Only the Strongest Survive

by Ian Fox

  “Damn it,” said the doctor. He ran back to the burnt woman and checked her vitals once more.

  “Wait, doctor!” shouted the nurse. “Room B-12 has just become free.”

  “Great! All I need now is an anesthetist and an assistant surgeon,” he said, already pushing the emergency gurney with the unconscious woman toward the elevator.

  *

  After they had been working on the woman for half an hour the first to say something was the anesthetist, who closely monitored the instruments.

  “I’m sorry, but I have a feeling we’ll lose her in the next few minutes. Her condition is rapidly declining.”

  “We’ve got to save the baby,” the doctor said. “Get the instruments for a Caesarian.”

  Only twenty minutes later they put a wrinkled bundle into an incubator. The mother’s heart monitor was showing a flat line.

  *

  Two months later, the nuns in St. Joseph’s Convent kept passing the crying baby to each other.

  *

  Blake smoothed down his hair. And where has it got her? What use are the heaps of money now? It only leads to misfortune.

  He was sixty and still working only because he would otherwise be bored at home alone. The thought of waking up in the morning and not having anything to do always horrified him. Emely, who was aware that he was old enough to retire, kept telling him how much she needed him and that the company wouldn’t be able to do as well without him.

  The cell phone in the inside pocket of his custom-made jacket vibrated.

  “Yes?”

  “Robert Miles here. You may remember we talked a few days ago about a promotional article about your company in—”

  “Yes, yes, I remember.”

  “I wanted to ask if we could meet this morning.”

  “Come to my office in an hour.”

  The journalist could not believe his ears. He had been certain that Blake would refuse to talk to him. “In an hour? Good.”

  “Goodbye until then,” Robert Miles said.

  But Blake had already cut the line. The whole thing disgusted him. What he would have liked to do most was to retire that very moment and escape to the Bahamas. He did not know what to say to the journalists that would not damage the company. Every badly chosen word could cost them huge amounts of money. His phone rang again. It was Maria, the secretary.

  “Michael Dorten just called, the CEO at Bio Conran. The joint venture in Poland isn’t going too well. He wants a meeting with Ms. Donnovan immediately.”

  “Tell him that Ms. Donnovan is away on some urgent business and won’t be back for another week.” He could only hope that Emely would be back at all.

  “OK.”

  After another minute, the phone vibrated again. “He said it can’t wait a week. He’d like to meet with you, if you’re the one standing in for Ms. Donnovan.”

  “Shit. Tell him I’ll call him as soon as I get back.”

  “OK.”

  Just as he was about to look at the menu, his phone demanded his attention once more. He answered angrily. “Yes!”

  “I’m sorry to bother you again, but I’ve got a Ms. Rodriguez from the Central Bank on the line. She said that the last installment of our loan has not been paid.”

  “Listen, that’s not my area, why don’t you call Alexandra!”

  He cut her off angrily.

  Let them ring me just one more time. They know I’m having lunch. With a sour face he ordered some food and had a glass of brandy. Usually he’d order fruit juice or a beer, but he needed something stronger. All the problems were making his stomach churn. Then his phone rang yet again.

  “Hello,” he said through gritted teeth.

  Maria could sense the anger in his voice, but didn’t know what else to do. Various people wanted to talk to Emely urgently, and since he was her stand-in, who else could she put them through to?

  She said with a firm voice, “Ultra Products are threatening a lawsuit because we copied their advertising slogan. They’re asking for an immediate meeting or they’ll take us to court. They’re also threatening to go to the press.”

  “OK, I’ll handle them. Let me finish my lunch, at least. Please, don’t call me until I get back to the office,” he said, immediately pressing the red phone button.

  “Go to hell!” Maria said angrily.

  *

  “Please, sit down, Mr. Miles,” Alexandra said. Blake Crouse was sitting next to her.

  “Thank you.”

  “We’re assuming this time you haven’t come because of the promotion you talked about to Mr. Crouse, have you?”

  “You’re right.” Miles was embarrassed because he didn’t know her surname. He admired her symmetrical face, piercing eyes, and dark hair.

  Alexandra nodded. “It’s a very delicate matter.”

  Blake was grateful to her for taking the lead in this discussion. He felt a burning pain in his stomach and didn’t know what to do about it. All those phone calls had made him nervous and he could feel a headache coming on.

  “We’ve decided to make a public announcement about the disappearance of the CEO of our corporation, Emely Donnovan. We chose three publications to which we will disclose all the details under the condition that you do no damage with what you write.”

  Miles nodded and said, “I understand.”

  Blake said, “It’s been two days since she disappeared and there’s no trace ….”

  Alexandra said, “You must promise that you will emphasize a number of times that the company is led by people who are capable of working without the CEO.”

  “I see,” Miles said.

  “You must understand that any negative news will influence our share price. According to our assessments, the price is currently at a realistic level and we are anticipating that the value will fall by 20 percent at the most. We can’t afford any more than that.”

  “Yes, that’s perfectly clear.”

  Blake went on with what bordered on desperation: “We’ve hired detectives, the police are looking hard, but it seems that Emely has vanished.”

  “It’s been said that her vehicle was found,” the journalist pointed out.

  “Yes, at first it looked like a kidnapping. We kept waiting for the dreaded phone call. But it never came. The police think that it’s not a kidnapping in the normal sense of the word, as by now the kidnappers would have asked for ransom.”

  The journalist kept looking with great interest at Blake and Alexandra in turn, and asked, “And what do you think?”

  “We don’t know what to think. She may have decided to simply take off for a while.”

  “And why would she do that?”

  “These are all unfounded assumptions,” Alexandra said. “Emely was a stable person. I don’t believe she could just disappear.”

  “But what could have happened to her?” Blake asked, slightly confused.

  Alexandra was angry that Blake couldn’t be more firm and confident in front of the journalist. She was aware that Miles would use everything they said in the article. I should be the one who is standing in for Emely, not Blake. He knows little beyond legal matters, she thought, but said: “I think we need to wait a little longer. Perhaps she’ll appear tomorrow. Who knows?”

  The journalist looked at her, wondering how she could be so cool and collected.

  She added: “The main thing is to inform the public about her disappearance because it could help us if she really did disappear against her will. Something must have happened on that highway. If anyone did see anything, they’ll report it to the police.”

  “Perhaps we should announce a reward?” Blake asked.

  Alexandra gave him another angry look. “No, no, let’s wait for now.” There’ll be plenty of speculation as it is, there’s no point in making it worse, she thought.

  “So you don’t think that her absence will affect your market standing?” Miles asked.

  “That’s exactly it. Donnovan Corporation is a huge company th
at consists of many smaller divisions and companies. They all have their own management, headed by good people.”

  “I get that. But what about new business deals?”

  “For some time Ms. Donnovan has not been deciding on new deals independently,” Alexandra lied.

  Actually, if Emely decided on something, she got it. If a member of the executive board or a manager voted against her too often, she soon got rid of him or her.

  “All the basic decisions are made by the executive board,” Alexandra said.

  “I see.”

  “That is all for now.” Alexandra pushed her chair away as she got up.

  Miles got up too and Blake followed closely.

  “If your article is positive and realistic, we’ll keep informing you of any changes,” Alexandra said.

  “I can promise you that,” Robert Miles said before he left.

  *

  Alexandra Regan came home at seven in the evening, extremely irritated.

  “In a good mood again?” asked her husband.

  She was so angry she didn’t see any point in answering.

  “So it was another of those days?”

  Edward was a tennis coach. Every morning when she got up at six, he was still fast asleep, and in the evening when she returned, he had been home for a few hours already. He was never short of time, while she was always in a rush. He was an attractive guy with dark hair, around thirty, with a muscular body. This had attracted Alexandra to him eight years earlier and she had married him. They were very much in love. She focused on his attractiveness, and he on her confidence and dominant nature. Alexandra was beautiful, but her beauty was not what was most important to him. When she was telling him about all the decisions she had to make at work, involving millions of dollars, he always desired her. He felt he loved her more and more with every new day.

  “Dinner is nearly ready, honey. A delicious steak, some fresh vegetables.”

  Her face relaxed for a moment and she gave him a loving look. “I’ll have a quick shower.”

  He stepped closer in order to embrace her, but then changed his mind as her eyes were shooting angry sparks again. He felt for her, knowing that she didn’t have it easy at the moment as the finance director. Every evening she told him about the stupid decisions Blake Crouse had made.

  From a glass cabinet he took two small glasses and put them on the glass table in the dining room. Then he lit a candle in the middle of the table and dimmed the lights. Alexandra liked vodka as an aperitif, so he added a bit of ice and poured the transparent liquid on top. He could barely wait for her to come out of the bathroom. It didn’t bother him that she was angry and he’d have to listen to her work problems.

  “Just think, today he signed a contract with Coloron,” she said as soon as she sat on a wooden chair with a high back. “The company is just about to go bankrupt and that idiot goes and signs a contract with them. I couldn’t believe it.”

  Alexandra had to implement the financial decisions of the board. She had to sign money transfers for sums that often had over seven digits. All business deals went through her department and she knew every transaction. When she felt the deal was pointless it was like being on a sinking ship without being able to call for help.

  She downed the vodka. Edward went to the liquor cabinet and took out the bottle. “And what does that mean for the company?”

  “What does it mean? A catastrophe, that’s what. Blake Crouse will lead us to bankruptcy.”

  Edward knew his wife was exaggerating. Donnovan Corporation was a solid conglomerate, its capital spread over many different areas. For a long time now they were not only involved in stockbroking. Emely Donnovan had bought factories, hotels, chain stores, and had taken the company in completely new directions. Experts in all sorts of areas helped her with the reorganization of the newly acquired companies.

  “Is there no way in which you could take the place of the CEO since you’re the most capable?”

  She gave him a loving look and her eyes wandered away from him. “Perhaps something could be done, but I have to wait until he does another stupid thing. That’s when it’ll be the right time to make a move. I’ll call a meeting of the executive board and try to get a majority on my side.”

  “And who will vote on behalf of Emely, the majority shareholder?”

  “That’s the thing. No one, until her death has been confirmed.”

  “And then?”

  “Then things become clearer. The company will be taken over by whoever she has left her shares to in her will. But it’ll probably be someone who will have no idea about how to manage such a big company and will hand the leadership to someone who does.”

  “And who will that person be? As far as I know, Emely had no one.”

  “I’ve already tried to get the answer to this question from her attorney. Since he was being stubborn, I told him it was for the benefit of the company, but the bastard didn’t want to reveal the beneficiary.”

  Edward put his hand on his chin and frowned. “Hmm, who could it be?”

  “I have no idea, but the police will not be able to deny her death forever. I think things will be revealed soon.”

  “Maybe there’s no beneficiary. How do you know she left it to anyone at all?”

  “That’s possible. It is possible that Emely never thought about her death since she was still young, and so the only possible beneficiary is the state, considering she has no relatives.”

  “Maybe she left it all to the Church. She was brought up by nuns.”

  “Who knows? It’ll all become clear soon. I’d just like Blake to stick to legal matters, which is what he’s good at, and not try to manage everything.”

  Edward knew his wife inside out and was aware that he’d have to listen to how useless everyone at the company was. Alexandra even used to criticize Emely.

  “I think you’ll soon be the CEO of Donnovan Corporation,” he said, taking her hand.

  Again she looked at him with affection. “It would be the only right thing, considering how much effort I’ve invested into it. I really don’t know why Emely chose Blake to stand in for her in her absence.”

  “Clearly she didn’t think she’d ever be away for more than a week.”

  Alexandra gave him a surprised look and then began to laugh. “That’s funny. She didn’t think she’d ever be away for more than a week.” She dropped her knife and fork and kept laughing. “Oh, Edward, you put that so well. She didn’t think she’d ever be away for more than a week.”

  Chapter 7

  _______________________

  John lifted her gently and carried her to the vehicle. “Damn it, how will I get her home?”

  Laying her down a few yards away from his SUV, he scanned the area to look for a strong branch. He was lucky. Not far away he found one that was the right size and strong enough.

  After pushing it under the side of the car he leaned against it with all his strength. The vehicle lifted, but not enough to balance over onto its wheels. Once more he grabbed the branch at the end, took three deep breaths and pushed, grunting loudly. He began to think it would all be in vain, and nearly despaired. But in the end, the vehicle righted itself.

  He put the unconscious Emely on the backseat, turned the ignition, and drove off with relief.

  He drove slowly past the tall green pine trees and other mighty trees that were staring at him as if horrified at what he had done. In spite of everything, the car ran perfectly and about an hour later he reached the estate. When he came up to the overgrown wall, he was much calmer. The two large stone dogs by the entrance were barely visible as their heads, trunks, and paws were covered in thorny creepers. He stopped in front of the tall metal gate on which there was a sign that read: Private Property.

  As John carried her up the stairs, his feet dragged; he was exhausted. His arms were shaking from all the effort. But he could feel Emely breathing calmly and this gave him the necessary strength.

  He laid her down on t
he bed, fastened her right hand to the metal frame, and covered her. What he really wanted most was to lie down next to her and go to sleep. For a while he watched her and then he dragged himself to his own bedroom.

  He closed the old brown drapes, as the morning sun was shining straight onto his bed. Clumsily he took off his pants and barely managed to pull off the T-shirt before he fell into bed.

  Thank God, John thought. Everything happened just at the last moment. If I had got there only a few minutes later, the poor thing wouldn’t have survived. He was hoping that her brain had not been deprived of oxygen for too long and that she would be alright. She’ll pull through, she’s very strong.

  Then he closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep.

  He could see her face, dirty from the soil and immobile, her eyes closed. Her lips were dry and cracked. He turned his head to the other side and opened his eyes, not wanting to think of her.

  Then his eyes closed of their own accord. The pain spread around the whole of his body, every muscle hurting. A burning sensation coursed in his hands every time he moved a finger. In spite of this he was happy and felt like a hero for completing his plan. She will be so happy I saved her life.

  *

  John thought he had been asleep for about an hour when he heard a dull thud. He opened his eyes and listened. It sounded like the front door had opened and closed. Then he heard footsteps on the stairs.

  He catapulted out of bed, throwing off the blue cover. His heart that had only a few seconds earlier been beating in a slow, regular rhythm, was now racing.

  Before opening the door of his room he had to pause for a moment because he felt dizzy from springing up too quickly. The next moment the weakness turned to rage. He realized who was creating all the noise.

  He opened the door swiftly.

  Ronald stood there. “John, what’s happened?”