her retreat down the hall before turning toward me. He catches my expression. "Not now."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were going to."
"I'm learning restraint."
"You should work faster."
The elevator ride to the roof takes less than a minute.
Cold air hits us when the doors open. The helicopter waits beyond the safety line with the rotors beginning to turn. Two operators load the last equipment cases while Serena secures her bag inside the cabin.
Liya comes up behind us with a tablet held against her coat. "Coast Guard diversion begins in nine minutes. Peter's charter moves in eleven."
Makari takes the tablet from her and checks the latest satellite feed. He enlarges the island once, then hands it to me.
Orell's boat is already tied to the southeastern dock.
A dark vessel sits against the pier with two smaller craft beside it. Vehicle lights show near the main clinic building, though most of the island remains black.
Makari points to the northern end of the structure. "Main residence is dark. Treatment wing has intermittent power."
I look farther east.
One square of white light burns on the upper level.
Makari zooms in until the roofline and windows separate clearly. "That's the surgical wing."
The helicopter door is open behind me. Serena is already strapped in, medical bag secured at her feet. Liya stands outside the rotor wash with one hand shielding her face.
I climb aboard with the tablet still in my hand.
Orell's boat is at the island dock.
There is a light on in the surgical wing.