Second Chances (24 page)

“Builders will be coming,
Mr
Sterling, along with all sorts of tradespeople. It was at your insistence that your security detail arrived first. I’d have thought getting a roof over their heads would be a number one priority, unless of course they like sleeping in communal quarters with a bunch of gay men.”

“You have something against gay men?”

“Not at all, Mr Sterling, but your men don’t seem the sensitive, understanding type.”

“You don’t know my men…” he stopped himself and smiled broadly.

She stared at him for a long moment. She almost seemed to be baiting him. Before he could respond further, she sprang to her feet and started pacing around the room. “Enough of that.” She gave a dismissive wave of her hand and placed a document down on the desk in front of him. The seaplane specs. “How does she handle? Will she suit our purpose do you think?”

“That entirely depends on how you perceive our purpose. She’s a good plane. Handles well. She has a good range…”

“Precisely, that’s why we bought her. She’s the vital link in our plans. The Russian model may be bigger, but they can’t land in such a small area. Do those landing and lift-off devices work like they’re supposed to?”

Gideon smiled. Something about her eagerness didn’t sit right. “The suppressors work just fine. Now, if I could draw your attention to the state of the equipment here…”

She waved a hand dismissively. “Just let us know what you need. I must admit that cyclone did make a bit of a mess. That’s what you get when you use leaves and branches for building materials.”

“Readily available building materials, Ms Pierce, plentiful and cheap.” Gideon gestured to the forms on his desk. “My requirements are all ready for you.”

“What about the important things, the electricity, the desalination plant, are they all still functioning properly or do we need to get them repaired as well.”

“Well, the generator is working, although it could do with a complete overhaul. As to the desalination plant, I have yet to check it. There’s only so much you can complete in a day.” What did she think he was, superhuman?

“I’ll have some experts come in on the next flight. When I stayed here as a guest last year, that was one of the first things that made me interested in buying this place. Once the solar and wind generators are all up and running again, we won’t need to rely on antiquated pieces of machinery. We will have all the energy and water we need.”

Experts. Gideon suppressed a smile. Anything and everything was at her beck and call. Well, Eidolon’s. “I’m sure we’ll have the resort running to your satisfaction in no time.” He turned on the charm. “You’ll have to stop ordering my men around though; it confuses them. They’re used to a chain of command. You’ll not get the best out of them unless you leave them to me.”

“Your men?” She turned and planted her hands on the desk leaning over slightly towards him. “Mr. Sterling, your men may have been under your command in the SAS, but here they are employees of Eidolon.”

“SBS, Ms Pierce. Not SAS. And yes, we are
all
your employees now, are we not? But they still remain my men, under my command. Anything else will mean you won’t get the optimum performance from them. If security, as you have already stated, is of paramount importance?” Gideon stood and wandered round his desk, stepping closer to her. “We’re here to do the best we can for you.”

“I expect nothing less, Mr Sterling. However, we need to be exactly clear who is the boss here and, like it or not, I need to be sure that this place is operational as soon as possible. I can’t afford to have men jaunting around the island when there is work to be done.”

“I’m sure
jaunting
was the last thing on their minds. All I’m asking is that you let me keep things simple. Chain of command, Ms Pierce. If you want them to do anything, please run it by me first. Dissemination of information is easier when it comes through correct lines.”

“That’s why wars have been lost throughout the ages, Mr Sterling. Arguments about priorities.”

“Wars are won through good strategy, Ms Pierce, which includes clear communication through correct lines, otherwise we may as well be sitting on our arses getting a suntan.”

“So what was so important that you had to spare five men today when our first priority should have been to make this place ready for the influx of personnel we’re going to get over the next few days? Perhaps I should have brought the builders over first. Pity that by the time we load the seaplane up with gear, we can only bring in a few people at a time.”

“My first priority was to familiarise my men with the island they are supposed to protect. We have to adapt as we go, Ms Pierce. Things come along that change our priorities. We now have the added and unforeseen issue of a missing person not to mention evidence that the islanders from Rapatoka have been visiting in order to take anything useful. My men are now on alert in case they try it again.”

“Missing person? Who is missing?”

“Dr Sutherland.”

“Miles Sutherland?” Pierce let go of the desk and straightened, a self-satisfied smirk twisting her lips into a sneer. “His usefulness is over anyway. We only needed his inclusion in the crew to convince the manufacturers to sell the seaplane to us. They were making some noise about the fact that because it had been built with Government money they couldn’t sell it to private companies. That cyclone relief story paid off in two ways, giving us an excuse to get them out of Haven Falls and clinch the deal with the plane.
Disaster relief.
” She snorted. “Works every time.” She turned and walked to the window. “Maybe he’s decided that he couldn’t live without his dead lover anymore. Our psych evaluation showed he was borderline suicidal.”

Gideon was careful to keep his expression bland. He had a great deal of experience in not revealing his feelings. Sandra Pierce had just shown her true colours. “A pity, we could have done with a medic. Still, one of my men has experience. And we still have Gillespie. Between them, it should be enough until you can replace him.”

“I’m actually more concerned about reports of locals coming over to the island. Now we have the inflatable Zodiac unloaded, I want to visit Rapatoka tomorrow and make sure they understand the resort is off limits now.” She turned back to face him. “I want a couple of your men with me. Armed. They need to see that we’re deadly serious.”

Gideon nodded. “I’ll see to it.”

“Of course you will,
Mr
Sterling, that’s what we pay you for.”

That’s right
, Gideon thought,
rub it in that I don’t hold rank any longer
. He smiled and moved a little closer. “And you get what you pay for, Ms Pierce,” he said reassuringly. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Sleep well.” He brushed close by her and held open the door.

“I’m sure I will, Mr Sterling. The bure is fine now Mindy has cleaned it.”

The door clicked with a sharp snap behind her.
Poor bloody Mindy
. He paused, considering.
Now that might be worth a try. She did say anything I needed.
He sat back down quickly and added a couple of things to the bottom of the requisition forms.

with mention of Carter (Gil) Gillespie and Gideon Sterling

___________________________________________________

Before sunrise 27th January

Miles woke from a deep sleep, sure he’d heard barking and Gil calling out to him. He hoped to God they were alright.

In the dark, all he’d seen when he looked out the window was a collection of lights where the resort was. That meant they must have got the electricity working at least. As the sky brightened with the approaching dawn, the outline of Mystery Island started to emerge from the blackness surrounding it. He’d been gone for nearly two days now.

Yesterday, when Caroline summoned Jerri and Tommi and gave them a dressing down for kidnapping him, he’d suggested they take him back so he could collect some gear and reassure everybody he was okay. There was better medical equipment there he told Caroline: drugs and proper splints. Gideon had mentioned that everything on the plane would need to be unloaded so they could fit in more stuff on the return trip. Anyway, knowing Gil, he’d probably packed everything he had.

The unintelligible conversation between the islanders had gone on for some time with much shaking of the two curly heads. The huge men might be scared of Caroline, but they were more afraid of going back to the island for some reason. She seemed to understand and didn’t yell at them. Before they left, her command had been to: “Look after the doctor.” That had met with a much happier response. Their identical faces transformed instantly from sullen misery to wide grins.

Miles had yet to discover what “looking after” meant. He’d always connected those words to his looking after Darren.

Darren……

@—}–—}——

“You’ve been staring out that window for three hours.” Caroline’s soft voice shattered the silence.

Miles moved quietly over to Caroline’s bedside. He could just make out her form in the gloom. “Sorry, if I disturbed you.”

She blew him off with a dismissive wave and struggled to get into a more comfortable position. “No, it’s just the leg.”

He reached for a packet of oxycodone.

“And I don’t want any more painkillers until the morning,” she bit out sharply.

He replaced the tablets on the bedside table. “Would you like a cup of tea instead?”

She shook her head slightly. “If I do, I’ll just need to pee again.”

Miles smiled and changed the urine collection bag. She was one of those nurses who had no hesitation in providing that sort of care for her patients but was loath to accept help herself. Her leg had to stay as immobilised as long as possible. At least for another 24 hours. One of the reasons he’d resigned himself to staying.

She grimaced. “I need to move, get the circulation going. I can’t afford to get bedsores or a clot.”

“But, not yet.” Miles tightened the ropes supporting her elevated leg. He’d managed to rig up a sling between two IV stands. If only he could get some of the gear over from the island. They didn’t even have a wheelchair here. That was another thing he’d seen on the plane.

“I wish I had some heparin at least,” he muttered as he plumped up the pillows behind her.

“Well, we don’t have any. This island needs a lot of things as you’ll discover if you stay for a while, Mister.” Her waspish comment surprised him, she was usually pretty calm and collected.

“Are you sure you don’t want some more painkillers. We still have a few of those.”

She shook her head. “No. Talk to me; distract me for a while.”

Miles checked the other occupied bed in the ward. Lucas seemed to be fast asleep. Miles edged a little closer, careful not to move her leg. “What do you want me to talk about?” he asked softly.

She stared at him for a while, then her gaze shifted slightly. She seemed to be looking at something over his shoulder. He twisted around, thinking Lucas might have woken up, but there was no-one there.

“Who is he?” she asked quietly when he glanced back at her, a feeling of dread in his stomach.

Some of the colour had gone from her face, but she didn’t seem afraid, more… concerned. A cold chill swept through him, exiting with just a tingle from his toes. “Who is who?” He barely managed to croak the words out.

“While you were staring out the window, there seemed to be someone standing behind you. Shorter, slimmer. He looked like he wanted to touch you, comfort you.”

Miles closed his eyes and tried to prevent the tears spilling out.
Shit, he so didn’t want to go there
. He glanced at her, thinking he could fob her off with some smartass reply, but her lips were set in a grim line. It was strange. Sometimes Darren
did
seem so real to him; he’d find himself turning to share a funny joke or have a bitch about something and be surprised he wasn’t there. Maybe she
could
see a presence, a ghost. He sighed. “I was thinking of Darren.”

She glanced down at his hands.

He followed her gaze and noticed he was twisting his wedding ring round and round. He hadn’t even been aware he was doing it. “My late husband,” he added almost defiantly.

She nodded as if she’d expected as much. Obviously she wasn’t prejudiced about gays. Probably why she hadn’t been shocked by Lucas’s behavior.

“What happened to him?”

“He died a couple of years ago after a long battle with AIDS.” Too many people made the assumption Darren had been sleeping around. Usually Miles didn’t give a hoot what they thought, but for some reason he couldn’t bear to have Caroline think that. He swallowed, the truth was even harder to admit. “We were both working for Medecins sans Frontier in Africa….”

As he told the tale, she listened without interrupting. Her gaze never flinching from his despite the horrific scenes he was describing: their capture by a Somalian warlord, the rough treatment he and Darren received while being moved from one location to another as ever more ridiculous ransom demands were made. The beatings and brutality were the easiest part. Heck, at least they were still alive; their native borne helpers had been slaughtered immediately. At night, they’d tried to keep their distance from each other, knowing that any hint they were lovers would make matters worse.