Finally, the screen flickered to life, revealing a broken stretch of jungle, trees flattened, the earth scarred. His heart stuttered. Where was the plane? He zoomed in, scanning the destruction, until—there.
His breath caught. The plane was crumpled, its nose smashed into the ground, fires licking at its sides. His vision blurred, and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe.
“No,” he whispered, his voice barely audible. “No, Ava…”
“Where are they?” he murmured as he searched for the plane while simultaneously trying to reboot the camera.
He finally managed to move the satellite far enough to find the downed craft. His heart skipped a beat as he stared at it, shrouded by trees with a few fires burning nearby.
“Oh no,” he murmured.
The plane was smashed in the front and damagedelsewhere from what he could see. He wasn’t certain anyone could have survived that.
He tried the camera again, desperate to get a glimpse of what was going on, but he couldn’t access it. “Damn it!”
He slammed his hands against the hospital table, sending it rolling a few inches away.
Sebastian swallowed hard, biting his lower lip before he dug his phone from his pocket. “I’m going to call and see if I can get anyone out to that site.”
“That could take hours. They’re in the jungle,” Alex said. “There’s not much around them.”
He let his head fall back against the pillow behind him, his body weak from the illness. His mind struggled to process anything outside of the grief of what he assumed to be Ava’s loss.
He arched an eyebrow as he sat up, reaching for the table. “Wait, wait, with the satellite that close, she may have cell reception. We can call her or?—"
“I’m on it,” Sebastian said, already dialing her number and placing it on speakerphone.
It rang a few times before her voicemail picked up. “Hi, you’ve reached Ava. I can’t take your call right now?—"
Sebastian poked at the end call button.
“Okay, it’s good that it rang. It’s not off or anything,” Alex said. “Try again.”
“Alex—” Sebastian began, but Alex cut him off.
“Just try it! I’m going to try to access the camera and see if I can get a glimpse of anything.”
“Okay, okay,” he said as he dialed her again. He received the voicemail message twice more before he flicked a consoling glance at Alex. “She’s not answering. Any luck with the camera?”
“I’m almost in,” Alex said. “I just need–”
His words cut off as the satellite feed skittered for asecond before it became clear again. A shiver snaked down Alex’s spine as he stared at the image on the screen.
A massive fireball plumed from the downed plane. He stared at it, unable to move or think.
His breaths came in ragged gasps. “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “No!”
Sebastian lowered his head from the screen, pressing his lips into a thin line as he slid his eyes closed. “Alex…”
“No!” Alex screamed. “No, no, no. No, she can’t be gone. She can’t be…try her phone again.”
He pulled his laptop closer, trying to ignore the image from the scene as he desperately attempted to access the camera on her phone.
The screen blurred, his eyes welling with tears that cascaded on to his cheeks. With a sniffle, he wiped them away hastily before he returned to typing. “Come on, Ava. Come on…”
“Alex, I think we need to–”
“No!” Alex said with a shake of his head. “Not until I see that she’s…”
