by Beth Abbott
When they got back to the office, Hannah pointed to the chair next to hers and instructed Ellen to sit down.
She opened up a page on her laptop and started playing around with some of her spicier programmes.
Eventually she found what she wanted, and she cast the page to the big screen in front of them.
“Are you going to tell us what that is?” Danny asked.
“You were right about the Russians not talking to us.” Hannah grinned. “But they still talk to each other.”
She glanced back at the screen which was filled with writing in what looked like Cyrillic script.
“That’s a message coming out of the Russian sub, presumably going to their high command in Moscow.” Hannah explained. “Ellen, can you translate it?”
“Human cargo retrieved as ordered, including Russian operatives. Two casualties, both with serious gunshot wounds, one critical. Request permission to vary course to liaise with Royal Navy vessel to enable casualties to be evacuated to UK by rescue helicopter.” Ellen read out.
“Oh, God!” Sacha’s whisper came from the doorway. “They’re talking about Zach.”
“The reply is an authorisation for them to proceed with all haste to the rendezvous point, and transfer both patients to the Royal Navy’s care.” Ellen continued. “They can then offload the rest of the human cargo, so they can be transported wherever they need to go.”
“I’m guessing they don’t want our people on their sub any longer than absolutely necessary.” Tuck stood behind Sacha with his arm around her shoulders. “They’re very protective of their technology.”
“I’ll get hold of my colleagues at the Ministry of Defence to find out where the casualties will be taken.” Joseph nodded, tapping on the screen of his phone as he wandered back into the hallway.
“As soon as we know where they’ll be, can you arrange transport for me?” Sacha whispered.
Hannah hated the sound of despair in Sacha’s voice.
“As soon as we know where they’re going, we’ll arrange transport for all of us.” Hannah turned and wrapped Sacha up in a hug. “Nobody in the Alpha-Stalwart family does anything alone. You should know that by now.”
She felt Sacha nod, but Hannah couldn’t lift her head to look her friend in the eye.
If anything had happened to Zach, she doubted she’d be able to look any of them in the eye ever again.
Chapter 62 – Sacha
Sacha sat on the plane staring out of the window, watching the sun starting to rise over the distant horizon.
She was tired beyond words, and probably should have spent the last twelve hours in bed, as the doctor had advised her, but she’d been adamant that she wanted to know what was going on with the mission.
What was that saying her mama used to quote at her when she was a teenager? ‘Be careful what you wish for’?
Yeah, her mama was always right about shit like this.
They’d waited two hours for news of the casualties on the sub, until finally they’d been told that they’d been transferred to a Royal Navy frigate ready to be transported to the mainland.
It had taken another hour to get someone to tell them where the transport would be taking them, because even for an island like the UK, ‘the mainland’ was a fucking big place.
Tuck’s plane had been on standby, ready to take them wherever they needed to go, so when word reached them that the helicopter would be heading for Aberdeen in Scotland, Sacha, Hannah, Danny, Tuck, Candy, JT, Drew and Vicky had been out of the door and on their way to the airport within five minutes of the news coming through.
They had no idea of Zach’s injuries, or Abram’s for that matter, but if it was serious enough to require an immediate medivac, it was serious enough to have her blood running cold and leave her palms clammy.
“Sacha?” Vicky’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Have something to eat, sweetheart.”
Sacha looked up at Vicky as though she was speaking a foreign language.
“Sorry?” She frowned. “What did you say?”
Vicky took the seat next to Sacha and handed her what looked like a breakfast roll.
“You have to eat, Sacha.” Vicky smiled. “Zach will be pissed if he finds out you haven’t been looking after yourself properly. It’s barely twelve hours since you left the hospital.”
Hospital! Her operation!
Would any of that even matter now? She wanted babies with Zach. If anything had happened…
Sacha tried to wipe her thoughts clean. She couldn’t think the worst.
Zach was Gigantor! Invincible! It would take a lot more than a bullet to take him down.
She accepted the food from Vicky and took a bite of the sandwich as it seemed to be required of her.
“Hannah has been talking to Joseph, and the helicopter is due to land at the hospital in Aberdeen in about thirty minutes.” Vicky smiled.
“How long will it be until we land?” Sacha asked, trying to swallow the food that tasted like sawdust.
“About the same.” Vicky handed her a bottle of orange juice. “Abbey has arranged transport from the airfield to the hospital, so with minimal traffic at this time of day, we should be there in around an hour and a half.”
Sacha nodded, taking a sip of the juice.
“Has Hannah heard any more about the condition of the casualties?” She whispered, unable to refer to Zach by name.
“Nothing, sorry.” Vicky shook her head. “If the chopper is communicating with the hospital, then they’re doing so on a secure direct line. There’s nothing for Hannah to tap into.”
Sacha ate a few more mouthfuls of the sandwich, as she stared out of the window.
She pictured Rocco waking this morning without her, and she wondered if he would be Ok.
They tried to never leave him without one of them being there, and the only times he ever stayed anywhere without them was when he had a sleepover at Candy’s, or occasionally with Bella and Brandon or one of the other families.
But whenever that happened, he knew that she wouldn’t be there when he woke up.
This morning he would be expecting her to be there.
“Sacha, honey?” She turned to find Tuck in front of her, looking as tired and tense as she felt. “We’ll be landing soon, and on our way to the hospital.”
Sacha nodded.
“Zach’s going to be Ok, honey.” Tuck said confidently, as though it were already a known fact.
She stared into his tired eyes.
“If that were true, why are we both sitting here worrying ourselves sick, feeling like the world as we know it may have come to an end?” She said quietly.
Tuck opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
He looked so helpless, so unlike the confident Ryan Tucker she adored like a father, that Sacha almost regretted her words.
Tuck was taking the blame for this on himself already, and even in her worst moments, she knew she shouldn’t allow that to happen.
“He wanted to go on the mission.” She said quietly. “He was a bit nervous that he might not be up to it still, but I think he was energised to think he was going to be part of the team that rescued forty women. It was a successful operation, Tuck. We can’t take that away from the team.”
Tuck nodded his head, but she knew his heart was cracked wide open, the same as hers.
When the seat-belt sign illuminated, everyone returned to their seats, and in no time at all they were in the back of an SUV on the way to the hospital.
“Does the hospital even have the capacity to deal with gunshot wounds?” Sacha suddenly voiced the thought that had popped into her head.
“It’s got a big trauma centre.” Danny smiled reassuringly. “They’ll have dealt with gunshot wounds before, if only from the idiots shooting their friends by accident when they’re out hunting in the highlands.”
“I checked the place out.” Hannah nodded. “It was the first hospital in the world to have a full-body MRI scanner, and it has
a unit that deals with decompression sickness.”
“It’s a pity Zach doesn’t have the bends.” Sacha half-smiled.
“No, but I’m trying to make the point that it’s a pretty good hospital.” Hannah smiled. “They’ve pioneered some cutting-edge stuff over the years.”
Sacha gazed out of the front window of the SUV until finally a grey building came into sight.
As they pulled up in front of the main entrance, Sacha felt her heart-rate rocket. Would there be any news yet?
They entered the main building, and as usual, JT took charge, going straight to the reception desk to get information.
Within a few seconds, a couple of naval officers showed up, and JT had a brief conversation with them.
Sacha could barely contain her impatience when JT came back to the group.
“Where is he?” She demanded, earning herself a smile from JT.
“They’re both in surgery for multiple gunshot wounds.” He took her hand. “One of them is more seriously injured than the other, but at the moment, we don’t know which one of them that is. The rest of the team have been put on another chopper, and they’re on their way here. They should be able to tell us more when they arrive in about an hour. In the meantime, these officers are from the helicopter that brought Zach in. They’ve kindly secured us a family room where we can wait.”
Sacha turned and walked straight up to the two officers.
“Excuse me?” She said quietly. “You flew in with the gunshot victims? Did either of them say anything?”
The older of the two men looked at her sympathetically.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.” He shook his head. “They’d both been sedated before they left the sub. They were unconscious the whole way in.”
“Thank you.” Sacha nodded, her heart sinking.
“Come on, Sacha.” Tuck wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Let’s get you to the family room.”
Sacha allowed herself to be led to the waiting room, and for the next couple of hours she drank the coffee they pushed into her hands, and she nodded whenever they asked if she was Ok.
Occasionally, Tuck or JT would go off in search of information, but so far, each time they’d returned it was with a shake of the head.
Eventually, she moved to a chair next to the wall, pulled the hood of her coat up around her face to block everyone out, and leaned her head against the cold surface.
She just needed to close her eyes and zone out for a while because the constant staring at the door and jumping out of her skin every time it opened was making her crazy.
Sacha realised that she must have fallen asleep when the sound of men talking brought her back to full consciousness.
She pushed the hood back to find JT and Tuck talking to Kellen and Drago, just as Kris walked into the room.
Yuri jumped up and grabbed his brother into a hug that left Kris grinning from ear to ear.
“Ok, brother!” He gasped for breath. “Enough of the loving. I’m fine!”
Yuri stepped back and growled.
“Asshole!” He frowned. “It didn’t occur to you that we might be worrying about you? You couldn’t have called me?”
“Yeah, about that…” Kris shrugged. “Turns out that the claim on the box that my phone is waterproof to a depth of fifty feet is pure bullshit. I was only in the water for a few minutes helping to get Abs out, and when I went to turn it on later, it was completely fucked.”
Sacha jumped up and ran to Kellen.
“Do you know what happened to Zach?” She demanded. “How badly was he injured?”
Kellen turned and took hold of her arms.
“Hey, Sacha.” He smiled sympathetically. “How’re you doing?”
“Kellen, please?” Sacha pleaded. “Tell me what you know about Zach’s injuries.”
Kellen squeezed her arms.
“I don’t know much.” He admitted. “The medical crew on the sub took over the minute we got them onboard, and from what I can tell, did a pretty good job of keeping them both alive. All we were told was that one of them had been shot twice, and the other one maybe four times, but we don’t know which of them was which. When they were transferred to the helicopter, we were all kept out of the way, so we didn’t see them again.”
Sacha turned away, disappointed at still not knowing what had happened to Zach.
When the door opened again, two women stepped inside, and Kellen immediately stepped up to one of them and took her hand.
“Everyone?” He turned back to the team. “This is Micky Koslova, the General’s daughter. The other lady is Katya, who previously worked for Sergei Lebedev. Abram befriended her and asked that we help her get away from the ship.”
Sacha noticed the way the dark-haired woman stood next to Kellen, as if needing his touch and his protection all at once.
She saw Hannah and JT approach the women but couldn’t bring herself to listen to their conversation.
When Zach was out of surgery and she knew he was going to be Ok, there would be plenty of time to get to know the new personnel.
Until then, she didn’t want to know.
Chapter 63 – Tuck
They’d been sitting in the family room for over six excruciatingly long hours, when the door was opened, and their nursing liaison poked her head through to beckon JT outside.
The woman had introduced herself not long after they arrived, assuring them that they’d be informed of any progress, as and when an update was available.
Tuck wanted to jump up and demand to know what was going on, but the women had finally fallen asleep, along with Kellen and Kris, and he didn’t want to do anything that would wake them up.
He waited impatiently for the few minutes that it took for JT to return, his eyes making contact with Danny, Drew and Drago, each of them anxious to find out what was going on.
When JT opened the door again and stepped inside, Tuck thought he’d never seen such an expression on his friend’s face.
Devastation and pain were the only words that came to mind.
JT silently pointed to Tuck and Drago, and motioned for them to come outside, and he reluctantly pulled himself to his feet.
As anxious as he’d been a minute ago to find out what was going on, he suddenly didn’t want to know.
From the look on JT’s face, he had a feeling it could only be bad news.
He followed Drago out of the room, and quietly closed the door behind him. JT had already walked about thirty feet along the corridor, and he followed behind Drago thinking this must be what it felt like to walk to the gallows.
When JT finally turned around to speak, Tuck could see the pain in his friend’s eyes.
“They just came to let me know that the surgeons have finished and will be out to talk to us in a few minutes.” JT said quietly.
“Have they said anything about how the operations went?” Drago asked.
JT nodded, seeming to take a deep breath before he answered.
“One of them is in recovery.” He said slowly. “The other one… didn’t make it.”
Tuck felt like an arrow pierced his heart.
“Didn’t make it? Like in…” Drago stuttered to a stop.
“The other man died of his injuries.” JT clarified.
Tuck looked at JT, sensing his closest friend was feeling every bit as much pain as he was.
“Do they know which man died?” He whispered.
“No.” JT shook his head. “They want someone to go and identify him formally.”
Drago grabbed his hair and seemed to be pulling it out.
“Fuck!” He growled. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
“Do you want me to go and identify whoever it is?” JT offered. “It would probably be better than one of you doing it.”
Tuck nodded, grateful to JT for taking the burden on himself.
As JT walked off with the nursing liaison, Tuck walked to the nearest chair and slumped down on it.
“I asked Abram to take part.” Drago sa
id quietly. “He was my friend, and I asked him for a favour that might have gotten him killed.”
Tuck could sympathise.
“I asked Zach to take part.” He admitted. “He’s my nephew… my closest blood family, and still I asked him to do this. Don’t think you’ve got the copyright on guilt, my friend. You’re nowhere close.”
The sound of the family room door opening made him turn his head, and his heart sank when he saw Sacha and Drew step into the corridor.
Sacha turned around looking for something or someone, and when her gaze fell on him, he saw her pale.
He stood and walked towards her as she stepped forward.
“What is it?” Sacha asked as she reached for his arm. “What have you heard?”
Tuck steered her back to the chairs and sat her down.
“We don’t know exactly which one yet, but one of them has come through surgery and is in recovery.” Tuck said quietly.
Sacha nodded, looking slightly relieved.
“That’s good, right?” She whispered. “And the other one? How much longer will they be in surgery?”
Tuck’s breath caught in his throat at her innocent question. He hated that he had to be the one to crush that innocence.
“The other one didn’t make it, Sacha.” He said quietly, holding her hand tightly. “He died a short while ago.”
The colour drained from her face like someone had opened a valve in her feet and let all the blood out.
“Who…?” She stammered the word out and then stopped, as if not sure she wanted to know.
“JT has gone to make a formal identification.” Tuck explained. “We just have to wait for him to get back.”
Sacha nodded, but Tuck didn’t think she was really listening any longer.
Drew sat in the seat on the other side of Sacha and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into him.
“Stay positive, sweetheart.” Drew murmured into her hair. “We won’t know until we know, right?”
Tuck watched Sacha turn into Drew’s embrace and looked away.
He could barely deal with his own pain and grief at the moment, let alone Sacha’s on top.
He paced the corridor for what seemed like hours until he spotted JT standing at the far end of the hallway.