Chapter 9 #2
“I’m sure the Foreign Office is mustering every resource to find us,” Harry replies finally. “I guess the good thing about both of us being missing is there will be no cross-party squabbling about the cost of a search effort. There will be a united effort to bring us home.”
“Your wife must be beside herself.”
“Yes, I’m guessing Prunella will be very concerned about my safety right now,” Harry’s voice is cold.
There’s not enough light to see his expression, but guilt flashes through me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Pardon?”
“I didn’t mean to make you think about it.”
“You think I haven’t been thinking about her today? That I haven’t been dwelling on my family and what they’ll think when they discover I’m missing?” Somehow, he manages to keep his voice as composed as it is when delivering a crisp retort across the Chamber.
“But I don’t actually think focusing on them is productive,” he continues. “I need to harness my energy into ensuring I survive this.”
His words settle into the dark of the night.
I guess this is Harry as I expected him—cool, rational, and unemotional. But the fact he’s let me get a small insight into his thoughts unsettles me.
But what unsettles me the most is the knowledge that I don’t have any family who will miss me. I don’t have a significant other who will be beside themself for not knowing where I am.
How does Harry Matheson, the pompous, snobby git he is, have more people who’ll be missing him right now than me?
“I’m guessing the royal family will be doing everything they can to find you,” he finally speaks up.
The royal family.
Oliver and Callum.
They’re pretty much the closest thing to family I have left.
And Harry’s right. I’m sure Oliver will exert all his influence to ensure every resource is directed to finding us. I almost feel sorry for the foreign secretary right now.
“The problem is, if we’re in Finland, as I suspect, they won’t have the first idea of where to search,” I say.
“I guess it depends if our flight was tracked,” Harry says.
“Could Kade have turned off tracking for it?”
“I’m not sure. I have to admit my knowledge of aviation technology is fairly superficial.”
“But do you agree Kade was trying to kidnap us before the plane crash?” I ask, partly because I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of hearing Harry say I’m right about something.
There’s a pause from across the dark clearing.
“There is definitely evidence to suggest that,” Harry says finally.
“Do you think the plane crash was part of their plan, or was it an accident?”
“I haven’t the foggiest. But Kade did seem perturbed by the crash, so I guess that provides evidence it was unexpected.”
“Have you got any thoughts about why someone would want to kidnap us?”
“No, I have no idea. It had to be opportunistic because no one could have predicted we would both miss our flights.”
“I know. That’s the thing I don’t understand. No one could have planned for this.”
“It’s very likely that someone one of us trusted betrayed us,” Harry says.
I swallow. That thought has flittered into my mind today as well.
How had Harry and I ended up with a pilot trying to take us to a different destination than where we were supposed to go?
“Do you have any suspicions about who it might be?” I ask.
“No.”
The word is sharp, providing an unexpected sting.
Well, I guess that shut down any conversation between us.
I don’t say anything. I shuffle in my blanket, trying to wrap it around me better to keep the bitter cold out.
“It’s not something I want to dwell on,” Harry speaks suddenly, startling me. “It’s unpleasant to cast suspicion on people you know and trust, especially when there is nothing you can do about it.”
“Yeah, I know,” I say softly.
I hear the crinkling noise of his survival blanket as he rearranges his position.
Harry’s watch glows for a second, and I can see his face peering down at it. “It’s still early, but we should try to sleep. Although I think one of us should keep guard.”
He’s right. But what the hell we’ll do if Kade and his friends decide to show up in the middle of the night is not quite clear.
I feel stupid for not suggesting it myself. Why am I letting Harry come up with the ideas right now?
I’m tired. It must be that.
“All right,” I say.
“You can sleep for the first stint if you want,” he says.
“No, I’m fine. You sleep first.”
Harry lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Toby, I went to a boarding school where one of the traditions was to assign students to night watch duty. I daresay I’ve had more experience than you at staying awake when I’m tired.”
Fuck. It appears the only thing I hate more than Harry Matheson being a git is Harry Matheson attempting to be nice. It’s upsetting the natural order of the universe. Harry and I don’t play nice together. Ever.
“If you think I don’t have the ability to pull an all-nighter, then you obviously haven’t heard about my Oxford days,” I reply.
“Can you turn off the must-always-argue-with-Harry side of your personality for once and just go to sleep?” he asks.
“I don’t know if it’s a setting that has a control. I think the dial is permanently set to on,” I say.
It’s most definitely an amused snort that comes from the other side of our unlit fire. There’s a good chance it’s been caused by Harry’s extreme exhaustion and proximity to hypothermia, but I’m taking it.
After having that win, I’m prepared to nestle into the pine needles and try to curl myself in a position where I can try to get some shut-eye.
But it’s impossible. Having so much of my body against the ground makes me even colder.
It’s a cold I’ve never felt before, penetrating through to my bones.
Every muscle in my body aches with a combination of overuse and cold, and my chest chimes in with the added complaint about bruising from the seatbelt.
I’m so cold that I’m pretty sure my blood has turned into a slushie. If a vampire tried to take a sip right now, they’d get brain freeze.
I shuffle and squirm, pulling my body into the tightest ball possible. My mind races through everything I know about hypothermia, which comes solely from having binge-watched episodes of Alone.
There’s an easy way to get warm. The pile of wood is temptingly stacked only a few feet away.